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 9th 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 19th 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 11th July to 6th 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 13th 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 14th 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 20th 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 20th 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:
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:
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:
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 15th 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:
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,
Greetings from India
My dear Confreres, Friends and Benefactors,
Greetings from Vikasjyothi, Mysore, the Mission Development Office (MDO) of the Fransalians of the South West India Province. It is with great joy and gratitude that I greet each one of you. For the past two years we have been experiencing constant disruptions of normal life due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Millions of people all over the world continue to suffer the tragic consequences of a prolonged pandemic. The acute scarcity of job opportunities for the youth and the continued interruptions and turmoil experienced in the educational sector have caused much havoc in the day-to-day life of millions of families. The worst hit are the poorest of the poor. Thanks be to God that the pandemic seems to be making its gradual retreat at least for sometime now and let us hope that humanity will be spared from another onslaught of the deadly corona virus. The world is facing yet another crisis with the war in Ukraine, solely a man-made catastrophe. The world has not learned from its past mistakes. History is repeating itself. The lust for power and the greed for wealth are pushing many nations to armed conflicts in several parts of the world. The ravages of war continues to afflict the people in so many conflict zones across the world. We can only wish and pray that the sufferings of so many people come to an end soon.
Action Plan
The Fransalians all over the world have been celebrating the year 2021 - 2022 as an Year of Missions. Responding to the Call of the Congregation, Vikasjyothi, the Mission Develpopment Office in Mysore had drawn up an Action Plan for the Year of Missions. It is indeed very gratifying that we have been able to implement most of the programs envisaged by the Action Plan.
Action Plan 1: Sponsor a Child in Need & Help for Higher Education
During this year of the Missions, Vikasjyothi has been able to intensify and expand the ongoing program “ Sponsor a Child in Need”. Under this program Vikasjyothi has reached out to children from the economically backward sections in our missions chiefly in the Indian State of Karnataka and in Chad-Cameroon. A total number of 435 poor children were given scholarships for primary education. Scholarships were also given to 131 students in higher education mostly from the Fransalian Missions. Hence a total number of 556 children were helped during the financial year of 2021-2022.
Action Plan 2: Covid Care Livelihood Support
Though the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic is now on a steady decline, there are many poor families faced with loss of jobs and are unable to pay their house rents and to send their children to school. Vikasjyothi continues to respond to the appeals that come from our missions and has set apart some funds to help the helpless. In the past one year Vikasjyothi has reached out to 220 families from the economically weaker sections of society. Vikasjyothi has also been able to respond positively to most of the appeals that came through our communities, institutions and missions reaching out to some of the very poor families in the respective neighbourhoods.
Action Plan 3. Help the Homeless
Vikasjyothi has been reaching out to many families in distress. There are so many families who are not able to pay their house rents due to the fiinancial crisis and serious illnesses following the pandemic. There are others who are struggling to complete their unfinished construction of houses. Vikasjyothi has been able to help a few such families with a partial contribution.
Action Plan 4. Medical Aid to the Poor
Most people belonging to the poor sections of our society do not have any health insurance cover. Vikasjyothi has been able to help a few such families with emergency financial assistance. We are committed to continue this program in the years to come.
Help For Self-Help : An upcoming programm
Vikasjyothi has plans to launch a new program under the banner of “Help for Self-Help”. With this new program we hope to reach out to those unskilled housewives or the unemployed men who do not have the required qualifications to seek a job. Vikasjyothi would like to support a few men and women in our missions to be self-employed. The program is expected to be launched shortly with the limited funds we have.
CONCLUSION
Vikasjyothi as the Mission Development Office of the South West India Province has just completed 4 years of it s existence. Vikasjyothi is essentially a Charity Wing of the Province. During the past 4 years Vikasjyothi has been able to reach out to a large number of children and many families in distress. Much more can be done if many more friends and benefactors are enlisted in mobilizing funds and strengthening the work of Vikasjyothi. A proposal has gone to the Provincial Administration for enlarging and expanding the administrative structure of Vikasjyothi. It is hoped that the proposal may be implemented without further delay. I thank all the confreres, friends and benefactors who continue to support Vikasjyothi. God bless.
