Comboni Lay Missionaries

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Ecuador

Celebrating the Feast of St. Daniel Comboni in Ecuador

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LMC Ecuador

With joy, faith, and a missionary spirit, the Comboni Lay Missionaries in Ecuador celebrated the feast of St. Daniel Comboni on October 10 at the Afro-Ecuadorian Cultural Center in Guayaquil, in an atmosphere of fraternity, prayer, and community fellowship.

The day began with the celebration of Holy Mass, a special moment to give thanks for their shared missionary journey and to renew their commitment to continue living the Comboni charism in service to the poorest and most needy. Afterward, the participants shared a time of fellowship, strengthening the bonds of friendship, communion, and fraternity that animate the life of the community.

The celebration continued on October 11 with a brief tribute during Holy Mass at the Verbo Divino Parish, where the legacy of St. Daniel Comboni was also joyfully commemorated and the commitment to continue walking together in the mission was renewed.

These gatherings provided an opportunity to share our faith, give thanks for the gift of the missionary vocation, and reaffirm that the mission is built in community, through closeness, solidarity, and commitment to those most in need.

Inspired by the Comboni charism, the Comboni Lay Missionaries continue to bring the Gospel to life in their families, communities, and places of service, with the hope of contributing to a more just, fraternal, and supportive world.

Saint Daniel Comboni, continue to inspire and accompany our mission!

CLM Ecuador

ECOPAX in Ecuador

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LMC Ecuador

The Comboni Peace Teams ECOPAX is a civil association founded in Mexico, inspired by Brother Joel Cruz MCCJ, which is now taking root in Ecuador. It already has three Cultural Centers for Peace in Guayaquil, one of which is virtual, and one in the city of El Empalme. The Comboni Lay Missionaries of Ecuador are also part of these teams.

ECOPAX is a community made up of lay people who form teams and communities to reduce violence. How? By creating structures for training, planning, and accompanying groups and communities.

One of these Peace Teams has its center of activities in the Parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa, accompanied by John Villarroel CLM in Ecuador. On October 23, they had a gathering led by Fr. Serafin Kakwata MCCJ on the theme: “Peace in Families.”

This Saturday, October 25, the Afro Cultural Center of Guayaquil ECOPAX in Ecuador held its assembly, as established in its operating charter, in which the “Pillars of Peace in ECOPAX” were discussed.

John Villaroel, CLM Ecuador

Celebration of our founder’s feast day

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LMC Ecuador

The Comboni Family of Guayaquil, Ecuador, organized several activities to celebrate our founder, St. Daniel Comboni. A novena was held from October 1 to 9 this year at the Divine Word Missionaries, with the participation of parish groups, under the direction of Fr. Seraphin Kakwata, MCCJ.

Each day began with the missionary rosary focusing on the continents, followed by the Eucharist and the novena with readings from Comboni’s writings in order to increase knowledge and charism, not only among the members of the Comboni community, but also in the parish community.

For the feast day, we were joined by more parish groups, groups that are part of and collaborate with the Comboni Missionaries: the Afro Pastoral, Lay Missionaries, Ecopax, Friends of the Mission, Missionary America, and Prohuma.

On Friday, October 10, Mass was concelebrated by Fathers MCCJ Seraphin Kakwata, Fernando Flores, and Vicente Turinawe, who shared with the entire community present facts and stories about the mission and invited us to participate more actively in proclaiming the Gospel and helping communities.

At the end of the Eucharist, we were invited to a fraternal agape with the parish community, and we took the opportunity to talk and share our experiences as a Comboni family. Fr. Vicente Turinawe MCCJ from Uganda gave a presentation on some of the activities in his missionary journey and also on what has been done in the parish so far in 2025.

We give thanks for all that we have experienced and achieved during this time, which has strengthened us as a Comboni family and, in one way or another, is motivating others to share the missionary charism in the style of St. Daniel Comboni, not only among those of us who are on this journey but also among others who want to be part of this apostolate, aware that our work and action can be the seed that will bear fruit for the mission in the coming years.

Congratulations to all Comboni Missionaries on this celebration, which fills us with joy and rekindles in each one of us the love and commitment to the charism of our Founder and his zeal for the mission to the poorest and most needy in our places of action.

