Alberto de la Portilla – Page 18 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Missionary sending of Cristina Paulek – from the mission of Ipê Amarelo to the mission in Central Africa

1 August, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

On July 23, 2023 we celebrated the sending of the Comboni Lay Missionary Cristina Paulek, in the community of Nossa Senhora Aparecida, in the Ipê Amarelo neighborhood, a Comboni parish in Contagem / Minas Gerais, where she was currently on mission.

It was an emotional moment of great joy and several reunions of the CLM family of Brazil.

Cristina is leaving for the Central African Republic after several years of missionary dedication in Brazilian lands. She began her work in 1998 in formation and then dedicated herself to the indigenous cause in Rondônia; since then she has developed various missionary works in the Association of Comboni Lay Missionaries, including as general coordinator and accompaniment of people in preparation to be CLM and to leave. Most of that time was spent in the Community of Ipê Amarelo, which now sends her on mission to other frontiers.

Present at this sending-off celebration were: Alejo Ramirez and his wife Terezinha Ramirez, Vanessa and Feliciano with their daughter Valentina, Adriana and Marcelo with their children Bernardo and Esther, Liliana and Flávio with their daughter Maria and also the founder of the Comboni Lay Missionaries in Brazil, Valdeci Ferreira, who on the occasion declared that he was surprised by Cristina’s decision, a joyful surprise. He also said that the dream of Africa has always been the missionary dream of the CLM project and that he thanks God for the gift of Cristina’s life and asks the whole community to be united with her in prayers.

After the Mass, we had a very special moment of farewell to Cristina, together with the community and all the lay people present at a lunch at the mission house, a moment of great joy and satisfaction. The lay couple Adriana and Marcelo declare that: “this was a very exciting moment that strengthens the bonds of the mission and gives a missionary sense to the life we live day by day, in our work in our base community, together with the education of our children Bernardo and Esther”.

The current coordinator of the laity in Brazil, Flávio Schmidt, who traveled 4 days from Maranhão to Ipê Amarelo with his family, highlights: “it is a moment of great joy for our group and for the movement as a whole. Cristina has already done a lot for the mission and now continues her missionary service in the lands of the heart of St. Daniel Comboni, together with the Comboni family present there. It is also inspiring that this sending out takes place on the day when the martyrdom of Fr. Ezequiel Ramín in Brazilian lands is remembered. Let us pray for her and for all the people who dedicate their lives to the construction of the Kingdom”.

We thank God for the gift of Cristina Paulek’s life and ask Him for His blessings so that this new missionary time in the heart of Africa may be a fruitful time of peace, joy and, above all, enthusiastic dissemination of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

We count on the prayers of all!

Adriana Moutinho, CLM Brazil

Sharing… so that life and dignity will not be denied to anyone.

27 July, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Hello everyone,

We are Ilaria and Federica, two Comboni lay missionaries belonging to the local group of Verona (Italy). We are here to tell about ourselves, not so much because of what we do, but to share the joy and beauty of participating in the life of this world despite its contradictions and difficulties. We live to express how much humanity in the everyday can be found wherever we go, embracing every brother in the Living God: He allows Himself to be encountered precisely in the most marginalized, the loneliest.

After a missionary experience in Uganda, we felt a deeper call that made us want to orient and dedicate our whole existence in a missionary life.

By chance, or rather through various God-coincidences, we met Fr. Eliseo, a Comboni priest and superior of the Motherhouse in Verona. From this meeting began a new Combonian journey in which so many questions and so many previous pieces, began to take life, form and answer precisely in this Family with which we rediscover the values in which we strongly believe, of an outgoing and universal Church that welcomes everyone but especially the last.

In this journey of knowledge, of life, we are also very grateful to the brothers/sisters of the local group of Verona; with them the journey in the Comboni charism becomes concrete in many initiatives of sharing, of participation in the local missionary life, of growth on a human, spiritual, social and faith level.

All this led us to mature the decision to train for an upcoming departure in an international Combonian lay mission, and for this reason we now find ourselves completing our formation by sharing a few months in a Comboni lay missionary community called “La Zattera,” Migrantes Second Reception Center, in Palermo.

