standup.comboniyouth.org.uk

"Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; 
let us celebrate the feast, then, 
by getting rid of all the old yeast 
of evil and wickedness, 
having only the unleavened bread 
of sincerity and truth." 
(1Cor. 5,7-8)

The Jewish people every year recall their liberation from slavery in Egypt; they recall Moses, their leader; they recall how God intervened to save them. The God of Israel sent plagues upon the Egyptians; still they refused to let Israel go. But the final plague forced the Egyptians to release them. That was the death of the first-born in every house. The Israelites were spared; their homes were marked with the blood of the lamb and the avenging angel passed over them. And so God brought Israel out of slavery into his freedom and commanded them to remember always the day of their delivery.
In some Malawian villages when a child is six month old a particular rite takes place in the night involving its parents. The child is passed from one to the other over a fire to symbolise that he is now a complete human being. I have now overcome this landmark of my first six month in the province.

I have come back from the continental meeting of the coordinators of J.&P. held in Madrid (7th-10th May), there I had a lovely time and I learned how the other provinces were putting the words J.&P. into action: in Germany there is a project of a Solidarity World in Ellwangen; in Spain Br. Anton follows the migrant people in Granada, and Fr. Justin gives biblical courses of popular reading of the bible at the university in Barcelona and is the promoter of the network of the antennae of AEJPN, more over they managed to put up a commission for J.&P.; in Portugal the one in charge of J.&P. is the editor of the magazines 'Alemar' and 'Audacia', he took part into the caravan of peace organized in Italy last September. From Italy there was no one present but I know of a community based near Naples, which is engaged with the work among Nigerian prostitutes. The Comboni missionary project involves every thing: formation, animation and social promotion. The issue of J.&P. is thus no longer under the missionary animation office but is now with the secretariat of evangelization. For the past six years the work of being the general coordinators for J.&P. in the institute was done by Anton Mayer and then Zolli from Jan 1999. A marginal step forward is that now we have a person in charge of J.&P. in every province and yet, there is a lack of leadership and continuity. Since the last meeting of coordinators, 90% of those on the mailing list have been appointed elsewhere.

Fr. Zolli, from Rome, with the provincial of Germany were the main organizers of the meeting in Madrid. We had from them a presentation of the journey done from the last chapter and some proposals for the coming one. We prepared a letter for the chapter delegates and provincials thinking on a European level. Clearly the chapter stated that Mission is (identical to) Justice and Peace. Going back to the chapter of 1985 when there was a 50-50 discussion between the vision of the Church or the Kingdom of God, the news came of the killing of Lele Ramin in Brazil for the question of land.
In the chapter of '97 it is stated again that mission is to work for justice and peace.