Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Xaverian Mission
Volume 64 - No. 1 | February 2016 Newsletter
www.xaviermissionaries.org Mission Blog: www.global-catholic.org
March in Edinburgh Scotland to protect our Common Home: photo by Fr. Carl Chudy SX
Papal Message for Mission and Consecrated Life
W
12 Helene Court
e need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring
Wayne, NJ 07470-2813
Tel.: (973) 942-2975 of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word
Fax: (973) 942-5012 reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and
Email: supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that
missionmedia@xaviermissionaries.org
dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers
Xavier Knoll Mission Center and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and humanity,
4500 Xavier Drive
Franklin, WI 53132-9066
opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.
Tel.: (414) 421-0831 Mercy is the very foundation of the Churchs life. All of her
Fax: (414) 421-9108
pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she Mercy is the
Email:
franklin@xaviermissionaries.org makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in force that
her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy. The
Global Youth Mission Services (the
Churchs very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful
reawakens us to
GYM)
Fatima Shrine and compassionate love. The Church has an endless desire new life and
101 Summer Street to show mercy. Perhaps we have long since forgotten how instills in us the
P.O. Box 5857 to show and live the way of mercy. The temptation, on the
Holliston, MA 01746-5857
one hand, to focus exclusively on justice made us forget courage to look
Tel.: (508) 429-2144
Fax: (508) 429-4793 that this is only the first, albeit necessary and indispensable to the future
step. But the Church needs to go beyond and strive for a
Email:
holliston@xaviermissionaries.org
higher and more important goal. On the other hand, sad to
with hope.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter say, we must admit that the practice of mercy is waning in
Official publication of the
Xaverian Missionaries
the wider culture. In some cases the word seems to have dropped out of use.
of the United States However, without a witness to mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if seques-
Publisher: Fr. Carl Chudy tered in a barren des-
ert. The time has come
Communications Board
Fr. Carl Chudy SX for the Church to take
Fr. Alejandro Rodrguez Gmez SX up the joyful call to
Fr. Tony Lalli SX mercy once more. It is
Fr. Rocco Puopolo SX
Fr. Aniello Salicone SX time to return to the
basics and to bear the
Editor
Mary Aktay weaknesses and strug-
Printing
gles of our brothers and
AlphaGraphics, Totowa, NJ sisters. Mercy is the
Email & Web:
force that reawakens us
missionmedia@xaviermissionaries.org to new life and instills
Website: www.xaviermissionaries.org in us the courage to
St. Guido site: www.guidoconforti.com
Mission blog: www.global-catholic.org look to the future with
www.facebook.com/catholicmissionar- hope.
ies
www.twitter.com/worldcatholic
Reconciliation Service in Chad
Donation: $5.00 per year
T
he Year of Mercy for a little boy named Jahanara is
perhaps not quite what Pope Francis has in mind. He
does not even know who Pope Francis is, and perhaps
not even what mercy is.
Jahanara is only five years old, but old enough to know mis-
fortune. But nowthanks to God he also understands
Christian love, providence and compassion.
Jahanara attends first grade. With his bright eyes and con-
stant smile, he does not seem to be aware of his misfortune.
Two years ago, when he was only three, his father, Jinarul
fell from a very high coconut tree and broke his spine. He is
now paralyzed from the waist down. In the vain hope of
recovering some movement he sold his only piece of land to
travel to a hospital in Calcutta to see if something could be
done for him. Jinarul returned home penniless to find his
young wife gone because her relatives had taken her away Fr. Gabriele with Jinarul and Jahanara
to marry someone else. (This happens many times to those who can no longer
work.)
Jinarul was left with a child to support. But how could he when
he could not work? Riga, his elderly mother took them in but
she too was completely crippled. How could she care for her son
and grandson? Only Allah knows! Jinarul went into depression
and just lay in his bed. He suffered from bedsores, and he decid-
ed to let himself die, as do many in his situation.
At this point, my confrere, Fr. Sergio Targa, tireless in attending
to the poor, the sick and others left on the peripheries or
margins of society as Pope Francis has exhorted, spoke to
Jinarul about our small center for the disabled, Asharbari,Place
of Hope.
I told Sergio we were happy to welcome Jinarul, Jahanara and
the old grandmother. I started to treat his bedsores. They are
deep and are more difficult to heal in the hot, humid tropical
A beaming Jahanara can now look forward
climate of Bangladesh. to a brighter future.
