Nuntia
March 2004
16. Tempo
Forte
On
15-19 March, the members of the General Council met for a tempo
forte session. Among
the matters treated were the following:
1. Preparation
for the upcoming General Assembly (Rome, 5-29 July 2004);
2. Approval
of the final revisions of the Practical Guide for the Visitor;
3. Approval
of the annual financial report made by the Treasurer General;
4. Discussion
of reports from the Vincentian Family Office (Benjamín
Romo), the Vincentian Solidarity Office - VSO (Peter Campbell), Vincentiana and Nuntia (Orlando Escobar), the website (John Freund), SIEV
(José María Nieto), and the representative of the
Congregation at the United Nations (Joseph Foley);
5. Decisions
about and nominations to new missions;
6. A
report from Fr. Paul Roche, and a discussion with him, about
the Vice-Province of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.
17. General
Curia
Meetings
in Paris and Rome and approbation of the new Constitutions. On 23-28 March, the Superior General, accompanied
by Brother Adam Budzyna, was in Paris. On the morning of the
24th, he met with the members of CIF for two hours
and then celebrated the Eucharist with them. In the afternoon
he met with the Treasurer General of the Daughters of Charity
to review the annual financial report. On 25 March, he concelebrated
the Eucharist, along with a large number of confreres, at the
Mass in which the Daughters of Charity renewed their vows.
Afterwards he gave a conference entitled "Five Faces of Giuseppina
Nicoli," (1863-1924), an Italian Daughter of Charity whose
process of beatification is moving forward rapidly. Later that
same morning he met with the members of the General Council
of the Daughters of Charity to approve the financial report.
In the afternoon he celebrated the Eucharist with the members
of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Agony.
During the Superior General's stay in Paris, the sisters received
word that the new Constitutions of the Daughters of Charity
were approved by the Holy See on 25 March. Back in Rome, Fr.
Maloney met on 29 March with the members of the Board of Trustees
of St. John's University, who were visiting the university's
Roman campus.
Nomination
Treasurer. On 16
March, Fr. Giuseppe Guerra, former Visitor of Naples, was named
Treasurer of the General Curia. Fr. Guerra succeeds Fr. Ettore
Zoppi, of the Province of Turin, who has fulfilled this office
since 1998.
18. CIF
Visits. The Superior General visited the participants at CIF
on 24 March, a practice which he as followed since the beginning
of the International Formation Center. The two-hour session with
Fr. Maloney was designed as a time for exchange and dialogue.
Each participant introduced himself, shared his apostolic involvements
briefly and expressed his hope for the Congregation in the future.
Later, on 26 March, Fr. José Antonio Ubillús, Assistant
General, interviewed Fr. O'Donnell and Fr. Díaz Catalán,
who are in charge of CIF, about how the formation program is
going, the needs and the challenges.
19. CLAPVI
Visit to Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Fr.
Ignacio Fernández de Mendoza, Vicar General, visited several
countries in Latin America from 23 February to 14 March. In Lima
(Peru) he visited the Provincial House and the other communities,
six altogether, located in the country's capital. After that,
he moved to Bolivia where he visited the international mission
of El Alto, in which four missionaries carry out Vincentian ministries
in a large area of the diocese. Coinciding with the beginning
of the academic year, he met with the formators and the six new
postulants who had just arrived in the formation house. On his
way to Chile, he stopped in Cochabamba (Bolivia), where he greeted
the sisters at the Nursing School "Elizabeth Seton" and at the
Provincial House. From 7 to 13 March, he participated in the
meeting of confreres organized by CLAPVI in Valparaíso
(Chile) to study the Practical Guide for the Local Superior. Twenty-five
confreres -- seven of them Visitors -- from ten countries of Latin
America participated. Besides presiding the inaugural Eucharist,
Fr. Fernández de Mendoza, gave three conferences relating
to community life and the proper ministry of the local superior.
Shortly before undertaking the return trip to Rome, he greeted
the sisters of Chile in the Provincial House and the Visitatrixes
who had come from several countries of Latin America.
20. Austria
Meeting
of the Parish Councils. On
7 March, for the first time, a meeting of the members of the
parish councils of all parishes (9) run by Austrian Vincentians
took place in the Styrian Monastery of Vorau. About 90 people
listened to a very interesting conference on the various aspects
of pastoral work in a parish given by Fr. Franz Kangler, superior
of the community in Istanbul (Turkey). This meeting gave the
participants the opportunity to get to know each other and
to share experiences. The hope is that this meeting will be
the beginning of a networking of the Vincentian parishes in
this province.
21. Chile
150 years of Mission
and Charity. On
15 March, with the participation of some 4000 people and with
much joy and great beauty, the 150th anniversary
of the arrival of the Vincentian Missionaries and the Daughters
of Charity to Chile was celebrated in Valparaíso. The
celebrations began with a reenacting of the arrival of the "Magallanes," at
ten o'clock, at the Prat Pier of this Port of Chile. There
came on two vessels 30 young women who represented the 30 sisters
and three young men who represented the first three missionaries,
who arrived on 15 March 1854. On the pier, the regional and
local authorities, the sisters and the confreres, among whom
several Visitors and all the Visitatrixes of Latin America
and the Caribbean, as well as the General Councillor for Latin
America awaited them. Together with them were thousands of
laity who came from all parts of the country and many inhabitants
of Valparaíso who spontaneously joined the celebration.
