November 30, 2006 - Somasco

2007 Consulta of the Congregation
On November 18, Fr. General has officially
summoned the ordinary Consulta of the Congregation,
that will be held from February 18 to
25, 2007, at the Major Seminary of Tagaytay
City in the Philippines. The choice of the see
would like to show closeness and appreciation
to the confreres of the Southeast Asia Vice-
Province, which has recently celebrated the
25th anniversary of the Somascan presence in
this wonderful Asian land. Fr. General has also
invited the Major Superiors to send to the Curia
General what has been requested in the “Instrument
of Evaluation for the Implementation of
the Second Commitment of the 2006 Consulta”,
so that a concrete proposal of a Congregational
strategic plan may be elaborated.
Visit to the Spain Province
The Vicar General, Fr. Franco Moscone, visited
all the communities of the Spain Province
from November 5 to 21. It has been an opportunity
to express the relationship of subsidiarity
between the general and local government,
especially in trying to together build a plan of
re-organizing and downsizing, as proposed by
the 2006 Consulta. It has been also the first
opportunity to visit the Garaballa community
(erected as dependent on Fr. General), verify
the journey already done, and plan the future
one. At last, he reviewed the Provincial program
of Youth and Vocation Ministry, being the
later a priority according to the 2005 Provincial
Chapter. The next opportunity of cooperation
Our Deceased Relatives -
On October 31, Mr. Joseph
Valancherry, 89, father of Fr.
Sebastian, Superior of the
community Suryodaia Boys
Center in Bangalore (India),
passed away. On November 7,
Mrs. Antonia Nicolas Tiongson,
87, mother of Marcelino
“Boyet” N. Tiongson, of the
© ufficio stampa crs
November 30, 2006
BRIEF NEWS
community of Lubao (Philippines),
passed away.
Ordinations - On November
26, Arnaldo Félix Pereira, of
the Brazil Vice-Province, has
been ordained priest in Santa
Ana Parish in Campinas.
On December 2, in the Ntra.
Sra de Guadalupe Parish in Bo-
Somascan Fathers
via di Casal Morena, 8 * 00040 MORENA-ROMA
Tel. 06/72.33.580 Fax 06/72.33.575 * segreteriag@somaschi.org
will be during the Provincial assembly programmed
for the Christmas holiday in Madrid.
Meeting of the Superior Generals
From November 22 to 24, the six-month Meeting
of the Union of the Superior General took
place in Rome. For the first time, together with
a hundred of male Superiors were also present
about seventy of the female Superior Generals
residing in Rome. In the first day, in a fraternal
exchange of evaluations and experiences,
the participants have looked for ways of collaborating,
in order to make their witness and
consecration more meaningful in both the
Church and society.
In the second day, the Superior Generals have
met the leaders of the Vatican Congregation for
Consecrated Life and for the Institutes of Apostolic
Life (Mons. Gardin, Secretary, and the two
Under-Secretaries, Sr. Enrica Rosanna and Fr.
Vincenzo Bertolone). Were laid down some
premises to make less formal and more meaningful
the already existing cooperation; some informal
communications from the members of
the Vatican Congregation were listened to; followed
a series of clarifications and questions on
behalf of the Superior Generals present.
The meeting continued in the afternoon with a
report from Bro. Sean Sammon on the pastoral
approach to the problem of sexual abuse
by priests and religious. At the end, the assembly
has elected Fr. Pascual Chavez Villanueva,
Superior General of the Salesians, as
the new President of the USG.
gotá, Deacon Juan Carlos
Gómez Quitián will be ordained
priest. In the same occasion,
John Jesús Jiménez
Erazo, will be ordained deacon.
Both religious belong to
the Andes Province.
Temporary Profession - On
the occasion of the feast of the

Immaculate Conception, Friday
December 8, in the Curia in
Rome, the novices Adam
Rukus, belonging to the Ligure-Piemontese
Province, and
Diego Negreiros Batista of
the Brazil Vice-Province, will
profess their temporary vows.
