Word Aflame

Transcription

Word Aflame

Word Aflame
SVD Botswana Province Newsletter
August-September 2012
WORD FROM THE PROVINCIAL:
The Ad Gentes General Chapter
In
the concluding Eucharist presided over by the
out-going Superior General, Fr. Antonio Pernia
spoke, “If we were to choose a word or a phrase
that would describe the general chapter that we are
bringing to a close this morning that word or phrase
would be “Ad Gentes. The XVII GC of the Society of
the Divine Word has been what we might call the
“Ad Gentes General Chapter.” Today the Nemi
Renewal centre is known as the Ad Gentes Centre.
It was the venue where a group of experts including
the young Father Joseph Ratzinger drafted Ad
Gentes, the Vatican II statement on missionary activity in 1964. On July 9, Pope Benedict XVI traveled from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo
to the village of Nemi, to visit the Ad Gentes Center
where he had once worked on the commission drafting the documents of Vatican II.
The challenge before provincial leadership is how to bring the Ad Gentes General Chapter to General Chapter Inter
Gentes! In general there is apathy to whatever comes from Rome. Hopefully the congregational directions for 2012-18,
passed by General Chapter would guide us as we still grapple with the challenge of making the timeless message of the
gospel intelligible in our changing times. The envisaged action plans (ad extra: Sharing intercultural mission) delve
more in to the “how” of our mission through appropriate methodology and approaches. The document has outlined ten
points under this section. Probably what truly lack here are points of engagement and action items to deliver on the proposed action statements. A compiled list of points from our best practises would have helped one another. Therefore,
Missio inter gentes (mission among the nations/situations) rather than the traditional mission ad gentes (mission to the
nations) can well set a new focus for the intercultural mission today.
I liked two questions paused by Sr. María Cristina Ávalos SSpS to enlighten the capitulars about Ad-Intra: Sharing intercultural Life. She began by asking all the capitulars to answer two questions, namely, first, I know I am included
when….., second, what does it mean for me to be inclusive in a diverse community? We are well aware often conflicts
in our intercultural communities are caused by personality traits of the individual members.
Intercultural life and mission for its own sake to protect an inherited charism is deceiving. The challenge of intercultural life and mission today, therefore, is to be counter-cultural in life (witnessing) and mission (proclamation). It is
both a mystic and prophetic presence for transformation. The roots of such an inter-cultural
life and mission will be a spirituality that motivates and enables people to search for a fuller
life for all, and for the earth. May the spirit of XVII GC inspire us to reclaim our self-images
as leaven or salt or light in order to be authentic in our intercultural life and mission!
Happy
Birthday!
A GLIMPSE of Svd XVII General Chapter
“From Every Nation, People and Language:
Sharing Intercultural Life and Mission”
Nemi, Rome; 17June-15 July 2012
August
Marichu
Petroneldis
Natun
Maxmillian
Charles Ashun
Biju
Donatus
Maciej
Karolina
Raji
Paul Haman
5
10
11
14
17
20
21
23
24
29
30
THE NEW SVD GENERAL COUNCIL
September
Louis
Sunny
Raul
Peter Chibale
Saco
5
8
12
12
14
2012-2018
Welcome Back
Victor Noronha
Tony Rebello
Thomas Nelluvely
Donatus
Home Leave
Elfridus
Hilarius
Arrivals
POPE BENEDICT XVI VISITED THE CAPITULARS AND BEING WELCOMED BY THE NEW SUPERIOR GENERAL, FR HEINZ KULUKE
Alex Muana (PHC) - Doctoral
studies in Missiology at UNISA
Eduardo Guarin (PHC)
expected in August for South
Africa District
Anselmus Jalang (IDE)
expected in August for Botswana
District
Prosper Mukula (Pastoral Year)
We also remember and pray for the
soul of Fr Roger Arnold, SVD as we
celebrate his death anniversary on
August 12. Rest in peace, Fr Roger!
