Europe – Comboni Lay Missionaries

AMANI empowering the poorest and the most abandoned through Kitelakapel integrated community empowerment based organization -BEE keeping project….

15 June, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

Kitelakapel community has 90% of very poor and 10% of middle class consisting mainly teachers and local government officials who earn very poor pay and a few commercial farmers who suffer hot dry weather.

Kitelakapel is under kacheliba Parish-Kenya has 17 villages and 17 elders with a chief who works closely to see on the wellbeing of the people of the community through the Kitelakapel integrated Community Empowerment- Organization and projects, 175 members officially applied and joined the CBO to work together for their community and family households and we still receiving more applicants willing to join the group. The group was formed to empower the local people, the people love unity and self-support groups through which they are able get opportunities, save money, participate in economic activities like farming of animals, plants, Poultry, bee keeping, Mama Mbonga, market trading and other socio-economic activities and with support from AMANI international we are seeing good fruits and testimonies from local communities.

Special gratitude to AMANI….

AMANI is a Kiswahili word that means peace in the Kenyan language…. the more you empower the poor the more you achieve a peaceful and prosperous society.

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new beekeeping project implemented by kitelakapel in konyao, It was amazing and exciting to see the bees on our first day of installation of the bee hives . In the beginning of the project we started with identification and survay of land to start the bee keeping project after several meeetings with the KICE CBO board members ,Comboni Lay missionaries and parish MCCJ ,we agreed to take on 3 acres of land in konyoa town which land belongs to MCCJ kacheliba parish as per the memorum of understanding on the usage of the land and the value of the CBO Bee farming project.

With the donation from AMANI, We finally set up 50 bee hives and fenced them on 3acres of land in konyao –west pokot one hour drive from kitelakape village.

We managed to find support from the officer in charge of Bee farming from the county government ministry of agriculture West Pokot (Mrs Francisca) who guided us on how to fix them and attract bees.

A few local men where hired to carpentery, welding ,construction of the fence and clearing of the land,women breaking small stones for the fence while others making of the bee hives and others installing the bee hives in way they got temporary work and earned some little money to look after their families.We are lucky to also have the host family John Bosco the catetist of a charpel in the area of konyao who helped us with storage of the materials and bee hives and provied us some food during our visits to the beekeeping farm.

The project is being carried out with support of the local agricultural authorities and the community members. Our goal is not only to produce honey but also to create employment opportunities, support local development and promote environmentally friendly practices of Laudato Si.

ASANTE SANA (Thank you very much)…. AMANI from Kitelakapel integrated community Empowerment Community Based Organization and the people.

CLM community of Kitelakapel, Kenya

Message of the General Council for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

12 June, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

Rome, 12 June 2026 – Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Dear confrères,

On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are invited to return to the source of our vocation and mission. By contemplating the pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd, we recognise God’s immeasurable love for humanity: a love that becomes closeness, compassion, mercy, and the total gift of self.

The Heart of Jesus is not merely a symbol of our faith; it is the place where we learn God’s way of loving and the criterion by which we discern our missionary life. In it, we discover a love that excludes no one, that allows itself to be wounded by the suffering of the world, and that continues to seek those who are lost, forgotten, or cast aside.

Saint Daniel Comboni found in the Heart of Christ the secret of his missionary passion. From that contemplation was born his love for the most abandoned peoples and his ability to share their history until he truly felt them to be his brothers and sisters. For us too, “sons” of so great an Apostle of Africa, mission finds its origin and renewal in allowing ourselves to be shaped by the Heart of Jesus, so that our outlook, our choices, and our relationships may increasingly reflect his sentiments.

Pope Francis reminded us that “the Heart of Christ, which symbolises his personal centre from which his love for us flows, is the living core of the first proclamation” (Dilexit Nos, 32). Only by remaining united to this centre can we prevent mission from being reduced to efficiency, organisation, or mere activity. Before being workers, we are disciples; before speaking about Christ, we are called to allow ourselves to be transformed by his love.

We live in a world marked by deep wounds. Wars, violence, inequalities, forced migrations, and both old and new forms of poverty continue to affect millions of people. Many men and women seek hope, a listening ear, and dignity; many young people search for a future; numerous communities live in situations of fragility and uncertainty. Faced with these realities, the temptation of indifference or resignation is always lurking.

The Heart of Christ, however, calls us to courageous closeness. It invites us not to pass by, not to shut ourselves within our securities, but to share the lives of the peoples to whom we are sent. Mission is born precisely from this movement of the heart: going out of ourselves to encounter the other, recognising him or her as a brother or sister loved by God. By giving priority to the least, the most marginalised, and the poorest, to the point of longing, in the words of Daniel Comboni, to hold in our arms and give a kiss of peace and love to those unfortunate brothers and sisters of ours (cf. Writings, 2742). Yes, as Comboni missionaries, we are called to be a sign of this love that welcomes and reconciles, that creates fraternity and generates hope on the peripheries of the world.

Our presence in the various Churches and among the different peoples of the world gains credibility when it becomes a witness of communion, especially within our international and intercultural communities. The diversity of our origins is not an obstacle to mission but one of its most eloquent signs: the Gospel can unite what the world so often divides.

On this feast, therefore, let us ask for the grace of a missionary heart, capable of compassion, listening, and closeness; a heart free from every form of closure and willing to be troubled by the sufferings of the poorest and most abandoned; a heart able to recognise the presence of God in the human and existential peripheries of our time.

We entrust to the Sacred Heart of Jesus our Institute, the communities in which we live, the peoples whom we serve, and all those whom we carry in prayer and in our daily work. May this Heart renew within us the joy of the Gospel, rekindle the fire of mission, and make us credible witnesses of his love in the world.

With fraternal affection, we wish you a holy and joyful Feast.

The MCCJ General Council

Prayer Intentions of the Comboni Family June 2026

2 June, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

Faced with growing social and political polarisa-tion, conflicts, and wars in our world, may the Lord help us to build bridges, not walls, so that love may prevail over the barriers that seek to di-vide us. Let us pray.

African Day 2026

27 May, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

We’d like to share with you this conversation organized by AMANI, a Spanish NGO that collaborates with the CLM, featuring the coordinator of the Central Committee of the Comboni Lay Missionaries.

In this video, he shares a glimpse of Africa—particularly from the perspective of the LMC present on the continent—covering some history, dreams, and the commitment to remain faithful to the missionary vocation inspired by St. Daniel Comboni. (Video in Spanish)

May God bless you!

21 May, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

I have just completed my Community Experience.

It was a special time, a gift from God, to deepen and enrich my relationship with God and with others.

I am especially grateful to Edyta and Stanisław’s family, as well as their three children, with whom I spent these past few months. They opened their home and their generous hearts to me.

I warmly thank them for their kindness and understanding.

I also thank the Comboni Brothers and Fathers, as well as all the Comboni Lay Missionaries, for every gesture, every piece of good advice, every spiritual accompaniment, every meeting, formation session, presentation, and catechesis on Daniel Comboni, and for all the good they have done for me and continue to do.

During this Community Experience, I was also able to participate in the Ignatian spiritual retreat in silence and in numerous religious events. I also visited the tomb of the Servant of God Helenka Kmieć, whom I chose as the patron saint of my missionary ministry at the beginning of the Community Experience.

I thank you all for your prayers and ask you to continue praying for me, as my departure for Africa is scheduled in a few weeks.

Warm regards,

With my prayers,

Leszek, LMC Poland