News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

Of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit the one which is most frequently lacking is fortitude. It is so little known little that some think they have it because they have passion and violence, which are, on the contrary, like everything that is convulsive, evidence of discomfort and weakness. Frederick Ozanam

From the Editor

Come Father of the poor! Come source of all our store! Come within our bosoms shine! With the happiness and peace of the Risen Lord and the Strength of the Holy Spirit, we bring the May issue of Nuntia to your hands. We ask God that, with the Grace and Strength of his Spirit, we may continue being Good News for the poor. Happy Feast of Pentecost!

The General Curia

The Superior General
At the beginning of May, the Superior General continued his visit in Central America. After his visit in Costa Rica, he travelled to Nicaragua where he was welcomed by different members of the Vincentian Family of Nicaragua. There he visited the works of the Daughters of Charity of Granada, Len, and Boaco. He shared with the two confreres who work in the Rectory of the Church of the Recoleccin in Len, Flavio Pereira and Rafael Moncada. He had a meeting with the Vincentian Family of Nicaragua and took part in the inauguration of the Shrine in honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Camoapa, Nicaragua. It is a shrine constructed by the diocese with international help, among which was that of the AMM of Spain to whom they are very grateful. On 4 May, he arrived in El Salvador and was welcomed by members of FAVISAL (Vincentian Family of El Salvador). He celebrated Mass in the Parish of San Jacinto and had the opportunity to pray Vespers with the Daughters of Charity, the confreres, and some members of the Vincentian Family. The Association of the Miraculous Medal offered him a welcome dinner in the context of its tenth anniversary. On the morning of Saturday, the 5th, he had a meeting with the Vincentian Family of El Salvador. In the afternoon, he travelled to the retreat and formation house that the Province of Central America has in a place called Alegra, Usulutn to the east of El Salvador. He took the occasion to greet the two confreres, Juan Mendoza and Sixto Chacn, and the two students of this house.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

The following day he travelled to San Miguel (a Department to the east of El Salvador) where he visited the works of the Daughters of Charity, inaugurated their new work in this region, and shared with members of the Vincentian Family. The same day he returned to San Salvador. The following day, Monday, the 7th, he travelled to Honduras where he had the opportunity to meet with the confreres of the three provinces that work in Honduras: Barcelona, Saragossa, and Slovakia. This meeting was held in San Pedro Sula with the Visitors of Slovakia and Barcelona present. The same day he shared the Eucharist and a meal with the Vincentian Family of San Pedro Sula. On Tuesday, the 8th, he visited Puerto Cortez. There he had a meeting with the Daughters of Charity who serve in Honduras, took part in a radio interview, visited the home for children and the elderly that the sisters have, and visited the works of the confreres of the Province of Saragossa, among them the Ozanam Center, which is a On 9 May, he travelled to Guatemala to take part in the work dedicated to the holistic promotion of the activities for the closing of the jubilee year marking 150 regions youth. years of presence of the Vincentian charism in the lands of Central America. The members of the entire Vincentian Family of Central America were convoked for these activities. The activities of Thursday, 10 May, centered on Puerto San Jos, the place where the first missionaries and Daughters of Charity arrived 150 years ago. Within the commemorative activities were a reenactment of the arrival, a feast, and a caravan with torches.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

On Friday, the 11th, during the morning, he celebrated the Eucharist and gave posthumous honor to the members of the government who had made the arrival of the confreres and sisters in 1962 possible, as well as to the deceased priests, sisters, and members of other branches of the Vincentian Family. The same day there were other activities such as: lunch with the confreres in the Provincial House, a marimba (typical instrument of Guatemala) concert in the afternoon, and prayer on the topic of Mission and Charity, led by Father Aarn, Director of the DCs of Central America. On Saturday, the 12th, he took part in the sunrise and special Lauds for the jubilee. There was a cultural act and solemn Eucharist of Closing of the Jubilee Year in the Parish of Our Lord of Mercies, followed by a lunch with all the participants in the Eucharist. In the afternoon, he had a meeting with the Daughters of Charity, who were in Guatemala, having come for the closing activities of the jubilee year. After concluding the visit to Central America, he travelled to Rome where he had some office work to accomplish. On the 17th, he took part in a meeting on the Vincentian Family and the Concept of Common Good, organized by AIC of Italy in the Leonine College. On Monday the 21st, he was in Paris to participate in the Assembly of the Visitatrixes of the Daughters of Charity. He had an open dialog with them and celebrated the Eucharist. Upon his return to Rome the same week, he took part in the meeting of the Union of Superiors General. Its topic was Religious Life in Latin America: Opportunities and Challenges. On 26 May, he had a Mass with DePaul Universitys Executive Committee in the Leonine College.

