In October, the month of the foreign mission Father Gregory Gay, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission addresses Confreres with annual update on situation and needs of foreign missions staffed by Vincentian missionaries. This letter is known as Mission Appeal. This year, along with the news about mission Superior General briefly reflects on history of Vincentian Province of Columbia in the centenary since it was erected in 1913: “They who were once missionary territory have now become missionaries to the world!”
We learn form Father Greg’s Letter, that “143 years ago when two confreres, true to our tradition as Vincentian missioners, left France to go to a faraway unfamiliar place. On November 9, 1870, Fathers Gustave Foing and Augustine Rieux landed at the Port of Bonaventura in Colombia, South America and began the work of formation of the clergy and parish missions. These brave confreres were the first missioners in what was then called the Central American Province, stretching from Guatemala to Lima, Peru. On August 11, 1913, Fr Antonio Fiat, Superior General, at a time of expansion, erected the Province of Colombia, separating it from the Central American Province. At the time of its creation, seven of the ten houses in the Central America Province were in Colombia… Today, this Province has 25 houses, with 137 confreres and 50 seminarians.”
If you are interested in where Vincentians are involved in ad gentes missions and what are their needs in distant territories read the full text on line (at Scribd.com) or download as PDF. Both in English and Polish.
“…we rejoice, and ask the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers to the harvest”, Superior General ends his annual Appeal
Mission Appeal – October 2013 [ENGLISH] by CMGlobal.org (PL)
Apel Misyjny – październik 2013 [POLSKI] by CMGlobal.org (PL)
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