After the discourse of the representative of the Mayor of Valparaíso
and the Provincial Director of Education, who represented the
Minister of this Department, the authorities and the young
people representing the 33 sisters and the missionaries, followed
by the crowd, moved in carriages to the Cathedral of Valparaíso,
where a solemn Eucharist was celebrated at noon, presided by
the Bishop of the Diocese, Msgr. Gonzalo Duarte, and concelebrated
by the Auxiliary Bishop, the Bishop Emeritus of Temuco, the
Visitors of Latin America and Vincentian priests from Chile
and visiting ones, as well as some diocesan priests. The Cathedral,
filled with the faithful, was beautifully decorated for the
occasion, especially with images of Our Lady of the Miraculous
Medal, St. Vincent and St. Louise. In his homily, Msgr. Duarte
highlighted the work of the missionaries and the sisters throughout
those 150 years, declaring that their arrival "changed the
concept of charity in Chile." In the afternoon, after a lunch
offered to the authorities and special guests in the Naval
Club of Valparaíso, there was an artistic-cultural
tribute in the Salon of Honor of the National Congress, where
some dances prepared by the students of the schools of the
Daughters of Charity were presented and the Folklore Group 'Maucó' acted.
Afterwards the greetings received for the occasion were read,
among these are highlighted that of the President of the Republic
and of the Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity.
At this time as well, the Visitatrix, Sr. María Isabel
Ruiz, the Visitor, Fr. Carlos de la Rivera, and the General
Councillor, Sr. Blanca Libia Tamayo, spoke. The local and national
media gave abundant coverage to this event on the days leading
up to it and on the actual day of the celebrations. In this
respect, the reports broadcast by the television channels merit
mentioning, especially that prepared by the journalist Julio
López Blanco, for the Canal Mega, which dedicated several
minutes of its headline news to this event. More information
can be found on: www.vicentinos.cl
22. China
"A Vincentian China Experience." Recently,
Fr. John Wang, Visitor of China, wrote to the Visitors to announce
a summer program for this year 2004, entitled "A Vincentian China
Experience." It is for young Vincentians in the entire CM who
are interested in the China Mission. In the summers of 1994 and
1995, seven confreres gathered for a similar experience. The
participants and the Catholic people still remember those days
as a time of joy, relationship and mutual discovery. The program
was repeated last year with similar success. On the basis of
last year's experience, however, the program this year will be
only three weeks, given the difficulty for confreres to be away
longer from their respective pastoral work. Therefore, the program
will begin on 19 August 2004 and end on 8 September 2004. Two
weeks will be spent in Taiwan and one week in Continental China.
In his letter to the Visitors, Fr. Wang said "the program
will be conducted in English, so a participant will have to know
some English, but does not have to worry as long as he has some
English." There, "various confreres speak French, Spanish, Indonesian,
Tagalog, Polish, Hindi, etc. We can get by on a minimum of English
and helping one another. I put it this way because in the past
we were limited to English and French, but we would like to be
as open as possible to all the confreres of the Congregation,
still a minimum of English is required." "We can share expenses
for the program in this way. Transportation to and from Taiwan
will be the responsibility of the confrere who comes, or rather
his province. The expenses of the program, including lodging,
food, travel on Taiwan and in China will be borne by the Province
of China." "Actually, the works of the Mission in China are varied
and challenging." One lives "among the people of Taiwan and the
aboriginal populations of the east coast" and has "frequent and
regular contact with Catholics and other people from China." The
request to participate in this Experience must be made through
the Visitor of the interested confrere's province.
23. Spain
Beginning of the cause of canonization. On
4 March, Msgr. García-Gasco, Archbishop of Valencia (Spain),
began the cause of canonization of 22 martyrs for the faith during
the religious persecution of 1936. These were: a young man of
19 years of age and two Vincentian priests martyred in Valencia
together with 13 others martyred in Murcia, five in Barcelona
and one in Gerona. The young 19-year-old man was the student
Rafael Lluch Garín, who was a Marian member of the Association
of the Miraculous Medal, when he was killed. The two Vincentians
were Frs. Agapito Alcalde Garrido, a native of Rubena (Burgos),
and Rafael Vinagre Torres, from Feria (Badajoz). Rafael Lluch
Garín, born in Valencia in 1917 was martyred for refusing
to blaspheme when a group of unknown assailants obliged him to
it in his sister's pharmacy in the Valencian locality of Picassent.
