Passion for Christ — Passion for Humanity
Xaverian Mission Volume 58 - No. 4 |
November 2010
Newsletter
Website: xaviermissionaries.org • MissionBlog: xaverianmissionaries.blogspot.com
Peace on Earth and the
Freedom of
Religion W
orld Day of Peace is traditionally celebrated on January 1 of each year, the Feast of the Mary, Mother of God. For this upcoming year, the Holy See has set the theme: Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace. For us, peace in the world today, something we sing much about in Christmas carols, with all its own complexities, is not possible without the freedom to practice one’s faith, no matter what that faith may be.
We also live in a world today where the freedom to practice one’s faith, taken for granted by many nations, and perhaps even ours, is curtailed or severely restricted in others. The persecution of other faiths is one of the hallmarks of a lack of human rights today and a challenge for the whole Church, particularly in the USA that lauds a central part of our national character as a welcome space for all faiths.
In the centerfold of this issue of XMN, we showcase He Qi, a marvelous Chinese Christian artist whose talent shared with the world today evolved out of the severity of the communist regime years ago. In the mission news page, we share the report of a group of Filipinos who were recently arrested in Saudi Arabia for participating in a Catholic mass, forbidden by Saudi law. In this and more, we need your help to faces these challenges in the mission of the church. U
Xaverians in Burundi, Africa
To Save and To Be Saved X averian Missionaries Provincial Headquarters 12 Helene Court Wayne, NJ 07470-2813 Tel.: (973) 942-2975 Fax: (973) 942-5012 Email: xavwayne@optonline.net Xavier Knoll Mission Center 4500 Xavier Drive Franklin, WI 53132-9066 Tel.: (414) 421-0831 Fax: (414) 421-9108 E-mail: xavmissionswi@hotmail.com Mission Center & Fatima Shrine 101 Summer Street P.O. Box 5857 Holliston, MA 01746-5857 Tel.: (508) 429-2144 Fax: (508) 429-4793 E-mail: holliston.sx@gmail.com
Xaverian Mission Newsletter Official publication of the Xaverian Missionaries of the United States
Coordinating Editor Fr. Carl Chudy Editorial Team Fr. Tony Lalli Fr. Joseph Matteucig Fr. Alfredo Turco Layout Consultant Diamand Design, Wrentham, MA Printing Rea-Craft Press, Inc. Foxboro, MA E-mail & Web:
xaverianmissionnewsletter@gmail.com www.xaviermissionaries.org www.xaverianmissionaries.blogspot.com
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or help us with a tax deductible donation. Contact: Fr. Frank Grappoli, SX 12 Helene Court, Wayne, NJ 07470 Tel: (973) 942-2975
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Fr. Lino Maggioni with a mother and fifteen year old daughter. The mother died from AIDS five months after this photo was taken.
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ometimes hard fast assumptions about the way we see things changes. I happen to have an experience of this when I thought that the missionary goes to mission to give their lives to save others. Well, it took one afternoon in the African sun to change that. I walked to the airport in the middle of a group of Muslim women who accompanied their husbands leaving for Mecca. Near me there was a young Muslim friend by the name of Irene. She confided with me along the way: “I would like to become a Christian”.
While listening to Irene, a van suddenly fell on the group and I found myself on the ground with pain throughout my body. Around me lay six others who were carried to local hospitals. After some days Father Sergio Marchetto told me: “You know that you would be dead if it were not for Irene who saved your life? As the van was falling, she pulled you in
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
just enough time to avoid the disaster.” A Muslim woman did not hesitated to put her life at risk to save me. I realized that being a missionary is not only giving of oneself, but receiving as well, to save and be saved! During the months I spent recovering, I thought back to the many experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Burundi, Africa. I considered the dignity of the people in the villages on the mountain that I baptized, the commitment and enthusiasm of the people to promote human rights, the young victims of AIDS I accompanied to enter into paradise, street kids that we helped to helped to grow and learn a trade, to have a small house and a family all to themselves, and the generosity of many friends that contributed in all we did. My meeting with Irene who risked her life to save mine would also be my farewell to Burundi as I had to return to my homeland in order to recover fully. U – Fr. Lino Maggioni, SX
Xaverian Missionaries in the World
Three Directions in the Mission of Taiwan
Fr. Edi Foschiatto in red with friends at our parish. Fr. Joe Matteucig, Director of our Center in Holliston, MA is there in the yellow stole.
