Dear Friends of the Fransalians,

Cordial greetings from Chad-Cameroon Mission. It is once again Christmas time. This joyful feast of the birthday of Jesus is a privileged moment for me to greet each one of you and to share some news from our missions. The birth of a child is always a happy event. The birth of Jesus is all the more joyful and meaningful for us because he is the Son of God who became man in order to be one with us. He is the Emmanuel : GOD WITH US.

God coming down to the world and reaching out to the whole of humanity is the inspiration behind every missionary activity. God has crossed the frontiers. As missionaries, we too feel called by God to cross the frontiers to make Christ present in every part of the world. The birth of Jesus continues to enlighten and enliven the hearts and minds of millions who are deprived of their human dignity and freedom.

As Friends of Fransalians, you too are journeying with us, going beyond the frontiers. Your constant support for our work in the remote missions of Chad and Cameroon is a clear sign of your missionary commitment to make Christ and his message known to the world. With a grateful heart, I wish each one of you a Very Happy Christmas and a Bright New Year. May the joy and peace of Christmas fill your hearts and homes as you step into the New Year.

Yours cordially,

Fr. Joshy Nellimalamattam, MSFS

Mission Superior

NEWS FROM YAOUNDE, CENTRAL CAMEROON

Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon with a population of around 2 million.is also the main centre of Fransalian Missions in Chad-Cameroon. La Feuillette, the Fransalian Formation house is just outside Yaounde city but falls under the Diocese of Obala. Ekoumdoum, Ebang and Ekekam are the three important Fransalian Missions in and around Yaounde.

EBANG: The Holy Family Parish of Ebang is the youngest mission that the Fransalians have opened. The new mission is in the suburb of Yaoundé.. Fr. Manoj Arackal was installed as the Parish Priest of this mission on 8^th May 2012. The new mission has a catholic population of over 4000 spread over 4 sub-centres. It is a mission full of challenges. There is hardly any infrastructure. People gather in a tiny chapel. There is no presbytery for the priest to reside in the mission. A church has to be built. A multipurpose hall is an urgent need. Faith formation has to be intensified. Developmental projects are to be initiated.

EKEKAM : Ekekam Mission has always been a difficult mission mainly because of its inaccessibility. Situated in the dense forest and without good roads, people walk long distances. The Mission has initiated a number of developmental projects. Eight wells are dug to provide clean drinking water for the people. A multipurpose hall has been built. The construction of a presbytery is in progress. We need more finance to complete the project.

EKOUMDOUM : Ekoumdoum Mission continues to make great progress. However the construction of the church and presbytery has come to a halt due to shortage of funds. The priests have already moved into the unfinished presbytery. Daily Eucharist is celebrated in the new church which is yet to be completed. The land for the educational projects has been acquired.

LA FEUILLETTE: Our Formation house in Ngoya is a community of 3 priests,2 deacons and 9 candidates. Deacon Parfait Ayissi and Deacon Christophe Abessougi are due to be ordained priests in June 2013. Chad-Cameroon Mission rejoices over the increasing number of local priests and candidates. There are 3 candidates from Chad and Cameroon doing their novitiate in Tanzania.

NEWS FROM NORTH CAMEROON

BEREM : Berem Mission is situated 65 kms away from Ngaoundere in North Cameroon. The Mission has a small community of catholics wit 3 sub-stations. The Mission is managing two primary schools. The people of Berem are poor farmers struggling to make their livelihood. It is a drought-prone area and water is scarce. Fr. Bipin, the Parish Priest has initiated a number of projects aimed at better farming and greater productivity.

MBE-KARNA : Mbe-Karna Mission is situated at 70 kms from Ngaoundere. The Mission has received a new pastor in the person of Fr. Emile Amougou, the first Fransalian priest from Cameroon. People of Mbe-Karna welcomed their new pastor with much joy. Monsignor Joseph Djida, the Bishop of Ngaoundere made his pastoral visit to Mbe-Karna on 18th August 2012 and installed Fr. Emile as Parish Priest. It was a beautiful event which brought together many people from the neighboring villages irrespective of their religious affiliations. The ongoing project of providing drinking water to the far flung villages is a priority for this mission. The construction of a presbytery and a boys’ home at Mbe is another important project envisaged for the immediate future.

