Why Pope Francis’ focus on mission makes Catholics uncomfortable
What is the source of the tensions and conflicts we have in the church today? I believe the reason for the uneasiness is the pope’s emphasis on mission. There is a profound difference between a church that is a nest or a niche, in which one can find peace, tranquility and seeming stability, and a church that sees itself as missionary.
Vocation Story: Attitudes towards life and dignity
His dream was to become a Priest so that the people of his village could have Eucharistic celebrations every Sunday. Fr. Anthony Kibira tells us his story.
Vocation Story: From cigarettes seller to priest
“I really believe that a missionary priest is a person called by God to meet the overwhelming gratuitous love of God for humanity.” A Comboni Father Placide Majambo Lutumba Petit from Congo tell us his story.
Vocation Story: Uganda – The courage to leap
Many things occur in life outside of our direct control or effort to make them happen. When you revisit them through your memory, you discover that what mattered most is not that you tried hard, but that you said “yes” to what you felt it was right, and you had the courage to jump, not knowing where you would land.
OGF 6/2019 Need for structural changes in Mission
The world is in transformation, and so is mission today. We all notice the changes in the world around us, in the fields of digitalization, globalization, communication, as well as some negative effects such as: the complexity of the digital world, the problem of cultural and religious identity, and the loneliness of modern human beings.
Vocation story: My mission service, listening
Fr. Pawe Opiola, is a Comboni Missionary from Poland. He is working as parish priest in Kanyanga Parish, among the Tumbuka people in Zambia. He tells us his story.
Sri Lanka: Comboni Missionary sisters in a tea plantation
Sri Lanka is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the south eastern coast of India. Since March 2012, the Comboni Missionaries are present in this country with a community in Talawakelle, the mountainous heart of the country, a paradise between tea plantations and waterfalls.
South Sudan: Blessings in disguise
“We are three Comboni Missionaries who serve a parish of around 25,000 Catholics spread over about eighty villages. Any place can become a chapel. We missionaries divide and visit these places as best as we can, usually two or three times per year. All journeys are on foot because there are no roads for vehicles in the county.”
OGF 2/2019 Thinking with the Church
I would like to focus this preliminary thinking with the Church, along with Saint Oscar, on thanksgiving, or rather gratitude, for all the unmerited blessings we have received. Romero instinctively knew how to understand and appreciate the Church, because he loved her deeply as the wellspring of his faith.
OGF 1/2019 The Weariness of Hope
A wearied hope will be healed and will enjoy that “particular tiredness of heart” when it is unafraid to return to the place of its first love and to find, in the peripheries and challenges before us today, the same song, the same gaze that inspired the song and the gaze of those who have gone before us.
The new Sisterhood: traditional orders are booming
Not all women’s religious orders are shrinking. Some are growing at an astounding rate. What is their secret?
Vocation Story. My life in exchange for life
An altar boy accompanies the priests of his parish in their safaris to the outstations and enjoys every moment of that ministry. He begins to believe that it could be his path of life and makes up his mind: “I will be a Comboni missionary”. Today, as a priest, he would not change his life for all the gold of the world.
OGF 10/2018 “The omnipotence of prayer is our strength”
Unique, amazing, overwhelming. And let’s admit it straight away: off-the-pegs clothes didn’t suit him. Pointless to get involved in cutting and sewing… he’d have suffocated in them. He was as he was. That’s how he was made. Every size was too tight on him. And there was nothing to do if the pattern didn’t fit.
Brother Fafa: A brother serving fellow refugees
I am happy and enjoy being a Comboni missionary brother. It gives me the opportunity to meet God in my life. And I believe that by using my talents well, I will be giving love back to God and become a good servant as the gospel invites us to be (Mt 25:14-30)
A pimp was that book!
A ‘church kid’ dreams of becoming a botanist. He loves reading short novels. One day, he lays his hands on a booklet titled “If the seed falls…” and buys it. It is not a work on botany. He feels fooled. Yet, he reads it all the same… and his life changes radically.
Missionaries of Africa: A great gift
This year, the Missionaries of Africa (also known as the White Fathers) celebrate 150 years of their foundation. The society was founded in Algeria on the 19th October, 1868, by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie and it focuses on evangelism and education in the African continent.
My Vocation: a journey of valued little decisions
My journey has been an ordinary story of events led by the hand of God. It is a journey of valued little decisions that can best be contemplated as a whole and can only be beautiful if seen by a panoramic view at the end. My parent’s decision to have me baptized, the decisions to keep away from sin, concentrate on school, to be active at church…
The Water Brother: “When people see me they see water!”
He witnessed hundreds of people being killed in his mission in West Pokot, north-west of Kenya. Several times he was threatened and attacked but he never left the missions. He has spent 42 years in the missions serving God’s people and he is still going on strong.
Lord, what about me?
