Newsletter N° 3 – Agosto 2014
Esteemed religious brothers and friends of the Great Family of St. Camillus,
In recent days with Fr. Leocir Pessini we gave ourselves half a morning in order to share with each other certain reflections on the text ‘Awaken the World’, the by now famous fraternal but very rigorous colloquium of Pope Francis with about 120 Major superiors which took place in the Vatican last autumn.
In introducing this Newsletter n. 3 – in which a panorama emerges made up of very many fine things that have been achieved by our Camillian religious brothers – I would like in my turn to share these observations with you as well, in the certainty that there are already very many men and women – Camillians and others – who through their daily service keep the world wide awake, directing it towards the needs of the weak, creating a culture of life, and defending with the disarming force of the ‘glass of water’ offered for love of God (cf. ten years after the death of Ettore Boschini) the dignity of those who by now do not know that they have dignity!
The title is an entire programme! Pope Francis defines it in all its possible nuances: ‘going out’ towards the outskirts where needs are more real, stronger, more wounding…and call on every consecrated man in his individuality and his communal dimension; not living or worse conserving the charism ‘in a bottle of distilled water’; living one’s consecration with energy, with the risk of making mistakes, a risk, however, that should not brake us in deciding positively for God and for our frail and needy brethren.
Awakening the world, however, implies serious work in relation to ourselves, to our lives as individuals and as a community: a renewed and inspired formation understood as ‘skilled work’ that involves a renewed synergy between the spirit, the intellect, the community and ministry in order to from ourselves to be and to live as fathers and brothers, as travelling companions and not as men and women ‘with acidic hearts of vinegar’; and living fraternity by ‘caressing conflicts’ which are inevitable but which also make our being together very true and not formal and also invite us to a permanent state of conversion to be lived with ‘Eucharistic tenderness’!
Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon
FROM THE CAMILLIAN WORLD
BRAZIL
San Paolo
On 1-4 September 2014, at the ‘São Camilo – Campus Pompéia’ University Centre, the XXXVII Congress of Moral Theology will be held and its title will be ‘Ethical Theology and Social Transformation: the Utopia of a New Reality’.
Fr. Leocir Pessini will take part as a speaker and the coordinator.
Here is the programme of the congress in PDF.
Stato di Minas Gerais
From the blog ‘With the Heart of a Mother’
The Dr. Candido Junqueira Hospital celebrates sixty-nine years of work.
On 15 August the sixty-nine years of work of the Dr. Candido Junqueira Hospital and the arrival in Cruzilia of the Daughters of St. Camillus were celebrated. For the occasion on 16 August a Holy Mass was celebrated in the church of Matriz and the new refectory of the hospital was inaugurated. The Holy Mass, celebrated by Fr. Enderson Hebert de Souza, witnessed the participation of the whole of the local community, of the Daughters of St. Camillus and of the administrators of the hospital of Cruzilia. During the celebration Fr. Enderson emphasised the importance of the work in the city of the Daughters of St. Camillus who ‘like Mary work to care for others above all during moments of greatest suffering’. He also spoke about the importance of the Dr. Candido Janqueira Hospital for the region of Cruzilia. At the end of the ceremony this priest blessed the women religious and the staff, congratulating them all on the work that they had done.
TAIWAN
Fr. Didonè tells us that on 26 August a day centre for elderly people was inaugurated at a country church which is five kilometres from our St. Mary hospital centre.
LIMA
P .Arnaldo Pangrazzi
In Lima, on Saturday 30 August, at the ‘St. Camillus’ Centre for Formation, there came to a close the intensive course on ‘counselling’ which had been animated by Fr. Arnaldo Pangrazzi. This course witnessed the participation of Camillians, women Ministers of the Sick, friends of the Lay Camillian Family, workers of the Centre for Formation of Cefosa, and people from various countries of Latin America.
ARGENTINA
From the Blog ‘Lay Camillian Family’
The LCF of Buenos Aires inaugurated its own area within the ‘La Paternal’ Parish.
Inside there is a ‘charity cupboard’ for people who belong to the ‘At Table with Jesus’ programme, a programme that was begun three years ago and which involves the participation of people from a poor area of the city known as ‘La Carbonilla’ .
In this place group meetings are held and it is used to order material and food received and given to the ‘Eating with Jesus’ project.
COLOMBIA
P. Laurent Zoungrana
On 22-27 September in Bogota, at the Camillian Centre for Pastoral Care, a meeting for formation and the promotion of vocations will be held, with the coordination of the Colombian Delegation, the direction of Fr. Juan Pablo Villamizar, and local organisation by Fr. Yoni Alberto Paloma and by Luciano Ramponi as regards translation.
At this important event there will also be present Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, the Vicar General of the Order and the Consultor responsible for formation and the animation of vocations.
We attach the message of Fr. Pessini to the Major Superiors of the pan-American area. Text in ITALIAN . Text in SPANISH .
