Alberto de la Portilla – Page 178 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

CLM formation in Ghana

29 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Since the Provincial Counsel has assigned Fr Godwin Kornu to journey with us, we have also started focusing on the formation process. In the line of this, we have our monthly formation at Bakpa-Avedo, an out-station of Mafi-Kumase, the quasi-parish where resides our chaplain. The theme should have been Comboni’s Faith, but father decided to talk first of all about FAITH. Father started by defining Faith in four ways:

Faith in something or in somebody.
Strong religious belief.
Faith in reference to a particular religion.
Faith used in conjunction with adjectives good or bad. To keep or to break faith.

The (b) is the one closer to our situation said the Rev. Fr. He said that faith is a gift from God and He is the initiator. To have faith in God is to surrender to Him. The faithfulness of God arouses faith. The one who believes will wait actively and Hope should give us joy. Our joy should not be circumstantial but should have its root in God. Faith does not go in contradiction with the reason but faith is higher than reason. Faith is, said father, compared to a seed which everybody has to develop. Prayer is the way by which faith can grow. But while praying, we should have in mind that our prayer can’t change God’s plan for us but prepare us to receive what God has for us.

After this presentation, we discussed some few issues. We concluded for all members to create a Small Christian Community (S.C.C.) at our various places as a way of our commitment. Through it, we can carry out some of our activities as far as Evangelization, Mission Animation, Vocation promotion and JPIC are concerned. We also decided to show our closeness, “common cause” to two of our members having some accidents. The 9^th May was at the end agreed on for our coming meeting at Abor, our CLM Center. After this, we had the agape.

Justin Nougnui, coordinator.

Visit to Italy

27 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the coordination meeting of the Italian CLM in Florence.

I appreciate the invitation of the CLM from Italy to share this time together. It was very interesting to know more deeply the reality of the different groups that are present throughout Italy. Each with a particularity and its own way. A reality closely linked to each specific place and expressed particularly by each group. The richness of the charism of Comboni is clear, and in Italy can be seen in the way that lay people try to stay faithful to this vocation. Some groups with great commitment to social level, working on JPIC issues like immigration (which is news in the media these days for the misfortunes in the Mediterranean), raising awareness in schools and doing missionary animation in parishes and area centers, heavily working the presence of community life as laity, with specific experience and new projects for opening, maintaining consistency in training the groups, with prayer as revitalizing center, etc. We had a specific time to know how things are going for Emma in Nova Contagem with the Brazilian CLM and Marco and Valentina in Piquiá (also in Brazil) and the support that the different groups provided them.

We also had a good time to talk about the reality of the CLM internationally, so that I could inform and exchange points of views. I encouraged them to communicate in the international blog what each group was doing. Something I always do in the groups. There is so much wealth that, it is a shame that others do not know it and when we exchange it everyone can grow.

I think Italy has a nice way to go to create synergies. Starting with the different groups within the country and of course in coordination with the CLM internationally. We create a large network where we can work together for a more fair, more human, more divine… world attending to the problems of men and women of our time from the 20 countries where we operate, exchanging ideas, experiences, contacts, support. On top of that, we are one big CLM family, united by the same charisma and intuition of Comboni that “this work (the mission) should be Catholic, and not specifically Spanish or French, German or Italian”. Comboni encourages us to continue working together, not seeking uniformity but synergy, commitment, collaboration, fraternal assistance to carry out Jesus’ call to mission. A family that worry and support each other for the good of the people.

In addition to the meeting I also had time to visit the group of Bologna and Venegono. Talk quietly, share concerns. I admit that I felt very comfortable at all times, in family. The best of these trips is to feel closely the warmth of each CLM, the enthusiasm for the mission, the commitment of everyone, beyond or within the labor and/or family obligations that as laypeople we face every day. The Faith and follow of the Lord that from every corner of the world we try to carry out every day.

I hope many others may join the group, in all countries, to continue serving the Lord in our smallest and needy brothers wherever He leads us.

Mozambique: NO to the ‘land-grabbers’

20 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Thirty Comboni missionaries who work in the Comboni provinces of Europe have participated in the “Symposium of Limone 2015”, an event organized by the European Group for Theological Reflection (GERT), from 7 to 11 of April at Limone sul Garda (Italy), the birthplace of Comboni. This year’s theme was: “To be good news today in Europe: to consolidate, deepen and envision.” At the end of the Symposium, the participants signed a statement condemning the project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of the Government of Mozambique, who is about to grant 102,000 square km of fertile land (one third of Italy) to the Consortium ProSAVANA, made up of Mozambican, Japanese and Brazilian entrepreneurs. Below we report the press release of the missionaries.

Mozambique: NO to the ‘land-grabbers’

In these days in Mozambique is taking place another serious chapter of the land grabbers: the so-called land-grabbing.

In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of the Government of Maputo has published a document of 204 pages in which it is implied the sale of 102,000 square km of land (one third of Italy) to the Consortium ProSAVANA made up of Mozambican, Japanese and Brazilian entrepreneurs. These fertile lands are found in the northern parts of Nampula, Niassa and Zambézia. In these regions are concentrated 4.2 million people. It is amazing that Mozambique, which has about 30 million hectares of arable land, intends to yield 10.2 million hectares to a private consortium.