THE GREAT REUNION. THE 3 GENERAL COUNCILS OF THE
ARNOLDOS FAMILY POSED FOR A FAMILY PICTURE
NOTE: Please send your articles to the Communications Coordinator for publication (Email:[email protected])
Page 2
ZAMBIA DISTRICT: News Features
HANDING-OVER CEREMONY AND PROFESSION
OF FAITH. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL
SIGHT ON THE EVE OF ORDINATION
WHEN THE PARENTS OF FR MAX AND
FR BRIAN OFFERED THEIR SONS TO
THE SVD AND TO THE CHURCH
THROUGH SONGS AND SYMBOLS. IT
WAS WITNESSED BY OUR VICE PROVINCIAL FR MAREK, BISHOP MULENGA
OF KABWE , SVD PROVINCIAL OF
PARAGUAY AND MANY PRIESTS,
BROTHERS AND RELIGIOUS AND SOME
FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF THE TWO
ORDINANDS. A NICE MEAL WAS
SHARED TO CULMINATE THE EVENING. THANKS TO FR BIJU AND TO THE
CONFRERES OF ZAMBIA DISTRICT FOR
THE VERY WELL ORGANIZED EVENT.
Page 3
ZAMBIA DISTRICT: News Features
SVD ZAMBIA ORDINATION 2012: Welcome to the Brotherhood of
Priests, Fr Maximilian Kolbe Bwalya, SVD and Fr Brian Francis Mbulubaya, SVD.
Ordained by Bishop Clement Mulenga, SDB on the 21st of July 2012 at St Joseph Parish, Ngungu, Kabwe, Zambia. God bless you both!
Page 4
SOUTH AFRICA DISTRICT: News Features
The End of an Era
Bishop Mogale Paul Nkumishe dies at age 74
Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life came together at Peter
Mokoaba Stadium, Polokwane on the 7th of July to bid farewell to Bishop
Mogale Paul Nkumishe, the bishop emeritus of Polokwane diocese. Bishop
Nkumishe, was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Witbank Diocese in 1981 and
in February 14th 1982 he was consecrated as a Bishop. He served the diocese of
Witbank for a period of 18 years. He was then transferred to Polokwane Diocese
and was installed as its Bishop on the 4th June 2000 until the 9th December 2011
when his retirement request was accepted by the Holy Father due to his ill
health. He served both the diocese of Witbank and Polokwane with dedication
and love.
As a young priest, Fr. M.P Nkhumishe began his ministry and service as an assistant pastor/ curate in the parish of Doornspruit. Beside the parish duties, Fr. M.P
Nkhumishe was given extra pastoral duty as the diocesan Vocation director where he spiritually and academically
took care of the seminarians’ schooling at PAX College. In this apostolate, he befriended and attracted many young
boys to priestly vocation. Most of the senior priests that we have in Polokwane diocese are recruited by him when he was
the vocation director. Whenever the bishop addressed the clergy of our diocese, he would always challenge the priests
to do the vocation work in their own parishes. He took very special care of the seminarians in their spiritual and material
well being.
The funeral mass was led by Archbishop Slattery of Pretoria Archdiocese. In his homily Archbishop Slattery said that
Bishop Nkumishe was made bishop during the time of apartheid and being an African bishop at that time he had to
face many challenges from all corners but he endured all those struggles and sufferings with courage and faith. All the
speakers on the day of the funeral said with one voice that bishop Nkumishe was a man of great pastoral vision. Both in
Witbank and Polokwane dioceses, it was his initiative to set up Pastoral Centres that would cater for the pastoral needs
of the dioceses. He will be remembered by his relatives, friends, priests and people in both dioceses he served as a lowkey, down-to-earth, unpretentious man. He had been a strong advocate of self sustaining church. He worked tirelessly
to train local people for various ministries. One of his dreams was to train and ordain many permanent deacons in the
diocese but this dream is yet be materialised.
The late Bishop would always tell the priests in the diocese that he got the Divine Word Missionaries in his diocese as a
result of several years of knocking at the door of our Generalate with patience and hope. He never gave up his hope and
finally we arrived in the diocese in 2007. We got
good support and encouragement from the bishop
MATER DEI PASTORAL CENTRE, MOKOPANE
for all our initiatives and programmes at the Centre. I must say he had a great love for Mater Dei
Pastoral Centre so much so that he wanted to
spend the rest of his life there after he retires as
bishop. But due to ill health he had to be always
in the hospital ever since he retired in December
2011. May his soul rest in peace.(Sunny)
Page 5
ANNUAL RETREAT FOR RELIGIOUS 2012
MATER DEI PASTORAL CENTER, MOKOPANE
JUNE 24-29, 2012
RETREAT MASTER: FR PETER MADEN, SVD
My thoughts,
My words:
Retreat
Experience at
Mater Dei
Mokopane! It has a certain ring to it. Some
say it is called after a great king. Others,
that the origins of the name are uncertain.
