Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
Father Jorge Naranjo, a Comboni missionary, tells us in an interview about the reality of life since the outbreak of war in Sudan.
In particular, he tells us about the University in Khartoum, run by the Comboni missionaries, during the war and how training programs are being reestablished to serve young people and give hope to the Sudanese people.
(Interview in Spanish)
On December 25, the first Christmas celebration took place in the community center of Piquiá da Conquista, in Açailândia. Comboni priests, lay missionaries and the local community, made up of the neighborhood’s new residents, gathered. Piquiá da Conquista is the result of more than a decade of struggle by the people of Piquiá de Baixo, who faced unhealthy conditions and rights violations due to industrial pollution. This mobilization resulted in a historic victory: resettlement in a dignified space, where today the families are building a new life.
Marcelo Moutinho, a psychologist and Brazilian CLM, who took part in the celebration with his wife Adriana, says: “On a visit to Maranhão, I longed to return to Piquiá da Conquista, after the construction work had been completed, to witness and together celebrate this great victory, which will become an inspiration for the various challenges that Christians face in their day-to-day mission and struggles for human rights. The CLM in Brazil, through the different presences over the many years of the struggle of Xoáncar, Ilária, Federico, Liliana, Flávio, Gabriel, Anna and other supporters, together with the community of Comboni Fathers of this parish, have actively participated in various stages of this achievement”.
The Comboni Lay Missionaries, as part of the Comboni family, work in partnership with communities to evangelize and build social justice, being signs of hope and solidarity in the most challenging contexts of the Church, such as the indigenous cause, the challenges of the urban peripheries, Restorative Justice in the prison system (APACs) and the struggle for decent housing.
The celebration was a moment of deep spirituality and fraternity, symbolizing the rebirth of life and faith. May the example of struggle and resilience of this community inspire more people to join the Comboni mission of spreading the love, justice and peace that Christmas invites us to live. After all, the true meaning of Christmas lies in building a more just and humane world together.
Adriana and Marcelo Moutinho, Brazilian CLM couple
Want to know more?
In the midst of much struggle, demonstrations and death, Jesus is born in Mozambique. The people struggle to emerge from oppression. The pain of seeing friends suffering, mourning the loss of their loved ones also hurts me like a sharp sword. While some cry, others laugh. It’s not good to feel this pain, it’s not good to see people dying for the ambition of others.
He is our hope, the child God who is born is the hope of a people tired of suffering, of being oppressed.
We do celebrate Christmas, we rejoice at the news of the Savior’s arrival. But let’s not forget our responsibility towards those who suffer.
This is a different Christmas, with a strange feeling that mixes the joy of the arrival with the pain of a population marked by suffering.
Mozambique. Oh, my Mozambique, a land I’ve learned to love, people who make me feel Mozambican, how I wish for all this to end and for peace to come.
The Savior is born, may he come to save the Mozambican people and so many others who suffer.
Merry Christmas!
Dear confrères of the Province of Mozambique,
as the General Council, we follow with great concern the news and images of violence and destruction of public and private property coming out of Mozambique as a reaction to fraud and lack of transparency in the announcement of the results of the general elections – presidential, legislative, and provincial assemblies and governors – last 9th October.
The popular demonstrations, which were supposed to be peaceful, degenerated into acts of violence, which were forcefully repressed by the police forces – especially in the big cities –, causing over twenty deaths and hundreds of people injured. These manifestations of violence, which generate only hatred and death, anguish and fear, have prompted us to express, on behalf of the Institute, our closeness to each of you and to all the people of Mozambique.
We know that the whole country is going through a difficult time, and that, as a rule, those who end up suffering the harmful consequences of violent conflicts are the poorest and most defenceless people.
As the situation worsens, we ask all the confrères to remain vigilant and informed about events, and to show solidarity with those seeking truth and justice, in communion with the local Church. Undoubtedly, resilience can and must help us overcome the present adversity and find peaceful ways to give direction and hope to the people and the country.
Our presence in Mozambique over the past 77 years, inspired by the Word of God and the testimony of St. Daniel Comboni, has always stood out for its concrete ability to take on a style of mission that is committed and inserted in the reality of the people, and to make common cause with the joys and sorrows of those entrusted to us.
We encourage you, therefore, to continue to be in solidarity with the people around you, passing on to them the hope born of the Gospel. Today more than ever we are called to proclaim the Good News of peace as the only way to build a society based on respect for human dignity and concern for the most disadvantaged.
We thank God for your witness of dedication to the people with whom you share the mission, and we also feel solidarity with all Mozambican men and women who long for a better future and – today above all – for peace.
We also hope that the deep Christian tradition and the ancestral values of the people will be the pillar from which to start a serene and just reflection that will help overcome the current polarisation of forces between the government and civil society.
We pray for an immediate end to the violence in Mozambique and ask for the intercession of Saint Daniel Comboni that he may help you to live this painful moment with faith and hope.
May God bless you, protect you and give you the strength and wisdom to face these difficult times.
Let us remain united in solidarity, praying together for peace.
The MCCJ General Council
Greetings to all of you
We would like to share with you a video about the health care that our international community of Comboni Lay Missionaries is developing in Mongoumba, Central African Republic.
In it Cristina tells us about the different activities they carry out and presents us the reality of health care and especially the dedication to the Aka population.
Thank you all for your prayers and support to our CLM service in the places where we are present.
