“Visitor” is the title of Provincial leaders in the Congregation of the MIssion. This month’s NUNTIA of the Congregation provides an account of the “visitations” of this “missionary” successor of Vincent.
In summary… the beginning of the month he visited Magadan (a small city located in the east of Russia, in what is usually known as Siberia), then on to the Daughters of Charity and Vincentian Family in California with side trips to Anchorage, Alaska and Bountiful, Utah. Returning to Rome for a few days of rest and desk work he then journeyed to Madagasgar to celebrate 100 years of the the Daughters of Charity and CM and various other significant places during a little more than a week there.
In each of these “visits” the successor St. Vincent celebrated and encouraged the works of the Vincentian Family.
In more detail….
Between 31 August and 3 September he travelled, in the company of Andrew Bellisario, Director of the Daughters of Charity of the Province of Los Altos Hills, to the mission of the Daughters of Charity in Magadan (a small city located in the east of Russia, in what is usually known as Siberia). During the Stalin (Iosif Dzhugashvili) era, Magadan was the major crossing point for prisoners on their way to the work camps. It was used for more than 20 years as the center of operations of the brutal forced labor.
On 6 September, in the company of Father Bellisario and SisterMarjory Ann Baez, Visitatrix of Los Altos Hills, he went to Anchorage, to visit a community of Daughters of Charity. On the 7th, he got to know firsthand the different works of this community that include a people’s market and other social services that the diocese has and in which the sisters collaborate.
The mission community in Magadan is made up of three Daughters of Charity, one from the Province of Los Altos Hills and two from the Province of Cracow. The sisters serve in the Church of the Nativity Parish. They live in an apartment on the fifth floor of a building with a Soviet-type structure (without an elevator). It should be noted that all the work carried out by the sisters is very important, especially that of accompanying the people in the process of healing the wounds left there from that period of great suffering for the region.
After the visit to Magadan, on 4 September, he travelled to California, to the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity in Los Altos Hills in the company of Father Bellisario. There he had the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist with the sisters, talk with them, and visit those in the infirmary. The following day (5 September), he had a meeting with the different Branches of the Vincentian Family of the San Francisco Bay Area. Participating in the meeting were members of the SSVP, AIC, DC, CM, a group of Lay Vincentian Volunteers, and affiliates of the Daughters of Charity.
On 6 September, in the company of Father Bellisario and Sister Marjory Ann Baez, Visitatrix of Los Altos Hills, he went to Anchorage, to visit a community of Daughters of Charity. On the 7th, he got to know firsthand the different works of this community that include a people’s market and other social services that the diocese has and in which the sisters collaborate.
The same day he concelebrated the Eucharist with the Archbishop of Anchorage and then shared lunch with him. He had dinner with the SSVP and in the evening had a meeting with the Vincentian Marian Youth (JMV or VMY) of the Church of San Antonio.
On the 8th, feast of Mary’s nativity, he had a meeting with the group promoting the cause of canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first indigenous star of the United States. Later he visited the Bishop Emeritus, who was responsible for inviting the Daughters of Charity to the Mission in Magadan, because the Archdiocese of Anchorage is twinned with the Mission of Magadan. On the 9th, he finished the visit by celebrating the Eucharist in the house of the sisters, in the context of 60 years of vocation of Sister Catherine Kline, Sister Servant of this community.
He visited the house of the Daughters of Charity in Bountiful, Utah. In addition, he was received by the Hipley family,affiliates of the Daughters of Charity. (As a curiosity of providence, he “accidentally” met this couple on a flight from Italy to Paris, some months previously).
Later he travelled to Santa Barbara, California, where he visited the work the Daughters of Charity have had there for more than 175 years. The following day he met the Visitor of the Western Province of the United States and together they travelled to Camarillo, where the provinces of the United States now have their students’ theological stage formation.
At present, there are four students: two from the Eastern Province and two from the Western. Later they went to DePaul Center for a meeting with the Vincentian Family of the Los Angeles area. About 100 persons met. They celebrated the Eucharist and then had a fraternal sharing.
The following day he celebrated the Eucharist in Saint Vincent’s Parish in Los Angeles and visited Mother of Sorrows School, which the Daughters of Charity have there. It is like an oasis in the middle of the desert, because it is located in a rather violent area and with a high index of problems with drug addiction. The sisters work at forming values and accompanying the children. At the end of this day he met a new group of JMV.
On the 14th, he returned to Rome and during the following days he worked in his office, as well as taking some rest time. On the 19th, together with the Assistant General, Father Zeracristos, he left for Madagascar to take part in the various activities prepared to celebrate the closing of the jubilee year, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the province of the Congregation of the Mission in these lands and the inauguration of the jubilee year of the Daughters of Charity for the same intention.
The first meeting in Madagascar (Tuesday, the 20th) was with the Daughters of Charity of Antananarivo (Tana), capital of Madagascar. All the sisters who serve in this area took part in the meeting. Then he had the Eucharist in the parish in Tanjobato, where the sisters have a work. The Mass was concelebrated by several confreres with members of the DC, SSVP, AIC, JMV, and children of the works where the sisters serve taking part. After the Eucharist they shared lunch, a brief meeting, and some cultural activities.
On Wednesday, the 21st, he travelled to the Provincial Houses of the Daughters of Charity and of the Congregation of the Mission in Tolangaro, in the extreme southeast of Madagascar, where he also had a meetingwith the Vincentian Family.
On the 22nd, he took part in the special activities inaugurating the jubilee year of the Daughters of Charity to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the province. At this celebration, there was a presentation of the province, a
colloquium with the sisters, and a new secondary school was presented, the fruit of the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the deaths of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise.
On the 23rd, he was present at the celebration of taking of vows of two missionaries of the CM. We give thanks to the Lord of the Harvest, who has blessed this jubilee year of the Congregation in Madagascar with many vocations.
Then he had a meeting with the confreres and a pilgrimage to the centenary’s commemorative monument.
On the 24th, he took part in the ordination of two deacons and two priests of the CM. On the 25th, he participated in a special celebration of sending. As fruit of the jubilee year, four missionaries of the Province of Madagascar were sent to special missions. One confrere is going to Santo Domingo to work with
Haitian brothers of the Diaspora and two confreres together with the Province of Paris are going to the new mission on the Island of Reunion. The other confrere is going to COVIAM’s new mission in Chad.
On Monday, the 24th, they returned to Tana, visiting the community of the Nazarene Sisters, a congregation founded by the confrere, Marcantonio Durando. On the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, he had the Eucharist at Akamazoa, where the work of Pedro Opeka is carried out with the help of the Daughters of Charity and several volunteers. He then had dinner with the Archbishop of Antananarivo. On the 28th, there was a meeting with the Apostolic Nuncioand on the 29th, they returned to Rome.
… a month in the life of successor of St. Vincent celebrating the charism in all parts of the world.
Tags: Madagascar, Opeka, Superior General
