Meeting of the Comboni Lay Missionaries of Europe

The European meeting of the representatives of the CLM, held in Krakow on the weekend of 22 and 23 June, was attended by 10 laypeople and 8 Comboni Missionaries. Also present were Fr. Gianni Gaiga, delegate superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Poland, Fr. Arlindo Pinto, coordinator of the CLM at the level of the Comboni Institute, and Sr. Maria do Carmo Gomes Ribeiro, representative of the Comboni Missionary Sisters of Europe.

The morning of the first day was spent in listening to the reports of the provinces that were represented. In addition to the report of the activities of each country, an assessment of the last two meetings was also made: the meeting in Verona (Italy) and the intercontinental assembly of the CLM in Maia (Portugal), both held in the second half of 2012.

This first session of the meeting was also attended by about 20 youth of the group of the CLM in Poland who were able to get an idea of the CLM and what they are accomplishing in Europe and across borders.

The CLM of Europe are about 170, seventeen of whom work in the missions of Mozambique, Central Africa, Malawi, Peru, Brazil and Uganda. Nine other lay people are about to end their period of training before heading to a mission. The CLM have embarked on strengthening four international communities, three in Africa (Mozambique, Uganda and Central Africa) and one in Latin America (Peru).

In the late afternoon, a short pilgrimage was made to the Shrine of Divine Mercy, at the convent of the Institute of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Lagiewniki, near Krakow. The sanctuary was founded by Prince Aleksander Lubomirski in 1891 for girls and women in need of moral renewal. In the convent lived and died Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), through whom Christ has given to the Church and to the world the message of Divine Mercy.

On the second day, the CLM discussed the suggestion to create in Europe international communities of CLM for providing training periods together, especially during the stage preceding the departure for the mission. They also took into consideration the importance of strengthening the community of Peru and it was decided to study the possibility of creating a fourth international English-speaking community, possibly in Uganda. It is hoped that the international community of Mozambique (Carapira) and of Central Africa (Mongoumba) continue to regularly receive new CLM from the different Comboni provinces.

The last part of the work essentially dealt with the planning of activities and upcoming meetings. In this sense, the CLM decided to reduce the number of meetings. So, until the next general assembly in 2018, there will be only two meetings: a meeting from 21 to 27 August 2016 in Portugal, and another of two days before the Intercontinental Assembly of 2018, in a place yet to be decided. Over the next years, the issues considered to be the priorities for the CLM of Europe are: the challenges of the Assembly of 2012 in Maia and its proposals sent to the Central Commission, in particular those regarding economy, identity, autonomy, sustainability and training. For this reason, the coordinators have proposed better communication and sharing among the European provinces, especially concerning subsidy-material related to training.

The general coordinator of the CLM, Alberto de la Portilla, presented, on behalf of the Central Commission, the new Blog and the new CLM Website (www.lmcomboni.org), which will be accessible from 10 October 2013.

It followed then the election of the new European Commission. Isidro Jiménez, from Spain, and Federico Veronesi, from Italy, were elected. The provincial superior of Spain, Fr. Ramón Eguiluz Eguiluz, chosen by the European Provincials, is also part of the Commission.

The meeting ended in the parish church of St. Anne with the celebration of the Eucharist, presided by the Franciscan Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Krakow, Archbishop Andrzej Damian Muskus. After the homily, there followed the ceremony of the sending of nine CLM Poles (Picture on the left) who will go to work in a mission in Northern Uganda during their summer holidays. Five other young men were sent to India. After the Eucharist, everyone participated in a fraternal lunch in the house of the Comboni Missionaries.

The CLM who left the evening of Monday 24, managed to make a brief visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Patroness and Queen of Poland, known worldwide as the Black Madonna. Others went to visit the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where from 1940 to 1945 about three million people died, including Jews (90% of the total number), Romanian Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah witnesses, and other nationalities.

 
Shrine of Divine Mercy, at the convent of the Institute of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy
in Lagiewniki, near Krakow.