BINI-DANG: The pastoral care of more than 5000 catholic students in Ngaoundere is organized by the chaplaincy at Bini-Dang. At present 3 Fransalian priests are serving the chaplaincy. Apart from the daily Mass and other spiritual exercises in the parish church, the students are given opportunities to seek guidance and counseling. A number of associations and movements are started in the parish to help the students to deepen their faith and to become committed Christians and responsible citizens.

NEWS FROM SOUTH WEST CAMEROON

KOKOBUMA: Kokobuma is the first Fransalian mission in the English-speaking region in the South-West of Cameroon. It is a most challenging and difficult mission in a remote area. Fr. Mathew Kavithazha, a veteran missionary is assigned to this mission. Several bishops in the Anglophone region of Cameroon have expressed their wish to have the Fransalians to work in their dioceses.

NEWS FROM CHAD

Bishop of Doba Expelled: A difficult time for the Church in Chad

Our Mission in Chad is going through difficult times. The Government of Chad has expelled Monsignor Michel Russo, the Bishop of Doba from the country. Bishop Russo, an Italian has been a missionary in Chad for the past 33 years. He has been quite outspoken against the Government of Chad and the American oil company Esso which has a huge project of oil exploration and production in and around Doba.

Bishop Russo has been championing the cause of the poor, demanding a just share of the oil revenues for them. Oil is extracted from the land that was acquired from the poor farmers. The local population continues to live in abject poverty even as millions of barrels of oil are extracted from their lands and sent overseas. Bishop Russo has been an eloquent critic of the policies of the Chadian Government and of the Esso Company for their apparent insensitivity to the basic needs of the local population in Doba whose land has been taken away to make huge profits for the multinational company. The critics say that the Government is using up the oil revenue chiefly to import arms and weapons to quell the rebellion in many parts of the country instead of investing on development.

The Fransalian in Chad owe much to Monsignor Russo. It was at his invitation, encouragement and support that the Fransalians started their mission in Bero and Doba. We wish and pray that Bishop Russo will soon be allowed to return to Chad as diplomatic efforts are underway. It is however gratifying that our two missions in Bero and Doba continue to make a great positive impact on the social and educational life of the people.

Greetings from Pater Thomas Cherukat in Rome

My dear Friends of Fransalians,

It is with great joy and a sense of gratitude that I greet each one of you on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. The joyful feast of Christmas is a reminder to all of us that God is on the side of the poor. Jesus was born poor. He grew up in a poor family. He went about preaching the good news, doing good to all and especially to the poorest of the poor. He healed the sick. He mingled with sinners and outcasts. He questioned the powerful and defended the weak and the abandoned. He gave his life as a ransom for many by dying on the cross to rise again to life. Christmas is therefore a great challenge for all of us. It is a challenge to live like Jesus, to think like Jesus and to act like Jesus. We need to reach out to the poor, to give life to them and to help them to liberate themselves from all forms of injustice and inhumanity.

The new year 2013 is an year of grace for the entire Church as well as for the Fransalian Family. Pope Benedict XVI has declared the year as an year of faith. The recently held Synod of Bishops in Rome has called for a new evangelization of all peoples and cultures. The year 2013 marks multiple jubilees and important events for the Fransalian Family. The Congregation celebrates 175^th anniversary of its foundation on 24^th October 2013. It is also the 150^th anniversary of the death of its Founder Fr. Peter Mermier (+ 30.09.1862). The English Province of the Fransalians has just celebrated 150 years of its existence. The East Africa Province is celebrating its silver jubilee. As a crowning point of all these historical landmarks, the 19^th General Chapter of the Congregation is scheduled to be held from 01-15 February 2013 at Hyderabad in India. As we rejoice and thank the Lord for the great things He has done for our Congregation, we continue to trust in the providential care of the Lord. We ask the Lord to bless our Congregation and send more labourers into His vineyard.

My dear Friends, I thank each one of you for all what you are and all what you do to strengthen our hands to help the poor and needy in the remote missions of Africa. I wish each one of you a very happy Christmas. May the joy and peace of this Christmas be in your hearts and in your families.

