Comboni Lay Missionaries

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20th Anniversary of the CLM in Brazil

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LMC BrasilIt is with great joy that we, the CLM of Brazil, celebrate this year the 20 years of the CLM – the Association of the Comboni Lay Missionaries, a juridical not for profit organization founded on May 31, 1997.

In 1995, a group of people from all over Brazil began to dream of the project of the CLM in São José dos Campos, SP. Those were the days of the great event that took place in Brazil, the COMLA 5, that pushed the Church much beyond its borders. After that, other meetings took place and finally 1997 saw the beginning of the first missionary community of CLM involved in formation and in the sharing of missionary life in the city of Contagem, MG.

After 20 years of existence the Association of Comboni Lay Missionaries has reasons to celebrate, in the light of a history of challenges, a lot of dedication, daring and perseverance, its existence as lay missionaries in the style of St. Daniel Comboni.

We continue in the call to follow Jesus Christ and we are inserted in challenging missionary areas at the side of the poorest and most abandoned of our society, both here and much beyond our borders.

In June we will hold the Yearly Assembly of the ACLM in Curitiba, PR. It will be a privileged time of communion and of sharing our vocation. On the 22nd, we will celebrate a Thanksgiving Mass for the 20 years of the ACLM in the parish of Santa Amelia. We wish to meet, reflect, evaluate, pray, make new plans and continue the “dream-challenge” of the Brazilian Church, totally missionary and open to the world.

Recently we have been living through some beautiful moments in our journey as CLM in Brazil, such as: the formation of groups of Comboni Spirituality and discernment in Curitiba and more recently in Balsas; our participation in the team of Coordination of the Comboni Family, with the various activities planned in common in missionary and vocation promotion; the strengthening in a short time of the CLM in Acailândia-Piquiá together with the Justice project of Raíles; the weddings and births that took place in this CLM Family; the special witness of some members at difficult times for the loss of dear ones and in the struggle to regain their health. In total, it is the commitment of each one on different fronts, persevering in the pro-life option.

There are also challenges and questions over how we must answer our vocation in these new times. What are the specific aspects of our identity? What do we need to change? How can we be more efficient in mission promotion and in promoting new vocations? Keeping in mind that mission is renewed by new missionaries, men and women willing to enter into the dynamics of a Church on the move.

We count on everyone’s prayers and wish to remain united to the great Comboni family spread around the world.

In the light of our reality, in the grace of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Aparecida, inspired by St. Daniel Comboni in the sequel of Jesus and united in our missionary journey to the Church in Brazil and in the world, we are ready to protect and foster each day the missionary call of the Comboni vocation.

LMC Brasil

With every best wish and friendship,

The CLM of Brazil

With Gratitude and Hope

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Final Message of the 150 Anniversary of the MCCJ institute

Simposium MCCJWe Comboni Missionaries coming from our different circumscriptions have gathered in Rome along with other members of the Comboni Family for the celebration of the 150 years of history of our Institute. For us all, to celebrate means first and foremost to recall our origins and the history God has been writing with us and with the peoples we have met on our journey. To remember is not an exercise in archaeology, but a living process of thanksgiving to God, entrusting our future into his hands. To remember is to set out again and afresh.

Our Heritage: From Gratitude to Faithfulness

The birth of our Institute did not happen in a laboratory. Rather, it is the fruit of a long process of life and mission. It was a painful birth at a time of major change in the world. We were born in a context of poverty, without any particular ecclesiastical, political and economic support. This event – in itself nearly unique in the history of the missionary movement of the XIX century – granted us greater freedom to respond to our special vocation. Even though the process of finding a juridical form for our mission was certainly not straightforward, it is clear that Comboni desired a family of missionaries with these distinguishing marks:

  • Ad vitam, namely missionaries not only available to offer their time, but also their very lives for the mission;
  • catholic, meaning not constrained by nationalistic mentalities;
  • in love with God and the peoples, making common cause with the poor.

Pope Francis tells us that “the joy of a missionary always shines against the backdrop of a grateful memory”. Gratitude means to know you are loved and then – moved by this love – to go out to share this experience with others. Gratitude is not static, but dynamic; gratitude is movement, inwards, outwards and forwards; it is a journey. In this perspective, the reunion of the Institute, the new Rule of Life, and the canonization of Saint Daniel Comboni become qualifying moments of our history and opportunities to set off again and continue his journey with creativity.

Gratitude means to recognise in our history God’s faithfulness, mirrored by the generous fidelity of countless confreres, both from the past and the present; faithfulness to the Gospel, to Comboni, to a challenging mission, to prayer, to evangelical poverty, to God’s people and to internationality.

Journeys of Regeneration

Today we have the tools for the study and a better knowledge of our Founder and our history, and this symposium contributed to this end. We are aware that whenever in history we have reconnected to Comboni and his charism we have taken a significant step forward.

A ‘reconfiguration’ of our Institute is necessary. We face the challenge of a type of mission that is always on the move, still far from fulfilment. The aging of the members of our Institute along with the decrease of vocations in many of our circumscriptions, the new paradigms of mission and our changed role within Local Churches are just a few of  the challenges that add anxiety to our present situation. Today mission calls for a kind of witness that goes far beyond works and questions our life-style; it also demands of us a total self-giving.

