We continue this series with Fr. Daniel Villaverde, a Comboni Missionary.
For 20 years, Fr. Daniel worked in northern Kenya with nomadic populations such as the Turkana. He talks about this and other tribes, the difficult terrain and the growing (and perhaps unstoppable) influence of Western values on the new urban Kenyan generations. (Interview in Spanish).
We continue this series with Fr. Enrique Bayo Mata, a Comboni Missionary who spent fifteen years in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fr. Enrique tells us about his rich experience of learning the African liturgy and his work on the continent, which includes, in addition to pastoral service, publishing, radio and television. For many years he has collaborated with the CLM in Congo, at the African level and even within the Central Committee of the CLM. (Interview in Spanish)
Last Saturday we held the regular meeting of the General Councils of the Comboni Family (Comboni Missionary Sisters, Secular Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus and Comboni Lay Missionaries).
As it is usual at in this time of pandemic, we had to do it online. Hopefully we will soon be able to return to face-to-face meetings that allow us to share and talk, and at the same time to be able to extend them and address more topics. The online meetings have helped us to stay in touch in these pandemic times, but we all looked forward to being able to meet face-to-face.
We started the meeting with a simple welcome and a common prayer that put us in situation.
We were able to dedicate a first moment to share the concerns that we are currently experiencing in the different branches of the Family and thus update each other.
The first topic to work on was the result of the work of the ministeriality commission. In particular, the members of this commission presented the results of the data collection that has been carried out at the international level and that were presented in the last webinar of March 5 and 6. We were able to deepen in some of the data that are being extracted about the projects and missionary presences in the different continents. We were also able to learn about the work proposal for the next webinar to be held on June 25 and 26. This third meeting will close the first cycle of work and we hope that new proposals for collaboration and joint deepening as Comboni Family in our missionary service will emerge.
We are very satisfied and grateful for the great work of the commission on ministeriality and the welcoming and participation of the members of the Comboni Family in these meetings.
We will try to hold a meeting to study these results in greater depth once the third meeting is over and we have the proposals for the future drawn by all.
After a break we evaluated the work of collaboration that we have been doing as a Comboni family in recent years following the proposals launched in the joint letter of 2017 “Beyond collaboration: under Comboni’s gaze“.
We use an online tool to evaluate by cards the positive aspects, the difficulties encountered and the proposals for future work.
We see that the family feeling that permeates our council meetings is very good and the accompaniment that we maintain of the progress of the different branches. We understand that this is not only due to the people who are currently there, but that it is something that happens and must continue to happen regardless of possible changes in the teams.
In the coming months the general assembly of the Secular Comboni Missionaries and later the chapter of the MCCJ will be held. We wish them all the best and accompany these commitments with prayer and a willingness to collaborate as a family. How to further deepen this collaboration is something we will continue to work on in future meetings.
Greetings to everyone.
Alberto de la Portilla, CLM Central Committee
We continue this series with Fr. Antonio Guirao Casanova, Comboni priest and missionary, who has been twenty-three years in Kenya. On this occasion, he tells us about his approach and coexistence with the semi-nomadic tribe of the Pokots. During that time, he has carried out essential work in the field of education in both rural and urban areas in the capital, Nairobi. (Interview in Spanish)
That the Holy Spirit may help us to discern the will of God for our pastoral ministry and to be always witness of cooperation and communion. Lord hear us.