Yours cordially

Fr. Thomas Cherukat, MSFS

Happy Christmas and a Bright New Year

My dear Friends of Fransalians,

Cordial greetings and good wishes from Rome. It is with great joy that I greet each one of you during this festive season of Christmas and New Year. Christmas is a celebration of life. We thank God for the gift of life. We thank God for sending his only son Jesus into the world. God becoming man, born into a human family, reaching out to the whole of creation with the universal message of love, peace and joy built on truth, justice and freedom. This is the great mystery that we celebrate at Christmas. Christmas is therefore an invitation as well as a challenge to all of us to be partners of God in transforming our world with the values of the Gospel preached and practiced by Jesus Christ.

We are at the threshold of another new year. The year 2013 has been an year of grace for the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Francis de Sales all over the world. The congregation has completed 175 years of its existence on 24 October 2013. The humble work that was started in Annecy, France 175 years ago has grown into a large missionary family of around 1400 members spread across 26 countries on five continents. In this jubilee year the congregation has entered into a new missionary venture in Africa by sending a team of priests from India to Zambia. We thank God for giving us so many young and dynamic priests in India who readily opt to work in the African Missions. Zambia is the 9^th country in Africa where the Fransalians are engaged in pastoral, educational and developmental activities. The Lumen Christi Institute at Arusha in Tanzania has grown into a large Institution which is a common venture of all the 9 Fransalian Mission Units in Africa.

Our Chad-Cameroon Mission continues to make steady progress. The Mission was blessed with two priestly ordinations in this jubilee year. Fr. Parfait Ayissi and Fr. Christophe Abessougie, both Cameroonians were ordained priests in last July. We rejoice over the steady increase of local vocations to the Congregation in Chad and Cameroon. The Mission has now 3 priests, 5 students in philosophy, 5 novices and 8 postulants and candidates, all from Cameroon and Chad. The bulk of missionary personnel in the Mission however come from India. At present there are 16 priests and 3 students from India working in Chad and Cameroon taking the total number of members in the Mission to thirty-five.

Mission Development Office in Rome

The steady growth of missions in so many countries in the developing world pose great challenges to our congregation. The cost of maintaining so many young missions in Africa and Asia is enormous and has become increasingly difficult for the Congregation. We are heavily dependent on the generosity of friends and benefactors all over the world. The 19^th General Chapter of the Congregation held in February 2013 had decided to set up a “Mission Development Office” in Rome and organize “support groups” in as many countries as possible and mobilize funds for the Fransalian Missions all over the world especially in Asia, Africa and South America. The responsibility of organizing the new Mission Office in Rome has fell on me. It is a new idea and a new venture. I have gladly accepted the new task. The Mission Office in Rome is gradually taking shape. At the initial phase, a chain of support groups in Italy and in several other countries in Western Europe and North America is planned. Trusting in God and in the generosity of all people of good will I look forward to the new year with much hope and confidence.

I thank God for the gift of each one of you for what you are and what you do especially for the missions in Africa. I thank you for your keen interest and concern for our missions I count on your continued support for the Chad Cameroon Mission and for the new project of the Mission Office in Rome. I wish you a very Happy Christmas and a bright and prosperous new year 2014. May the joy and peace of this Christmas strengthen us in our commitment to reach out to the poorest of the poor and work together for a better world.

Provincial’s Visitation of Chad-Cameroon Mission

Chad-Cameroon Mission is under the direct jurisdiction of the South West India Province. Fr. Jose Kumblolickal, the newly appointed Provincial made his first official visitation of the Mission from 11^th July to 6^th August 2013. He visited all centres in the Mission, met all the confreres and animated the Mission Colloquium. After his visitation to Chad-Cameroon, Fr. Jose wrote as follows:

“It was a spiritually enriching experience for me personally. Chad-Cameroon Mission is taking definite shape and it is geared towards stabilization. This year we had two ordinations and after three more years we will have steady number of ordinations every year. We have two missions in Chad namely Bero and Doba. Bero is the first mission of the South West Province in Africa. Doba was taken up later. The religious climate in the Diocese of Doba is in turmoil right now. The bishop was expelled by the Chad Government on the accusation that he spoke against the Government. Bero and Doba are large missions consisting of several out- stations, two schools and a boys’ home.”