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ecently I was home with my family in Italy and naturally many friends and family are curious about our work in Taiwan and China. Let me share with you a little of what the Xaverian Missionaries are doing in the Far East.
The Xaverians came to the island of Taiwan (once called “Formosa”) twenty years ago. During this period a number of Xaverian priests came to work. Today Father Fabrizio Tosolini of Italy and Father Paulin Batairwa of the Congo work with me at our parish. In the beginning years, there was much enthusiasm and good will. We studied the language, looked for a house, found work, and with friends, we purchased furniture, and other necessities to make a home. God then helped us to move towards three directions in the way of the mission: the ministry in our parish, social ministry, and dialogue with the predominate faith here, Buddhism. Here is the first thing to do in mission: pay attention to life experience
and the project that God has already gifted us with. A big help on being missionary in Taiwan comes from a saying from our Founder, Blessed Guido Conforti: “Seek God, love God, and see God in everything.” Our pastoral support to the Taiwanese Church led us to accept the parish, St. Francis Xavier. The Xaverian Missionaries built this parish in the 1970’s and then was returned to the diocese when we left Taiwan in those days. It is a small parish community, like most of the Christian communities of the island. Among the 23 million people, those that are Catholic are less than three hundred thousand. We live the ordinary life of every parish with the celebration of the Eucharist, prayer and devotion, always adding a touch of our very familiar style typical of Xaverians everywhere. At the end of Sunday Mass the community drinks tea together, in order to get to know one another better. At Christmas and Easter, for birthdays and name days, for baptisms and communions, we also have lunch together as a parish. (continued on next page)
“God then helped us to move towards three directions in the way of the mission: the ministry in our parish, social ministry, and dialogue with the predominate faith here, Buddhism.”
Some youth in front of a church in Taiwan.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
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Xaverian Missionaries in the World
Enrico Rossetto, who studied English in the USA, now teaches in China.
A celebration in our parish with the local Bishop and Fr. Edi Foschatto in the red stole. (continued from page 3)
Little by little, we began to reach out the poorest in the city. We helped the Aboriginal communities living in the mountains. We maintain a twinning relationship with a village in the mountains after a devastating earth quake struck the area and we helped rebuild the church. Now we are helping children and young people of the village with scholarships for school. We recently began the work of inter faith dialogue. Father Paulin, who recently completed a doctorate in religious studies has created a new way of interfaith dialogue: the dialogue of life. Often we host Buddhist monks and Buddhist nuns to dinner with us. Since Buddhist monks and nuns do not eat meat, we had to adjust the menu.
Two Xaverians working in Taiwan, Fr. Zamora (left) from Mexico and Fr. Dharmawan from Indonesia.
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Throughout these years our congregation has not only developed our parish work here in Taiwan, but we also prepare other Xaverians to work in mainland China. Two of our fathers teach archeology and musicology at the University of Beijing and we have other Xaverians working in special programs with handicapped children.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
We are grateful to the Lord for all his grace in all that has been done. U – Fr. Edi Foschiatto, SX
Chinese style church in Taiwan.
Xaverian Missionaries in the USA
God’s Mission and its Many Faces:
US CaTHoLiC MiSSioN CoNGrESS 2010
Bishop Rodimer, Bishop Emeritus (center) of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey ordained a few of our deacons in our parish in Chinatown, Chicago who are now serving in Taiwan and the Philippines.
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od’s Mission, Many Faces: A Portrait of U.S. Catholics in Mission is the theme of the Mission Congress 2010, which met October 28-31 in Albuquerque, New Mexico where hundreds of missionaries of the USA gathered. Frs. Puopolo, Menendez and Chudy represented the Xaverians there. Using the image of a portrait, Father Michael Montoya, executive director of the United States Catholic Mission Association (USCMA), said the 2010 Mission Congress “will bring together dedicated men and women from across the nation and around the world into a faith-filled environment to discern the movement of the spirit within the U.S. Church in mission; discover the varied colors and brush strokes of U.S. Catholics in mission; invigorate mission identity and leadership in the U.S. Church, and celebrate the faces and creativity of U.S. Catholics in mission.”