We believe that the reconfiguration of our Institute unfolds along four paths: spirituality, humility, fraternity and ministeriality.

  1. Spirituality. This is not only about rediscovering the beauty of prayer, but rather developing a spirituality of God’s presence in the history of peoples and lives of each person. The poor become our teachers with their faith and hope and they teach us this spirituality, without which we risk to become arid and lose the meaning of our missionary journey.
  2. Humility. Aware of our limitations and fragilities, we are called to move from being protagonists to being witnesses. Today it is not just “doing mission” that counts, but first and foremost “being mission”. Words and works are no longer enough, as there are many who can talk and work – even better than we do. The challenge ahead of us is to bear witness with our lives to the treasure we hold in our hearts.
  3. Fraternity. Many among us have expressed both in the conferences and in the group-work the desire that we love each other more, like brothers. We need to grow in the quality of our community relationships. This problem is all the more manifest in our poor community discernment and planning, as well as in the low quality of our brotherly sharing. Some among us do not feel at home in our communities. To be brothers means to give space to one another, even across cultures and ages, and oftentimes demands moments of reconciliation, also in a sacramental way. More fraternity would help us to link mission and consecration and would improve our community discernment.
  4. Ministeriality. Today’s new social contexts urge us to review our ministeriality. We need to be better qualified in different fields of evangelization, and to improve our team-work with other members of the Comboni Family and of the Local Church. Mission is the reference point for any formation program. Ministeriality alone is not enough if it is not grounded in Christ’s passion for humanity.

From this anniversary we set off once again, as brothers, aware of challenges and difficulties, but also full of hope:

“The missionary never loses heart in face of difficulties. All crosses are meritorious, because we work only for Christ and the mission” (Saint Daniel Comboni)

“May the Spirit make hope overflow in you” (Pope Francis)

Simposium MCCJ

A Missionary Holy Week in El Salvador

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LMC Guatemala…”Holy and capable, making common cause with the poorest and most abandoned” (St. Daniel Comboni)

We, the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala, want to share with joy the mission experience Mercedes Suy and Carolina Lorenzana had during Holy Week, on April 8-16 of this year.

They went to the parish of St. Anthony in Santa Tecla, El Salvador and this is their story:

On Saturday, April 8, at 6:00 a.m. we left Guatemala City for El Salvador. The bus trip lasted six and a half hours. We arrived at 12:30 p. m. and we were met at the bus station to be taken to the parish of St. Anthony where Fr. Juan José Hernández, mccj welcomed us and gave us lodging. In the afternoon we went to meet the community of San Rafael. That was our mission field.

On that same day we started the home visits that lasted through the week until Thursday. We visited many families where we told them about the CLM, and that we were from Guatemala. They listened to us with interest, but above all we listened about their needs, problems and illnesses. After a few days, another community called San José del Pino requested our presence,

We took part in the activities of the small community sharing the Word at the House of Prayer “Oratorio,” and we attended the Way of the Cross in both communities.

These are people who have been directly affected by the gangs and by juvenile delinquency. Many have relatives or friends who disappeared or were killed. These communities need a person to person mission, where they can be helped to rise beyond their many problems by giving them skills to work with, social assistance and a deep evangelization with continuing support.

Perhaps the mission was not great, but it was rich in missionary activity. We, the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala will continue to hold these missionary experiences ad gentes in order to nurture our CLM charism.

LMC GuatemalaCLM Guatemala

Missionary Exhibit and Meeting in Guatemala

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LMC Guatemala“Saints and able, making common cause with the poor and the needy” (St. Daniel Comboni)

We, the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala want to let you know that on the Saturday, April 1, organized a mission exhibit and a meeting at Casa Comboni, Guatemala. We joined with the missionaries of the parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria, with whom, since February 2016, we are cooperating in their missionary formation.

The parish is St. Catherine of Alexandria is in Santa Catarina Pinula, a municipality of the department of Guatemala City, located about 10 miles from the capital.

In some areas, this population is subjected to extreme poverty and crime because of the gangs, It is one of the “red Zones” of the city.

LMC GuatemalaThe objective of our activity was to invite the Comboni Missionaries living in Guatemala city so that their two communities, the CLM and the “missionaries of Catherine (as we call them with affection)would share with words and through visual aids, some of the experiences of 2016 and the missionary projects we have in store for 2017.

We enjoyed the presence of the Comboni Missionaries Fr. Pasquale Miniero, Fr. Carlos Rodríguez, Fr. Antonio Maria Bruyel, Fr. Vicente Clemente and, of course, our moderator Bro. Humberto Rua. The one who thought up this event was also present: Fr. Walter Santizo, a Guatemalan diocesan priest and the pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

At the end we shared a delicious lunch.

The basic idea by which the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala started this year is” “Saints and able united in a common cause to help the poorest and most needed.” This is how St. Daniel Comboni wants his missionaries to be.

We trust in Providence and entrust ourselves to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, just as St. Daniel Comboni taught us to do. God always walks ahead of us, shedding light on the path leading to the most needy.

CLM Guatemala