XVII General Chapter 2009
1st press release, 5 Sept. 2009.
The "machine" of the XVII General Chapter is in motion and ready to start off on 6th
September 2009, when the Chapter will be officially opened at the presence of
Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Missionary Congregation of Propaganda Fide.
From the 1st to 5th September the 72 delegates and the 11 observers to this "ordinary - special" Chapter, have spent their time in a serious preparation and attentive listening. Four high level non Comboni speakers, the Superior General of the Comboni Sisters and four Comboni missionaries (three ex superior generals, and a recently appointed bishop) have presented with great freedom and competence their vision concerning the demand of mission today and of the Combonian reality.
Fr. Pascual Chávez, Superior General of the Congregation of St John Bosco
(Salesians), stressed the importance of "staying" with Jesus and the missionary mandate (Mc 3:13-19); the Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, shared his long experience as missionary in Asia; he talked about the need of reformulating a new theology of Creation and of Salvation, in a listening attitude of and dialogue with the religious pluralism of humanity; Msgr. Augustine Gardin, Secretary General of the Congregation for Consecrated Life insisted on the importance of fraternity in religious life; Sr Adele Brambilla reminded us that we are twins congregations and asked us to keep in mind the feminine dimension of the mission; Fr Marco Recolons, Coordinator for Latin America of the General Council of the Jesuits, gave us a vision of the journey made by religious Life in Latin America with particular reference to the Aparecida document that calls us "to be disciples and missionaries so that our people may have life"; the last to speak was Fr Jean Roger Ndombi, from Congo Brazzaville, and General Councilor of the Jesuits, who presented a list of missionary challenges from the African continent: vocational discernment, the need of collaboration, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, fidelity to the vows, the situation of misery and expropriation that is touching many people, thus calling the missionaries to be in the world the voice of the voiceless.
On the other hand Msgr. Giuseppe Filippi, new bishop of Kotido (Uganda), helped us to pray and to build up our deeper identity on the experience as peopled loved by God, thus avoiding the superficiality proposed by the world.
The novelty in the week of introduction to the Chapter was the presence of the ex superiors general from 1979, year of the approval of the Rule of Life of the re-united Congregation. They shared freely what they held in their heart for the
good of the Institute. Fr Manuel Augusto underlined seven points: to be disciples before being missionaries; the Word as hinge of our mission; authority as Paternity; the person as richness; the local Church as subject of the mission; harmony of the double dimensions: Word and social transformation; responsibility that is holy and capable. Fr David Glenday read a meaningful passage from a letter of Daniel Comboni concerning the Plan and drew our attention to five points. The Plan - he said – was born from the experience and listening, from a global vision of the world, from difficulties and prayer. A meaningful Plan is built on few strategic points. Fr. Francesco Pierli, as "elder", shared his experience and preoccupations underlining that the Chapter is a human mediation of the action of God that needs adequate human instruments.
At the end of the week of preparation, the delegates who are coming from three continents (12 from Africa, 15, from America and 45 from Europe, and represent 29 provinces and delegations in four continents) have a wide and complex vision like one finding himself in a forest where it is not easy to guess where the light comes from, so it is for us now to get the light that show us the hour of God for the Comboni Missionaries today.
2nd press release, 12th September 2009.
The 17th General Charter of the Comboni Missionaries opened officially Sunday
September 6th on the topic: "From the Plan of Comboni to the Plan of the Comboni Missionaries: requalifying mission, formation and government requalifying ourselves". The solemn opening took place at Rome, at the General Headquarters of the Institute founded by Saint Daniel Comboni. During the Eucharist, presided by Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, both the capitulars and the invited observers expressed their public oath of fidelity to the Chapter. Described as an 'Ordinary Special Chapter', it is aimed at renewing deeply the Institute so as to unable it to face the great challenges of the third millennium. The Superior General, fr. Teresino Serra, in his letter of
convocation of the Chapter wrote: "This General Chapter will be a grace from God if it becomes a Pentecostal event'. We must allow to the Spirit the greatest possible space to act, so that he may enlighten, talk and guide us". In his short introduction during the official opening of the Chapter fr. Teresino mentioned four 'terms' which must be kept in mind by the capitulars: "To recapitulate in Christ and in Comboni the journey undertaken by the Institute up to today; to listen to God's Word which shows us the way, to the voice of God's people and to the voice of Comboni; to celebrate, since the Chapter must be a joyous and glorious celebration of our vocation and to assess (verify) our work and our life style".
