Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, founded in 1985 by Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, today has a hundred members who are priests, as well as some thirty seminarians, currently present in 20 countries. Agenzia Fides was able to ask Monsignor Camisasca, the Superior General of the Fraternity of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, a few questions.
Monsignor Camisasca, you are regularly in contact with the priests in your Fraternity who live in other parts of the world. What is the missionary status that you perceive through their testimonies?
Our mission is carried out in every kind of environment: parishes, schools, universities, the working world, in prisons and hospitals - in short, on all human frontiers. For example, I received a letter from Father Aldo, who is in Asuncion (Paraguay) serving terminally ill patients, saying: “I am discovering that helping someone to die is almost as important as helping them to live. If you could see how the doctors, nurses, and volunteers all compete to see who can be the most charitable! And then think that we haven’t done anything ourselves! Divine Providence has done and continues to take care of it all.”
The personal relationship with those entrusted to us forms the central focus of our new evangelization effort. Father Ubaldo Orlandelli, chaplain of a prison in Novosibirsk (Siberia), writes about a prisoner, saying that “after several conversations with me, he put shelves up in his cell with books, pamphlets, prayer cards, and a Bible. Above, he wrote “We are one.” With their prayers, with the conversations I have with them…they all show me the unity that exists between faith and life.”
In our encounter with the people, we offer them the unity that we live among ourselves, from South America to Germany, from Taiwan to Kenya. Fr. Alfonso Poppi wrote me from Nairobi: “Kahawa Sukari is the point in which the entire Fraternity begins to take life, through our miserable lives. They are poor, but they always shine with zeal for man’s destiny.”
What are the main highlights in the Fraternity’s history and what are the main columns that support this missionary experience?
Our Fraternity began in 1985 in Rome, with a group of priests. We were six then. Encouraged by Don Giussani and as we were all members of the Communion and Liberation Movement, we decided to ask Cardinal Poletti, then acting Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, if he would admit us into his diocese, in order to form a missionary association. The objective was and is to bring Christ’s message to the world, in the same manner with which we have found it, mainly through the establishment of houses of three or more priests. The communion we live, the unity of life, constitute our first and fundamental testimony of Christ. Since then, little by little, those six were joined by other priests who began coming out of the seminary, that had itself begun in 1985. Today the priests number one hundred and there are over 30 seminarians.
How have the European missionaries been received in other continents and what is the status of the missionary effort in the Western world?
We have found a positive reception, in general. In areas with many difficulties, we have been surprised by the affectionate response of the people, the warm welcome of our brothers, and above all, the love that Christ has for each one of us. The most serious difficulties seem to be in the West. There is a need to revitalize the Church’s roots that are often enclosed in obsessive bureaucracy or in the relativism of some of its guides. I am thinking of Germany and the United States, to whom I dedicated my most recent book (“Il nuovo Occidente” [Edizioni San Paolo]).
Last December, Benedict XVI inaugurated the parish church of the Madonna del Rosario ai Martiri Portuensi, in Rome, which has been entrusted to the care of the Fraternity of Saint Charles. What does being missionaries in Rome, the heart of Christianity, imply?
In the Diocese of Rome, we have been entrusted with the care of two parishes. It is not difficult to be a missionary in Rome. Everywhere we go, we find adults who have been raised in a place of ancient Christian tradition. But then there are also the young people and children, as well. Our encounters are always well attended. The youth center that is directed by Fr. Sergio Ghioen Colle Oppio is, according to Cardinal Ruini, one of the most significant contributions to the mission among the youth, in the entire city.
Not long ago, on March 31, the first religious sister of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo made her temporal vows. What is your impression of this “new beginning?”
The Missionaries of Saint Charles [female branch] have been a completely unexpected flower. They have begun and are now taking their first steps, initiated by a young Italian woman named Rachele Paiusco. Like ourselves, they wish to live in small houses in the missions. Observing them, I have begun to rediscover many things that I already knew, but that I am now recalling once again and they are a source of spiritual nourishment for me now: Mary as the model for all the faithful, the sensibility and the strength of the woman in the Church and in society…But, above all, I am learning to take delight in this new fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is even more beautiful because it wasn’t a result of my own invention.
Another “flower” of these times, has been the appointment of Father Paolo Pezzi as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. What are the challenges that the Church (and the Fraternity of Saint Charles) are having to face in such a unique ecclesiastical and social situation, as is found in Russia?
The appointment of Fr. Paolo as Archbishop has been a completely unexpected gift from God, but it is also an added responsibility. His episcopal ministry is also witnessing the fruits of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, his predecessor in Moscow. Fr. Paolo has found it to be a diocese that is already learning to stand up on its own two feet, although it is still quite young. All the parishes have a pastor, there is a beautiful Cathedral, a wonderful Curia. Now what is needed is to continue encouraging the youth and adults who recognize the Catholic Church as a significant part of their lives. Not as a form of competition with the Orthodox Church, but rather as a communion of service to the one and only God.
Benedict XVI’s recent trip to the United States shows how the Holy Father incarnates, first and foremost, the experience of the mission. What is the relationship of the Fraternity of Saint Charles with the Successor of Peter?
We received recognition as an Institute of Pontifical Right in 1999 by John Paul II. His Pontificate has permeated our existence, the amplitude of his missionary heart has widened our own. I met Benedict XVI many years ago and have found his Magisterium to be the greatest sign of the Mercy of God towards those who are lost and confused.
The Missionary Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo - A Brief History
1985: The Fraternity is founded by Fr. Massimo Camisasca and a small group of priests
September 7, 1985: Fr. Massimo Camisasca is elected Superior General of the Fraternity. It is made up of 7 priests and 10 seminarians.
1989: The Fraternity is recognized as a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right by John Paul II. The first seminarian formed within the Fraternity becomes a priest.
1999: The Fraternity of St. Charles receives Pontifical recognition.
2003: The Latin-American section of the seminary opens in Mexico City
2008: There are now 100 priests, in 20 countries (on 4 continents), in the Fraternity of Saint Charles. There are also nearly 30 seminarians, distributed between the seminary of Rome and in the section in Mexico City. (PC) (Agenzia Fides 3/5/2008; righe 118, parole 1335)
