“Make of the world one family”

Xaverian Mission
Volume 66 - No. 3| August 2018 Newsletter
www.worldcatholic.us• http://xaverianmissionaries.org/missionblog/

Provincial’s Message .................2

A Missionary Little Girl..............3
New Church in Thailand ...........4
Religious & Secular Literacy ...5
Franklin Festival .....................6-7
Missionary Spirituality...............9
World & US Province News..10-11

Fr. Joe Matteucig SX presides at the Xaverian Mission Festival in Franklin WI (Photo
credit: Frank Mutranowski).
Reflecting Christ

‘God and Not God’s Works’

Message from the US Provincial Superior
Xaverian “During my long nine-year ordeal of solitary confinement,
Missionaries I was in a cell without windows. For days at a time the
Provincial Headquarters electric lights were left on day and night, and then for days
12 Helene Court at a time there was complete darkness. I felt as though I
Wayne, NJ 07470-2813 were suffocating from the heat and humidity to the point of
Tel.: (973) 942-2975
insanity… I could not sleep because I was so tormented by the
Fax: (973) 942-5012
Email: thought of being forced to abandon my diocese (in Vietnam), and
missionmedia@xaverianmissionaries. of the many works I had begun for God now going to ruin…
org

Xavier Knoll Mission Center One night, from the depths of my heart, a voice said to me, ‘Why do you torment
4500 Xavier Drive yourself like this? You must distinguish between God and the works of God.
Franklin, WI 53132-9066 Everything you have done and desire to continue doing — pastoral visits, formation
Tel.: (414) 421-0831
Fax: (414) 421-9108
of seminarians, of men and women religious, of the youth, construction of schools,
Email: centers for students, missions for the evangelization of non-Christians- all of these
franklin@xaverianmissionaries.org are excellent works, but they are works of God, they are not God!
Global Youth Mission Services (the God will entrust God’s works to others who are much more capable. You have chosen
GYMs) God alone, not God’s works!’ This light gave me a new peace…
Fatima Shrine
101 Summer Street
(Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan, 1928-2002)
Holliston, MA 01746-2207
Tel.: (508) 429-2144 We are so busy in the rat race of daily life we often lose sight of what is most
Fax: (508) 429-4793 important, essential in our life-journey, called as we are to follow and be witnesses
Email: of the Risen and Living Lord, ever present in our midst when we gather in his name,
holliston@xaverianmissionaries.org
when we love and serve a neighbor in his name, when we reach out to others in his
Xaverian Mission Newsletter name so “to make of the world one family.”
Official publication of the
Xaverian Missionaries We may do so many good things each day, but it’s not enough that we do them in
of the United States order to show the goodness in our hearts, to show that we care, unless we do them
Publisher: Fr. Mark Marangone SX out of love for the One who called us to be “walking homilies,”and “good shepherds”
Communications Board: to each other. We are meant to be instruments, like pencils in the hands of “the
Fr. Carl Chudy SX Author” who knows how to write straight with crooked lines.
Fr. Alejandro Rodriguez Gómez
SX The more “room” we make in our hearts and lives for the Lord to carry out his
Fr. Tony Lalli SX mission, the more lasting will be the works we do out of love for God and neighbor,
Fr. Rocco Puopolo SX especially those sisters and brothers of ours who, in the eyes of the world, don’t
Fr. Aniello Salicone SX count, who are so often used and abused, who are part of a persecuted minority, or
Editor are discriminated against…
Mary Aktay
Am I doing anything concrete, even if it were something simple and small, to make
Printing
AlphaGraphics, Totowa, NJ this world a better place?
Email & Web: How does my life-style, my way of relating to others, speak of Jesus as the one who
missionmedia@xaverianmissionaries.org “means everything to me”?
Website: www.worldcatholic.us
Make it a good remainder of summer! Blessings and peace, With deep gratitude,
Donation: $5.00 per year
Fr. Mark Marangone SX and the Xaverian Missionaries

Help the Xaverian Missionaries make the world a better place. In

yo cre
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Le cy o e St n o ur pac
g a t h i g Contact: Fr. Mark Marangone, SX h
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Fr issio r La ent s t . be utio , you
Tel: 973-942-2975 d ou n c r
M you tam ble an
in Tes Or visit: www.xaverianmissionaries.org for online donations
d.

