Comboni Lay Missionaries

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“I was in prison and you came to visit me”

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pastoral penitenciaria LMC Brasil
Prison ministry group with Father Adriano.

Among the various pastoral activities in the parish of Santo Domingo, led by the Comboni Missionaries in Nova Contagem, there is also the Prison Pastoral, carried forward by 15 volunteers, including Comboni Lay Missionaries, as part of the parish.

Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning, the group meets to visit the pavilions of the maximum security prison Nelson Hungría, located in Nova Contagem, with about 2,000 prisoners. The appointment is at 08:00 in the square next to the prison.

Prisons in Brazil, as elsewhere in the world, suffer high prison overcrowding due to a system with little attention to the recovery of the detainees.

Prisons of Minas Gerais, for example, can receive 32,000 prisoners, divided into 144 prisons, actually are 54,000 prisoners within the various units. This situation can only deteriorate the living conditions of prisoners, with a purpose of punishment more than re-education and re-socialization, with serious violations of human rights.

The action and commitment of the Prison Pastoral group, mostly made up of women, is to believe in the work of promoting human dignity, respect for human rights, and overcoming the limits of the current prison system in favor of a model that allows effective recovery and reintegration of the prisoner.

The most important of our pastoral action is the testimony of a God who does not discriminate any person in a place marked by contempt, prejudice and violence, making our own the words of the Gospel: “I was in prison and you came to visit me”. It is the teaching of Jesus, the method, the model, who heads the walk of this pastoral, recognizing the face of God in every person, even in prison.

There are many challenges and difficulties faced in our pastoral activities, such as excessive bureaucracy that often delays and complicates our work, controls, restrictions on visits, limited permissions; but this small group of volunteers face difficulties with courage. This also allowed in 2014, to create two groups of catechesis in prison and enabled some prisoners who had requested to receive the sacraments.

To this are fundamental the moments of ongoing formation we do each month, with a space dedicated for programming and training, allowing pastoral prison agent to know and learn the actions and information that will help improve visits to the prison and the relationship with prisoners. We also attend the training conducted by the diocese.

That’s the job of the prison ministry. A simple action, holding hands, meeting face to face, listening to the life stories of those who are on the other side of the bars in order to witness the justice and dignity of every human being, because as the Gospel says ” By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13, 35).

Emma Chiolini, Comboni Lay Missionary

 

Meeting General Councils of the Comboni Family

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ConsejosFCLast weekend we met in Carraia (home of the secular missionaries) the General Councils of the Comboni Family.
Like every year, this event helps us to be close and attentive to the news that each of the branches are having.
The morning, after a set time of prayer, was dedicate for sharing these progresses.
The Comboni missionary sisters told us their walk and especially the steps that have being taken to prepare the chapter this year as well as the reorganization of the institute taking into account the new realities. The Chapter is been prepare with a first experience in a concrete and challenging reality in every community which split reflection and sharing. Looking guide the institute toward truly significant presences, knowing that not all is graspable.
The Comboni missionary Secular told us their way from the last assembly and the challenges that arise. The importance of reappropriate its own history and experience of the charisma while remaining faithful in their everyday to their vocation, keeping growing and trying to maintain a spirit of collaboration with other secular institutes and the rest of the Comboni Family.
This year the new general counsel of the MCCJ told us their way of preparation and conduct of the general chapter, collecting the reflections arising in each province and each brother. The inspiration they have had in the teaching of Pope Francisco. And the central themes that have come during the Chapter on the Mission, the Person and the Restructuration of the Institute.
For our part, the CLM explain the great challenges we are trying to pursue. Especially seek to strengthen each group and the CLM family in general, work with each group and at continental level, the importance of communication, training and the economy, ending with the commitment and challenge that from the charisma is presented as Comboni Family referring to our missionary work and witness our missionary being.
Later in the afternoon, we had a period of reflection on mercy in the life and mission of St. Daniel Comboni from a text of Father Carmelo Casile. A rich sharing time, which also helped us think as a family.
The day ended with the joint celebration of the Eucharist and dinner in a cordial atmosphere. In Carraia we felt very welcomed by the secular missionaries and enjoying the good atmosphere that characterizes these meetings.

Greetings

Who sows in tears with joy harvest

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Piquia

It was a year of tears and seeds for the community of Piquiá de Baixo.

Many already know the proud, strong and firm struggle of this community in the municipality of Açailândia, Maranhão, Brazil. Almost thirty years suffering the devastating effects of pollution cycle in its mining and steel region, the inhabitants began more organized to denounce government neglect and responsibilities of industry, claiming – to begin with – the collective resettlement in an area free of pollution.

The new neighborhood, designed in a participatory manner by the community with competent technical advice, should be partly financed by a government program, as a project that was approved by the Federal Savings Bank still at the end of 2014.

Since early 2015, Piquiá de Baixo is awaiting the selection of the resettlement project. Approval promises were repeated throughout the months of the year, but the seed planted by the community much sweat seemed unwilling to sprout.

Meanwhile, other tears were shed for the environmental crime of the companies Vale and BHP-Billiton in the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo.

The people of Piquiá de Baixo were in Mariana few weeks before the disaster, participating in the meeting of the International Joint Affected by Vale. It is sad that communities have to be known and recognized by the tragedies and suffering they have in common. It is not what they would have pride in sharing; They do not want to be remembered by tears, but because of their resistance and victories.

Piquiá de Baixo planted many seeds of resistance throughout 2015. To keep the neighbors united, lively and well informed, many “circles of talks” were held in small groups around the houses. All the documentation of each resettlement beneficiary was organized. The community was articulated in several instances, to keep strong and not let the pressure to claim their rights from Municipal House of Councillors to the Maranhão State Government, from the Ministry of Cities to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH). In October, the president of the Community Association of Residents of Piquiá, supported by legal advice from the community, participated in a thematic hearing at the IACHR, in Washington, calling for urgent repair and mitigation of damages compared to the delegation of the Brazilian Government.

The harvest time delay, but it came!

On December 29, Neighborhood Association received the official title to the land where the community will be resettled.

On December 31, the Ministry of Cities published in the Official Journal of project the selection of the Community Association of Residents of Piquiá for resettlement. After a year and 14 days of waiting, the community finally has guaranteed financing for its new neighborhood!

Who sows in tears with joy harvest, says Psalm 126. Next week will proclaim the whole community in a community celebration in thanksgiving and to renew his strength.

Piquiá neighbors said that in other words to remember: “Our agony is our victory”. In persistent struggle, in the firm of who is not head down and do not give up, it’s already written a piece of victory as well as in the seed is hidden the outbreak.

It may take, but life will win!

Fr Dário MCCJ, Xoan Carlos CLM