Seminary in Bangalore - On
December 9, in Bangalore, in
the community of Shantigiri,
there will be held a seminary on
the rights of minors, led by
two experts and organized by
Fr. John Peter Sebastian.
Such an event, a first for the India
region where external qualified
people will be present, is
perceived as “a small step ahead
in order to give more effectiveness
and wider horizon to the
service to the minors, according
to the spirit of St. Jerome”.
Youth and Vocation Ministry
- The Roman Province,
with a poster titled “In Christ
Yes!” has notified the calendar
of the events planned by the
equipe of the Youth and Vocation
Ministry. On December 10,
in Bitonto (Bari-Italy), there will
be the first youth meeting with
the theme “God’s Yes, Man’s
Yes: Grace’s Dialogue”. For the
2007, its is planned the “Youth
Pascal Triduum” in Bitonto, the
Somasca’s Vigil, and the Youth
Camp in Albano L. (Italy).
Anniversaries - December
9: 50 th anniversary of religious
life for Bro. Ido de Marchi of
the community Collegio Gallio
in Como (Italy); 25 th anniversary
of religious life for Fr. Antonio
Manuel Cordero Acosta,
Superior of the community
in Tegucigalpa (Honduras).
December 19: 25th anniversary
of Priesthood for Fr. Héc-
tor David Ramírez Pérez, of
the Santa Rosa Parish in México
City.
December 22: 50th anniversary
of priesthood for Fr. Ernesto
Germanetto, Superior
of the community in Villa S.
Giovanni (Italy).
Bicentennial of Fr. Francesco
Soave - On November
25, in Lugano (Switzerland) it
was held a convention on
“Francesco Soave (1743-
1806), Somascan from Lugano,
in the bicentennial of his death:
pedagogist, philosopher, writer”.
The goal was to explore the
main aspects of Soave’s multifaceted
activity, witnessed by
his philosophical writings, his
role in pedagogy, and his reformation
of the school system. At
the convention, organized by
the Association “Biblioteca Salita
dei Frati” and by the scientific
committee of the publishing
series “Testi per la storia della
cultura Svizzera Italiana”, was
present Fr. Giovanni Bonacina
with the dissertation “Soave
e la Congregazione Somasca”.
Newsletters - The Ligure-
Piemontese Newsletter #27
has been published. There is
the letter of Fr. Provincial to the
confreres, with the title “The
joy and pain of journeying”, followed
by a writing of Mons. Gian
Carlo Maria Brigantini, Bishop of
Locri-Gerace, with the title
“Witnesses of hope: not after
or without, but inside the trial”
and, at last, the message to the
local Churches in Italy from the
4th National Ecclesial Convention:
“Witnesses of the Risen
Jesus, Hope in the World”.
It is also around the last
Spain Newsletter, accompanied
by pictures. Among the
- 2 -
events and activities reported,
there is the announcement of
the next assembly of the religious
planned for December
27-28 in Madrid, with two main
themes: “Steps for building
community life and dynamics of
participating” and “Plan for reorganizing
institutions”.
Christmas Cards - We would
like to remind that Fr. Francisco
Fernández has sent to all the
european communities the proposal
of initiative for the Christmas
cards. The request can be
made directly to Fr. Francisco
via e-mail: pfrancisco@somascos.org
e info@somaschi.org.
The revenue will be given to
the two institutions of Sorsogon
(Philippines) damaged by
the typhoon Milenyo.
Somascan World Day - In
order to promote in the Congregation
a new sensitivity and
culture for the defense of childhood
that, in various parts of
the world and in many different
ways, is maltreated and denied,
we remind of the proposal
launched by the 1999 General
Chapter to make December
28, Feast of the Innocents, the
“Somascan World Day” as a
stimulus and memory for personal
and collective consciences
of the undeniable defense
of the little ones and of
the duty to fight against today’s
“Herodes”.
Historical Archives - We remind
that Fr. Maurizio Brioli,
time ago, has notified to the
communities that the Historical
Archives of the Maddalena in
Genoa has its new e-mail:
aspsg@somaschi.org, different
from the private one of the
General Archivist.