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Comboni missionaries have been present among the Ashaninka and Nomatsiguengas indigenous peoples in Central Selva, Peru. Fr. Randy Recalde, a Filipino missionary, says that the presence of powerful drug traffickers and terrorists in the area are the main challenges to missionary work.
A Comboni missionary describes how his life has become more meaningful when he was assigned as parish priest at the outskirts of a town in Peru, at the foot of an active volcano. He recountes how the Comboni charism has touched the lives of people and how collaboration in facing challenges to spread the Gospel has made it a grace-filled adventure.
Doing mission work cannot be defined by mere words. In a small city of Nyala, in Sudan, a Comboni missionary discovered what evangelization is all about. He learned about it from the strangest source, a source shunned by many. Yet, his eyes were suddenly opened, and he came to realize that God’s messenger can come in various unexpected and unheralded forms.
Recently, I was given a unique opportunity to taste some of the bitter hardships endured by fellow human beings fleeing drug-gang violence, oppressive poverty and economic injustice south of the U.S. border.
This is the dramatic story by the surviving Sister on the assault to the nursing home for the elderly and the disabled. Four sisters were killed along with their employees because of their fidelity to their mission.
While “salvation” and “paradise” are both held sacred and exclusively for believers by Muslims and Christians over the years, the unmistakable reality for all people of goodwill is that the invitation is universal. The janna of the Koran, the paradise of the Bible, the kingdom of Allah – God, is for every human being.
Violence committed against each other, unfortunately, emphasizes the stark differences among believers of different religions. In this scenario, it is impossible to think that followers of different faiths can even co-exist. But it is also not surprising that acts of mercy and love, the characteristics of one and the same God, can bind people of different religions together.
Sri Lanka has become home and a new frontier of mission for three Comboni Sisters: Sr. Quy Dinh, Sr. Nelly Kangogo and Sr. Libanos Ayele. In the spirit of Comboni, they live their passion for the poorest, joyfully sharing their lives with tea plantation workers, helping in the formation of the young, opening doors of hope for them, and serving as bridges of dialogue and encounter between different religions.
Children are often passed off and disregarded in society because of their immaturity and inexperience. However, many people of goodwill continue to place their hope in children and see them as the promise of the future. Regardless of their race or religion, these people see goodness in children, and, therefore, see God, the Child Jesus, in them. In turn, people who work tirelessly for the rights and welfare of children, like this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi from India, become earthly images of God themselves.
The gem of Christianity seems to be very much alive in the Muslim enclave of Northern Arabia. Bishop Camillo Ballin, a Comboni missionary, had made it his own choice to serve in Arabic countries. After an enriching experience in Egypt and the Sudan, he is now shepherding the Catholic flock, as Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, & Saudi Arabia – a distinct mission full of challenges, with the clear aim of doing good to all.