Official opening
The 72 capitulars, 45 of whom from Europe, 14 from the Americas and 13 from Africa, representing the over 1700 Comboni missionaries scattered throughout the world, arrived at Rome, coming from the most different places, from the heart of Europe until the most unknown localities of Africa, America and Asia. Before the official beginning of the Chapter, the capitulars spent a week of preparation, animated by four external guests: Monsignor Agostino Gardin, of the friars minors, Secretary of the Congregation for the Religious; fr. Adolfo Nicolàs, General Prepositus of the Jesuits; fr. Jean Roger Ndombi, from the Republic of Congo, member of the General Council of the Jesuits (Company of Jesus) and sister Adele Brambilla, Superior
General of the Comboni missionary sisters. On the other hand, Monsignor Giuseppe Filippi, newly nominated bishop of Kotido (Uganda) and Father Pascual Chavez, Superior General of the Salesians, led a spiritual retreat underlining the necessity to be rooted in our deepest identity, based on our personal experience of being loved by God. A new feature during the days of preparation to the Chapter has been the presence and contribution given by the previous Superior Generals of the Institute since 1979: fathers Francesco Pierli, David Glenday and Manuel Lopes Ferreira. The first days of the Chapter have been spent in preliminary questions and procedures. After the approval of the by-laws which will rule the discussions in the Chapter hall, the capitulars elected the officials of the Chapter and those responsible for the different Committees which will take care that the Chapter's work may proceed smoothly.
Officials of the Chapter
General Secretary of the Chapter has been named Brother Daniele Giusti, Chapter delegate for the Provinces of Kenya-Uganda. He is the first religious brother to take up such an important task in the history of the Institute. He will now be in charge of leading and accompanying the overall Chapter's activity. Facilitators (Moderators) of the Chapter will be Frs. Enrique Sànchez, Superior of the Central American Delegation; Daniel Cerezo, Provincial Superior of Spain; Claudio Lurati, General Administrator of the Institute and Tesfaye Tadesse, Provincial Superior of Ethiopia. The Chapter members have then chosen two special advisers to the Chapter's Presidency, headed by the Superior General. The two councillors are, not by chance,
the oldest members of the Chapter: father Venanzio Milani, one of the Italian
delegates, and father Salvatore Pacifico, Provincial Superior of Khartoum (Sudan).
Finally there was the election of the Special Committee in charge of gathering relevant issues and concrete proposals which will emerge, and it is made up of father Antonio Villarino, Superior of the Delegation of Colombia; Rafael Gonzales Ponce, Provincial Superior of Mexico and father Joseph Mumbere, Delegate of the Province of Congo. This variety of names and ountries of origin is a concrete sign of the multicultural set up reached by the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries, founded in the second half of the XIXth century with the aim to evangelize the African continent, but which has in the meantime developed its activities to the farthest ends of the earth.
Reports
In the following days the capitulars will spend time and energies to listen to and to discuss the report on the 'state of the Institute' which will be presented by the Superior General and to the reports of the different continents in which the Comboni Missionaries are carrying out their work of evangelization.