For the festival of Eid, the biggest festival in Islam, the family wanted to go
back to their village, on the edge of the forest. There was another round of misfortune when a cow kicked little
Jahanara, badly fracturing bones in his leg. A facility nearby their village plastered it somehow. Several days later
after they returned to Asharbari, I took X-rays which showed, as I had thought, that the fracture had not healed
and the bones are welded crossed and I understood that the child would be likely to have one leg shorter than the
other for life. He would need an operation in a specialized clinic in the city to fix the problem.
Thank God for the many generous people in America who send money to help our ministry so we have the funds for
the trip and the surgery and thereby can finally provide some good fortune for Jahanara!
Otherwise he would have been poor, motherless, with a handicapped father and he himself
would have remained crippled, and never looked forward to a brighter tomorrow.
This will be a Year of Mercy for Jahanara! He perhaps will never say the Our
Father, but as a good Muslim he can raise his eyes to Allah the Merciful.
Fr. Gabriele Spiga SX
Kayap Madonna
Peace and all Good!
Even though I am in Italy for some medical treatment, I send
you my best wishes from Brazil, specifically from Redeno
in the Amazon and our work among the indigenous people
there, particularly the Kayap tribe.
Here are two photos from Christmas that will show that
world in which Providence has placed us. Its a world that
says a great deal about our Christian faith!
In the Kayap Madonna we remember the wishes of the
child Jesus in her arms. The feathers of the crown or
halo surrounding her are from the Arara Macaws, the
largest parrots of our region. Together with the starry
sky the picture illustrates another world ... where some-
one is waiting for us. The Kayap people say that the
feathers are used to fly ... reach for the sky, from where
they have come from and where Im convinced, they will
return!
The second photo is of Kayap toddlers running ... running
towards ustoward you full of life and hope. Let us remem-
ber them in prayer.
Thank you for your continued support.
In friendship and esteem, I remain yours in Christ,
Fr. Renato Trevisan SX
You can help Fr. Renato ministry to the Kayap people of the Amazon. Either clip this paper and send it to the
address below or help the environment by donating online at http://www.xaviermissionaries.org/support/
Interfaith in Action!
P
ope Francis reminds us: An attitude of openness in truth
and in love must characterize the dialogue with the follow-
ers of non-Christian religions, in spite of various obstacles
and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism on both sides.
Inter-religious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the
world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious
l,
communities. This dialogue is in first place a conversation about
w el
human existence or simply, as the bishops of India have put it, a n ds Fr.
matter of being open to them, sharing their joys and sorrows. rou n g, e r
G i t
s at H e rr C e n p o rt
In this way we learn to accept others and their different ways of te
r
ly
n ic u p
living, thinking and speaking. We can then join one another in d Sis a ro Is l a m o f S l d
r C he r n O ly
an te s f
taking up the duty of serving justice and peace, which
e rs
s i s t e t o T e Le t e rs i c i o u r o e
t h y t h s t a o u w
should become a basic principle of all our exchang- ro en t si gr t d,
yB n m I w i v e r n d an d us a war
es. A dialogue which seeks social peace and m o o d a y r dI
To e rn a n d e l e rs l ga v e f t e , a n
justice is in itself, beyond all merely practical ft y to th r m o . A er i-
i s a h u d g e , b ro w a w h t e r e t t s ol y
considerations, an ethical commitment which
Th r l C Bri d l i m e r e rd , c e n e r b n he
brings about a new social situation. ~The Joy of a s w a p h i ni dt
C Ol d Mu We o i ot o n
e B sh oj ,a
the Gospel o f o u r NJ. t h w o r e a c h c e t ime ith
, y n sw
to d g e d b a n d o w r i e is t . u
I participated in a Groundswell Movement event in i e
Br e i v o o l t o k
n pe th it of g
e x i n g vi s r e e
December where I helped deliver a letter of support to e c
r es c h
go t
t e r .
f u l
u r u r t h e rri n
t r
the Islamic Center of Old Bridge, NJ. The Xaverian Mis- t h and e le d e m d or o f t h e H
a t t h o n he l f o i fe r
s t re nn
sionaries have an ongoing commitment to dialogue and d aw h fu
actions which foster peace and unity in our diverse world. re a a s wi t ra t e i c t u rd . Je
w g p
It ri t y e ry s a bo
a
Groundswell is a growing d a re v e d i t h e
f
online community of more w e ta c h rs o
A t b e
than 200,000 people em
m
who believe faith can be
a force for good in the
world. Leaders, organizers,
and activists come to
Groundswell to connect
and share their work for
justice with a movement of
other faith-inspired change-
makers. Groundswell
envisions multi-faith
movements for justice
that are so irresistibly
inspiring, powerfully
organized, sustained, and
deeply rooted in our faiths
that we spark wide-
reaching change.