The funny thing in all this development of my vocation to religious life was that God did not tell me in clear terms that this was my vocation. There was no evident sign pointing to it. As we know in the Old Testament, God spoke to Moses, to a people, to prophets, even to kings… Besides, in the Sacred Scripture, we meet with visions, angels, and messengers; then there are dreams and voices. And what about me?
Christian, Take Courage. Build my House!
As I look back to these ten years of pastoral work, I (personally) did not build much, but we (together) built a Christian community more mature in faith and concern for each other. This I believe is the House of Jesus. I am grateful to the Lord that let me live in his house and with his people.
A glass of water for the Kafir
While “salvation” and “paradise” are both held sacred and exclusively for believers by Muslims and Christians over the years, the unmistakable reality for all people of goodwill is that the invitation is universal. The janna of the Koran, the paradise of the Bible, the kingdom of Allah – God, is for every human being.
Ecuador: To Live And Share My Faith With Others
Comboni Father Seraphin Kakwata, Congolese, shares his experience being amongst afro-descendent communities in S. Lorenzo parish, in the province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador.
Kenya: A Horizon-Less Frying Pan
Comboni Missionary Father Mitiku Habbthe from Ethiopia is working with the Turkana in the remote north-western part of Kenya, a semi-desert area, shares his experience.
One family with non-Christians
Violence committed against each other, unfortunately, emphasizes the stark differences among believers of different religions. But it is also not surprising that acts of mercy and love, the characteristics of one and the same God, can bind people of different religions together.
Vocation Story: Why Not Me?
Fascinated by a priest and his style of life, I decided to be like him. Then, I met the Comboni Missionaries. Immediately I understood that that would be my life. Father Anane Joseph Nhyirana tells us his story.
Kenya: Pökot Marriage
The Pökot people live in West Pökot County and Baringo County in Kenya and in the Pökot District of the eastern Karamoja region in Uganda. They are estimated to be around 700,000. Like many other people they are going through a profound transformation.
South Sudan: Reconciliation Paths
In a country ravaged by war, forgiveness is the contribution Christians can offer to a society divided along ethnic lines and rivalries. A missionary in South Sudan shares a couple of stories on how his teaching brought about pardon, mutual acceptance and peace.
Mission at the foot of the volcano
A Comboni missionary, assigned at the outskirts of a town in Peru, at the foot of an active volcano, recountes how the Comboni charism has touched the lives of people and how collaboration in facing challenges to spread the Gospel has made it a grace-filled adventure.
The Gospel along the River
Comboni missionaries have been present among the Ashaninka and Nomatsiguengas indigenous peoples in Central Selva, Peru. Fr. Randy Recalde, a Filipino missionary, says that the presence of powerful drug traffickers and terrorists in the area are the main challenges to missionary work.
Chad – At the heart of the people
A tiny group of Christians in a predominantly Moslem environment, determined to forge ties of friendship and dialogue in a society that still bears the wounds of thirty years of civil war. A Comboni Missionary community tells its story.
Pope Francis at Chrism Mass: To be… street Priests!
This is God’s great choice: the Lord chose to be close to his people. Thirty years of hidden life! Only then did he begin his preaching. Here we see the pedagogy of the Incarnation, a pedagogy of inculturation, not only in foreign cultures but also in our own parishes, in the new culture of young people…
OGF 1/2018 – Peter, Community and Memories
Let us to share three moments experienced by Peter and the first community: Peter and the community disheartened, Peter and the community shown mercy, and Peter and the community transfigured. I play with this pairing of Peter and the community since the life of apostles always has this twofold dimension, the personal and the communitarian.
Un grano di sale, da Lutero (3)
. “L’ANIMA MIA MAGNIFICA IL SIGNORE”.
Le sue parole sono l’espressione di un grande amore e di rogo non una vivissima gioia, ciò spiega perché il suo animo e la sua vita si elevano nello spirito. Maria non dice: Io magnifico Dio, ma l’anima mia; come se volesse dire: tutta la mia vita e i miei sensi sono come sorretti dall’amore di Dio
India’s top magazine selects nun for annual women award
New Delhi: Vanitha (woman), the largest circulated magazine in India, has selected a Catholic nun for its prestigious Woman of the Year Award. Sr Sudha Varghese has so far helped some 2,250 girls to graduate from high school or skill training centers.
Pope: consecrated life should shy away from worldliness, offer the “freshness” of the Gospel
Concerned about the declining numbers of the consecrated, the pontiff notes that a world dominated by the culture of the provisional and money forgets “the beauty of a simple and austere life”. He calls for evangelising in lieu of the culture of success at any price, shying away from worldliness, yet maintaining the “strength of mission”.
OGF 2/2017 What kind of vocations for a renewed consecrated life?