3rd press release
XVII General Chapter of the Comboni Missionaries
Re-foundation, re-qualification, new plan
The first phase of the XVII General Chapter of the Comboni Missionaries ended with the report of the General Council followed by those of the different Secretariats and the four continents where the Institute is present. Fr. Teresino Serra, in a positive and hopeful key, focused his report on three similar yet mutually connected aspects: re-foundation, requalification and the reprogramming of the Institute. “Refounding ourselves,” the Superior General affirmed, “should be understood as rooting ourselves once again in Daniel Comboni, in Jesus Christ and in the Word of God, involving ourselves in the kind of transformation experienced by our Founder who, as a young Italian growing up in Verona, transformed himself firstly into a European and finally into a ‘universal’ person”.
The second aspect according to Fr. Serra - that of requalification - should be understood as “ ....reaching for a better quality of life, greater commitment in our self-giving, and more coherence in our witness to the vows” and all this even before thinking of it as a means of assessing and evaluating our commitments: “ …….coherence and commitment [radicalità] because people look at us and expect an appropriate style of life from us ” insisted the General, “Shouting slogans and filling our mouths with impressive words achieves nothing if then we run away from those missions which require patience, perseverance and hard work. We are fully aware that sharing the life of the poor and offering ourselves as their voice is our undeniable vocation”. Finally, the Superior General underlined that one of the central tasks of the Chapter would be to “.... reorganise our life and commitments according to the spirit of the Rule of Life by favouring the poorest and most abandoned in all four of the continents where we work but especially in Africa in those places where no-one else wants to go and on the new frontiers of the marginalised and excluded of society”.
Following the reports of the Superior General and the General Secretariats, delegates from the circumscriptions presented the continental reports: English-speaking Africa, French-speaking Africa, America-Asia and finally Europe. Each presentation was followed by intense group-work which allowed for a deepening of those aspects which are often left out of the main report. The African continent, cradle of the missionary vocation and the charism of the Institute, preserves ‘first evangelization’ as its defining feature. On the other hand, Africa has also become the main source of vocations to the Congregation which is thus passing more and more from a predominantly European identity to a more international one. The reports from the African Provinces have also underlined the situations of conflict and violence which are present in various nations. The critical situation facing our confreres in the Congo, Sudan and Eritrea where the violation of human rights is common-place and where the international community consciously turns a blind eye made a particular impression on the Chapter hall. Mission animation, involvement in issues of justice and peace and a meaningful presence in ‘frontier missions’ and situations of serious social marginalization marked the report of the American continent - a continent which continues to provide missionary vocations, even though not as plentiful as in the past. Asia - where the Comboni presence, even if significant, is fairly limited numerically - reported with the American continent. In Asia there are about twenty Comboni Missionaries (in the Philippines, Macao and Taiwan). They are very committed to the proclamation of the gospel in this the most populated continent of the globe.
The last report was presented by Europe, where vocations are nowadays very few, but where, on the other hand, elderly and sick Comboni Missionaries are on the increase. In spite of this, the European Provinces expressed their hopes for the future and their desire to identify new paths through which to live out the Comboni charism: mission animation carried out within and with the full collaboration of the European local churches, the internationalization of communities and most of all the determination to assume a clear commitment towards the phenomenon of immigration. As the report says: “…. it is not anymore we alone going to Africa, today it is Africa which is coming to us and we are called to answer the challenge”. In the next few days the capitulars will begin work on the ‘Discernment paper’, a document which gathers together the fruits of the reflections of the entire Institute over the past few years. It will present three main topics: the formation of the new missionaries, the structures of the internal government of the Institute and the ‘Ratio Missionis’ - a long process of study, prayer and discernment carried out by all communities and circumscriptions within the Institute.
The Communication Committee
A) PROVINCIAL DOCUMENTS
Provincial News letter: Janury 2009
Provincial News letter: May 2009
Provincial News letter: July 2009
Provincial Directory
Six Year Plan
Provincial Assembly:
acts of 2007
Acts 2008: Reflection on the post electoral situation in Kenya.
Introduction to Kenya: acts of 2005 and of 2007 (if available!
ZONE CHARTERS:
Comboni Missionaries work in different areas of Kenya. Each area has its different language, culture, environment and expectations. For each one the Comboni Missionaries have outlined a line of action to answer the specific needs and requirements of the zone.