“Our Mission in Cameroon is really flourishing. In the Diocese of Ngaoundere we are starting a minor seminary, a school and a clinic in collaboration with congregations of women religious. Two of our priests are engaged in pastoral activities in three parishes including the University parish. Ngaoundere can be one of the permanent centres of the MSFS in Cameroon. The bishop is very welcoming and supportive. In the Archdiocese of Yaoundé we have one of the most promising parishes, that of Ekoundoum. The church construction is nearing completion. Within the territory of this parish, we have a plot of land and we are starting a school there this year. We have also another four acres of land in the vicinity of this parish, where there is scope for another school. In the Diocese of Obala we have La Feuillette,our Formation House at Ngoya and two parishes entrusted to our care at Ekkekam and Ebang. In Ekkekam there are two plots of land where we are planning to have a school and a dispensary”

“Recently we have taken up one of the most remote and challenging missions.The place is called Kokabouma. It is in the Anglophone area of Cameroon and the access to this mission is a serious problem. The people are very cooperative and fully engaged in the construction of a new Church there. Soon we will be taking up the chaplaincy at the University of Buea which is also in the Anglophone area of Cameroon.”

Mission Colloquium

The Chad-Cameroon Mission had two mission colloquiums in this year 2013. The first one took place in the month of March, 2013 during the visitation of Rev. Fr. Abraham Vettuvelil, our Superior General. The second Colloquium took place on 22nd July, 2013. The meeting was presided over by Rev. Fr. Jose Kumblolickal, the Provincial. The participiants shared the life in the mission centres, presented plans and visions for all the units. There were special sessions on Financial Planning, Ongoing Formation of confreres and opening of new centres in the Mission. Discussions were held also on how to streamline the financial administration and make the Mission self- sufficient. After sufficient and mature discussion, the members unanimously passed a resolution in favour of raising the Mission into a Delegation in the immediate future.

Hearty Congratulations to our New Priests from Chad- Cameroon Mission

Christophe Abessouguie, MSFS is the second priest from Chad- Cameroon mission. He was born on 14. 09.1983 at Ombessa, Cameroon. He was admitted to postulancy at Nkolbisson in Yaounde. He did his Pre-Novitiate at Ndagani in Kenya and Novitiate at Kibaha in Tanzania. He made his first profession on 10.07.2008. He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Yaoundé. He did his theological studies at Ecole Théologique Saint-Cyprien at Ngoya, Cameroon. He was ordained priest on 13^th July, 2013 at St. Sebastian’s Cathedral, Bafia, Cameroon and celebrated his First Holy Eucharist in his home parish, Notre Dame du Mont Carmel Church, Ombessa, Diocese of Bafia on 14^th July 2013.

Fr. Innocent Parfait Ayissi, MSFS is the third priest from our Chad-Cameroon mission. He was born on 20. 04.1978 at Yaounde. In September 2002 He was admitted to postulancy at Nkolbisson in 2002. He did his Pre-Novitiate and Novitiate at Kibaha in Tanzania. He made his first profession on 20^th May 2006. He did his philosophical studies at Institut de Philosophie Saint-Joseph Mukasa, Yaoundé and theological studies at Ecole Théologique Saint-Cyprien Ngoya- Cameroon He was ordained priest 20^th July, 2013.

Greetings from the Mission Superior

My dear Friends of Fransalians,

It is with a sense of great joy and deep gratitude that I greet you on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. We the missionaries and the people of our Missions in Chad and Cameroon think of you and pray for you during this joyful season of Christmas and New Year. You are very dear to us. You are our good friends who always stand by us and come to our help. You belong to our Fransalian Family. Our work in the missions is really hard. But we feel very much strengthened by the support we receive from our friends and benefactors all over the world. May God bless your generosity and loving solidarity with the poor.

I am very happy to inform you that our work in Chad and Cameroon continues to grow in spite of the many difficulties that we encounter everyday. We thank God for the gift of new ordinations, and the number of students, novices and candidates in our mission. The recent General Chapter of the Congregation has mandated that the Chad-Cameroon Mission be raised to the juridical status of a “Delegation” with greater autonomy for a more effective planning and administration. Thank you for your continued support and concern for our Mission. We pray for your intentions. May the joy and peace of this Christmas be with you always and in the new year.