Either the vc will understand this cultural period of transit and once more adopt a deeply relational and communal approach, or it will risk placing itself outside the meaningful human context, no longer meeting any demand or any aspect, any expectation held by men and women today, and, therefore, having nothing more to say, no image to present, no appeal.
My working hypothesis is that the new image of the vc should first and foremost be that of relationship. “Relationship” in its widest and most essential meaning, precisely because relationships are at the basis of human life.
Vatican reiterates that homosexuals shouldn’t be priests
In a new document on the priesthood, the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy has reiterated that men with “deeply rooted homosexual tendencies” shouldn’t be admitted to Catholic seminaries and, therefore, shouldn’t become Catholic priests. Much more is also found in the new document.
OGF 11/2016 Living the dialogue in the Church
The dialogue is not a doctrinal truth; it is not just an ingredient, essential though it is. It is the figure of a new way of “being Church” and of “building Church”.
OGF 10/2016 LIFE AND MISSION
Evangelical Fidelity and personal satisfaction.
Our religious profession implies two dimensions: our life and our mission. In our life, it appears impossible to mark the boundaries between life and mission since everything in our is based on the evangelizing mission.
La missione e la “buona battaglia” della testimonianza
Mi suona strano pensare che ci siano “battaglie buone”. In genere, si associa l’idea della battaglia alla guerra, intesa appunto come un susseguirsi di battaglie in momenti e luoghi diversi, volte a indebolire il nemico finché ceda e annunci la propria resa. Ma che sia Paolo, un apostolo, a dirci che ha “combattuto la buona battaglia” e che ne è risultato vincitore perché ha “conservato la fede”, certo la sua affermazione stride un po’ con il messaggio di pace e di non violenza che, in generale, il Vangelo porta con sé.
Annalena Tonelli: an inspiring missionary for today’s world
Annalena Tonelli: “I proclaim the Gospel with my life and I burn with the desire to continue to proclaim it out until the end”
Annalena Tonelli, Italian Catholic missionary, the “Mother Teresa” of the Somali people, was a remarkable woman, who lived in silence her life in the footsteps of Jesus Christ for 35 years, in a Muslim environment. Awarded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with the prestigious Nansen Refugee Award the 25th of June 2003, she was murdered on the 5th of October 2003.
Messaggio del Papa per la Giornata Missionaria Mondiale 2016
– Chiesa missionaria, testimone di misericordia
Messaggio del Santo Padre
– Eglise missionnaire, témoin de miséricorde
Testo in lingua francese
– Missionary Church, Witness of Mercy
Testo in lingua inglese
– Iglesia misionera, testigo de misericordia
Testo in lingua spagnola
– Igreja missionária, testemunha de misericórdia
Testo in lingua portoghese
‘Nigerians are hungry’, Cardinal Okogie tells President Buhari in open letter
Lagos – Emeritus Archbishop of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Okogie has written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the nation.
Surprise! Pope Francis visits convents on his day off
Rieti, Italy, Aug 9, 2016
In keeping with his spontaneous personality, Pope Francis made a surprise visit Tuesday to two convents north of Rome.
Women form the vanguard of Pope Francis’ agenda
ROME— Pope Francis has called for greater leadership by women in Catholicism in the future, but already in the here and now there are multiple arenas in which women are the vanguard of implementing his agenda, including the Church’s response to forced migration, modern-day slavery, and war.
South Sudan: ‘Let Us Take Care Of Our Common Home’
The Religious Superiors Association of South Sudan (RSASS), a Catholic Church’s entity, representing more than 500 members, Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests, has issued a communiqué following a three days conference on the Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis Laudato Si. RSASS Executive Body will hand over this communiqué to the newly appointed Minister for Environment and Forestry in South Sudan, Hon. Josephine Napwon.
Sole survivor of Yemen massacre, Sister Sally, describes martyrdom of her sisters.
The superior of the Aden community has entrusted to a sister the dramatic story of the assault on the nursing home for the elderly and disabled. The sisters were killed because of their “fidelity” to their mission, by being found ready “to welcome their Spouse”. A blood sacrifice in the hope that it will bring about “shoots of peace for the Middle East and help stop Isis”.
Vocations crisis needs prayer, not despair or lax admissions, pope says.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Respond to the crisis of vocations with intensified prayer, not despair or a lax admissions process, Pope Francis told women and men religious. He said he … Continua a leggere
Preschooler whose ‘celebration of Mass’ went viral dies of cancer.
A young Brazilian boy whose solemn reenactment of the Mass drew hordes of online traffic has passed away after nearly two years of battling an aggressive form of cancer. Rafael … Continua a leggere
OGF 9/2015 When prophets speak…
Pope Francis’ addresses to Priests and Religious in his journey to Cuba, to the United States of America. Text word OGF 2015-9 When prophets speak Text PDF OGF 2015-9 When … Continua a leggere
