The MCSPA at Manila, today, commemorated the 11th Anniversary of the passing of Paco whose original inspiration is fully alive in the vibrance of a life lived in common and with the charity. 

We began the celebrations with the blessing and planting of 3 trees: a pomegranate, a jack-fruit tree, and a rambutan, symbols of the universality of fruit trees mirrored in the MCSPA. 

At the Eucharistic celebration, we remembered Paco for his zeal and commitment to looking for vocations. In one of his profound letters that was read by Fr. Francis, Paco emphasizes the need for seeking vocations in our house and in the Church at large, fruits of our commitment to tirelessly calling others to follow Christ.

As a concrete symbol of our commitment in following Paco’s footsteps and example, we are planting these three different fruit trees here in the compound of the St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier Formation House of Theology so that we may participate with him in receiving the graces of God in our lives. These trees are indeed symbols of fruitfulness, growth, and commitment – 3 important elements at the very core of our vocation. We remember Paco for his most passionate initiatives when he was in Turkana, Kenya, planting fruit trees whenever and wherever feasible and possible. 

For Paco, a concrete way to apply the gospel values was to transform the desert into a garden, a flourishing, fruitful garden.

May St. Paul the Apostle, our protector and guide, through the intercession of Paco, our shepherd in faith, strengthen and sustain us so that we may remain fully alive and humbly follow the charism of the MCSPA – Paco’s charism – to the full.

By Cosmus Onyango, Apprentice

MCSPA Manila, Philippines.

The episcopal ordination of Abuna Lucas Teshome was held on Sunday, February 11, 2024, at the Eparchy of Emdeber, Ethiopia. At this elaborate celebration, steeped in the culture of the Eastern Rite, Abuna Lucas was consecrated as the new Coadjutor Bishop.

The celebration was an occasion to celebrate unity, marked as it was by the presence of the Archbishop of Addis Ababa, Berhaneyesus Cardinal Souraphiel, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antoine Camilleri, a great number of bishops from all over Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as government representatives and heads of different churches, all giving their blessing on the newly-consecrated bishop.

Abuna Lucas Teshome, who is himself from Emdeber, was warmly welcomed into his new appointment to his native land. All roads were closed and the whole town was decorated for the occasion. 

Catholics make up only 0.5% of the whole population of Ethiopia, but Emdeber has one of the largest Catholic communities in the country.

The MCSPA opened a mission at Emdeber in 2023 with two members living and working at St. Scholastica MIssion at Dakuna. It is the most recently-established mission of the MCSPA.

We look forward to working with Abuna Lucas in bringing the Kingdom of God into this corner of Ethiopia, and we pray for him in his new appointment as shepherd of the local church.

by Amanda Falgas, Apprentice of the MCSPA

Surgeons from Spain have been carrying out surgical campaigns for the last 20 years in Turkana. This programme originally materialised following the invitation of members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostles (MCSPA). The surgical campaigns are done more specifically at Lodwar County Referral Hospital and at Kakuma Mission Hospital which is run by the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar.

Last week, as is the annual routine, a team of 40 surgeons came to spend the weekend at the Nariokotome Mission, the motherhouse of the MCSPA prior to a continuing surgical camp. 

Scholastica Wamalwa, a member of the MCSPA, welcomed all as she introduced the other missionaries living and working at the above-mentioned mission. Dr. Carmen Hernandez warmly thanked everyone for the effort they had put in to ensure that people with medical and surgical cases in Turkana could be attended to. Thus far, 20 campaigns have been done in which more than 9,500 medical consultations, 4,900 surgeries and several mobile clinics have been carried out.  The impact on the local community has indeed been tremendous.

The following day after a colorful Eucharistic celebration, presided by Fr. Zacchaeus Okoth, they attended to 53 patients at Nariokotome Dispensary. The patients were from the different villages around the area. The mobilization team did an excellent job in ensuring that many people with different medical issues received information on the surgeons’ visit at the dispensary; the turnout was very good!

Memories of experiences and of a friendship and cooperation that stretched over a long period of time were shared over the weekend. 

The MCSPA would very much like to commend the efforts of the “Cirugía Turkana” programme that was initiated by Dr. Elena Mendia and others, now lead by Dr. Carmen Hernandez Perez, whose husband, Joaquín Vazquez, together with many others have placed great effort in concretely changing lives for the better in Turkana.

It is always an honour for the missionaries to host these surgeons!

By Lydia Imbala, MCSPA member, Nariokotome Mission.