Be that as it may there is nothing uncertain
about Mater Dei Pastoral Centre nestling
very placidly at the foot of one of the many
hills there and run very efficiently by our
own ‘great king’, Sunny!
FR PETER, SVD DURING ONE OF THE RETREAT SESSIONS.
THE PARTICIPANTS ENJOYING A PHOTOSHOOT
A BIG FEAST INDEED! THE PARTICIPANTS JOINING FR PETER IN CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF ST PETER. IT IS ALWAYS AN HONOR TO BE NAMED AFTER THE GREAT APOSTLE. CHEERS TO YOU, FR PETER!
You can find it about 25 kms from
Mokopane town. I had the pleasure of
spending just over a week there at the end
of June and I thought to myself as I left: I will
come back here, so much did I enjoy the
whole experience. I was there to give a retreat to 26 women, religious and lay. How
did it go? Well one elderly sister told me
that she had attended about sixty retreats
over her long life and had never before
experienced anything like this! I didn’t
press her to elaborate, but she had a twinkle in her eye!
The centre is such an ideal setting for a retreat. Very quiet with plenty of space to
move around. Sunny has done great things
with the surroundings, where one can find
various prayer areas. And as I discovered,
his mind is always working on how to make
it better for such exercises. Lots of different
courses are given there on biblical and
catechetical themes both by himself and
others he invites in. I was very impressed
with the organisational skills of our confrere which makes it possible to run the
Centre in a self-sustaining way. The food
was tops. The attention to people’s needs
could not be bettered. The staff, friendly
and competent and ever willing to help. I
really enjoyed my short time Mater Dei and
only wished I was twenty years younger!
Oh! By the way, the bird life is phenomenal!
(Peter Madden ,SVD)
Page 6
BIBLICAL APOSTOLATE:
Congregational DIRECTION
By Fr Wojciech Szypula,SVD
Most of you have had a chance to peruse “Congregational Directions” –
the document that crowns XVII General Chapter. In the build-up to this
chapter its aim was defined as practical implementation of several decades of intense search for direction in which SVD is to go in the years
ahead. Under “Ad Extra Mission” the chapter defines TEN areas of focus
ranging from “Primary and New Evangelization” to “Integrity of Creation”. It was mine and many other SVD’s quiet hope that this chapter will
finally provide a coherent and unambiguous basis for the various ministries of this very diverse religious Congregation. It was a vain hope. In
words of one confrere, we have in this document a “fruit salad of global
issues” that leaves us exactly where we had been before June 2012: fragmented and incoherent group forever formulating action plans and mission statements which are purposefully as vague as possible in order to
accommodate and perhaps to mask a fact that this Society has for decades
been in crisis as to its precise place in the mission of the Church and the
mission of God. This is abundantly clear since all recent general chapters came up with a different model, an idiosyncratic notion, that supposed to give our mission a focus. This chapter was no exception bringing ten different
focuses under the banner of interculturality as if interculturality was a goal of our mission, an end in itself. Any SVD
who has ever lived in an intercultural community knows that real intercultural community grows out of shared values and purposes and not out of abstract reflection on various cultures.
I believe it is long overdue to refocus the Divine Word Missionaries on the charism that its very name indicates: the Divine
Word. It is bewildering that “Congregational Directions” mentions the Bible only 3 times and always in reference to
“Interculturality”, which in turn appears almost 30 times! Few who worked in our province would argue that the Bible is of major
interest to the people we work with. Our Catholic tradition and practice need to be expressed, taught, explained, and often defended in the light of their one common formative and normative denominator – the Scripture. If we look for one single element
that most the Dioceses we work in would expect from Divine Word Missionaries it would not be interculturality but biblical education and expertise. Most of the lay Catholics sadly lack this Biblical depth but also long for it. Unfortunately, it is also what a
large number among the Catholic clergy blatantly neglects. Some years ago, probably after one of the previous chapters it was
fashionable to ask a question: “What distinguishes an SVD parish from any other Parish?”. It is rather obvious though often unpopular answer that the Biblical apostolate, formation, and preaching would, could, and should be what sets SVDs as models for
others to look up to.