2 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018

 Xaverian Missionaries in the World

A Missionary Little Girl

This is a fascinating true story. A Xaverian missionary, Fr. S. Tomaselli SX, in 1962 was pastor in Kiringye in Congo. He
told us how the Gospel, thanks to a little girl, reached Kahusi, a tiny hamlet, in the highlands of Uvira where there are
no roads above Mulenge at about 2,000 feet.

N
ear Mulenge there was a Christian family who had settled there for years and had lost any contact with the
missionaries. With the passing of time their Christian faith became somewhat clouded by pagan superstitions.
One day a relative stopped in for a short visit. He was touched by the presence of a 10 yr. old girl. Before
saying goodbye he made a proposal to her father. “What do you think if your daughter would marry my son in due
time when they are of age? My son is 12 and a good boy.” They had a brief exchange and they agreed. And since
the opportunity was advantageous and rather exceptional the girl followed the distant relative to his home. This
was an opportunity to get to know more about her future husband.
In the new family, Regina, that was her name, was very comfortable and kept up with her ways of the past. In the
evening, before going to bed, she would kneel and whisper strange words. Her distant relative became curious and
asked her. Regina repeated with a clear voice the prayer she was accustomed to say: “BABA YETU ULIYE MBINGUNI
…“Our Father who art in heaven”.
That man felt something opening up before him. For him it was a discovery, he asked her to repeat and explain
those words. Very soon he learned them by heart. However he could not keep just for himself the joy of that dis-
covery. He spoke to friends. In the evening around the fireplace he repeated for all of them the words of the OUR
FATHER and everyone wanted to learn them.
The relative visited his brother who told him about the missionaries living near the lake
in Uvira. He went and sought the missionaries. He said “We, too, want to know the God
who is in heaven.” The Superior of the mission had neither missionaries nor catechists
to send. He gave him a book. It was necessary to find somebody who could read it so
they could come to know the Father who is in heaven. But up there who was able to
read?
It was hard but they found one, a pagan, like the rest, who had attended a
Protestant school in Lemera and agreed to read the booklet. So for several eve-
nings, around the fireplace, the elders of Kahusi and other curious people heard
and repeated the catechism answers until they learned them all.
The Xaverian Superior of Uvira provided more instruction. Later on he wanted to
know through a little exam what the mountaineers of Kahusi had learned. He was
amazed. They knew everything. A quick course was offered to perfect their knowl-
edge and the first group of Christians was established at Kahusi.
This sounds like a made up story but instead it is history. “A Little Child HAD LED
Them!”
Fr. Frank Grappoli SX

Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018 3

Xaverian Missionaries in the World

Blessing of a New that he offered 500,000 Baht as a contribution for

the construction of the new church. A wealthy
parishioner immediately offered another 500,000
Church in Thailand Baht. Within just over a year we more than doubled
the initial figure. Our parishioners contributed gener-

