Italy – Comboni Lay Missionaries

CLM: From collaboration to co-responsibility in mission

8 September, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

Around forty Italian Comboni Lay Missionaries spent the weekend of September 5–6 at the Comboni Generalate in Rome for their annual assembly. The Superior General, Father Luigi Codianni, left them a message of gratitude and encouragement to walk together, both at the national and international levels.

Dear friends,

It is a great joy for me to meet you here, in our house in Rome, on the occasion of your gathering. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for your presence, for the journey you are undertaking, and above all for your commitment to mission.

I would like to begin precisely with a thank you. Thank you for who you are and for what you do; thank you for your availability, for the time you place at the service of mission, for your energy, your skills, your passion, and also for your families, who often share and support your missionary choices.

Today, mission can no longer be thought of solely as the task of consecrated persons. Mission belongs to the Church and, within the Church, it belongs to all the baptized. For this reason, your presence as Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) is not something marginal or merely complementary to the mission of the Comboni Missionaries. It is a presence that enriches the mission and helps us to understand ever better what it means to be a missionary Church.

A history to cherish and renew

I would also like to recognize in you a great resource and a great potential for Comboni lay missionary work.

The CLM in Italy have an important history, built over the years through many people, many experiences, many departures and returns, many moments of enthusiasm, but also, certainly, moments of struggle and difficulty.

It is a history that must not be forgotten. A history to be cherished, but not simply preserved.

A living history is, in fact, a history capable of renewing itself.

The charism of Saint Daniel Comboni is not a heritage to be placed in a display case and looked at nostalgically. It is a gift of the Spirit entrusted to the Church, which every generation is called to embody in its own time.

For this reason, I encourage you to keep your Comboni missionary identity alive, continually seeking to understand how Comboni’s charism can be lived today, in the concrete circumstances of our world.

Being faithful to the charism does not simply mean repeating what was done in the past. It means having the same missionary heart as Comboni and, with that heart, knowing how to read the present and face new challenges.

Allowing ourselves to be renewed by mission

For this reason, I would like to urge you to remain open, available, and capable of allowing yourselves to be continually renewed by mission.

We live in a world that is changing rapidly. Societies are changing, Churches are changing, political and economic situations are changing, means of communication are changing, as is the way people live their faith.

Therefore, mission also calls us to change.

We cannot simply limit ourselves to repeating familiar patterns. We are called to discern the signs of the times and continually ask ourselves: Where is the Lord calling us today? What does the mission need? Where can we place at its service what we are and what we have received?

In this sense, your international missionary experience is a great treasure.

Italian CLM have taken on important responsibilities in different parts of the world: Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Kenya, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic. These presences should not be regarded simply as individual personal experiences. They are part of a larger journey and represent a responsibility for the entire Comboni family.

Mission, in fact, asks us to go beyond ourselves and our securities. It calls us to be ready to leave, but also ready to change, to listen, to learn from local Churches and from the people with whom we share our lives.

The missionary does not arrive with everything already decided. He or she arrives to meet, listen, share, and build together.

A missionary family called to grow in communion

I would then like to invite you to take a further step in strengthening your communion.

You have a national dimension, but you are part of a reality that is now clearly international. This international dimension is a great richness, but it also entails responsibility.

We must avoid the risk that every group, every country, or every reality simply proceeds on its own.

Being CLM means feeling part of something greater. It means being able to say: this is my community, this is my group, but this is also my international missionary family.

For this reason, it is important to work more intensively on cohesion among the different groups, fostering mutual knowledge, communication, the sharing of experiences, and greater co-responsibility.

And co-responsibility cannot be merely pastoral. It is also economic.

When we say that we are a family, we must also be willing to share in the difficulties of others. We cannot think only of the needs of our own local reality. We must have a broader vision and ask ourselves how we can support CLM who live in situations of greater vulnerability in other parts of the world.

This concrete solidarity is one of the most beautiful expressions of missionary fraternity.

Walking together at national and international level

I would also like to encourage you to maintain good harmony between the decisions you make at the national level and the journey that the CLM are undertaking internationally.

I am thinking in particular of the decisions and guidelines that emerged from the most recent Assembly in Maia, Portugal.

The international journey should not be perceived as something distant from the Italian reality. On the contrary, it should become a point of reference for everyone.

We are called to walk together, recognizing that the various national realities certainly have their own characteristics, but belong to one family and share the same missionary vocation.

