JPIC_en – Page 29 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Some are beautiful victories

19 May, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

Some are beautiful victories, small achievements born from battles with the taste of effort, commitment, hope, design, dream, but most are the result of a long journey of one who never gave up, despite the difficulties.

These small victories are joys that can be shared in the work team made up of people who believe in what they do, that with confidence and humility make possible every day the daily work of the prison ministry.

Today, finally, we began catechesis in the maximum-security prison of Nelson Hungary.

Our joy, along with those involved, came after a long wait, because of the necessary permits, bureaucratic entanglements that normally discouraged many… BUT NOT US! We have kept the faith and constancy in our goal trying to make possible an order made by the prisoners themselves, mediating with the “institutional” part who have no confidence in the recovery and development work with prisoners. Some believe it is wasted time, not worth it, that those who are in prison has no right, not even to seek God or themselves, just to be inside a dark cell. However, it is precisely in this darkness that comes the desire to “see”, to meet again, to embrace the mystery that strikes the human soul. Nobody has the right to deny the necessity and spiritual quest that is proper to the human being. Therefore, our struggle was to meet a demand that comes from a personal search, a desire to seek God and look to oneself.

Today begins a new path with a small group of prisoners, and finally, in a room where you can put in a circle, freely, without any impediment bars, handcuffs, dividers of physical space, security agents.

It is very exciting what is shared, strong, human, full of questions and desires. Roads that we built together, where everybody shares and enrich the other, where they teach one another, where emotions, joys and wounds of life to be reconstructed are communicated, a life that does not feel lost or ruined by the weight of guilt or conviction of individuals.

Be blessed this path, be blessed this thirst for God that magnifies the heart, that breaks borders and prison bars made of flesh and humanity in searching the path.

Hurrah for the life that is able to birth and grow, Hurrah for the people who help to grow, hurrah for the will to place on the road and not being afraid to do so.

Among the prisoners’ rights that must be respected it is the right to religious assistance.

All prisoners have freedom of religious worship, and the right to practice in their prison unit; nobody is forced to participate if they do not want to.

Emma, CLM in Brazil

Heed the Missionary Call

16 May, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

Forgive us our debts!

5 May, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

From 22 to 24 of April, I participated in Uberlandia, a city of Minas Gerais, in the Regional Prison Pastoral Assembly, an annual meeting that brings together all representatives of the State of Minas Gerais who work in this ministry. The theme was: Ecumenism, Justice and Mercy.

A justice who is the mother of peace, justice that is done with Mercy and Truth, justice is not only done with reason, not only with the heart, but Justice which is reason and heart together.

Justice often suffer from a stifling bureaucracy, old and conservative, a corruption that is evil in the world, who forgets to be restorative, seeking the good of all, to be punitive and elitist. There is an African proverb that says “in the trials you should go with a sewing needle and not with a knife to cut”, a justice that works to bring the lost humanity, even when you are guilty, because only through an act of mercy and not of condemnation will come the change, life and hope. If I did not believe it, I could not do my missionary service in the Prison Pastoral Care, where three times a week I meet the prisoners of male and female prison. It is my daily Gospel, where the wounds of guilt bleed and cause pain to whom committed the crime and to whom received it: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”.

To know how to forgive, to listen, through a journey that is done together, guilty and victim, through a reconciliation that completely changes your life, the weight of guilt and the weight of hatred.

In the days of the Assembly, I strongly felt my commitment to this path, as well as my colleagues who volunteer in prisons. None of us receives a salary, or admiration from people, on the contrary, they see us as “friends of the bandits and vagabonds” because the prisoners are considered the world’s waste, an evil to be eradicated rather to recover.

Everything we do is the result of our passion and our conviction of faith for a prison which can educate and not just punish, which can be more dignified and respectful, who knows how to create mercy and peace.

Brazil ranks fourth among countries with the highest number of prisoners in the world, after the United States, Russia and China. Human rights are not welcome in Brazilian prisons and other prisons in the world, this is also our “struggle” for full recognition.

Overcrowding, nonexistent sanitation, mice make detainees company, physical and psychological violence, illegal activities. All this happens when you visit prisons, where humanity and legality have no meaning in a complete contradiction with a structure create to rebuild and secure these values. These are the reflections, proposals and commitments we talked in our meeting, which encouraged and inspired our YES to this pastoral, remembering that there is no crime or sin that can eliminate man from the heart of the Merciful God.