The community is made up of a married couple Tony Scardamaglia and Dorotea Passantino and a woman Maria Montana, who 15 years ago had the intuition to create and personally experience welcoming migrants. Our daily life in addition to being enriched by sharing with their presence is also shared with 8 immigrants who live here. Daily life, which for them is a continuous conquest in the field of recognition of rights, becomes for us a school of formation to different cultures, to many “sacred” stories that enrich our daily life and make it special.

Our service then for a few days a week is dedicated to Centro Astalli, a voluntary association for the defense of rights, integration and inclusion of non-EU immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers where all services offered to users are first and second reception. For both of these realities, words are really little compared to fully experiencing all aspects of them. It is difficult to explain in a few lines the beauty that we experience and share with them every day; surely we understand that it is a great gift that we are receiving.

We have been here since mid-April and every day we try to live and grasp the Lord who passes through the daily gestures, in their faces and in the stories of their history. We have to say that Palermo is really amazing us, it is incredibly beautiful but not only the city, especially the people who represent it. From the first day we arrived, the welcome, passion and desire to help sets them apart. There is still very much a sense of helping each other here, a sense of belonging to a family, a sense of always living with an open heart for everyone. The local people really do their best to make you love this land of a thousand flavors.

In addition to this, we also met and shared a few moments with the Comboni fathers who are in the parish located in the Santa Lucia area and with the Comboni sisters who instead live in the parish of Nicola di Bari in the heart of the Ballarò neighborhood.

Our days are never the same, they are always open to a thousand changes, to the encounter with the Other by living in the here and now what the day offers you in complete gratuity and fullness.

We would also like to share a reflection that struck us a lot and that we believe can accompany us on whatever we do in our lives. It is a phrase by Don Tonino Bello: “Give others the true image of the Church: that is, people who welcome one another, who sympathize with one another, who are not liars, who have the language of transparency, who do not disguise things or disguise their person.”

We experience more and more that in order to change this hostile time, it is necessary for each person, in his or her own small way, to always take a step toward each other even when it costs so much, but it is indispensable to always take a step forward. We always believe that sharing with others leads to achieve unthinkable things in everyone’s life, that is why our dream of going out on mission and sharing we want it to be everyone’s, and everyone in his or her own small way to feel a part of that Church that is Everyone’s in its simplicity, transparency and in welcoming everyone.

We believe in it so much and we will never stop witnessing and trying to live it so that life and dignity will not be denied to anyone.

Thank you to those who gave us the opportunity to be able to share what we believe in and live.

If you want you can follow us on social where you will find all the ways to contact us and also become part of the future mission, goodness and this beautiful extended Combonian family.

Until next time, with many unexpected news and let us always be led by the Spirit!!!!!! Peace and joy.

Ilaria and Federica

Big surprise and greetings from global south at the evening prayer of the Comboni Lay Missionaries

25 July, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

New digital evening prayer open for interested people once a month – sometimes brings forth a surprise!

The Comboni Lay Missionaries in the German-speaking countries have introduced and tried out a new, open format: The upcoming meetings will initially consist of a digital evening prayer. This is to be kept rather short, so that it is possible for interested people to log in and participate once or spontaneously. Those who want to stay longer afterwards and still want to stay for an open exchange are welcome to do so with the group.

The second evening prayer with the new schedule designed by the CLM group took place on 23.7.2023. Youtube recordings of communities of the Comboni Family – in English, Italian, Brazilian, Spanish – were chosen as the introduction and outgoing songs to symbolize the worldwide connectedness of the CLM movement. The lyrics and images keep the global concerns current and present. Together we shared our thoughts around the Bible text from Paul’s letter (Romans 5) on peace, grace, hope, love. From this, Brigitte highlighted the importance of Christ and the importance of prayer for the most neglected, but also for the privileged decision makers. For St. Daniel Comboni the relation to Christ is as important as the relation to all kind of groups in society. The international prayer for mission of the Comboni-Family concludes the prayer.

In between, during our CLM zoom-session, the global church became present twice lively: Barbara Ludewig sent just-in-time greetings from Brazil, where she is currently on an update-visit with some friends with whom she lived, prayed and worked during her mission several years ago. Together they continue to share life’s challenges, sufferings and joys till today. Thanks to all the donors who have supported the CLM projects in Brazil over the years and now!