This is particularly important at this time, as the process is underway for the recognition of the CLM as an International Association of the Faithful by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

This is an important step that requires maturity, an ecclesial spirit, and the ability to take responsibility.

For this reason, it is important that national realities know how to engage with one another, dialogue, and harmonize their journey with the international one.

Strengthening the sense of belonging

I would also like to remind you of an aspect that I consider fundamental: the sense of belonging.

It is not enough to be CLM simply because one participates in some missionary activity or has had an experience in mission.

Being CLM means belonging to a community, sharing a journey, recognizing oneself in a vocation, and feeling responsible for one another.

A sense of belonging does not arise automatically. It must be cultivated.

For this reason, constant work in animation, accompaniment, and formation is important. We need to help people understand ever more deeply what it means to be Comboni Lay Missionaries and accompany them through the different stages of their lives and journeys.

This is especially true for young people and for those who are approaching the CLM reality.

We need genuine lay missionary vocational promotion. We cannot simply wait for people to come to us. We must go out to meet them, tell them about the beauty of mission, bear witness to what it means to live the Gospel in everyday life, and show that, even today, there is a missionary calling for lay people.

Mission needs vocations. And it needs mature, generous, available vocations, capable of living mission not as an individual experience, but as an ecclesial journey.

Mission needs lay people

Finally, I would like to emphasize a conviction that I consider particularly important: today, perhaps more than in the past, mission needs lay men and women.

It needs their professional skills, their experience, their creativity, their ability to live within society and to enter into relationships with environments where we religious often find it more difficult to enter.

But above all, mission needs their witness.

The world does not need only people who speak about mission. It needs men and women who know how to live the Gospel in everyday life: at work, in the family, in society, in relationships, and in the concrete situations in which they find themselves.

For this reason, your vocation is not simply a form of collaboration with us, the Comboni Missionaries. It is a missionary vocation in its own right.

We are called to recognize it, accompany it, value it, and help it grow.

A collaboration that enriches us all

For our part, I would like to assure you that the Comboni Missionaries will continue to be open and available to your presence and collaboration.

But I would also like to say something more: we do not consider your presence merely as help that you offer to us.

We also receive a great deal from you.

Your presence challenges us. It helps us to look at mission from different perspectives. It reminds us that the Gospel must enter into the concrete lives of people and families. It helps us understand that the Comboni charism can be lived in different and complementary ways.

For this reason, we must increasingly learn to walk together, not alongside one another, but with one another.

This, in my view, is the challenge before us: to move from simple collaboration to true co-responsibility in mission.

Looking to the future with hope

Dear CLM, you have a beautiful history behind you, but above all you have a future to build.

Do not be afraid of difficulties. Do not be afraid of change. Do not be afraid to ask new questions.

Instead, have the courage to discern, the courage to dream, the courage to take responsibility, and the courage to renew what needs to be renewed.

Saint Daniel Comboni believed in the possibility of a mission that seemed impossible. He had the courage to look beyond the difficulties of his time and to place his trust in God.

Today, we too are called to have that same courage.

Give thanks, then, for the history you have received.

Cherish what is precious.

Renew what needs to be renewed.

Share responsibilities.

Build greater unity among yourselves.

Open yourselves to the international dimension.

And above all, continue to allow yourselves to be guided by the Spirit, because He is the true protagonist of mission.

For our part, as Comboni Missionaries, we wish to continue walking with you, sharing what we are, what we have, and what the Lord has entrusted to us.

Let us entrust this journey of yours to Saint Daniel Comboni, that he may continue to inspire and accompany you in the choices you are called to make.

And let us also entrust ourselves to the Mother of God, our Mother, that she may intercede for each and every one of you, for your families, your communities, and for all CLM throughout the world.

May the Lord bless you, accompany you, and make you ever more joyful and credible witnesses of the Gospel and of mission.

Father Luigi Codianni, MCCJ

Walking with the People of Carapira: Together for a Future of Hope

18 May, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

We are writing to you from northern Mozambique to share the joys and challenges of our missionary work, made possible by your prayers and your ongoing, invaluable support. We are focusing our efforts on development projects in various fields: literacy, training for mothers and young people, self-sufficiency, and economic development. Maria Augusta leads the work with elementary school students who have serious difficulties with reading and writing. Twice a day, she works primarily with young girls who, for a couple of hours, learn and reinforce what they cannot manage to do in three hours of school in a class of one hundred students. Ilaria focuses on economic education, an important aspect in a cultural context that does not know the concept of saving and where the tradition is to spend immediately what one earns; a work of patience, knowing that the hoped-for results cannot be achieved in the short term. Federica focuses on the education of young people because they are the future of this country. While until recently they were the ones setting fires in the savanna and blocking roads due to political dissatisfaction, today we work with them to instill values such as peace, environmental stewardship, and the ability to think creatively and plan for a better future.

