NEWSLETTER 58 – APRIL 2019
POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION – CHRISTUS VIVIT
1. Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!
2. He is in you, he is with you and he never abandons you. However far you may wander, he is always there, the Risen One. He calls you and he waits for you to return to him and start over again. When you feel you are growing old out of sorrow, resentment or fear, doubt or failure, he will always be there to restore your strength and your hope.
3. With great affection, I address this Apostolic Exhortation to all Christian young people.It is meant to remind you of certain convictions born of our faith, and at the same time to encourage you to grow in holiness and in commitment to your personal vocation. But since it is also part of a synodal process, I am also addressing this message to the entire People of God, pastors and faithful alike, since all of us are challenged and urged to reflect both on the young and for the young. Consequently, I will speak to young people directly in some places, while in others I will propose some more general considerations for the Church’s discernment.
4. I have let myself be inspired by the wealth of reflections and conversations that emerged from last year’s Synod. I cannot include all those contributions here, but you can read them in the Final Document. In writing this letter, though, I have attempted to summarize those proposals I considered most significant. In this way, my words will echo the myriad voices of believers the world over who made their opinions known to the Synod. Those young people who are not believers, yet wished to share their thoughts, also raised issues that led me to ask new questions.
THE PROVINCE OF SICILY AND NAPLES
The Camillian mission in the parish community of ‘San Gennaro al Vomero’, Naples
THE PROVINCE OF NORTH ITALY
Five-hundred years of history of the Church of ‘Santa Maria del Paradiso’ (Verona)
The celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Church of S. Maria del Paradiso invites us to go over a long period of time. Historical information is essential but side by side with such information it is equally indispensable to understand its meaning, as, indeed, is obligatory on such an occasion. Behind events a message is channelled and this is even more the case when commemorating the building of a church. This is not confined to a private initiative, even if it can start with an individual: it is the expression of a community.
Another Saturday afternoon of Lent 2019 with evangelisation, confessions and adoration in the Church of the ‘SS. Trinità’ in Turin. Thanks to our friends of the Punto Giovani group who managed the animation with songs, prayers and meditations. May the Lord bless everyone!
THE PROVINCE OF ROME
Thursday 4 April, a meeting with the Albanian Cardinal, Ernest Simoni
A testimony offered at the end of the Mass presided over by the Cardinal, planned by the chaplaincy of the health centre run by Camillian religious and in cooperation with the voluntary associations of the hospital and the Hospital Sisters of Mercy. The concelebrants were the Provincial Superior, Father Antonio Marzano, and the chaplain, Father Germano Santone.
Ordination as a deacon
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. With the words of Psalm 103 we thank the Lord for the ordination as a deacon of our confrere Walter Vinci!
On 23-27 April the Camillian Province of Rome organised a pilgrimage in Bucchianico–San Giovanni Rotondo for all young people who nurture a wish to know about St. Camillus de Lellis.
Lenten stations at the Basilica of St. Camillus in Rome
There are not only ancient churches in the journey of stations of Rome. A Lenten ‘statio’ was also celebrated at the parish of the Basilica of St. Camillus de Lellis in the Orti Sallustiani in the North-Eastern part of the historic centre of Rome.
MADIAN ORIZZONTI
Needs electricians, tillers, foremen and masons for the final parts: ‘motivated people who are ready to lend me a hand’. This is the appeal of Father Massimo Miraglio, the chaplain of Borgo San Dalmazzo, who for fourteen years has been a missionary in Jérémie (Haiti) where he is building a hospital.
THE PROVINCE OF BRAZIL
Listen here to the hymn of the Camillian vocational year in Brazil.
THE PROVINCE OF SPAIN
The Camillian Province of Spain, together with group of lay people responsible for health-care and social-care works, organised a community meeting in Navarrete: days of encounter, sharing and friendship. 21 Camillian religious and 11 lay people took part in the meeting.
THE CAMILLIAN CHARISMATIC FAMILY
A POST-EUROPEAN INSTITUTE? A CHANGE OF PARADIGM
By Sr. Elisa Kidane – a Combonian missionary
Paper given in Rome on 14 March at the meeting of the Camillian Charismatic Family
Today is the last day of your meeting…you already have your plane or train tickets…you are already projected towards your places of work.
I have leafed through the programme of these days, I have read some of the papers that you have listened to, and I really said to myself: what can I say that you have not already heard? In what I have read there is the present, the past and the future.
But then when looking at this hall I said to myself: we are already in the future. We are already living the essence of post-European Institutes. The change of paradigm has already been set in motion.
It is therefore important to speak about the future NOT as something that still has to arrive but as something that is already present and still to come.
OBSERVATIONS IN THE WINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF THE CAMILLIAN CHARISMATIC FAMILY (Rome, 10-14 March 2019)
By Paolo Guarise
The aeroplane of the United Arab Emirates from Nairobi landed on time. We arrived at Fiumicino as expected. Half an hour’s train journey and we soon reached the generalate house of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene where various people from various parts of the world had already arrived: Benin, Vietnam, Spain, Hungary, Tanzania, Brazil, Peru, etc. However, the meeting did not take place at the Mary Magdalene building because the religious house did not have enough space to accommodate eighty people, all of them Camillians, made up of sisters, priests, brothers and lay men and women who had come as representatives of the Camillian Charismatic Family.