GREETINGS FROM PATER THOMAS CHERUKAT IN ROME

Dear Friends of Fransalians,

Greetings and good wishes to each one of you from the newly established Mission Office in Rome. The Mission Office has been set up in a small room at the MSFS Prokura in Via del Mascherino 46, very close to the Vatican. It was inaugurated on 24 January 2014. The new Mission Office is the co-ordinating centre for the pastoral and developmental activities of the Congregation in 26 countries. It is a new venture of the  Congregation at the global level and for me personally, it is also a new beginning.  Trusting in God and relying on the generosity and goodwill of so many friends and benefactors, I look forward to carry out this new responsibility of supporting our numerous missions in the world especially in Africa.

Apart from Chad-Cameroon, the Fransalians are  now working in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. The main focus of the new Mission Office in Rome will certainly be on the African Continent besides India, Brazil and the Philippines. The Congregation has invested a great number of missionary personnel in these countries and has established quite a few new missions. One of the major initiatives of the Congregation in Africa is the establishment of the Lumen Christi Institute at Arusha in Tanzania. This Institute has been designed and developed as a Human Resource Development Centre with a strong emphasis on leadership training at the local level and the empowerment of women and youth. The Mission Office in Rome is directly involved in the various programs and projects taken up by the Institute. A major project aimed at providing safe and clean drinking water to the Institute and to the people of the neighbouring villages are now in its planning stage. Similar projects are already underway in Chad and Cameroon.

I am happy to gratefully acknowledge the overwhelming support I receive from so many of you, our friends and well-wishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I would like to make a special mention here of the good work being done by the members of our „Verein Freundeskreis der Fransalianer“ in Moembris, Aschaffenburg. I also thank the many well-wishers in Germany and Austria who send regular financial contribution for our work in the missions through the Verein. I am confident that in course of time the Verein will also be able to extend its support to other parts of Africa .   

As for Chad-Cameroon, we have some good news. A very young and dynamic priest, Fr. Manoj Arackal has been appointed Mission Superior. He took charge on 15 May 2014. Fr. Manoj has sufficient experience in the Mission. He hails  from India and had arrived in Cameroon as a student. He did his theological studies in Cameroon and was ordained priest in 2007.  After his ordination he has been working as the pastor of Ekekam and Ebang near Yaounde with great success. We wish Fr. Manoj a successful tenure as the Mission Superior and assure him our prayers and support. We are also grateful to Fr. Joshy Nellimalamattam who has been the Mission Superior for the past 6 years shouldering the heavy responsibility of developing the infant mission into a more confident and mature mission. Fr. Joshy  continues to work at Ekoumdoum Mission as its pastor.  We wish him much joy and success in his ministry.

Greetings  to our Friends in Austria

I am happy to announce that Fr. Sen  Vellakada, one of our confreres  in Vienna has organized a group  of friends in Austria who have pledged their support for our missions in Africa. They are indeed happy to collaborate with our Verein in Moembirs. Fr. Sen is currently pusuing a doctoral program at the University of Vienna. I thank our good friends and benefactors in Austria for their keen interest and generosity in supporting our work. I thank Fr. Sen Vellakada for taking his precious time in finding support for our missions and for his readiness to be the contact person and animator of the group in Austria. Fr. Sen may be contacted under the following address:  P. Sen Vellakada, MSFS, Stiftplatz 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg,  Oesterreich. Tel. 0043 2243411158 / 00436764414906  email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I conclude this note expressing once again my deep-felt gratitude to each one of you in Germany, Austria and in Switzerland for what you are and for all what you do for the missions. „God loves a cheerful giver“ (2 Kor.9.7). If any one of you  have a plan to visit  Rome, please feel free to contact me for any assistance you may need in the Eternal City. You are most welcome to drop in at our Mission Office in Via del Mascherino, 46/2.