On 21st January, the MCSPA celebrated its annual Family Day at the Women’s House in Nairobi. The occasion was graced by the presence of Rt. Rev. John Mbinda, Bishop of Lodwar, who presided at the Eucharistic celebration. It was fitting to give thanks to God for his many blessings bestowed.

We also celebrated two infant baptisms at the mass.

We would like to thank everyone who attended, contributed to our projects over the year and journeyed with the MCSPA throughout all this time. We hope to see you all next year as we extend a welcome invitation to you to come visit our missions in Turkana. KARIBUNI SANA!!!

Greetings from the Prince of Peace Catholic mission at Nyangatom, Ethiopia. It is our hope that everybody is happy with the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also very happy to share with everybody the great news of the opening of our newly built Assembly Hall, built on the top of Naturomoe Hill, and the dedication of the mission to the Prince of Peace and Our Lady of the Embrace. The new building has been blessed by His Lordship Markos Gebremedhin, Bishop of Jimma-Bonga Apostolic Vicariate. Also in attendance were the Apostolic Nuncio to Ethiopia, Archbishop Antoaine Camillieri, and Msgr. John Mbinda CSSP, Bishop of Lodwar Diocese, Kenya.

The name Naturomoe is a Nyangatom word that means “the enemies have escaped”, and indeed, up to recent times, this was a place of violent conflict and a corridor used by cattle rustlers from different communities such as the Turkana of Kenya, Nyangatom of Ethiopia and Toposa of South Sudan. They could meet in this place just to fight.

Thanks to God’s divine Mercy, this reality has been changing for the last two years.

Today we are so happy because the blessing of the new Hall and the dedication of the Mission to the Prince of Peace and Our Lady of the Embrace gives the peace of God a chance to be well rooted in this area where before nobody dreamt of building a permanent house.

The goal of our mission is evangelization and fostering peace and development.

It is our hope that with the new building of the local community will be able to gain cohesion and peace that comes from the heart.

Our sincere gratitudes goes to those who have helped us achieve such a milestone.

We wish everybody a very happy and blessed holidays and a prosperous new year 2024.

The church of Ave Maria in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura Yambio (CDTY), South Sudan celebrates a hundred years of faith in Rii-Yubu payam on the 10th of December 10, 2023. This celebration marked a hundred years since the Comboni Missionaries arrived in the village of Ngboko in 1923. The Comboni missionaries came from Mupoi to Ngboko because there was a widespread of sleeping sickness in the area of Rii-Yubu, as they were treating the people who were suffering from sleeping sickness, they were also evangelizing, and the people of Rii-yubu welcomed the faith and have kept it burning for a hundred years now.

Prior to the launching of the centenary celebration of Ave Maria were two major events; the first event was the Diocesan mutual relation and the second event was the rededication of Ave Maria church. The first mutual relation in the catholic diocese of Tombura Yambio (CDTY) started on Tuesday the 5th of December 2023 and ended on Wednesday the 6th of December 2023. This incident took place in the Ave Maria Mission run by the Missionaries Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA). The second event was the rededication of the church of Ave Maria church after the renovation. The rededication of the church of Ave Maria took place on the 8th of December 2023 by the Bishop of CDTY.

In attendance of these events was the bishop of CDTY, the bishop of the catholic diocese of Torit, the vicar general of Bangasu diocese (Central Africa Republic), the parish priest of Obbo parish (Central Africa Republic), the parish priest of Lobur mission (Fr. Joseph MCSPA member), the priests and religious in CDTY, and the Christians of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio.
The people of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura Yambio especially the Christians of Ave Maria Catholic Parish were very excited to celebrate a hundred years of faith, they also appreciated the members of the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostles residing in Ave Maria Mission for the great work of evangelization they are doing among them. The Christians of Ave Maria Catholic Parish will be very happy to welcome more people for the closing of the centenary celebration in December 2024 as they have already planned the events for the closing of the centenary celebrations.

Ronas Garden is the squatter area with probably the worst conditions among the depressed areas of Barangay Loyola Heights in Quezon City. This area is between Xavierville Avenue and Apostol Street. The only entrance and exit gate is a narrow pathway between the two high cement walls. The number of families in this slum area is recorded as 350 adults. The majority of these families are young mothers who gave birth at an early age. Most of them are unemployed while some secure casual jobs as cooks, caregivers, gardeners and drivers (for the men), offered by some well-to-do families in the neighbourhoods. 