Yours cordially
Fr. Thomas Cherukat, MSFS
Greetings from Chad-Cameroon
My dear Friends of the Fransalians,
Greetings of peace and joy to you all from Chad-Cameroon Mission of the Fransalians. We are grateful to each one of you for your great support and encouragement. We the Fransalians have completed 23 years of their existence in Chad-Cameroon. Today we are present in five dioceses namely Yaoundé, Obala, Buea and Ngaoundere in Cameroon and Doba in Chad. This year we ae blessed with two priestly ordinations and six diaconate ordinations. Of the eight who are going to be ordained two are from Cameroon, three from Chad and three from India. It is a clear sign that MSFS congregation is slowly taking deep roots in these parts of Africa. Thanks be to God.
Our apostolate in Chad-Cameroon is mainly focussed on Evangelization, Missionary Formation and Developmental Activities. They include constant accompaniment of the faithful, regular catechesis, celebration of the sacraments, animation of the catholic communities. management of schools children’s homes, youth and vocation ministry, formation of the future priests, developmental activities like providing villagge wells for clean and safe drinking water, construction of multipurpose halls and promotion of justice and peace etc. Fransalian missionaries are running four schools in Chad and one in Cameroon. We have two boys’ homes in Chad attached to our schools.
Bero Mission is one of the first Fransalian Missions in Chad. The Mission comprises a vast region with many remote villages. The SFS School and Boys’ Home at Bero are catering to a large number of poor children from the villages. The Boys’ Home has 40 children. Most of the children are coming from very poor family background. Many of them are orphans or semi orphans. It is a great blessing that these poor children are receiving a good education growing up with a sense of belonging and imbibing the basic human values.
The SFS School and Boys’ Home at Gaki in Doba is now a major mission centre of the Fransalians in Chad. Thousands of children in the region are deprived of a good education. Hence the Fransalians started a primary and secondary school at Gaki in Doba in the year 2018. A Boys’ Home was started attached to the school. At present there are 70 boys attending the school from this Home. We need to provide more facilities for the children and we depend very much on the generosity of our friends and benefactors. The parish of Doba Town with two schools are also managed by the Fransalians since many years.
In Cameroon we have 9 Fransalian Centres under the 4 dioceses of Yaounde, Obala, Ngaoundere and Buea. Five of these Centres have been developed as Parishes namely, Ekoumdoum and Ebang in the Archdiocese of Yaounde, Bini-Dang and Berem in the diocese of Ngaoundere and Molyko in the diocese of Buea. The S.F.S. School at Gada Mabanga in Ngaoundere has made a remarkable growth in recent times. The SFS Minor Seminary is also located on the same campus. La Feuillette, the MSFS theology study house at Ngoya has a steady number of local seminarians. A retreat centre on the same campus is functioning as a spirituality centre for priests, religious and lay people for the entire region.
A natural disaster at Ngoya: An appeal for help
In the village of Ngoya , in the neighbourhood of our house La Feuillette, heavy rainfall and stormy weather conditions in recent weeks have destroyed 50per cent of the maize, beans and banana plantations. People in the region are in great distress as they have already been struggling under the burden of economic crisis due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The entire Ngoya village and the adjacent regions have suffered the devastating effects of the floods. Houses and farms are destroyed. Roads are washed away reducing mobility and accessibility and thereby causing displacement of people without any means of sustenance. We are trying to help many of those affected in our immediate neighbourhood with the limited resources we have. I would like to appeal to our friends and benefactors for financial support to help the most needy people around us. We shall ever be grateful to you for your kindness and generosity towards our unfortunate brothers and sisters in great distress. God bless.
Thanking you.
Yours cordially,
Fr. Manoj Arackal