Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
MI
Maumere (Agenzia Fides) – “The seed sown … is growing and bearing fruit – reports to Fides Father Luigi Galvani, missionary of the Order of the Ministers of the Sick (MI), Camillians, on the island of Flores. He refers to the various priestly ordinations and religious professions that have taken place during this period. “There are many significant events that the Indonesian Camillian Mission is experiencing – continues Father Luigi. On 14 July, five deacons and one Camillian priest were ordained in the Camillian seminary of Maumere. The day before, 13 July, ten seminarians began their novitiate and ten novices pronounced their first vows. On the same day, nineteen young professed renewed their vows and five made perpetual vows.”
After fifteen years of presence, the Camillian Missionaries in Indonesia currently count on 16 priests (14 Indonesians, 1 Italian, 1 Pakistani), 6 deacons, 29 temporary professed (27 Indonesians and 2 Pakistanis), 10 novices (8 Indonesians, 1 Pakistani, 1 Timorese), 35 postulant-philosophers (34 Indonesians, 1 Timorese) and 18 aspirants (16 Indonesian, 1 Pakistani, 1 Timorese).
The missionaries, in addition to their commitment to the formation of young people, continue to promote the charism of their founder St. Camillus de Lellis, who died in Rome on July 14, 1614, in the service to the sick with various pastoral initiatives such as the ministry of pastoral chaplaincy in the public hospital of the city of Maumere, the project to free dozens of mentally ill people kept tied with chains (see Fides, 24/1/2024) and the monthly food support program for hundreds of needy families.
Currently the presence of the MI extends to various places on the islands of Flores and Timor. In Flores they are present at the training center for aspirants in Ruteng, at the St. Camillus Major Seminary in Nita for students of philosophy and theology, and at the St. Camillus Social Center in Maumere. On the island of Timor, they are present in the city of Kupang with the Novitiate House in Oletua and the new St. Camillus Social Center in Lasiana.
“Certainly, in just 15 years of Camillian presence in Indonesia, - concludes Father Galvani - our missionary commitment has been blessed by divine grace with numerous youth vocations, and now we can look to the future with hope and dream of a greater expansion of their presence, thus realizing the dream of St. Camillus, who said: 'One day, the hands of my followers will reach the whole world'”. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 30/7/2024)