It is in this context that the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostles (MCSPA), under the guidance of Fr. Francis and Fr. Alex saw the need to engage the community in some ways that could help to boost their basic needs. We devised a programme of milk distribution to supplement the diet of the malnourished children in this slum. The programme involves supplying specific powdered milk recommended by the paediatricians on a monthly basis to the children, and as well as monitoring their growth and giving moral support to the mothers. The quantity supplied is enough to last them till the next supply. The genuine smiles of both mothers and children during the distribution signifies their appreciation and that acts as a source of encouragement for us to keep this programme going.

The resilience, hard work, and determination of the young mothers striving to raise their children gives us motivation to reach out to this community and share with them the little we have, as we have seen and believe that there is more joy in giving than in receiving. Currently we have a total of twenty children in the programme aged between 4 and 7 years old who have carefully selected from the most needy families. We intend to increase the number of the beneficiaries in the near future depending on the capacity and the available resources.

Zackayo and Teddy.

We celebrated the drilling of the well and the installation of taps in the village of Mechela Wortu, Muketuri, Ethiopia.

We were invited for lunch where they slaughtered a sheep and made two huge traditional breads.
During the prayers, people continuously thanked having clean water, which has changed their lives. One man explained: “Many people speak of you, most are surprised at how you love children that are not your own, especially the ones with disabilities… They say that you love the children more than their own parents!”

68 families are benefitting from this well which has been drilled up to 72 meters, with solar panels that supply energy to the pump that pumps the water to the tank with a capacity of 10,000 liters, and from there to the taps.

Before, the girls used to fetch water from hand-dug holes in the land, this water is brown due to its uncleanness. One day a missionary went to the village with a bottle of water in her hand, people were scandalized as they believed that she was carrying alcohol so early in the morning. This is because, for them, water was brown and the only thing of such clear color was the traditional alcohol they make called ‘arake’.
Many young girls can go to school now that they have water close to them and don’t have to walk for kilometers to collect the water like before.

At the end of the celebration everyone danced and repeatedly blessed us saying: “God grant you a long life!”

Greetings from Naturomoe Prince of Peace Catholic Mission. We wish to share with you the progress of the road construction to Naita. This is an essential connector project for the communities of southwest Ethiopia, northwest Kenya, and eastern Equatoria state in South Sudan. The main aim is to bring peace and development to isolated communities based around the Naita range that have suffered from conflict and marginalization for decades. This project has been one of our main priorities since the members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul started working almost 10 years ago in Nyangatom. We intend to give access to basic social-pastoral services to the people. The work is about to reach its goal, as we can see the Naita Mountain very close by.

Constant meetings with the local people and the leaders of the Nyangatom Woreda (local government) have been very important to ensure that the work is efficient, and security is provided for the sugar factory Omo 5 bulldozer and its operators. In a recent meeting with the local community of Lotuko, a Ngikoporea was very encouraging. The people are willing to cooperate with the mission and the local government in whatever it takes, to bring the road project to fulfillment.

One can tell from the excitement of the people that they have longed for something very fundamental in their lives. They are hopeful of getting socio-pastoral services with the completion of the project. The people believe that before the road was opened, they never existed. It is now that they know they exist because they are able to see people coming to them. Speaking in one of the encounters, an elder emphasized that the opening of the road will help to bring peace among three conflicting communities namely; Turkana (of Kenya), Toposa (South Sudan), and Nyangatom (Ethiopia). He said in a very emotional manner: “We have been hearing about the coming of the road for the past 10-15 years. Now I am very sure that we will have access to socio-pastoral services such as health, water, education, and pastoral attention. Before the road was started it was like we never existed. We were forgotten and is like we never existed. I am very happy today because I know that we exist as human beings. We can see people coming closer to us”.

We hope that once the project is finished, we will be able to reach out to them easily. We hope to open outstations and bring the Gospel to them, go periodically for mobile clinics, and provide them with water as it is one of the biggest challenges that the people face.

Daniel Jepter, apprentice of the MCSPA

Yesterday, Fr. Avelino Bassols opened and blessed of a new chapel in the heart of a conflict area. This has strengthened the faith and hope of the Christians of Bambu II. Bambu II, is about 60 km away from Ave Maria Mission bordering the Central African Republic.
The Christians were happy to receive their parish priest and the Ave Maria team that had accompanied him for the blessing. It was a colorful celebration full of singing and dancing, after their long-time wish of having a peaceful place to pray and praise God without worrying if they will be rained on, was fulfilled.
The community had to endure the conflict and violence two years ago, and the presence of the church that they themselves built is bringing them courage and hope. This is what faith entails.