O
n April 28, 2018 the new parish church of ously, as much as they could.
Saint Joseph the Worker was inaugurated and Last April, the wide smiles on the faces of our faith-
blessed by the bishop of Nakhon Sawan, ful, from the smallest to the oldest, expressed all the
Joseph Pibul Visitnondachai. joy and satisfaction for the new church. Many wore
We three Xaverians, Fr. Thierry Kengne SX, Fr. the traditional costume of the Akha, the ethnic group
Reynaldo F. Tardelly SX and Fr. Giovanni Matteazzi SX, to which most of our parishioners belong. Fr.
have been working in the parish for almost four Alessandro Brai SX, our superior in Thailand, came
years along with the evangelization of the numerous from Bangkok together with two catechists and
villages around its periphery. Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary. Priests from the
‘nearby’ parishes including those in Burma came with
One of the first things that our parishioners asked us groups of their faithful. There were also two Baptist
when we arrived in July 2014, was that we build a pastors (in our village there are as many as 11
new church, bigger than the previous one. We Protestant churches) and also a group of Burmese
replied that we did not have enough money. For us refugees who were allowed to come from the refugee
the church that was there was welcoming, with space camp of Um Piam, the one where Fr. Matteazzi goes
enough for the number of faithful of the parish. Even regularly to celebrate Mass.
so, every now and then prominent parishioners
returned to the request, a little joking and a little And the old church? It will still serve us for a long
seriously. time as a meeting and catechism room and for other
activities. And from the new church, which stands
Two years ago, at the conclusion of the Mass on the opposite, on the other side of the road, St. Joseph
day of the parish feast, Father Prachuachop, who had will continue to watch over it.
been one of the first priests of this parish, and who
had built the previous church, solemnly announced ~ Fr. Giovanni Matteazzi SX


You can help the Xaverian Missionaries “build the Church” in Thailand. Either clip this paper and send it to
the address below or help the environment by donating online at http://www.xaverianmissionaries.org/support/
Name: Donation Amount:
Address: City: State: Zip
Email: Phone: Xaverian House Supported:
Mail to: Fr. Mark Marangone SX, 12 Helene Ct., Wayne, NJ 07470 □Xaverian Knoll, Franklin WI; □Fatima Shrine
Holliston, MA; □Provincial House Wayne, NJ

4 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018

 Xaverian Missionaries in the USA

Religious and Secular

Literacy: Dialogue in a
Liberal Democracy
I
n May 2018, the Council on Foreign Relations orga-
nized a workshop on “Religious Literacy in Global
Affairs,” as part of their Religion and Foreign Policy
Program. This program serves as a resource for the faith
community, bringing together congregational and lay
leaders, religion scholars, and representatives of faith-
based organizations for conversations on issues at the
intersection of religion and global affairs. I was fortu-
nate to take part and I want to share are some insights
from their conversation which has something to say to
both secular and religious people.
The deepening divide across our cultural and religious
identities as a nation does not take into serious account
the blurring of lines between the secular and religious,
as well as the important differences among religious
believers who share the same faith, and among secular
world views who share disbelief in divinity. The right ex-
tremist manufactured hate between races, cultures, and
religions has a common symptom: populist resistance to
the diversity of our country that is both secular and re-
ligious, multi-racial, and multi-cultural and to see in this
diversity, an understanding of our power as a people.
For those of us active in interfaith dialogue and collabo-
Interior of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Fr. Carl Chudy SX
ration, how we help each other understand our religious
and secular world views dispels fear caused by distorted
ideas of each other. In doing so, we come to under- ent one Christian can be from another, one Muslim from
stand the necessary relationship of religious and secular another, or one Atheist from another.
sources. Religions and secular world views are embedded in all
In the Religious Literacy Project of Harvard University, dimensions of human experience and can’t be removed
Professor Diane Moore asserts that there is a distinction from their political, economic, social and cultural moor-
between devotional assertions of religious belief from ings. Religious and nonreligious often speak about each
the faith practitioners and leaders. Understanding the other as somehow outside the cultural fiber of the coun-
diversity within the same religious traditions is the way try and then tend to fall into distorted caricatures about
we come to religious literacy. The same could be said for each other.
those whose world views do not involve divinity such as Taking seriously the secular and religious forces that
secular humanists, agnostics, and others. shape our country and how we come to understand
We understand the power of both religious and secu- them more deeply is a crucial part of citizenry. In reli-
lar points of view in human experiences by seeing that gious and secular literacy, the workshop conversations
there is no singular assertion of what all Christians be- remind me that we need to pay attention to the diversi-
lieve; or Muslims, or any other religious tradition. Under- ty of those representations, not necessarily to challenge
standing this diversity is a step toward understanding its the legitimacy of one or the other, but to actually look
role in laying the social and religious landscape of liberal at their power, that their internal diversity does shape
democracy. policy and the conversations about faith and secular life
in the United States. Isn’t that what is at the heart of
Religious and secular expressions evolve and change. our democracy, the richness and power of our diversity
They are “Living Traditions” that seek expression in the that seeks the common good?
ever-changing social and political culture. It is the at-
tempts at these expressions that underline how differ- ~ Fr. Carl Chudy SX

Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018 5

Welcoming ALL Under Our
Tent!
... And Thanking EVERYONE who
joined us!

We extend our most profound

gratitude to all who helped
to make the annual Xaverian
Mission Festival a success.
Also, to all who attended,
we are so very thankful.
Without your presence, we
would not be able to continue
our work. God bless you all.
~Fr. Alex Rodriguez SX
Photos courtesy of Frank Mutranowski and Fr. Alex Rodriguez SX
The Missionary Spirituality

The Missionary Spirituality of

St. Guido Maria Conforti
Excerpts from “Mission, the object of all Conforti’s aspirations”

I
By Fr. Guglielmo Camera SX
t is starting from this concept of spirituality that we can understand the unifying center of Guido Maria
Conforti’s entire life. Conforti was all for the mission. “It is as if his action, his thought and virtues were
under the catalytic influence of his missionary vocation. This established the role, measure and place of
prayer and mortification, of pastoral zeal, recollection, study, and so on in his scheme of spiritual life. Thus
one can speak of the roots of his spirituality, individuating them in his original inclination for the missions, and
later in his elevation to the episcopate where he became a successor of the Apostles. He considered everything,
he undertook everything for the salvation of others, in order to lead them to God.” (Ballarin L., Tutto per
la missione, EMI, Bologna, 1981. --Revised re-print of the author’s graduate thesis in Ecclesiastical History
(Gregorian), formerly published with the title: «L’anima missionaria di Guido Maria Conforti», ISME, Parma 1962.)

For Conforti the missionary ideal was the unifying center of his entire life starting from his first years in the seminary.
He would have liked to dedicate his life entirely to the spread of the Gospel and leave
his homeland to go to lands that had still not been reached by the light of the Gospel,
but circumstances prevented this. He had asked to join both the Company of Jesus
and the Salesians of St. John Bosco, but on condition that he could depart for the
missions. However, he was not accepted either by the Jesuits, because
the Company did not accept conditions, or by Don Bosco, which did
not even answer his request. Later serious health problems, intervened
to hinder his chances of departing for the missions. Indeed he even
had to defer his ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood on
account of these. It is what he himself testifies in a letter written to Cardinal
M . Ledóchowski, Prefect of the Propagation of the Faith: “Since my
youth I have always felt the most intense desire to dedicate my life
to the Foreign Missions, and since reasons that were entirely beyond
my control prevented me from fulfilling this holy inclination…” Having
failed in his attempt to dedicate himself wholly to the missions, he did
not renounce an even more challenging missionary project.

He was still not 29 years old when he wrote to Cardinal M. Ledóchowski,

explaining his “audacious plan,” namely, his missionary project, the object of
all his thoughts and all his aspirations: “My Lord Bishop, first of all, I ask you to
excuse me for disturbing you with this plan I have devised for spreading the Faith
… It has occupied my thoughts and has been the object of my aspirations and most
fervent promises to God for a long time now. I have been planning for some years
to establish a Seminary in the Emilia region for this most noble purpose.”

The thought of the propagation of the faith was not simply one of his many
personal projects, but it was the catalytic center of his entire life, “the” project
of God for him. He stated: “The passing years and changing circumstances have
not diminished my desire in any way; on the contrary, it has grown stronger and,
upon the wise counsel of holy people, I consider it to be inspired by none other
than God.”

