Report of the
Secretary General for the Missions
to the 11th General Synod of the Congregation
My report will be brief due to time
constraints and since I was asked to prepare this report only after the start
of this Synod.
In October, 2000, following the last General
Chapter, I resumed my mission promotion activities by organizing Mission Days
for various parishes and schools; and by publishing the magazine MISSIONI PASSIONISTE (Passionist Missions),
now in its 6th edition, which was largely dedicated to our missions
in the Philippines and in Indiawhere I had visited in February/March of that
year. The magazine also published an article by Fr. Robert Carbonneau (PAUL)
dealing with the missions in Hunan, China; a description of activities of our
missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and information from other
missions.
In November, 2000, at the request of Fr.
General, I went to Bulgaria .for the celebrations of the centenary of the birth
of Blessed Eugene Bossilkov. Through
this visit, I learned about this first Passionist foreign mission, the work
done by our religious who faced great difficulties at that time, and what
hardships our religious are facing today.
2001
From March until the beginning April, 2001, I
visited our missions of Central America: Honduras, El Salvador (recently
affected by an earthquake) and Costa Rica.
I visited all the places where our religious minister. I witnessed the valuable and demanding work
that they undertake among those peoples, frequently in uncomfortable and dangerous
situations. I was very impressed by
their solidarity with the people, as well as their availability to them and the
affection and esteem that they have for our religious. Further news and information about the same
can be found in the issue of MISSIONI PASSIONISTE 2001 (Passionist Missions
2001) that was .especially
devoted to this visit.
During the months. of July and. August I
ministered in a parish in Toronto (Canada.) where I have gone for several years
and which is very committed to the Passionist mission concerns. Every year we conduct a mission appeal for a
specific project. That year we
sponsored the rebuilding of houses that were damaged by the earthquake in El
Salvador.
During the month of September I had planned
to visit the missions in Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico; however, the
attack on the "Twin Towers" in New York, made my departure from
Toronto impossible.
All of the mission activity of 2001 was
mainly focused on undertaking projects in Bulgaria, Congo, Tanzania, Cuba;
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, the Dominica Republic, Puerto
Rico, Bolivia, the Philippines, India,. Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
I visited schools and parishes, organizing mission days geared toward raising consciousness about the Passionist missions, in particular among school children, inviting them to undertake "long distance adoptions" of similarly aged children. The response to this project has been positive.
2002
I dedicated the month of
February, 2002, to visiting the mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
which is featured in the magazine MISSIONI PASSIONISTE 2002 (Passionist
Missions 2002) which has just been published.
The guiding principal of my mission activities during these two years has been to promote an awareness of the Passionist Missions in the world, to help our friends, benefactors, and acquaintances to know about and care about not only the real needs of our missionaries, but especially the needs of the people that they are serving in the spirit of St. Paul of the Cross.
The magazine Missioni Passionisti has been a great help in
this matter. It is prepared by me in
collaboration with the missionaries and has published eight issues with a
circulation of 6;000 copies annually.
In my role as Secretary General of the Missions
I have also attended various meetings of the Solidarity Commission, the last of
which took place last March in New York.
Below I am listing the funds that are managed
by the Secretariat for the Missions for those works and projects undertaken
within the two-year period 2001-2002 (that of 2000 formed part of the report to
the General Chapter of that year.
(N.B.: In 2002 the change from Lira
currency to the Euro took place. To
avoid confusion, I translated Lire funds into Euro for 2001.)
Bulgaria
General support....................... 1,250.00 USD;
1,704.00
Ukraine
General support....................... 3,500.00
USD
Angola
General support....................... 3,000.00
USD
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Long-distance adoption............ 5,843.00
General support....................... 27,108.00
USD
Tanzania and Kenya
Long-distance adoption............ 1,105.00
Mass stipends.......................
6,310.00
USD
Bio-gas project in Arusha..........3,500.00
General support.................... .. 940.00
CENTRAL AMERICA and CARIBBEAN
Cuba
Elder Project ....................... 1,000.00 USD; 5.049,00
Mass stipends....................... 3,098.00
USD
El Salvador
Rebuilding
.......................21,352.00
USD
General support.................... 330.00
USD
Guatemala
General support..................... 1,500.00
USD
Mass stipends ....................... 4,615.00
USD
Honduras
Mass stipends ....................... 12,530.00
USD
General support..................... 10,285.00
USD
Costa Rica
General support..................... 3,000.00
USD
Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Mass stipends....................... 1,000.00
USD
Mexico
Mass stipends....................... 6,054.00
USD
Peru
Mass stipends....................... 12,845.00
USD
General support.................... 14,000.00
USD
Argentina
General support (Formosa)... 3,500:00 USD
Bolivia
Mass stipends....................... 7,985.00
USD
Brazil
General support.................... 2,000.00
USD
Funding for Bishops.............. 2,000.00
USD
India
General support..................... 35,739.00
USD
Long-distance adoption.......... 4,667.00
USD
Indonesia
General support...................... 7,500.00
USD
Caritas/Training School........... 4,544.82
Long-distance adoption
(Passionist Students)............... 8,620.00
Long-distance adoption
(children)
....................... 10,303.00
Papua New Guinea
Mass stipends....................... 6,153.00
USD
General support.................... 4,519.00
USD
Support to individual missionaries
Mass stipends....................... 6,315.00
; 20,867.00 USD
General support.................... 145,083.00
USD; 12,337.00
Long-distance adoption......... 4,667.00
USD; 25,871.00
GRAND TOTAL.................. 230,847.00
USD; 44,523.00
LAUS DEO!
Fr. Antonio, Curto;
C.P.
Sec. Gen. of the Missions
Gwangju, South Korea
28 September 2002