With warm regards,

P. Dr. Thomas Cherukat, MSFS

DIREKTOR
Procura delle Missioni
Via del Mascherino 46/2
00193 Roma, Italia

Tel. +39 0668216825
Cell +39 3291612020

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 www.amisales.org

GREETINGS FROM THE NEW MISSION SUPERIOR IN CHAD-CAMEROON

My dear Friends of Fransalians,  

Greetings of love and peace to each one of you from Yaoundé, Cameroon. This is the first time I am writing to you as the Mission Superior of Chad-Cameroon Mission. I reach out to you, our friends and well wishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland  with a grateful heart acknowledging the much needed support that we receive from you regularly.  I took charge as the Mission Superior of Chad-Cameroon  on 15th of May 2014. I would like to place on record the good work  done by my predecessors  Fr. Thomas Cherukat and Fr.Joshy Nellimalmattam. I offer my sincere gratitude to them for the great work accomplished in this Mission during the past 15 years. With much  patience and perseverance they toiled hard and truly laid a strong foundation for this  flourishing  Mission of Chad-Cameroon.

I gratefully acknowledge and appreciate the support and encouragement we have received from you our friends, benefactors and well wishers in pioneering this very challenging but satisfying mission in these  Sub- Saharan countries of Africa. I am happy to give you here below a glimpse of our developmental activities in Chad and Cameroon. We, the Fransalians have just completed 15 years of our presence in Chad-Cameroon.  When we look back to those 15 years we can only thank God for his providential care and guidance. Today we are 15 priests 5 students in philosophy and theology, 5 novices, 4 pre-novices  and        4 postulants and a good many aspirants. We are blessed with numerous indigenous vocations . The contnuity of  these missions are thus well assured and the future is full of hope.The struggles of learning new languages, and living with the constant threat of  malaria, typhoid and so many such deadly diseases, adapting to an alien culture and  a hostile climate make the life of a missionary quite challenging. But the joy of a new dawn for the large number of impoverished and disadvantaged people in this part of the world  makes these struggles a labour of love and a seed of hope. With God’s grace and with the prayers and financial support of so many good people around the world we have been able to do much during the past 15 years. I would like to highlight a few of our recent achievements especially in our missions in Chad and North Cameroon.

A MULTIPURPOSE HALL:  A multi-purpose hall has been built at Bero in Chad. The entire population of Bero benefit from this project. A number of formation programmes for the people are conducted regularly in this hall. Regular meetings, seminars and courses aimed at the formation of  all sections of society besides a literacy program for the adults are held here.

CLEAN AND SAFE  DRINKING WATER: Lack of safe and clean drinking water is one of the major problems faced by the population of Bero. Every year, during and after the rainy season, there is high infant mortality in these parts of the country mainly due to the consumption of contaminated water from the open wells and stagnant pools and tanks. These water sources are often accessed by domestic animals and open to all sorts of contamination.  It has been identified that the main cause of the outbreak of malaria, typhoid, jaundice and cholera in this  region is the lack of safe and clean drinking water. During the past few years we have been able to help the people to safeguard more than 15 wells with  proper retention walls in order to prevent them from contamination.  A number of villages are identified where we can help the people to have safe and clean water by digging bore wells or protecting the existing water sources from contamination.

EDUCATION:  St. Bakhita Primary School, Bero:  „Education of the heart is the heart of Education“ said our founder, Fr. Peter Mermier. The fight against illiteracy and ignorance is a serious challenge that we face in Chad and North Cameroon. Mass illiteracy continues to plague this region. Schools are too few and overcrowded.  Accepting this challenge, the Fransalians had started a community school at Bero in a thatched shed in the year 2003. Thanks tot he generosity of so many good benefactors we have been able to construct a good school in Bero with a strength of nearly 400 children. However, lack of adequate number of competent  teachers is a cause of worry and concern. There are very few locals who are qualified for the teaching task. We need to find the resources to pay an adequate remuneration  in order to ensure that qualified teachers are available for this village school. SFS Boys‘ Home:  A  Boy’s Home was started in Bero to provide an integrated formation to the very poor but talented  chidlren. At present there are 40 children  in this Home. Most of the boys are orphans or semi-orphans. We are looking for sponsors for these children as the Mission is not able to meet all their needs. The existing boys‘ home needs extension to admit more such children. St. Comboni High School in Doba: The Fransalians began working in the Daniel Comboni Mission in Doba in the year 2009. With the help of some donor agencies and the support of friends and benefactors we have been able to upgrade an existing primary school in this Mission by constructing 9 more class rooms. At present there are 408 children in the primary section and 260 in the secondary section. The High School section was inaugurated on 10 May 2014. Classes are due to begin in September 2014.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR HELP

I would like to solicit your help for the following projects and needs of this mission.  