Artwork courtesy of the Mexican Province of the Xaverian Missionaries

8 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018

 of St. Guido Conforti

Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018 9

World Mission News
AFRICA/DR CONGO
The Bishops: 770,000 children
under 5 years of age risk hunger
in Kasai
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - More than 770,000
children under the age of five suffer from severe
malnutrition in the center of the Democratic
Republic of Congo,the Bishops of Kasai announced
on the basis of statistics recently published by
UNICEF. The Bishops underline that insecurity and
the violence linked to the guerrilla movement
that refers to Kamuina Nsapu, have provoked
a very serious humanitarian crisis in the area.
During their pastoral visits, the local Bishops
personally witnessed the humanitarian drama
and the state of serious malnutrition of the
populations. Archbishop Marcel Madila of
Kananga launched an appeal for “an urgent and
massive intervention, because the dry season is
about to begin. If the children are not assisted
now, we risk having thousands of deaths.”
The Focal Point of Kasai of Caritas Congo is
working closely with the 8 diocesan Caritas of
the Ecclesiastical Province of Kananga to prepare
a response plan for this crisis, the effects of
which will probably be worse than the Ebola
epidemic. “Malnutrition is destined to worsen
with the start of the dry season, a period during
which there is usually a lack of food in families”,
said Emmanuel Mbuna, national coordinator of
the emergency department of Caritas Congo.
10 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018
World Mission News
AMERICA/UNITED STATES
Bishops Decry Family Separation and
Detention
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Crux) The country’s Catholic
bishops have joined a chorus of organizations,
institutions and high-profile individuals urging
the Trump administration to stop separating
children from their parents as they seek
respite in the U.S. from dire conditions in their
home countries, largely in Central America.
None have been more outspoken than the bishops
with dioceses on or near the border between the
U.S. and Mexico, where many migrants, adults
as well as children, are being held in detention
centers in geographic areas where many of the
prelates come into contact with families affected.
“Refugee children belong to their parents, not to
the government or other institutions. To steal
children from their parents is a grave sin, immoral
and evil,” said San Antonio’s Archbishop Gustavo
Garcia-Siller. “Their lives have already been
extremely difficult. Why do we (the U.S.) torture
them even more, treating them as criminals?”
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of
Brownsville, Texas said that “separating immigrant
parents and children as a supposed deterrent to
immigration is a cruel and reprehensible policy.”
New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said: “St. Paul
said he wouldn’t obey Roman law when it said it
was mandatory to worship the emperor,” “I don’t
think we should obey a law that goes against what
God intends that you would take a baby, a child,
from their mom. I mean, that’s just unjust.” Bishop
Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, compared Christ’s
time as a refugee in the Holy Land to the migrants,
saying that Jesus himself, would be detained today.
He urged Christians to think about the families
seeking asylum in the U.S., what they’re going
through and said “is the fundamental question
of being Christian today, of being a person of
faith today in our country and on the continent
that is suffering an hour of Christ’s passion.”
ASIA/Thailand
How Buddhist meditation kept the
Thai boys calm in the cave
MAE SAI, Thailand (Vox) When the 12 Thai
boys who were trapped in a cave were first
discovered, they were reportedly meditating.
Their coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, who led them
on a hike into the cave when it flooded on June
23, had trained in meditation as a Buddhist monk
for a decade before becoming a soccer coach. He
taught the boys, ages 11 to 16, to meditate
in the cave to keep them calm and preserve
their energy through their two-week ordeal.
That meditation would be a useful practice in
an extremely stressful situation is really no
surprise. Buddhist meditation has been around
for 2,600 years, since the Buddha began teaching
it as tool for achieving clarity and peace of
mind, and ultimately, liberation from suffering.
Recently, scientific researchers have shown in
clinical settings that mindfulness meditation (a
specific meditation practice and one that’s taught
in Thai Buddhism and elsewhere around the world)
can reduce anxiety and depression, as well as pain.