The challenges we face are quite daunting: poverty and the destruction caused by a cyclone, as happened recently, cannot be wiped away with a quick sweep of a sponge, but we believe that building on people and with people can yield positive results. That is why we strive every day to work toward transforming people’s lives through practical training and education. At the Carapira secondary school, we also offer intensive formation in human and Gospel values; the curriculum includes both theoretical and hands-on components. Furthermore, we strive to ensure that these 250 students, who live far from their respective communities, do not miss out on catechetical formation.

We do this every Friday, walking with them on an annual journey enriched by retreats and outings that bring them into contact with real-life experiences. We are also happy to participate in the dynamic life of Carapira’s 99 communities; the parish includes, in addition to the center, five regions and 21 pastoral zones. Our goal is to help people become as self-reliant as possible in managing their own lives. We are firmly convinced that simply giving things or money does not solve problems. Of course, practical help is also needed, but if it is not supported by training and a journey of awareness, it makes people dependent. With all our hearts, we try not to create injustices in a country that has already seen so many, and to share our daily lives with them. The context is difficult: corruption and discrimination of every kind, and few job opportunities.

All this stands in contrast to the country’s abundant natural resources, which, instead of being a source of wealth for Mozambique, become the focus of interest for foreign countries, including Italy. In Nampula, an hour away from us, there are still refugee camps housing those who have fled the Islamist terrorism still ongoing in Cabo Delgado. This violence is driven not so much by religious motives as by the desire to control the territory. We engage in our local context based on communal discernment. And the resilience of our people encourages us to continue doing so. We are currently supporting a project to combat malnutrition by helping 40 mothers care for their young children, who would otherwise risk dying from lack of food. We have also planned to renovate the kitchen at the secondary school, which is in a state of great disrepair, largely due to years of smoke damage. This deterioration has an impact on the health of the students and school staff. We are grateful to all those who contribute to our work, both morally and materially. In this way, you share in the work of witness and love that helps us transform our lives and those of the people who have welcomed us. Muito obrigada (thank you in Portuguese)!

Koxukhuru vanjene (thank you very much, in the Macua language)!

Federica and Ilaria – LMC in Mozambique

[Nigrizia Magazine, April 2026]

Summer missionary experience in Carapira (Mozambique)

13 January, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

My name is Luca, I am 24 years old and, a couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to have an intense missionary experience in Mozambique, more precisely in Carapira, where, thanks to the welcome of the Comboni fathers and Comboni Lay Missionaries, I had the opportunity to meet and get to know the Macua people.

I left for this experience on August 18, together with Ilaria and Federica, two missionaries who have been dedicating their service for almost two years to what has now become their home: Carapira. I was fortunate enough to meet them two years ago in Modica, Sicily, shortly before their departure.

That encounter had a profound effect on me and, right from the start, I began to feel the desire to join them in the mission field, certainly to put myself at their service, but above all to meet, get to know, and let myself be touched by the beauty and humanity that characterize these places. So, this summer, after a short period in Italy, Federica and Ilaria welcomed my request to accompany them with joy and enthusiasm.

And so, after a flight marked by a thousand vicissitudes, including missed and canceled flights, we finally arrived in Mozambique, in Carapira.

Right from the start, I was deeply impressed by the welcome of the local community. After introducing myself during the first Mass I attended, stumbling over my Portuguese, I became “Mano Lucas,” or “Brother Luca,” to everyone. Soon I too began to call everyone I met ‘mano’ and ‘mana’; I even learned to call people older than me ‘mamà’ and ‘papà’, thus entering into a dimension of familiarity and community, perhaps never experienced before, which made me feel welcome and made me feel good.

The incredible welcome I received made me feel at ease from the very first moment and also helped me a lot to fit in, while always remaining on tiptoe, into the daily life and reality of Carapira. I spent the first few weeks mainly observing, getting to know and trying to better understand the context I found myself in, to understand how I could offer my contribution in the little time I had available. I soon realized that in order to do so, I had to stop thinking only with my head and learn instead to open my heart, entrusting myself to God’s love.

