Our Comboni community at Villa Mendoza, Parañaque, is an intercultural community and a “Cenacle of Apostles.” To be an intercultural community means that the members hail from different nationalities and backgrounds, living together as a religious family with a rich variety of talents and resources. Our community encompasses missionaries from Africa, Asia, and Europe.
In the prophetic vision of our founder, St. Daniel Comboni, our missionary Institute was supposed to be like a “Cenacle of Apostles” that irradiates warm rays of love and compassion. So, our community gathers together, living the dynamics of communion, and opens up itself to the outside world, reaching out to people in need of the Gospel.
The “international” makeup of our community aligns perfectly with the Catholicity of our Church, which is universal by nature. Our internationality or interculturality is an enormous treasure that not only enriches our Institute but also the whole Church. On the other hand, it poses challenges in the way we live our life and plan our work. In this sense, all our capacities and assets are for the good and service of the people of God.
VARIOUS EXPERIENCES
Our community is constituted by six missionaries from five different nations, carrying with them diverse cultural and missionary experiences. In this community, we carry out the following services: Fr. Victor S. Aguilar, delegate superior; Bro. Fabio Patt, delegation bursar and administrator of World Mission magazine; Fr. Antonio Carlos Ferreira, editor of World Mission magazine; Fr. Aldrin Janito, mission promoter; Fr. Jemboy Caspis, vocation and mission promoter; and Fr. Agustine Mawulolo, awaiting an entry visa to Taiwan.
The main aim of our community is to promote mission awareness in the local Church. By mission awareness, we mean the responsibility of all Christians towards the mission ad gentes, that is, to the nations. This mission consists of the task of evangelization, or preaching the Gospel to those who have never heard it or who have not heard it sufficiently. And Catholics have a duty to assist in this task through spiritual as well as material assistance.
In order to fulfill this objective, we perform these activities: publication of World Mission magazine and Friends of the Mission newsletter, as well as other publications; yearly campaigns of the Holy Redeemer’s Guild and Mission Calendar; cooperation with the Local Church in its pastoral needs, especially ministry, and organization of “Educational and Christmas Outreach” activities for the poor.
As a missionary community, we are bound together with our friends, benefactors, collaborators, volunteers, the faithful, and subscribers. We truly believe that successful mission promotion relies on the kind of human relationships we establish with these people. That is why we go out to parishes every weekend to promote our magazine and share our missionary vocation; we encourage the faithful to be missionaries in their own milieu. We experience the generosity of parish priests and parishioners who welcome us warmly and collaborate in amazing and extraordinary ways that only God knows and can recompense.
These friends who trust and support us are the reason for our existence and presence here in the Philippines. Without them, we would achieve nothing. For this reason, we strive to be at the service of the people of God in this diocese as much as we can with our giftedness.
Our community has been present in the diocese of Parañaque for more than two decades through the St. Daniel Comboni Mission Center, which was officially inaugurated by Bishop Jessie Mercado on January 5, 2003. Our distinctive characteristics have been the publication and promotion of World Mission magazine and the assistance we render to nearby parishes through our ministry.
COMMUNITY LIFE
As a community of consecrated men, we live out the vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. This type of life is only possible through a “special call” of God and through personal and community prayer as well as the daily celebration of the Eucharist.
On Saturdays, we celebrate the Eucharist amongst ourselves taking time to share the Word of God and pray for our families, communities, benefactors and collaborators. Every first Thursday of the month, we gather in front of the Blessed Sacrament for one hour of Eucharistic adoration in which we intercede in a particular way for vocations for our Institute and the whole Church.
To live out and strengthen our community, we hold a meeting once a month. This is a privileged moment to discuss, share, plan, and verify our community life and the activities we intend to carry out.
As part of a missionary Institute, our community honors the principal feasts of the Institute as a tangible sign of shared communion. Whenever possible, we join the nearest communion on these special days-such as the birthday and death of our founder St. Daniel Comboni, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day-to celebrate together with joy and gratitude.