B) RATIO MISSIONIS
The 2003 General Chapter presented an analysis of the situation of the world, the
Church and the Institute and invited us to: a) discern the various signs of the
presence of the Holy Spirit, b) take up the challenges, c) turn the findings into a
RATIO MISSIONIS (C.A 2003, n 2 and 49)
WHAT IS A RATIO?
RATIO MISSIONIS: it is the "magna carta" that outlines our model of mission, of
missionaries and of missionary service today, according to the Charism of St. Daniel
Comboni, while promoting our personal and communitarian renewal for the task ahead.
It is the re-visiting and re-writing of Comboni's Plan, in the light of faith and
with Comboni's passion and dedication, putting Mission at the centre, from which our
spirituality and identity derive their trademarks.
STAGES OF WORK
The search for the "magna carta" was planned in three phases, on the model of
seeing, planning and acting.
1.. Seeing: the realities in which we work and our approach to them. It was
completed in 2006 with a report similar to the one of the 2003 General Chapter,
with some additions.
2.. Discerning: a) the signs of the times, listening to the voice of the poor,
ministering to the Local Churches and to the World; b) renewing the model of
mission by revisiting Comboni's Plan and charism in our modern ecclesial and
global context; c) outlining guidelines on how to announce the Gospel, to sow the
seed of the Gospel Values, patiently waiting for the yeast to transform the
society into a Christian one (inculturation), accepting the problematic growth of
the wheat mixed with darnel. It was concluded in the September 2008 meeting -
Venegono (Italy) with the Synthesis for the 2009 General Chapter.
3.. Acting: it is the time of the General Chapter to decide, while we adopt an
attitude of listening in contemplation and prayer for the positive out come of the
work.
THE RESULTS of the ground work done by the confreres are synthesised in three reports:
- NAIROBI: the contribution of the Province of Kenya to the Ratio Missionis (Click to view)
- PRETORIA: the summary of the contributions of the English Speaking African Provinces (Click to view)
- VENEGONO: Summary of the proposals of community discernment. (Click to view)
C) GENERAL CHAPTER 2009
Theme: “From the plan of Comboni to the plan of Comboni Missionaries for today and for the future: fidelity and creativity to re-found again our Institute”
Issues on the agenda: Re-qualification – Formation – Reviewing of our commitments – Style of government.
First steps towards the Chapter:
- Involvement of all confreres in the preparation
- The preparatory commission
- Finding an outside facilitator to lead the chapter or part of it
- The drafting of the Statute of the Chapter
- The Chapter should be done in two separate sessions
(Notes on RATIO MISSIONIS - FORMATION – GENERAL CHAPTER are taken from “Meeting of Provincials of English speaking Africa and Mozambique” (Nairobi January 2007). Text in Kenya News letter N. 2/2007 pgg10-22.)
First announcement of the General Council (1/11/2007) “Towards the General Chapter 2009”:
“The preparation journey f the General Chapter will proceed with the input of :
a) Thematic commissions: Ratio Missionis, Formation, Government, Statute.
The four thematic commissions are charged with the task of preparing a first draft of the sector entrusted to them, which will then be passed on to the Preparatory Commission.
Each Commission will receive the necessary information and orientations from the GC and General Secretariats. They will work from January to September 2008 and will hold the first meeting before the Consulta of April 2008.
b) Preparatory Commission: its task is to examine and prepare a synthesis of the material received by the thematic Commissions in order to hand over to the Pre-chapter commission a synopsis of the work done.
This commission will provide material and topics of reflection to be used during the first provincial phase of preparation to the Chapter. It will work from October 2007 to the end of December 2008. The members of this commission will be nominated by the G.C. in december2007.
c) Pre-Chapter Commission. The members of this commission will be nominated by the G.C. at the end of December 2008 and will be responsible for the official preparation of the General Chapter 2009. |