So it was that one morning, while I was still recovering from two days of fever, some children from the bairro (village) came to visit me. They had heard that I was not feeling very well and, without hesitation, they had rushed to bring me some cheer and lift my spirits. In addition to keeping me company, they were the ones who entrusted me with what would later become my mission: they asked me to help them study mathematics.

Unfortunately, in Carapira, many children struggle to really learn anything at school. And how can we blame them? All the conditions are in place to make this journey extremely difficult: only three hours of lessons per day, classes of about ninety children with only one teacher, classrooms that are too small, a lack of desks and chairs, suffocating heat and, in some cases, even a lack of pens and notebooks. The result is that many fall behind, unable to do simple addition or even illiterate, despite having attended school for years.

Yet the desire to escape this situation and the desire to learn are strong.

As soon as I had fully recovered, we began this adventure. We had few resources at our disposal—a few sheets of paper and some pens—and the space was what it was. So we began to meet near the large church in Carapira, sitting on the ground and using the walls of the church as a backrest. We settled where there was shade: on one side in the morning, on the other in the afternoon, moving from hour to hour to escape the direct rays of the sun.

In the blink of an eye, word spread and many preferred to ‘abandon’ soccer for a few hours of the day to come and study some math in company.

As I always say, not out of modesty but because it is the truth, what these children taught me during the days we spent together was much more than what I was able to teach them. Being able to observe them, get to know them, be their friend—or, as they would say, their “brother”—was a great fortune that I will always cherish in my heart and that has deeply enriched me. Encountering diversity always leads to new discoveries that nourish the spirit; it leads to an awareness of aspects of oneself that would otherwise be difficult to emerge and, above all, it helps us understand that, despite our many differences, we are all much more similar than we think. Only when we reach this awareness does it become truly possible to speak of “global fraternity.” If only those who govern this crazy world could understand this…

Returning to my experience, I could recount many other significant moments I experienced during those two months: from the beauty of community life with the Comboni missionaries, to whom I will always be grateful, to the intensity of the joyful and authentic faith of the Mozambican people, to the many encounters in small communities scattered throughout the countryside, and much more.

But I will not dwell on this any further, not least because I would need pages and pages to recount it all.

However, in closing, I would like to share a reflection that, during my days in Mozambique, I developed first and foremost about myself and, perhaps, more generally, about the “white tribe,” as Father Alex Zanotelli defines it.

This reflection arose when, shortly after the start of the mission, I began to realize that I was the one receiving the most help. Paradoxically, the person who was helped the most was the one who had set out to help and who, perhaps sinning a little with presumption, did not even feel so needy. This discovery shattered many of my beliefs and, without a doubt, allowed me to start again with a new spirit. It was the spirit of someone who, aware of their own limitations, desires to receive help, desires to feel welcomed and touched by God’s love, in order to cherish it and then give it back, in a new form, to those around them. After all, it is only after being helped that, following the example, we can help others, giving back the love we have received and creating a self-perpetuating spiral of good.

I therefore believe that recognizing ourselves as “needy,” despite all our comforts and all that we possess, is the way to truly welcome God’s love and the first step to take in order to truly serve others.

This, then, is what the mission has taught me most, and consequently, my wish for anyone who reads this article: try to abandon your presumptions and learn to recognize yourself as needy, in order to truly encounter the Other, who is God.

Luca

Second CLM community in Kenya: a dream come true!

21 November, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

Sunday the 16 November 2025, what a historic day! It’s the beginning of a new adventure for us CLM here in Kenya, as on this day we opened a second community in Chelopoy, West Pokot!

We are so grateful to all those who made it happen: our “ancestor” (as we fondly call him), fr. Maciek Zielinski, the MCCJ provincial of Kenya, fr. Andrew Wanjohi, the CLM of Kenya and all the CLM!

The members of the new community are: Mercy Lodikai (from Kenya), Giulia Lampo (from Italy) and Iza Tobiasiewicz (from Poland). Round of applause, please!!! These three pioneers are ready to start serving in the area of Chelopoy, and will probably join the community of Kitelakapel in the Life Skills project, expanding it to the schools in their area, while also collaborating with the local dispensary, run by the Franciscan sisters of St. Joseph – Asumbi. They will also engage in pastoral activities, of course. For now, the plan is for them to take their time to settle in and get to know the place and the people, create bonds of friendship and get to know their culture, their situation, their needs.