The Government of Maputo said that this project will help small farmers and the feeding of the population, while we very well know that this project will use very little of the local labor because high technological mechanical means will be used and the end product will solely be for export.

Where will all this population end up when removed from their land? And what will be the environmental impact of such mega-project? What will be the repercussion on the underground water resources? And, finally, what political effects will have on the fragile balance on which today the peace in Mozambique is holding on?

In support of the local farmers’ associations and of our confreres and Sisters who work with them, we Comboni missionaries and Comboni Sisters, Comboni Secular missionaries and Lay Comboni of Italy and Europe, gathered here in Limone sul Garda, the birthplace of St. Daniel Comboni, raise a warning cry against this latest act of ‘land grabbing’ that will be severely paid by over 4 million people living in those regions.

Limone sul Garda, April 10, 2015

Father Alberto Pelucchi, Vicario Generale dei Missionari Comboniani
Father Alex Zanotelli, Direttore di Mosaico di Pace, Napoli
Father Antonio Guarino, Castel Volturno, Napoli
Father Antonio Porcellato, SMA, Vicario Generale, Roma
Father Arlindo Pinto, Coordinatore di Giustizia e Pace, Roma
Father Benito De Marchi, Inghilterra
Father Dario Balula Chaves, Portogallo
Father Domenico Guarino, Palermo
Father Efrem Tresoldi, Direttore di Nigrizia, Verona
Father Fernando Zolli, Firenze
Father Gianluca Contini, Roma
Father Gino Pastore, Troia
Father Giorgio Padovan, Brasile
Father Giovanni Munari, Superiore Provinciale dei Comboniani in Italia
Father Guillermo Aguinaga, Polonia
Father Juan Antonio Fraile, Spagna
Father Karl Peinhopf, Superiore Provinciale dei Comboniani di lingua tedesca
Father Martin Devenish, Superiore Provinciale dei Comboniani del Regno Unito
Father Ottavio Raimondo, Bari
Father Palmiro Mileto, Bari
Father Pierpaolo Monella, Limone sul Garda
Sister Dorina Tadiello, Superiora Provinciale delle Comboniane in Italia
Sister Fernanda Cristinelli, Comboniana, Roma
Sister Kathia Di Serio, Comboniana, Verona
Carmelo Dotolo, Pontificia Università Urbaniana, Roma
Clara Carvalho, Secolare Comboniana, Portogallo
CLM community, La Zattera, Palermo
Felicetta Parisi, Napoli
Brother Friedbert Tremmel, Germania
Maria Lucia Ziliotto, Secolare Comboniana, Treviso

Attached:

Comunicado_de_imprensa_ProSAVANA.pdf

Master_Plan_ProSAVANA.pdf

Missionary Animation in Lijó – Barcelos

19 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

A week after Easter, and echoing the words of the risen Christ: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (Jn 20:21), the community of life of Porto went and shared their experience of missionary life in the parish of St. Mary of Lijó (Barcelos).

The adventure began Friday night with the youth group Gaudium, with whom we spent a good lively and full of missionary spirit afternoon. On Saturday, after a morning dedicated to share, to liturgical reflection and reflection on the CLM identity (according to the challenge of the last International Assembly in Maia), we spent the afternoon with youth catechesis of 7th, 8th , 9th and 10th year. An evening full of life and missionary sharing culminating with the celebration of the Eucharist with the entire parish community.

Our Sunday was filled of Eucharistic celebration, in every moment, missionary proclamation, was guided not only by the missionary joy, but also for the welcome and generous availability of the entire parish community. The day and the activity ended with a “thank you” flowing from the heart. A “thank you” extended to the whole community and, in particular, to the young people and the catechumens who modified their programs and schedules to be with us and, in a special way to the priest -Father João Granja- who spared no effort to join us all over the weekend. In fact, “the hand of the Lord has done wonders, the Lord’s hand was magnificent” [Ps 117 (118)].

CLM Portugal

Visit the House of Mission Santa Terezinha, Comboni Lay Missionaries

16 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

My trip to the house of Mission of the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) take placed between 4^th and 10^th of March of this year. I was fortunate to meet the Comboni Missionaries in August 2014 in Piquiá, Açailândia (MA) and this visit to Ipê Amarelo, was certainly inspiring to my vocation, find more lay and watch their actions and activities is indeed the way to clarify the dedication of some years of my life to the mission.

“Here I come, with pleasure, to do your will Lord” (Ps. 39)

I attended the meeting of the Pastoral Care of Children, the paint workshop for women, youth group, disciples of Emmaus, catechesis and the Way of the Cross in the Community. Activities that I experience in my community San José de Egypt, Parish of Our Lady of Fatima in Imperatriz / Maranhão.

In the days when I was in Nova Contagem, Minas Gerais, I could see projects, as the Combonis House Justice and Peace, the space called “Hope” in the community of Our Lady Auxiliadora – ACCSA and even from a little further the project of the Industrial School of Carapira in Mozambique, through our conversations with Lourdes.

Undoubtedly, every detail has marked this experience, especially the affection of all, the sharing and the prayer requests by Lourdes to each member of the communities we passed, it is important for this phase of decision.

“I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and found that life was service. I served and I found happiness”.

Raylene Bananeira

Emperatriz-Maranhão