THE CHARISM OF SECULAR INSTITUTES
By Anna Frattini
Paper given in Rome on 1 March 2019 to the meeting of the Camillian Charismatic Family.
Before describing the specific charism of two secular institutes that live the spirituality of Saint Camillus, that is to say the Kamillianischen Schwestern and the women Missionaries of the Sick ‘Christ our Hope’, I think it is important to describe the charism of secular institutes.
Secular institutes arose from the heart of the Church in 1947 with the document Provida Mater Ecclesia. This document recognised secular consecration, that is to say it recognised that lay men and lay women could – albeit remaining in the world – live consecration, which hitherto had been held to be possible only in a religious way, to the full.
THE DELEGATION IN TAIWAN
‘As soon as I arrived in Taiwan in 1965, on 2 November I went to visit some cemeteries. How great was my desolation to see that all the cemeteries were deserted! After returning home I asked my Chinese teacher for an explanation and he told me that for the Chinese the day dedicated to the deceased was 5 April. And on 5 April of the next year I realised the great importance given to the cult of ancestors and to the belief that they are still alive when I saw crowds of people at the cemetery, as happens in the West on 1-2 November’. This is what Father Giuseppe Didonè, a Camillian missionary (MI) in Taiwan, writes for Agenzia Fides.
The ‘solemn’ celebration of the cult of the dead in Taiwan (4 April 2019)
AMMISSIONE ALLA PROFESSIONE SOLENNE
È stato ammesso alla professione religiosa solenne di Almar Roman Samaniego, religioso professo temporaneo della provincia delle Filippine.
Innocent Moses Gwalasa, religioso professo temporaneo della provincia tedesca – delegazione di Tanzania è stato ammesso alla professione religiosa solenne.
Peter Owakubaritto della Provincia Anglo irlandese – delegazione in Uganda è stato ammesso alla professione solenne.
Tusabe Benard della Provincia Anglo irlandese – delegazione in Uganda è stato ammesso alla professione solenne.
«I nostri fondatori sono stati mossi dallo Spirito e non hanno avuto paura di sporcarsi le mani con la vita quotidiana, con i problemi della gente, percorrendo con coraggio le periferie geografiche ed esistenziali. Non si sono fermati davanti agli ostacoli e alle incomprensioni degli altri, perché hanno mantenuto nel cuore lo stupore per l’incontro con Cristo. Non hanno addomesticato la grazia del Vangelo;
hanno avuto sempre nel cuore una sana inquietudine per il Signore,
un desiderio struggente di portarlo agli altri, come hanno fatto Maria e Giuseppe nel tempio.
Anche noi siamo chiamati oggi a compiere scelte profetiche e coraggiose».
Papa Francesco – FESTA DELLA PRESENTAZIONE DEL SIGNORE – XX GIORNATA MONDIALE DELLA VITA CONSACRATA
Martedì, 2 febbraio 2016
PUBLISHING NEWS
To speak about joy in a world characterised by the syndrome of boredom or depression and being tired of life seems difficult. To distinguish true joy from false joys is even more difficult. Man does not know what to invent for himself to be happy. This book helps us to combat the enemies of joy and to discover how it is born in God.
DECEASED RELIGIOUS
In the morning of 4 April 2019, Sr. Saveria Corsi, passed away in the religious community of the Daughters of St. Camillus of Torpignattara (Rome), lovingly tended by her religious sisters. Sr. Saveria was 95 and had spent 71 years in religious life. May she rest in peace, Amen!
Father Bruno Vettori (1923-2019)
The Camillian religious of the Province of North Italy announce the death of their Camillian confrere Fr. Bruno Vettori (at the age of 95).
His death took place on 11 April 2019 at the Camillian ‘O. Cerruti’ Nursing Home of Capriate S. Gervasio (Bergamo).
Let us remember Fr. Bruno in our prayers!
PRAYER FOR THE VICTIMS OF ALL TYPES OF DISASTERS – CADIS
For all the victims of all types of disasters, for people who have lost their lives, for their loved ones, for the survivors, and for all those who work to provide help, we pray:
God in heaven, who has created and who preserves every existence,
You know all of our sadness and our suffering. May all the victims of all types of disasters be welcomed in your peace! Receive, we pray, in your mercy, our very many brothers and sisters buried by the forces unleashed by nature. Lead them to your home!
Comfort the pain of so many families, dry the tears of so many brothers and sisters, offer protection to the loneliness of so many orphans. Instill courage into everyone so that pain is transformed into a journey of growth and hope.
Generate in the hearts of Christians and all men and women of good will the wish to act so that the wounded and those who suffer because of these calamities experience the comfort of fraternal solidarity.
You who live and reign for ever and ever.