BENIN-TOGO
Father Bernard Kinvi of the Vice-Province of Benin-Togo, the current director of our hospital of Bossemptele in Central Africa, was awarded by the NGO Human Rights Watch the ‘Prix Alison’ Prize. This NGO is based in London, Geneva and Paris and he was awarded this prize in recognition of the services involving care provided by the hospital within the context of human rights during the tragic moments of the war in Central Africa.
MADAGASCAR
On 16 August there was the inauguration of the tower dedicated to Our Lady ‘Salus Infirmorum’ which was built on the Ilena hill in Fiananrantoa in Madagascar. At 9.00 over 2,000 participants met in the square of the Church to begin the procession. Once they had arrived at the hill Don Donatien Walburge Rasolofomahafaly, a deacon of the city of Fianarantoa, presided over a Holy Mass. Fr. Albert Rainiherinoro offered the following observation on this day of celebration: ‘the joy provoked by this dream which has become a reality helps us to go forward despite the various challenges of life. My hope for you is that you will feel what I have felt over recent days’.
Look here at the photographic gallery
BURKINA FASO
On Saturday 6 September the Camillian Province of Burkina Faso will celebrate the end of the jubilee year with the perpetual professions of three religious. Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, a religious of Burkina Faso, the Vicar General of the Order and the Consultor responsible for formation and the animation of vocations, will be present at the celebrations where he will represent the Superior General and his fellow Consultors.
The three professed are:
Eric Nare
Justin Nana
Pierre N. Sawadogo
SPAIN
Terna orientativa Provincia Spagnola
The communiqué of the provincial council for the Province of Spain celebrated in Sant Pere de Ribes on 19 August 2014 has communicated a slate as regards the appointment of the Provincial Superior
MOTTINELLO (VI)
P. Frank Monks, Superior General Emeritus
In Mottinello di Rossano Veneto ( VI), on Sunday 5 October, with vespers before dinner, the annual spiritual exercises will begin which will end on Friday 10 October. The preacher will be Fr. Frank Monks, the Superior General Emeritus, who will offer a series of reflections on the foundations of Camillian consecrated life: charism, spirituality, vows, fraternity and ministry.
For information apply to Fr. Mariani Florio, the Superior of the community, or send us an e-mail.
NAPLES
We remind you that on 7 September at the Basilica of Maria SS. A Capodimonte (Naples), our religious brother Alfredo Tortorella of the Province of Sicily and Naples will be consecrated a priest and will celebrate his first Holy Mass with relatives, religious brothers and friends on Monday 8 September at the Parish of ‘St. Mary of Graces’ in Melito in the city of Naples ( cf. Newsletter n. 2)
LENOLA (LT)
On 6-7 September the relic of the heart of St. Camillus will be received in the Parish of S. Maria Maggiore di Lenola on the occasion of the feast day dedicated to the ‘ Madonna del Colle’. For this occasion Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon, a Consultor of the Order, will on Saturday animate an evening of prayer and on 7 September he will preside over the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. All the reflections will centre around certain suggestions taken from the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium.
Download here the complete programme in PDF
BUCCHIANICO
The inter-Provincial spiritual exercises in Italian will begin tomorrow, 2 September, in Bucchianico (cf. Newsletter n.2). They will end on Sunday 7 September. The preacher will be Fr. Gianluigi Valtorta. On 6 September the novitiates of three young men will begin: Walter Vinci and Nicola Mastrocola of the Province of Rome and Dario Malizia of the Province of Sicily and Naples, under the guidance of Fr. Vincenzo Castaldo, the newly elected teacher of novices at the ‘Nicola D’Onofrio’ Centre for Spirituality.
FROM ROME
P. Paolo Guarise
CAMILLIANI/CAMILLIANS. The latest edition of Camilliani/Camillians n. 195/196 has come out and it concerns itself in particular with the ‘jubilee year, year of God’, as the leading article of Fr. Paolo Guarise makes clear. We warmly thank Fr. Paolo given that this is the last article that he will sign as editor of our review, making way for Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon.
In addition to the celebrations for the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus, the part on the papers of the ‘Three Days of Camillian Spirituality’ is also important. These three days were held at the generalate house on 8-20 March and were animated by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, by Monsignor José Rodriguez Carballo and by Sister Nicoletta Spezzati, respectively the Prefect, the Secretary and the Under-Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
CITTÀ DEL VATICANO
Il francobollo emesso dalla Città del Vaticano
On Thursday 28 August 2014 the postage stamp on the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus de Lellis was issued by the philatelic office of the Vatican State.
As was announced over previous months, the stamp reproduces the picture of ‘St. Camillus and the Plague-stricken’ which is attributed to the painter Sebastiano Conca and kept in the museum of the Order in the generalate house in Rome.
To see the other postage stamps dedicated to our founder saint click here
AGENDA DEL SUPERIORE GENERALE – VISITE FRATERNE
P. Leocir Pessini
In recent days the Superior General returned to Brazil to continue the changing of the guard with the new Provincial Superior of the Province of Brazil, Fr. Antonio Mendes Freitas.