The priests Agapito Alcalde Garrido and Rafael Vinagre Torres
had been missionaries in the Philippines, where they experienced
moments of persecution and, in the case of the latter, also in
Mexico. Upon returning to Spain at the beginning of the 30s,
they were assigned to the Monastery of El Puig, where they were
made prisoners. They were martyred on 31 July in Valencia and
11 September 1936 in Paterna, respectively. Of the other martyrs
whose cause of canonization has been opened, five were sacrificed
in Barcelona: the Vincentians, Manuel Binimelis Cabré,
a native of Reus; Vicente Queralt Lloret, from Barcelona; and
Luis Berenguer Moratona, of the Barcelonan town of Santa María
de Horta, as well as the Daughters of Charity Toribia Marticorena
Sola, a native of Murugarren (Navarra) and Dorinda Sotelo Rodríguez,
from Lodoselo (Orense). In addition the cause has been opened
of a Vincentian, martyred in Gerona, Juan Puig Serra, a native
of the Barcelonan town of San Martín de Canellas. The
majority of those martyrs whose causes for canonization have
been begun, 13 altogether, were killed in various towns of Murcia.
At the head of the list is the Vincentian, José Costa
Alemán, a native of Totana (Murcia) from where came also
two secular priests, Juan José Martínez Romero
and Pedro José Rodríguez Cabrera, who were martyred
with him and whose causes will also be opened. Three other secular
priests, Pedro Gambín Pérez, Cayetano García
Martínez and José Sánchez Medina, natives
of the Murcian towns of Cartagena, Jumilla and Archena, respectively,
are figured in the same account of the martyrs, as are seven
Marian members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal: Modesto
Allepuz Vera, Enrique Pedro González Andreu, José Ardil
Lázaro, Francisco Roselló Hernández, Isidro
Juan Martínez, Francisco García Balanza and Antonio
Gil Muñoz, all born in Cartagena. For more information
please see: http://www.archivalencia.org
24. Mozambique
Visit
of the Treasurer General. Fr.
Jorge Pedroza, Vice-Visitor of Mozambique, wrote to give an account
of this visit: "From 24 February to 6 March, Fr. Elmer Bauer,
Treasurer General, visited the Vice-Province of Mozambique. The
purpose was to get to know the financial situation of the vice-province
and to offer orientation for a better administration and exploitation
of its poor resources. The visit took place in an atmosphere
of fraternal dialogue. He visited all the houses and spent two
days working with the Provincial Treasurer and his assistant.
Fr. Bauer also led a meeting with the local treasurers and met
with the Finance Committee. All
the members of the vice-province are grateful to and happy with
Fr. Bauer for his simplicity and his straightforward way of sharing
with us and, above all, for the rich guidance he offered us."
25. Vincentian
Family
Peace
declaration of the Vincentian Family in Spain in face of the
attacks of Madrid (11
March 2004) - "Defending Peace and Life: In face of the attacks
suffered in Madrid, which sowed death, blood and tears, a considerable
number of families, the Vincentian Family," "have felt with and
express our sorrow to the injured, their families. And our deepest
sympathy, consolation and support go to the families of those
who lost their lives. At the same time, we completely and emphatically
reject violence.
· We
boldly assert our faith in the future of humanity.
· We
deny the belief that present circumstances make it impossible for
people to make a better world.
· We
declare publicly the right to Peace and Life.
· We
condemn all violence, terrorism..., all attempts on life, human
dignity and the right of persons to live in peace. God loves
life.
· We do not forget that everything that happens in the
world is also a matter of our responsibility, and that we will be accused if we limit ourselves to grumbling and seeking the
culprits."
Visit to Albania. From 19 to 26 March, Fr. Benjamín Romo, Delegate
to the Vincentian Family, visited Albania. During his stay there
he met with the JMV group that is in formation in the city of
Rrëshen. This group has some 30 young people. He also met
with a group of 15 women who are in the process of formation
in view of belonging to AIC. Likewise, he met with the confreres
who work in Rrëshen and Scutari. Finally, Fr. Romo met on
several occasions with the Daughters of Charity and preached
a retreat for them in preparation for the renewal of vows. He
also spoke with them on the reality of the various lay Vincentian
associations. During the meeting with them, he reflected amply
on the ways of founding Vincentian Associations. A visit to Kosovo
was on his agenda, but it had to be cancelled because of the
serious problems of violence that flared up there recently.
*****
GUERRA Giuseppe 16-03-2004 Local
Treasurer - General Curia
MOLINA SALMERÓN Antonio 30-03-2004 Director
DC - Madrid Santa Luisa
NECROLOGIUM
2004
Nomen Cond Dies
Ob Prov Aet Voc
KAKKANATT Jacob Sac 10-03-2004 InM
2º 65-43
KAO Francis Sac 10-03-2004 Sin
4º 77-15
VEEL Henk Sac 10-03-2004 Hol
1º 87-67
SUÁREZ GONZÁLEZ Enrique Sac 12-03-2004 Ven
9º 70-52
AUDISIO Stefano Fra 14-03-2004 Tau
1º 89-72
COERVER Robert Sac 18-03-2004 Ocn
11º 87-70
FAVOLE Pietro Sac 21-03-2004 Tau
12º 84-67
ROCHA BÁEZ Pedro Sac 24-03-2004 Mex
1º 44-06
PACIOREK Joseph Sac 31-03-2004 Nan
1º 92-73
VALERO
HERNÁNDEZ Paulo E. Fra 31-03-2004 Col
8º 78-50