Fr. Carl Chudy SX Fr. Carl Chudy SX (fourth from left in front) joins the Groundswell Movement at
the Islamic Center of Old Bridge, NJ.
Yo u r efforts of b rin gin g t h e peo p l e of diffe ren t fai t h an d e v e n n o n-b e l i e v ers toge t h e r a t a
dialogu e ta b l e to f in d co mmo n gro un d is a p erfec t re m in d e r to e v e ryon e tha t w e mus t lea rn
to l i v e i n t h e image of God an d t h e n fo l lo w o u r c reeds . I a m posi t i v e tha t t h e re a re more
s i m ila ri t ies tha n diffe ren ces amon g t h e re ligions of t h e wo rld an d if w e con t i n u e to high ligh t
wha t is co mmo n, w e wi l l b e a b l e to defea t t h e ex t re mis m of a l l kinds i n o u r soc ie t y.
S. Im ti az Al i,
Isla mic Cen t e r of Old Bridge
Despite the inclement weather streets of Edinburgh were Science and faith can help each other root
filled with thousands of people ourselves in a new way we envision the world,
humanity, and our vital link to the Lord of
Creation. A great cultural, spiritual, and
educational challenge stands before us as we
look toward a new lifestyle: a more profound
and honest relationship between humanity and
the environment, and an ecological conversion.
(Pope Francis, Laudato Si 201-204)
Discussions continued over refreshments. Ideas were exchanged during plenary presentations
O
n March 30, 2015 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of
our Founders birth and baptism. On December 3, 2015 our
Institute, founded in 1895, turned 120 years old.
December 3rd is also the feast day of our patron saint, Francis
Xavier, who died on 3 December 1552, on the island of Sancian,
very close to China, which the great evangelizer was trying to
reach. He was quite similar to Moses, who died in the land
of Moab as the Lord decreed, deprived of the joy of reaching
Michelangelos
the Promised Land after leading the people out of Egypt. The
Moses in San
Lord had told him: This is the country which I promised on
Pietro in Vincoli,
Rome
oath to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I shall give it to your
descendants. I have allowed you to see it for yourself, but you
will not cross into it (Dt 34:4). Like Moses, Francis Xavier also
had to be satisfied with contemplating from afar the land he
longed to enter.
Our Institute has now reached the same age as Moses was when
he died: 120 years! In his recent biography of the Founder, Fr.
Luca writes: The new Institute was inaugurated on December
3, 1895, the feast of St. Francis Xavier, in the presence of the
bishop, many priests and friends. The new Institute was placed
under the protection of St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the
Indies. The first group of missionary aspirants was made up of
seventeen young men who came from various parishes of the
diocese.
On that same day, Bishop Francesco Magani published the
Decree that established the Seminario Emiliano per le Missioni
St. Guido Conforti with his first missionaries at the Estere in Parma, in which he approved the new Institute and
founding of the Institute expressed the hope that it would flourish. In this document,
the bishop praised Conforti the priest, Canon of the Cathedral
Basilica and his Pro-vicar, and formulated the wish that the
new Institute would be blessed with growth and many excellent
workers, who will spread the Gospel of peace, the Word of life,
among the many peoples who need it.
One hundred and twenty years is no small achievement,
especially if we reach them in the splendid condition of Moses
full of days and his eyes undimmed, his vigor unimpaired.
Normally, old age weakens the eyes. A penetrating gaze in the
Bible is a characteristic of the prophets. It is no coincidence
that Moses, after his age is mentioned, is presented as a
prophet, indeed, as the greatest prophet of all, although
another reason is added that qualifies him as such, his
communion and intimacy with the Lord: There has never been
such a prophet in Israel as Moses, the man whom the Lord knew
St. Guido Conforti with seminarians face to face (Dt 34:10).
Contact:
Fr. Rocco Puopolo at
The GYM
thegym@xaviermissionaries.org
508-429-2144 Members of todays Xaverian Missionaries in their General
Chapter.
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