“The 2010 Mission Congress comes at a time when world-wide mission is the focus of many Catholic initiatives in the recent years,” Father Montoya said. “The Bishop’s Synod on the Word in the
Life and Mission of the Church emphasized the need for mission beyond our faith and cultural borders; Pope Benedict in his 2008 visit to the United States stressed the need for global solidarity; the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean proclaimed at their meeting in Aparecida, Brazil, the great “continental mission” which was launched during the Congreso Americano Misionero in Quito, Ecuador. This great continental mission challenges all of us to put our Church in a constant state of mission.”
“The 2010 Mission Congress comes at a time when world-wide mission is the focus of many Catholic initiatives in the recent years
The Mission Congress meets every five years and this is its third edition. It is sponsored by the Catholic Mission Forum, an umbrella organization of leading national Catholic mission organizations. Xaverian roots in the mission of the US Catholic Church go back to Fr. Bonardi (photo right) who was born in Boston, joined the Xaverian Missionaries in 1898 and left for mission work in China in 1904. Today we continue that mission and are grateful for so many friends that collaborate with us in this great project of Christ. U
Fr. Bonardi, born in the USA, was one of the first Xaverians in China.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
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The Chinese Christian Artistry of
He Qi T
he dream of St. Francis Xavier was to reach the shores of China with the hope of Christ, a dream he would never see realized as he died off its shores. Blessed Guido Maria Conforti sought to continue the dream of St. Francis through the religious missionary congregation he founded, the Xaverian Missionaries. Our first mission was indeed in China.
In celebration of the missionaries and Christians of China that bear their faith in Christ, many times through trial and persecution, we would like to showcase the Chinese Christian artist, He Qi. As odd as it may sound, He Qi (pronounced “huh cheee”) may have Chairman Mao to thank for becoming the most prolific Christian artist of a
billion people. When He was 16, the Cultural Revolution erupted in China and his father’s university was closed down. He was sent with his large family to the fields to do hard physical labor. He hated it. (As most 16 year olds would). A friend of his father, former chair of the art department at Nanjing University, taught the young apprentice to paint Chairman Mao’s portrait. “Every little town with a wall needed a painting to venerate in those days,” says He. “I thought maybe if I could paint Chairman Mao’s portrait, I would be lucky! I wasn’t very big or strong enough to work in the fields.” With the coaching of his mentor, He won a painting competition and was relieved from The Nativity
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Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
paper. Then he turns the painting over, and adds the color using a Japanese gouache (tempera) paint. The work is then attached to a second piece of rice paper, creating some surprises in how the color bleeds through and makes its own patterns on the paper. “Many times the entire work is destroyed in the process,” says Dr. He. “It breaks my heart, but I have no choice but to start all over again.” He Qi then brings his originals to the city of Tsu Dsu, where silk masters have been creating amazing art and robes since the days of the Caesars and the Silk Road that led from Rome to China. Using ancient techniques stunning colors, the embroidery artists then create four large sized hand-sewn silks of each original. These are breathtakingly beautiful and painstakingly made, with each thread its own color adding to the art. People often ask He Qi why he paints only Bible scenes. With his talents he could have a wider reach and make a
lot more money in the art world. “There are two ways one may become a Christian in China,” says He. One is through their parents and grandparents and their teaching. The other is a journey to find the truth. I found both in the Gospel message.” That peace and that truth has been the driving force behind his art. He Qi doesn’t see a need to veer away from the force and focus. “Life is too short. Art is long,” quotes He Qi. “The peaceful message is very important today. We are living in a time where there is much violence. There is little peace. We need to listen to the voice of heaven.” Contribution from Rev. Richard Melheim (www.richmelheim.com) Please visit the gallery of He Qi at www.heqigallery.com. His prints and silks are available for sale. U
The Journey of the Disciples from Emmaus after the Resurrection.