Emma, CLM

Starts the cause of beatification of Father Ezekiel Ramin

18 April, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

The diocesan phase of the beatification process of “Servant of God” Father Ezekiel Ramin – already proclaimed “martyr of charity” by Pope John Paul II – began with the first public meeting on Saturday 9 April in the Italian city of Padua. Father “Lele” Ramin, a Comboni Misionary of Padua, died on July 24, 1985 in Cacoal, Brazil. Research on the reputation of holiness, based on the “super martyrdom” shows an awareness that the religious died in defense of its own faith, of peace and justice.

The work on the rogatory process opened in the church of the Comboni Missionaries in Via San Giovanni Verdara in Padua, with the institution of the court on the process “super martyrdom” and the oath of components. After a moment of prayer, Archbishop Pietro Brazzale, general coordinator of the rogatory presented the motivations and meaning. This was followed by the oath of Bishop Claudio Cipolla and members of the Tribunal for the diocesan rogatory: the delegate judge Mgr Giuseppe Zanon; the promoter of justice Fr. Antonio Medio; notary attorney of the minutes, Mariano Paolin, and notary and deputy general coordinator of the rogatory, Msgr. Pietro Brazzale.

Acceptance for a Better Europe

14 April, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

Forty Comboni Missionaries and Comboni Sisters stationed in the provinces of Europe took part in the Limone Symposium 2016, an event organized by the European Group of Theological Reflection that took place at St. Daniel Comboni’s birthplace on the shores of Lake Garda in Limone, Italy from March 29 to April 2. The topic for this year was, “Migration and Mission.” Refugees ad migrants must be treated s brothers and sisters and seen as an opportunity for building a more pluralistic society and for strengthening inter-religious dialogue. The European Union should stop the sale of weapons and should instead foster an end to injustice and war. What follows is the Statement of the Comboni Family, signed by the participants of the Symposium.

A Statement of the Comboni Family

ACCEPTANCE FOR A BETTER EUROPE

At the conclusion of the Symposium of Limone on Lake Garda 2016 (March 29-April 2, 2016), held on the topic of “Mission and Migration,” we, Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Missionary Sisters, Secular and Lay Comboni Missionaries working in various countries in Europe, want to express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters who come to us as they flee from war, persecution, dictatorships and environmental crises.

We state that accepting the stranger, as Pope Francis has strongly underlined = “refugees are the living flesh of Christ” – is a fundamental dictate of the Gospel. We also wish to stress that our openness to others, to their cultural and religious diversity is a source of growth which enriches our identity as human beings and as Christians.

We worry about the increase of prejudice and of feelings of Islamophobia in our society, peddled by politicians and intellectuals who, by way of gross simplifications, do not seem to want to distinguish between Islam and Islamic terrorism, often insinuating that violence is part of the very fabric of the religion of Islam. This prejudice and these hostile stands strengthen feelings of exclusion in our Muslim brothers and sisters. The consequences are particularly destructive among the young members of second-generation immigrants, who more easily than others may end up joining the ranks of the Islamic State.

We unequivocally state our commitment in favor of inter-religious dialogue, of the deeper understanding of other faiths, and our common stand in the rebuilding of a society based on respect for diversity and religious plurality. We can only envision the existence of a pluralistic humankind.

As members of the Comboni Family in Europe we wish to express our total condemnation of the recent agreement on migration between the European Union and Turkey (March 18, 2016). The closing of borders by several European countries in order to block the entrance of refugees and the deportation of so-called illegal immigrants is a clear violation of international agreements legalizing the right of asylum. We believe that the presence of immigrants in our countries is a social, cultural and even economic asset.

While Europe is busy building walls to block the exodus of refugees – exodus determined mainly by wars in the Middle East and in Libya – too little is being done to put an end to these conflicts that are the reason for this forced migration. Therefore, we demand that our governments stop the sale of weapons to warring nations and exercise pressure on these countries so that they may arrive to a peaceful solution.

As members of the Comboni Family we apologize for our silence as we face the scandal of the race towards global rearmament. We recognize our complicity with this financial-economic system that allows a few to own almost everything, thus robbing a large segment of humankind of what is necessary, a system that needs weapons and wars in order to survive.

As Christians, disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, we renew our commitment to the building of a more just and livable world for all.
Limone sul Garda, Italy
Saturday, April 2, 2016