We might not be able to influence the Society at large nor determine its future course. Within the province however, I propose a
renewed focus on our mission as Divine Word Missionaries. And no – it does not mean a couple of workshops here and there
conducted by those “who studied the Bible”. We all have and every and anyone of us is perfectly capable to prepare and conduct various Biblical programs after a solid preparation and effort. The on-going formation demands that we devote a part of
our time to our own Scriptural education. To this effect I will begin a series of presentations in this newsletter aimed at helping
the members of the province to either begin or continue with their own on-going biblical education. The books and materials
will be a worthy investment for your own or your community’s library and will help to guide your continuing study of the Bible
and increase your knowledge. I guarantee that as you yourself grow in its understanding your own spirituality, preaching, and
your ministry will become more focused and effective.
Final thought on the subject is that perhaps the focus for the next chapter should be determined by what is stated in Dei Verbum
#21-26, particularly the phrase: “Access to the Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful”. While referring
to biblical translation in its original context this phrase has a particular meaning for the Society of the Divine Word for it defines
the sole purpose of all our diverse missions. For us “access” must not mean distribution of Bibles. It means understanding and
appropriating this complex phenomenon that is the Sacred Scripture for ourselves first and then making it understood–
“breaking it open” –to those who have neither time nor means to devote significant amounts of time and energy to do so. That
role – of making this supreme way of God’s self-disclosure to the world known and understood is indeed the heart of each of the
SVD missionary vocation and ministry.
Page 7
BOTSWANA DISTRICT: News Features
Divine Mercy Parish
Organizes Youth Leadership Workshop
On the 7th July 2012, youth leaders from Kopong
and Metsimotlhabe parishes gathered at Divine
Mercy Parish hall for a workshop on animating children and fellow youth through sports. It is through
the initiative of Sr Paulina, SSpS who heard about
the workshop run by the Kings Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping the youth of the country.
Mr Oliver, a representative from the Kings Foundation, who is also an active youth leader, helped the
participants with some techniques and strategies on
how to get the attention of young people and how to
animate them to do something together at the same
time having fun through sports . The participants
were very happy to participate and learn life-skills
at the same time. After the workshop, the foundation
provided the two communities with the different materials and tools for the many games and sports to
be enjoyed by the children and the youth. Thanks to
Oliver and to Kings Foundation for the generosity.(Ariel)
KINGS VOLUNTEER BELIEFS AND VALUES
Motivated by our Christian heritage and the belief
that every child should have the opportunity to fulfill
their potential, Kings Foundation work with all communities regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, social or economic circumstances to improve
and transform the lives of children and young people.
We believe that sports has a vital role to play in a
child’s development. Very few children grow up to
become sports stars, but every child can and should
enjoy the benefits of sports participation. For children sport should be fun and accessible and when it
is they develop self-esteem, confidence, a sense of
achievement and the mutual respect of others. As
well as the benefit and enjoyment that comes from
participation, sport is a powerful tool for gathering
children and communities to hear a message and
learn life-skills.(Kings Foundation Mission
Statement)
Page 8
BOTSWANA DISTRICT: News Features
Kopong and Metsimotlhabe
Kids’ Club Gathers at
Kobamelong Mission
It’s school break in Botswana and the children are excited to have fellowship with one
another. On the 14th of July 2012, members
of Kids’ Club from Kopong and Metsimotlhabe gathered at Kobamelong Mission. And
to add more to their excitement, the young
members of Couples for Christ in Botswana
popularly known as Kids for Christ (KFC)
surprised them with their visit and participation. The gathering started with the Holy Rosary followed by the Holy Eucharist. After
the Holy Mass, Seminarian Tsogo talked
about the Bible and Sr Paulina talked about
vocation. Just before lunch, there were organized games and group presentations. It
was indeed a beautiful day packed with
many activities for the children to enjoy in
fellowship with one another. Thanks to the
members of Couples for Christ, Botswana
for providing the children with lunch and
some gifts. (Ariel)
Page 9

Word Aflame

Transcription

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