Congratulations Eric Joel Obalda Feliz. C.M

On 5 May, Eric Joel Obalda was ordained a priest of the Panama Mission of the Philadelphia Province. May Jesus, the Good News for the poor, be ever your guide and company in your ministry.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

Meeting of COVIAM
The annual meeting of the Conference of Visitors of Africa and Madagascar (COVIAM) was held from 25 April to 1 May in Morogoro, Tanzania. All its members were present except for Eritrea, because all flights to and from Eritrea were cancelled for unknown reasons. As we know, COVIAM is made up of five provinces, a vice-province, and four regions: the Provinces of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Nigeria; the Vice-Province of Mozambique, and the Regions of Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda-Burundi, and the host Region, Tanzania. The General Curia was represented by Zeracristos Yosief, Assistant General. Various topics were addressed, as well as decisions made. Among the topics were projects concerning formation, seeking a common theologate for Africa. This is a project that has been worked on for many years. However, it still could not be concretized for various reasons, among them: the politically unstable situation of many of the African countries at this moment; the large number of candidates; the lack of economic resources. Nevertheless, the majority of the provinces and regions are, in fact, collaborating in the area of formation, some in the Internal Seminary and others on the level of theology. COVIAM encourages its members to consolidate this type of collaboration. Next year will be the Visitors Meeting in New York. The various Continental Conferences will take advantage of it to have their annual meetings. However, COVIAM, in order not to exclude the four African regions mentioned above, has decided to hold its annual meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, from 1-7 May 2013.

The unknown Miracle of the Region of Tanzania

Zeracristos Yosief shares with us this small article about the Region of Tanzania, which was the site of the recent COVIAM meeting. In this respect, he emphasizes four important aspects of this region.

A model mission
As is already known, it is one of the youngest missions of Africa. The first missionaries came to Tanzania in 1993. They came as chaplains of the Vincentian Sisters of Mercy. In 2002, this mission passed to being part of the nascent Province of South India. This decision was a brilliant notion for already the province had sought a clear idea and had planned its missionary work very well. The progressive extension of the mission, the formation, the projects for self-sufficiency of the mission are, among others, perfect examples of this being a model mission.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

A region in progress
All the members of COVIAM were amazed at how the Province of South India, from the beginning, was concerned about the possibility of self-sufficiency of this mission. None of the provinces, vice-provinces, or current regions in Africa is economically self-sufficient, to such a point that the Visitors and Superiors are really beggars for their respective provinces and regions. For this reason, the experience that Tanzania is having is really commendable and worth continuing. In this respect, it is important to say that Tanzania is a country more stable than many in Africa, where the Catholic religion is very esteemed and respected, an aspect that is absent in other African countries.

A young region, made up principally of young missionaries

It is true that the whole Province of South India is young (median age of 44.4, according to the 2010 Catalogue). It seems that the Province of South India has chosen to send only young missionaries for the Tanzanian Mission. These are strong, healthy confreres with great apostolic zeal. It is obvious that there was an interest in the future of this mission. Father Zeracristos continues by indicating that he did not try to say everything, only to highlight his admiration for this mission and the Province of South India for its tenacity, missionary responsibility, and vision of the future.