the field work. His mentor, who received his education in Paris in the 30s, also taught He Qi to paint formal works using magazines of Renaissance works. “By day, I painted Chairman Mao. By night, Rafael’s Madonna!” says He. “It was a time of great struggle. Everywhere you turned people were rioting in the streets, condemning every-one else. I looked into the peaceful eyes of Rafael’s Madonna, and it touched my heart.” This was the beginning of his journey toward the Christian faith and a career in art. He Qi starts with a sketch and transfers it on to rice paper, painting it in black ink on the reverse side of the The Angel Gabriel Showing the Direction of the Star of Christ.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
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World Mission Sunday is Everyday
World Mission Sunday is Everyday
“We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with the peoples of the world”
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ecently the American Catholic Church celebrated World Mission Sunday. On this our Bishops remind us: “At a time of dramatic global changes and challenges, Catholics in the United States face special responsibilities and opportunities. We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with the peoples of the world. We are also citizens of a powerful democracy with enormous influence beyond our borders. As Catholics and Americans we are uniquely called to global solidarity.”
rEFLECT aND PraY • What are the “dramatic global changes” going on today that make us think about our place as Catholics in the world? • Read Luke 10:25-37. In prayer ask God how you can reflect compassion in the changes of the world today? What is most important to you?
Xaverian Missionary Fr. Parise baptizing in Brazil.
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Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for World Mission Sunday to the whole Church, says: “In a multi-ethnic society that is experiencing increasingly disturbing forms of loneliness and indifference, Christians must learn to offer signs of hope and to become uni-
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
versal brethren, cultivating the great ideals that transform history and, without false illusions or useless fears, must strive to make the planet a home for all peoples.”
rEFLECT aND PraY • According to the Pope, how do we share hope in the world? • Read John 12:21. How does this help us to understand hope accord ing to the Pope?
The Holy Father goes to say: “The love that we celebrate in the sacrament of the Eucharist is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with everyone. What the world needs is God’s love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him”.
rEFLECT aND PraY • Why must the Eucharist be shared with the world? • Read 1 John 1:3. What precious gift of faith do you wish to share? Why? U
Become a Partner in Global Mission
Make No Little Plans Contribution by:
Patrice J. Touhy Vocation-network.org
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REEMINENT 20thcentury architect Daniel Burnham advised his associates: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” His words inspired enormous risk-taking and talent stretching from subsequent generations of city planners, architects, and artists, including Anish Kapoor, who created his “Cloud Gate” sculpture for Chicago’s 21st-century Millennium Park. Burnham’s advice extends beyond the artist’s call. All vocations have a public and personal impact. Your calling is a call to service. Like the panorama of “Cloud Gate,” above, take in the big picture, look at things from various angles and different points of view. The mission of the Church encompasses all of humanity, and each culture, indeed each par-
ish, is part of a bigger picture of God’s plan of salvation. Every Catholic and family has a part to play. For many this means that the more that is learned about the urgency of the global mission of the church, the they are drawn to pray and talk with others about this, contributing from their time, treasure or talent. Others may want to volunteer a little or a lot of time as they seek to make a difference. Still others may wish to give their entire lives to this mission as a religious or lay missionary. Where do you stand?
“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.”
Above all make no little plans. Think of what one man from the dusty town of Nazareth was able to accomplish. Follow him and you will be on the path to greatness, to holiness, to a life as broad and challenging as God intended all life to be. U
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
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World Mission News Digest
World Mission News Digest SIERRA LEONE, AFRICA “Sierra Leone has undoubtedly made progress in recent years, however it must still be observed and encouraged by the international community,” Fr. Gerardo Caglioni said, a Xaverian missionary with a long experience in Sierra Leone, commenting on the decision of the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo on the African country. The UN Security Council has removed the arms embargo as a sign of confidence in the complete
same time, however, we must pay close attention to certain social and economic indicators that may take their toll on peace in the country.” “The high unemployment among youth is a time bomb,” said Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown and Bo, Sierra Leone.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, AFRICA
control of the territory by the government in Freetown and the completion of the disarmament and demobilization of militias that fought one another in a bloody civil war that ended in 2002. “The people want peace, there is no doubt about it,” says Fr. Caglioni. “At the
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“I think the UN report will force the international community to carry out further reflection on recent events in the region,” said Fr. Loris Cattani, Xaverian missionary with a long experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo and member of the Network for Peace in Congo, commenting on the report, published on October 1 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the serious violations of human rights that occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
(DRC, formerly Zaire) between 1993 and 2003. The 550 page report shows 617 serious violations of human rights and international law during the period under review. In just ten years, “tens of thousands of people have been killed and many more raped, mutilated, or have been victims of other heinous violence,” says the document, which also denounces the systematic rapes used as a real “weapon of war.” “The attacks are apparently systematic and widespread” in the period between 1996 and 1997 against the Hutu ethnic group, and in particular, the Rwandan Hutu refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The attacks reveal different aspects that “could be defined as crimes of genocide,” if proven “before a competent court,” says the document, specifying however that there are “some considerations to the contrary” that could
lead a court “to conclude in favor of the absence of a specific intention, required to establish that a crime of genocide has taken place.”