• Adoption at Distance :  Most of the children in our schools in Bero and Doba are extremely poor. We would welcome sponsors for these children under our adoption at distance program. A monthly contribution of Euro 10.00  (Euro Ten Only) can meet the educational expenses of a child for an year ( Euro 120.00).  
• Teachers‘ Fund:  Make a contribution to pay the teachers in our schools an adequate remuneration.
• Drinking Water Projects : The total cost of one bore-well to be completed with a hand pump in Bero (Chad) and in Berem ( North Cameroon)   is estimated at  approximately  Euro 2000.00  (Euro Two Thousand  Only)
• School Extension Fund in Bero:  We would like to upgrade the existing primary school at Bero to a secondary school for which we need to build up the necessary infrastructure.
• Transport:  The difficult and dangerous terrain in our missions with mostly mud roads pose the greatest challenge for our missionaries to cover the long distances in blazing sun to reach out to the remote villages. Public transport is non-existent in these regions. The Mission cannot afford new vehicles. Often we depend on second-hand vehicles coming from Europe which are not cheap either. Redpairs of such vehicles are quite expensive too.
• Formation and Sustenance of the Missionary Personnel: The missionary personnel in the mission needs to find support for their sustenance and the medical care. Mass offerings are one way of meeting this need.

We shall ever be grateful to you for your kind gesture of solidarity with the poor.  May God bless you.

Yours cordially

Fr. Manoj Xavier Arackal, MSFS

Mission Superior, Chad Cameroon Mission
La Feuillette, B.P.185 (c.287), Yaoundé, Cameroon

Tel.  +237  9714 06 23

Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Greetings from Rome

My dear Friends of the Fransalians,

Cordial greetings and good wishes to you from the Missionsprokura in Rome. This Mission Office was established on 15^th November 2013. On this first anniversary, with a deep sense of joy and gratitude I would like to wish each one of you a grace-filled season of Advent and a very Happy Christmas and Bright New Year.  The joyful feast of Christmas is a reminder to all of us that God is on the side of the poor. Jesus was born poor. He grew up in a poor family. He went about doing good to all and especially to the poorest of the poor. He healed the sick. He mingled with sinners and outcasts. He questioned the powerful and defended the weak and the abandoned. He gave his life as a ransom for many by dying on the cross to rise again to life. Christmas is therefore a great challenge for all of us. It is a challenge to live like Jesus, to think like Jesus and to act like Jesus. We need to reach out to the poor, to give life to them in order that they may be liberated from all forms of  injustice and inhumanity.

To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us. (Pope Francis, EG, 54)

We, the Missionaries of Saint Francis de Sales have just entered into the 177th year of our existence. The new year 2015 has been declared as the „Year of Mission“ for the entire Congregation. We are now over 1400 members working in 26 countries including  9 countries in Africa. Let me share with you some of our immediate concerns in our missions especially in Chad and Cameroon.

Adoption at Distance

A program of “Adoption at Distance” has already been initiated on a small scale.  I thank all those who participate in this program  by making their regular contributions. The Mission Office in Rome is now co-ordinating this program and we are looking for  sponsors  so that we can reach out to many more unfortunate children in Asia and Africa and extend this program to all our missions all over the world. You can sponsor a child in Africa or Asia pledging a small contribution of Euro 10.00 (Euro Ten Only) per month. You will find details of this program on our websites: www.agape-tschad-kamerun.de /www.amisales.org. or email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Homes for Destitute Children

Apart from the two Boys‘ Homes of Bero and Doba in Chad, the Congregation is managing a number of “Homes for Destitute Children” in India and in several countries of Africa. The cost of maintaining these homes and educating the large number of children is indeed enormous. We are looking for potential benefactors to help us run these Homes more effectively. There are appeals coming from many of our Missions to establish more such Homes for the poor and abandoned children. Your contributions are very precious for such a noble cause.

Providing Clean Drinking Water to Villages in Africa

In the rural Sub-saharan Africa, millions of people share their domestic water sources with animals or rely on unprotected wells that are breeding grounds for pathogens. The Mission Office has received a number of applications from our missions in Africa seeking financial help towards providing safe and clean drinking water in the remote villages of countries like Chad and Tanzania. Any contribution towards this noble cause of providing clean drinking water to the villages in Africa  will be much appreciated.