Another surprise then logged on from Bressanone with some minutes of technical delay: The Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries Father Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie and Brother Friedbert Tremmel (currently working for Missionary Awareness in South Tyrol and previously often present at meetings and actions of the CLM) digitally logged into the evening prayer unannounced. On the occasion of Father Eder’s 65th anniversary as a priest, they were both together in the Milland Mission House (and Friedbert knew we were meeting openly and surprised us). Father Tesfaye personally inquired about our current locations and missions and also remembered some meetings with lay people during his time in Ethiopia, among others Christine Hügler, who had been prepared through Comboni-Familiy members and had travelled out to work in projects of the Missionaries of Charity (“Mother Teresa Sisters”) ( https://comboni.de/briefe/selam-aus-aethiopien ). The Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries greeted us CLM community and wished us all the best. He blessed us and wished all the best for the future time, when the laity in the church will play an increasingly even more important role in the Church.

The next digital evening prayers open to all interested will take place on:

27.8.2023 from 20:00 / 8 p.m. Rome time (prepared by Barbara and CLMs)

24.09.2023 from 20:00 / 8 p.m. Rome time (prepared by Maria and CLMs)

29.10.2023 from 20:00 / 8 p.m. Rome time (prepared by Christoph and CLMs)

26.11.2023 from 20:00 / 8 p.m. Rome time (prepared by Willi and CLM)

Each date in zoom-room 67654472400 https://uni-bayreuth.zoom.us/j/67654472400?pwd=eXUxd1lzdG9vbEJ4WVNJZVk4cnFJQT09 with code: “IKL”

The next meetings in the Mission House in Nuremberg will take place on Fri-Sun 6.10.-8.10.2023 (possibly with a joint hike to the Sacred Heart Chapel in Velburg) and on

Fri-Sun 15.12.-17.12.2023 in the Mission House in Nuremberg (possibly with a live link to the CLM meeting on the African continent).

A warm invitation to all to one or several of these dates for prayer and exchange!

German CLM

Small stories, shared experiences

17 July, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

It is a new year that has already reached its halfway point, with many hopes we begin with joy this new stage in the CLM, trying that all of us in the community participate with our abilities and willing to learn more every day.

In the eagerness to simply share our experiences as a community, some of us have taken the time to share our joys, meditations and experiences about BEING CLM.

“On Sunday, the monthly CLM gathering was held at Casa Comboni in the small hall. Not all the Laity were present for different reasons. There were changes in the calendar for this month. The missionary animation was moved to May 28 and on April 30 we will arrive to make improvements in the Chispuditos program. The Mena couple had the task of making the altar and explained to us the meaning of what they placed.

In the formation we took the CLM group autonomy form, a very good reflection that led us to make decisions as a community. It was also said that each of us look for a donor for the mission, fight for the projects to buy a vehicle and build a mission house, also talk to the parish priest where we live to make more missionary animations.”

Mercedes

“On Thursday when I went to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I met a friend and I told him about the mission, about everything we were doing, about the Chispuditos program. He got excited and said it was a pity that he had already committed himself to a church group.

Another day a lady came to have an injection and we started to talk. She told me that she did not pray the rosary, but one day when she came with me I told her that I prayed it every day and made my petitions. That day she decided to pray it every day and that she thanked God for all the advice I gave her.

One day when I was coming back from church I met an old neighbor and she was very happy to see me, she hugged me and hugged me saying that she missed me, because just seeing me walking down the street she felt that I transmitted tranquility or security, she did not know how to explain it.”

Mirta

We share from the simplicity of heart and let you know that we are walking, getting to know each other more as a community, meeting our neighbors and placing ourselves at their service.

May God bless the mission, the CLM and may St. Daniel Comboni intercede for each one of us.

CLM Guatemala

Memory of Africa Project: María del Prado Fernández Martín

14 July, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

We continue this series of testimonies with the Comboni Sister María del Prado Fernández Martín.

Sister Prado Fernández, a Comboni Missionary, arrived in Africa in 1986 and lived for 30 years in different countries of the continent such as the Central African Republic, Chad or Congo until 2016.

In this interview, Prado tells us about her work as a missionary in areas such as health, education and pastoral care, making her work known through her journey. Above all, participating in the realities of the communities and what it has meant to her to share with the people.

(video in Spanish)