SAUDI ARABIA A Filipino migrants’ rights group today said the “religious police” of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrested about 100 expatriates, including 12 Filipino workers, for attending a religious service in Riyadh on Oct. 1. Holding religious activities in public, other than Islamic rituals, is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and in most Middle East countries. Philippine Charge d’Affaires Ezzedin Tago said the Filipinos were arrested with a French priest when they reportedly held a Mass in an estiraha, a place for special occasions, in Riyadh’s Nadeem District. They appealed for kaffala (temporary release) to their employers. U
From our USA Communities
News from our USA Communities 48th Bercetto Banquet For The Missions
Want to Learn More?
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n October 3, in Queens, New York the Bercetto Foundation held their 48th Annual Mission Banquet for the benefit of our mission work worldwide. The Bercetto Foundation was founded in 1962 through a special occasion organized by friends in New York to honor Fr. Bonardi, one of the first Xaverian Missionaries who came for a visit at that time.
Over time the hard work of the Bercetto Foundation has continued to contributed enormously to the efforts in mission lands worldwide, 48 years and counting. U
Check out our website at: XavierMissionaries.org and our Mission Blog at: XaverianMissionaries. blogspot.com
Taste of Mission MOZAMBIQUE SHRIMP
(From left to right) Ugo Conti, Anna Sabini (Pres.) and Anna Conti, chairpersons of this year banquet stand by a display of our Founder with pictures of him visiting the town of Bercetto in Italy during the 1920’s.
Fr. Menendez On Campus Ministry
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r. Adolph Menendez has been in involved in campus ministry at the University of Illinois located in Champaign.
Fr. Adolph assists the campus ministry of the university of more than 45,000 students. Catholic campus ministry houses more than 600 students and it offers a unique opportunity to inspire a new generation to the mission of the Church. He coordinates a special mission group of students who come together from time to time. He also shares our e-newsletter for youth called NO BORDERS with the students who reside at the Newman Center or Catholic Campus Center. Along with all of this he ministers with an Hispanic community in the Diocese of Peoria. Sharing the urgency of the mission call is hallmark of Fr. Adolph’s work. U
Two young men, Jack Duhamel from Rhode Island, and Tom Finnigan from Washington DC gathered with Fathers Rocco Puopolo and Carl Chudy for a day of prayer and sharing in September. Jack is a college graduate with his own window washing business and construction work. Tom had been a public policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation and now works at a local restaurant and will volunteer at the Africa Faith and Justice Network where Fr. Rocco is Executive Director. Please pray for them as they discern their vocation to mission.
4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup finely chopped onions 1/2 cup water 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped 4 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (or flat leaf parsley) 1 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon saffron, toasted, crushed and soaked in 1 tbsp warm water for 15 minutes 1/2 cup red wine or 1/2 cup light beer 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon white pepper 2 teaspoons hot chili sauce (or generous pinch crushed red pepper) 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (26-30 count) Melt butter in a 3-quart pot over medium-low heart. Toss in onion and fry until lightly golden. Pour in the water followed by garlic, cilantro, turmeric, and saffron water. Cover and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, allowing the essence of the spices and herbs to mingle. Pour in the red wine or beer with the lemon juice. Stir. Cover and raise heat to medium-high and bring the sauce to boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 minutes. Toss in the shrimp, hot peppers or chili sauce if using and give them a turn in the sauce. Cook for three minutes over medium-low until the shrimp are just curled tender and turned pink. Spoon the shrimp into bowls and serve with plenty of crusty bread to dip in the flavourful sauce. (This can also be served over rice!).
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
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Xaverian Mission Newsletter • November 2010
“She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7
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Have a Blessed Christmas & New Year The Xaverian Missionaries Usa Province
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