On their very first day, as we celebrated the opening of the community and the works of renovation in the house they’ll be using, they were received with great warmth and joy by the local people. We, the community of Kitelakapel, accompanied them, and we were blessed by the presence of our dear fr. Maciek, our equally dear MCCJ provincial, fr. Andrew, the parish priest (fr. Philip Andruga) and Comboni sisters of Amakuriat (the parish to which the new community belongs), and even two representatives of the CLM of Uganda, the very coordinator Beatrice Akite, and treasurer, Asege Teddy, accompanied by two Italian volunteers and a local member of Kalya peace village, Uganda.

The Mass was lively and participated, so well animated by the local people, who gave us all some gifts and made us feel at home from the very beginning. The provincial then proceeded to blessing the house and then we all had something to eat. It was a simple but lovely moment of celebration.

As usual, starting a new community in a new place is not something easy. It requires a lot of patience, humility and ability to adjust. However, our friends are not alone! They have the Franciscan sisters as caring neighbours, local families and church members as their new friends and new extended family, and the fathers and sisters from Amakuriat as a strong source of emotional and practical support. Not to forget us, the community of Kitelakapel, who are also so happy to have them as our “neighbours” in West Pokot! Together we will walk on this journey, grow, support each other, and do wonderful things! And of course, all this is possible only with the broader support of all CLM, the whole Comboni family and all those who believe in us!

So, thank you all! Keep being with us in prayer, and stay tuned!

Linda Micheletti, CLM Kitelakapel, Kenya

Massimo, a wise brother who knew how to live and be “mission”

5 November, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

One day, leaving the monastery, St. Francis met Brother Ginepro: “Brother Ginepro,” he said, “come, let us go and preach.” Brother Ginepro agreed. They walked around the city, praying silently for those who worked in shops and gardens. They smiled at the children, especially the poorest ones. They exchanged a few words with the elderly. They caressed the sick. They helped those in need.

After crossing the city several times, “Friar Ginepro,” said Francis, “it’s time to return to the monastery.” “What about our sermon?” “We’ve done it… we’ve done it!” replied the saint with a smile. “You are the best sermon!” This anecdote helps us remember Massimo, a dear friend and brother of the CLM group in Verona, who suddenly passed away on July 16. He had made practicality and attentive presence a way of life. Welcoming everyone, faith, and love for the mission were, in fact, his characteristics. In short, he was a “wise man” who gradually revealed himself in being together and in doing, and who leaves a huge void in anyone who shared life paths with him. His practical approach had already seen him involved in the Gim work camps in Friuli in 1976 and 1977, which had been hit by a terrible earthquake, and in his years of service as a scout leader, living with them an intense missionary experience in Tanzania. He was involved in the parish, in diocesan family ministry, in programs for newly married couples, devoting himself to the preparation and conduct of seminars and meetings around Italy, as well as in work and sports groups.

And then in the Comboni family and with our group of Comboni Lay Missionaries. The same practicality led him to be enthusiastic, in recent years, about the departure of some young people from our group in which, with his beloved Rita, he could give concrete expression to their passion for the mission, always present in the various activities. “Know that we are leaving with you and will always be present in your communities and for any need,” he told them, speaking on behalf of the group that accompanied them with their thoughts and prayers towards the mission. Thus, Ilaria and Federica were sent to Mozambique, and with the same spirit, he accompanied Giulia in her preparation, who recently left for Kenya.

Massimo’s life unfolded as a true Comboni lay person, not only through the mission trips he made with Rita, immersing himself in a rich and fragile humanity, but also in living the missionary spirit in everyday life, as service in those experiences that were close to his and Rita’s hearts, and where the concrete witness of their faith was firm and profound: “There, in the place where the Lord asks us to be, because we are all called to be missionaries,” he said. And like the “light of dead stars that illuminates the night,” the light of Massimo’s life reaches us through the words of those who knew him, those who enjoyed his ability to listen, his constructive criticism, his witness of Love with a capital L lived with his Rita, the value and respect he gave to everyone, and the feeling that he made us feel “welcome.” Together with St. Daniel Comboni, Massimo will help us to walk and to see, however and wherever, the face of that good Father God whom he sought, prayed to, loved, and chose so much. Massimo, we will always carry you with us.

Source: Nigrizia

A chair will remain empty at our meetings, as a sign to remember him and continue our usual activities with him.