Dehoniana Informationes n. 6-98

Resignation of Mons. Verschuren

On 18 September the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Helsinki, presented by Mons. Paul Verschuren SCJ for health reasons.. Dehoniana Informationes expresses all its sympathy and closeness to our illustrious confrere who, for 34 years, has served the local Church in Finland, first as Coadjutor of Mons. Cobben and then as his successor in governing the diocese.

While awaiting the appointment of a new Bishop, the Council of Consultors of the diocese has chosen as Diocesan Administrator Fr. Jan Aarts scj, parish priest of Saint Mary's in Helsinki.

Fr. Giuseppe Morandini scj named a consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

On 14 June the Holy Father appointed as a Consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints our confrere Fr. Giuseppe Morandini, of the Province of southern Italy and resident in Rome III (Christ the King).

Congratulations and best wishes for his new work to Fr. Morandini. We hope that he will soon have the cause of our venerable founder in his hands.

New doctoral dissertation on Father Dehon

Our confrere, Fr.. Jerzy Bernaciak, of the Polish province, recently defended at the Catholic University of Lublin (Polond), a thesis entitled: "The genesis and specific nature of the spirituality of love and reparation in the light of the writings of Fr. Jean Leon Dehon, Founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart."

The work begins with a presentation of the major sources from which Father Dehon drew in formulating the spirituality that should characterise the Congregation founded by him. It then goes on to indicate the basic elements of Dehonian spirituality and the concrete ways for realising it, including the development of the charism in the social field.

Thus Fr. Bernaciak's work offers us a spiritual and social synthesis of the figure of Father Dehon and a global vision of the charism in its various aspects and objectives.

Fort named in honour of Fr. Brevi

The fort that serves as headquarters for the Treasury Police in Orbassana, on the outskirts of Turin, has been solemnly named in honour of the Dehonian Fr. Giovanni Brezi, of the IS province, who had been awarded the Gold Medal for military valour.

Just a few months after his death, Turin's Treasury Police wanted to imprint in stone and in their hearts the memory of one of its prestigious chaplains. The solemn blessing, imparted by the Military Ordinary for Italy, Bishop. Mani, was attended by the highest officials of that military branch, many civil, military and religious authorities, as well as by friends and relatives of Fr. Brevi.

As Mons. Mani said to the troops gathered there, may Fr. Brevi be a model for them to imitate and an intercessor in whom they can trust.

Interprovincial SCJ Formation Centre (CIF) in Brussels

At the beginning of the 1998-1999 academic year the Interprovincial SCJ Formation Centre of Brussels has six candidates, four in initial formation and 2 in ongoing formation. In the first phase there are two Frenchmen, one 31 years old and the other 27, who were admitted to the novitiate on 5 September, and the two newy professed (first profession was on 12 September), who have begun their studies for the priesthood in the Centre for Theological and Pastoral Studies in Mechelen-Brussels. In ongoing formation there are Fathers David Tachago (CM) and Albert Lingwengwe (ZA), who will be attending first year classes for a licentiate in theology at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve.

This year the community will be composed of 10 confreres: the six in formation mentioned above and the four formators. In the interim, Fr. Joseph Famerée has also been appointed academic Secretary of the Theological Faculty of the above-mentioned University.

In providing this information, Fr. Albert Vander Elst, superior of the CIF, makes reference to the particular difficulties in vocational ministry in northern Europe, especially in Belgium. The number of candidates for the first year of seminary has never been so low. In his opinion, it seems that we have "hit the bottom of the abyss". It is hoped that there will be a reflection on this topic during the coming meeting of the Provinces of Northern Europe, which will take place at Loppem from 5-8 October.

Dehonian youth missions (AU Province)

With the participation of more than 100 young people from various parts of Argentina, the parish of San Antonio di General San Martín, in Chaco, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the "Dehonian youth missions" (MGD), which are part of the AU Province's youth ministry.

A special highlight was the presence of Fr. Grifone, who has been a missionary in the Philippines for eight years.

The MGD began in the Sierras de Córdoba, to be exact, in Ciénega del Coro and in San Carlos Mina. The man behind the initiative was our present Superior General, at the time he was parat of the formation community of San Miguel. In 1978, in fact, he and a few of our student aspirants and a small group of local youth &endash; about twenty in all &endash; created this type of evangelisation among the young..

As time has passed, other confreres, diocesan priests, women religious, seminarians and laity have joined in the initiative, spreading it throughout the country, as well as in Uruguay and Brazil, thanks to our confreres of the BM who, having come to make the mission in Chaco, imported it into their own parishes.

Thus there are more groups of young people who dedicate a part of their summer holidays to some kind of mission activity, carrying to others the Word of God and the richness of the faith.

This year in General San Martín,the missions were held in 11 chapels of the city and in 60 Christian communities, many of these in areas flooded by the rains which had devastated the region. There are plans for taking the mission to Córdoba in 1999 in addition to the mission that every year goes from Montevideo towards the inland parts of Uruguay.

This missionary work of the young people among the most isolated and poor people of the outskirts of the cities and the rural areas has been going on for a long time now in Argentina. Each year several thousand young people, accompanied by women and men religious, set out to proclaim the Gospel, alphabetise the people and offer their services in promoting human dignity, reaching into the most isolated areas of the country.

Participants need a serious spiritual and group preparation, which they receive during the preceding year; they are given a catechetical preparation on the mission's contents and programme and they receive the mandate and economic support of their community. The young people must be at least 18 years of age. .

The composition of the communities of Rome I and Rome II

With a new local superior and a new local treasurer, namely Fr. Czeslaw Konior e Br. Marek Skórski, both of whom belong to the Polish Province, the new year of activity has begun in Rome II.

As of this writing, the communities of Rome I and Rome II include 47 confreres: 22 are studying at the various Roman athenaeums and three are on a sabbatical year. Their "distribution" by province of origin is as follows: GA 1, GE 1, NE 3, BM 4, BS 1, HI 5 (1 of whom is from VEN), PO 7, IM 2, IS 5, LW 1, LU 3, IN 4, AU 3, CM 3, AM 1, MZ 1, from the Diocese of Cochin (India) 2.