After visiting nearly all the Camillian places of South America, Fr. Leocir, on 8-9 September will visit our religious brothers of the Delegation of Argentina.
On 23 September to 2 October 2014 he will meet our religious brothers of Thailand on the occasion of the international meeting for strategic planning organised by the Camillian Task Force. From 30 October to 9 November 2014, at Bogota (Colombia), Fr. Pessini will take part in the Conference on Humanisation in the Health-care World at the Camillian Centre for Pastoral Care organised by the CELAM (Episcopal Conference of Latin America).
On 10-18 November Fr. Leocir will be in India for a fraternal visit, in concomitance with the conference on the Camillian charism.
During the second week of December the Superior General will visit the Vice-Province of Burkina Faso and our religious brothers of the Vice-Province of Benin-Togo, together with the Vicar General, Fr. Laurent Zoungrana.
We take this opportunity to announce that the next meeting of the Superior General and the Consultors with the Major Superiors of the Order will take place on 18-24 May 2015 and will be hosted by our religious brothers of the Province of Poland.
NOMINE DELLA CONSULTA
P. Antonio Mendes Freitas
Fr. Leocir Pessini, the Superior General, with the agreement of the Consultors, has appointed the new Provincial of Brazil Fr. Antonio Mendes Freitas.
Fr. Antonio Mendes Freitas was born in Salinas, Brazil, on 13 June 1967. In 1985 he studied at the Collegio San Camillo Pinhais-Piraquara; in 1988 he engaged in his novitiate in Granja Viana, and finished it with his first profession for vows on 1 January 1989 and final consecration and solemn profession on 1 May 1992. He was ordained a priest on 7 July 1996. He attended the Faculty of ‘Adminsitracione hospitalaria’ at the St. Camillus University Centre of San Paolo. Over the last seven years he has been the superintendent of three large Camillian hospitals in the city of San Paolo. Fr. Mendes was the first councillor during the first mandate as Provincial of Fr. Leocir Pessini
Fr. Leocir Pessini, given the specific request advanced by the Extraordinary General Chapter (Arricia–June 2014) to recreate the Central Economic Commission, with the agreement of the General Consulta has appointed as members of this commission for the six-year period of 2014-2020 the following:
Fr. Giovanni CONTARIN (the Province of Thailand);
Fr. Justino SCATOLIN (the Province of Brazil);
Fr. Lorenzo TESTA (the Province of Italy);
Rag. Massimo IANNACCHINO (who works with the Province of Rome).
Thanking them for their generous readiness to help, we hope that they will work successfully for an increasing ‘vigilance and transparency in dealing with economic-financial matters’.
Brother José Ignacio Santaolalla has been appointed general financial administrator and coordinator of the central economic commission.
Father Aristelo Miranda has been appointed Superior of the community of St. Mary Magdalene.
Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon has been proposed as Rector of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Campo Marzio.
Deceased Men and Women Religious
‘‘See, now they vanish, the faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them, To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern’ (T.S. Eliot)
P. Antoni Bednarczyk
Fr . Antoni Bednarczyk (1948 – 2014) of the Province of Poland.
Antoni Bednarczyk was born on 7 June 1948 in Nakle in Silesia. In 1966 he entered the Order of the Camillians. On 12 September 1967 he made his first religious profession and on 12 September 1970 his perpetual profession. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Joseph Marca on 2 February 1974.
Fr. Chiaffredo Peyrona (1931-2014) of the Province of Italy.
Padre Chiaffredo Peyrona
Father Chiaffredo Peyrona was born in Venasca (Cn) on 4 March 1931. He began his novitiate on 7 April 1951. He made his temporary profession on 8 December 1952. On 8 December 1955 he made his solemn profession. On 22 March 1959 he was ordained a priest. He lived for many years in our religious house of Imperia and for a number of years in Borghetto Santo Spirito (Sv). He was Chaplain of the hospital of Imperia and to the Ranisse Sisters, animator of the youth sports group, and rector of the Villa Immacolata Church. When he was in Borghetto Santo Spirito he was a teacher of Italian and science. When the house of Borghetto was closed he returned to Imperia. On 24 July 1995 he was moved to Turin and the community of Villa Lellia. There he attended to the Camillian review and the Camillian publishing house. With Mrs Oggioni he took part in conferences on pastoral care in health. In 2001 Father Chiaffredo returned to his beloved Imperia until a very serious fall compelled him to have an operation that was not successful and left him disabled. He left the hospital in Imperia to which he had been admitted to be in turn admitted to the St. Camillus Health Centre of Turin. On 19 September 2003 the Provincial Council formalised his transfer from Imperia to Turin Villa Lellis. In 2014 he was admitted on a number of occasions to the Gradenigo Hospital for intestinal problems. On 21 August 2014 at 13.55 Father Chiaffredo, after years of suffering, returned to the House of the Father.
‘Now they live in Christ whom they met in the Church, followed in their vocations, and served in the sick and the suffering. Trusting that the Lord, the Holy Virgin our Queen, St. Camillus and our deceased
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