Education

The Congregation has a large network of educational institutions chiefly in India and Africa. We are looking for help to establish several more schools in our newly opened missions where no such facilities are available. We are grateful to you and appreciate your generosity. The two schools we are managing in Chad are growing very fast. The Mission is now planning to start a school in Ngaoundere in North Cameroon. It is going to be a huge investment which will certainly benfit a large number of children who have no other possibility of receiving a good education. Your generous contributions are solicited.

Freundeskreis in Jubilee Year

It was on 10th November 2005 that our Verein „Freundeskreis der Missionare des Hl. Franz von Sales/Fransalianer e.V. „ was established in Mömbris. The year 2015 is therefore a jubilee year for our Verein. We thank God for all the good work that we have been able to accomplish during these past years on behalf of so many needy people  in the missions. I am immensely grateful to all the founding members of our Verein as well as the present vorstand and all the registered members for their keen interest in mobilizing funds to support our missions. The Verein has around 50 registered members besides some 150 regular donors.  In this jubilee year we would like to see an increase in the number of registered members as well as in the number of donors. Hearty welcome to join hands with us for the noble cause of bringing education and development into some of the least developed regions of the world.  May the Joy, Peace and Blessings of this Christmas be with all of us in  the New Year and in the years to come. May this Christmas strengthen our resolve to reach out to the poorest of the poor. 

Yours cordially,

Greetings from Chad-Cameroon

Dear Friends of  Fransalians,

Greetings from the Fransalians in Chad-Cameroon Mission. First of all I would like to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year. Christmas is a feast of great joy and hope for the world. It is a family feast. Bonds of solidarity, fraternity, mutual acceptance, unconditional and unselfish love, loving care and attention are some of the elements that keep a family united and joyful.

The Fransalian Mission of Chad-Cameron has just completed 15 years of its existence.  We are now 42 members as a family of missionaries.: 16 priests, 10 students in theology and   philosophy,  2 novices, 6 pre-novices and 8 postulants.  Our two missions in CHAD namely BERO and DOBA are making tremendous progress.  DOBA Mission now consists of a large parish with a college, high school and a home for destitute children. In BERO too we have a primary school with a Boys’ Home attached to it and several  additional infrastructure constructed during the past few years. 

LA FEUILLETTE  in Ngoya just outside the capital city of Yaoundé is indeed  the “Mother House”  of  Chad- Cameroon Mission and continues to play a vital role in the formation of local vocations.  14 priests have passed out from this house completing their theological formation during the past 15 years.  There are now 14 seminarians  under formation. EKEKAM  and EBANG are two missions entrusted to the Fransalians in Central Cameroon. A lot of work has been done towards the integral development of these missions. At Ekekam, a village chapel, a multipurpose hall and  a priests’ residence were built besides providing clean drinking water to the villages through a number of wells dug during the past few years.  EKOUMDOUM,  a mission on the outskirts of Yaoundé city is another flourishing mission. The local people continue to be very resourceful and enthusiastic in completing the construction of  a beautiful parish church there.  We are also entrusted with two University Chaplaincies, one at NGAOUNDERE in North Cameroon and another at BUEA in the South-West of Cameroon. Our  ministry to the thousands of students in these two Universities calls for special  skills like patient listening, cheerful availability, gentle and fraternal counseling. MBE-KARNA and BEREM are two other Missions in NGAOUNDERE where we have initiated a project of providing clean and safe drinking water to the villagers.

Our youngest mission at KOKOBOUMA in the South-West of Cameroon is facing a major crisis as Fr. Mathew Kavithazha, the first missionary there had a severe attack of malaria and typhoid and had to return to India. The future of this mission therefore remains uncertain. As upcoming projects, two new schools are proposed for the immediate future, one at Ngaoundèrè and another at Ekoumdoum. We are extremely grateful to the numerous friends, benefactors and well wishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland who support us spiritually and financially for the growth and well being of our mission. Having already 10 major  Centres, Chad-Cameroon Mission is  making good progress and therefore  we feel the need for support from outside more than ever. We assure you  our prayers and wish you  good health and God’s blessings.

Yours in Christ,