Greetings in Christ,

Abg. Susana Ortega Delgado, CLM

Our growing Ecuadorian community

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LMC Ecuador

In mid-2021, together with Fr. Joseph Ng’ang’a from Kenya, who was our Comboni chaplain, we invited people known within the mission and others who shared our charism to continue their formation and become part of our lay community.

Thus, after completing the formation and accompaniment, our aspirant Carlos Enrique Zamora Medina was accepted as a Comboni Lay Missionary on Sunday, June 1, 2025.

During the days leading up to the ceremony, there was an atmosphere of nervousness and tension due to the organization and development of the program to be carried out, which fortunately received the support and collaboration of several people who did their part to ensure that everything went according to plan.

The Mass was held at 10:00 a.m., together with the community of the Parish of “Our Lady of Fatima” in El Empalme, Province of Guayas. In addition to Carlos Zamora’s family and guests, those present at this celebration were attentive to every moment of the Mass celebrated by Fr. Seraphin Kakwata, our current Comboni advisor, who kept everyone very attentive at the moment of signing the commitment as a Comboni Lay Missionary. It was a very special moment, which was also shared with the lay missionaries who collaborate in the Pastoral Integration that is taking place at the Divine Word Missionaries in Guayaquil.

Later, in a sharing meeting, Carlos Zamora said that he had faced many obstacles in his life due to health reasons, which he had been able to overcome through the efforts and prayers of his mother. Despite this situation, he always showed a desire to be a missionary and do something for the Church and for God. He made the phrase “Life is giving time” his guiding light to discover God’s timing, resuming his sacramental formation and his high school, university, and pastoral studies, which he had put on hold.

Despite everything, he said that he was still not sure what the future held for him, but that this process had been a blessing from God for him and, above all, a good decision to follow Jesus’ call to his pastoral and lay life, and that together with his community he had been able to consolidate this desire for the Comboni mission.

With this important moment for our lay missionary community, we feel very happy and encouraged to follow the charism of our Founder, supported by one of his phrases, “Providence guided my mind and my heart,” and to continue trusting that these moments are from God and that he will help us to consolidate our community. (PHOTOS 6,7)

Greetings in Christ.

Abg. Susana Ortega Delgado, CLM

Our journey in Ecuador during 2023

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LMC Ecuador

At the beginning of the year we had a meeting with Fr. Seraphin Kakwata, MCCJ, who since 2022, is in charge of the Divine Word parish of the South Vicariate of the Archdiocese, located in the South East of Guayaquil, in the sector known as Guasmo Sur, who was concerned about the missionary animation that Fr. Enzo Ballazo maintained, wants to resume the activity and left his proposals for the future.

However, we could not leave aside the activities that we had planned with the candidates and those that were already part of our pastoral, such as:

  • RESA Foundation, accompaniment of foreign immigrants and their families;
  • Annunciation of Mary Chapel, of the Claretian Fathers, accompaniment in masses;
  • Archdiocesan Prison Ministry;
  • Immaculate Conception Parish, in the Extraordinary Ministry of Holy Communion;
  • Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians, in Catechesis, Animation and Bible Study Group.

At the beginning of September we received from Fr. Seraphin the proposal of the Project of Pastoral and Community Integration of the Comboni Lay Missionaries of the Province of Ecuador in Guayaquil, where we want to link not only the CLM but also other lay people who have accompanied Fr. Enzo in missions and who know the Comboni charism, so that together with the priests and MCCJ brothers they can live together and form a community collaborating for the benefit of the members and people of the Divine Word parish. This proposal has a duration of one year until October 2024.

So in October 2023, until the present date each lay person, alone or accompanied by another, we take turns each week and spend two or three days in the parish house, we participate in the activities that are held with the groups, masses, meals and others.

In a particular way, this missionary experience has been very fulfilling for the CLM because it has helped us to reinforce our charism and the importance of community life among Comboni Missionaries.

(PHOTO) Meeting of the CLM together with the lay collaborators, with Fr. Seraphin and Fr. Antonio in the Verbo Divino parish.

Unfortunately, it was not possible for the candidates to participate in this project, so they opted to withdraw from the formation.

We are trying to get some of the lay people who accompany us to join the CLM community, having already experienced the experience of the Divine Word parish.

Susana Ortega, CLM Ecuador