News from our USA Communities
Provincial House
Wayne NJ
General Direction Visit
Frs. Eugenio Pulcini and Fabien Kalehezo, SX,
members of our General Council in Rome were
with us from June 4 through the 17, 2018. It’s
the first time they have come this way since
their election (for Fr. Fabien, from the Democratic
Republic of Congo, who served in the Philippines)
and re-election (for Fr. Eugenio, from Italy,
who served in Mexico and the Philippines) in
August 2017 during our XVII General Chapter.
They spent a few days in each of our Communities
where they met with confreres and staff members,
joined our Provincial Council Meeting in Franklin
and even found some time for sightseeing. We
appreciate the time they took with us and
thank Fr. Eugenio and Fr. Fabien for their
support of our activities, outreach and ministries.
It truly was a “grace-filled” time for all of us!
~ Fr. Mark Marangone SX
Centering Prayer
Fr. Michael Davitti SX took part in a course on
“Centering Prayer” called “Contemplative Living”
held in Beacon, NY. Nineteen participants from
different states met regularly each month. Fr.
Michael was the only clergy in attendance. The goal
of this course was to enable participants to create
a contemplative life-style in today’s world. The
participants were led to experience God’s presence
within themselves. “We felt that Centering Prayer
was adding depth of meaning to our prayer-life
and facilitated the movement from a more ‘active’
modes of prayer to a more ‘receptive’ prayer
which led the participants to ‘resting in God.’”
Praesidium Accreditation™ publicly demonstrates that the Congregation of the Xaverian
Missionaries has achieved the highest industry standards in abuse prevention and response.
USA Communities News
It is the desire of Fr. Michael that we could hold
similar formation meetings at the Provincial House,
offering the “refreshing water” of the Holy Spirit
to our fellow men/women who seem to be so
thirsty for it (John 7:37-38).
Parliament of the
World’s Religions
Fr. Carl Chudy SX, Fr. Michael Davitti SX and
Fr. Adolph Menéndez SX will be participating
in The Parliament of World Religions in
Toronto Canada from November 1 - 7, 2018
Mission Banquet
The Theme for this year’s Mission Banquet for
the Holliston Community is “The Changing Faces
of Mission,” celebrating the variety and diversity
of our growing missionary community. Our 94
Fatima Shrine graduate students hail from over 8 countries and
Holliston MA cultures. Music will be provided by the Tom Nutile
Septet. The guest of honor at this year’s Banquet
Fatima Days “Honoring Mary
will be Fr. Solomon Bobson Kargbo, the first Sierra
through the Cultures and
Leonean to be ordained a Xaverian Missionary.
Continents of our World.”
He now serves in Mexico. Come and meet him!.
Each year we at Fatima Shrine offer a creative
extension of the Message of Mary that was
given to us at Fatima. This year we are taking
a journey each month to various continents
and cultures where Mary has visited her people,
extending the message of conversion, penance,
renewal and peace. In June we celebrated
Mary’s apparition at San Nicolas (Argentina), in
July at Laus (France), and in August in Akita
(Japan). In September we welcome witnesses of
the apparition site in Kibeho (Rwanda). This Xavier knoll
year’s series will conclude on October 13th, Franklin WI
presided over by our Regional Bishop, Bishop
Mission Banquet
Robert Reed who will bring this theme to a
joyful conclusion. We start with Songs and Our annual gathering will take place on October
Praise at 6:30 p.m., Mass at 7:00 p.m. followed 20, 2018 at the The Crown Plaza Milwaukee
by the Candlelight Rosary outdoors concluding Airport, 6401 South 13th Street, Milwaukee, WI.
with fellowship. Our Lady of Fatima Shrine is at We hope you can join us! Stay tuned for more
101 Summer Street, Holliston MA. Come join us!” information on our website or call (414) 421-0831
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018 11
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2018

Become a Missionary Priest or Brother!

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