A geographically extensive region

This is also an admirable aspect, because it is a rather extensive region going from the center and south of Tanzania up to Mozambique. The first missionaries came to a rather poor and abandoned zone, more than a thousand kilometers from the center (Dar-es-Salaam). Twenty years ago it surely had roads without asphalt, taking three or more days to reach. These missionaries really loved the poor.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

Closing of the Jubilee Year in Central America

The Province of Central America, together with the Daughters of Charity and other members of the Vincentian Family, carried out the activities of closing for the Jubilee marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first men and women missionaries in the lands of Central America. Many activities were developed throughout this year. One of the most outstanding was the Central American Vincentian Missionary Congress, which arose as a space set within the jubilee celebration for the 150 years of Vincentian missionary presence in these lands. It became a good reason for the meeting of all the branches of the great family that make up the great tree whose mission it is to take the Good News of life in fullness, life centered on Jesus Christ, to its direct recipients: persons who are impoverished, isolated, and excluded from these Central American peoples.

To build Peace in the 21st century

With the goal of Reflecting on building a positive peace and contributing initiatives for advancing in the challenges raised in the 21st century, the First International Congress for Building Peace in the 21st Century was held in Barcelona from 23-25 April 2012. The Congress was convoked by the Foundation Letter of Peace directed to the UN and the University of Barcelona. It was an initiative of civil society and the academy. For three days, more than 450 participants from the whole world debated and made contributions around six proposed topics. There were four members of the group of promoters of the Spanish JPIC, among them Alfredo Becerra Vzquez, a member of our Congregation. The thematic topics were: Disarm History; Identity and Nationalisms; Justice and Social Structures; Mediation and the Culture of Peace; Mass Media and Peace; and Rethinking Democracy. The methodology applied in the Congress included two parts. First there were magisterial presentations by experts in the matter. In the second part, there were work sessions by experts on thematic topics. Conclusions of the meeting were developed, which were the fruit of the sessions with the experts, the presenters, the opinions and points of view of the Congresss entities and participants. Also a manifesto on peace was drafted. The documents can be seen at http://edificarlapaz.org/conclusiones.php and http://edificarlapaz.org/img/pdf/manifest_esp.pdf, respectively. It is evident that the construction of a culture of peace is not a simple task. Nevertheless, in the Congress it became clear that peace depends on each and every one of us being able to construct it day after day in the different areas in which we take part: in our home, in our work, in our community. Definitively and as the Manifesto of Barcelona for Peace expresses it: every person is called to be an agent of peace. We take advantage of this space also to communicate to you that, as the Congregation of the Mission, we have created a blog on the topic of Justice and Peace coordinated by Alfredo Becerra with the support of the Curias Communication Office and some confreres. The blog is called Iustitia et Pax CM and the address is http://justiciapazcm.blogspot.it/. At present only the Spanish version is available. We soon hope to have it up in other languages. In this respect, we invite confreres interested in the topic to join this initiative.

News Bulletin from the General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission

Nominationes / Confirmationes
KOTTIRI EZHAKUNNEL Thomas PUDUSSERY Devassia MARTELLO Daniele JEURIS Tho GUILLN GOI Pedro Javier GONZLEZ HERNANDO Joaqun BELLISARIO Andrew E. ZEDDE Italo 08/05/2012 12/05/2012 18/05/2012 18/05/2012 07/05/2012 23/05/2012 Director DC India North Director DC India South Director DC Belgium Sub-Director HC Belgium Visitor Peru Visitor Madrid Director DC Los Altos Hills Director HC Sardinia, Italia

31/05/2012 31/05/2012

Ordinationes
OBALDIA Felix MURIUKI NJERU Michael LEITE PEREIRA Francisco Erlan FABISIAK Marcin GOLAS Maciej MUSIELAK Maciej PALKIJ Dominik WYZKIEWICZ Damian Sac Sac Sac Sac Sac Sac Sac Sac Orl Occ For Pol Pol Pol Pol Pol 05/05/2012 12/05/2012 18/05/2012 26/05/2012 26/05/2012 26/05/2012 26/05/2012 26/05/2012

Necrologium
Nomen WNUK Stanislaw PUTHENKANDAM George LIOU JEN-JIANG Joseph JOSEPH Paul P. Cond. Sac Sac Fra Fra Dies ob. 01/05/2012 05/05/2012 20/05/2012 30/05/2012 Prov. Mad InS Sin Occ Aet. 66 49 91 84 Voc. 49 26 69 56