While absorbing the rosary during this Marian month, I often considered asking you for your thoughts, because normally our monthly subjects do not share the emotional moments of our confreres from around the world. The reason is because I’m a poor layman who tries to make day-to-day a sense in my late spring. Therefore, we always try to give short descriptions of our events that include our highlights, our efforts and sometimes our defeats.
That said, I would like to be more positive this time about pointing out our targets and gifts of Holy Providence. This story is articulated with many ‘D’s’. So lets begin with:
*DC – Democratic Christian Party. Our Iron Lady once titled Mrs.Germany, Angela Merkel, has won, thanks to our votes as real German citizens. She is now providing continuity,welfare and stability to our beloved adoptive country.
* Don Santi has been a ‘good shepherd’ of the Italian community since 1992. Now because of his pension age, he will hand over MCI Pforzheim to our confreres Baniak and Antonyraj on 1-15-14. We owe him gratitude and respect for all of his tireless activities during his long apostolate. And I am the first to know what he has done during my cooperation with him as a pastoral assistant. Thank God some misunderstandings will be clarified during the next Salesian-Guanellian summit on October 10, 2013. During those talks Fr. Luigi will define handing over the modalities of the offices,archives and former personnel. This is to secure a real continuity of services to our friends.
* Don Robert Roth, secretary of Msgr. Klug, has to be my best ‘key councilor’ in all former steps;
before, and during the first approaches of our arrival into Germany. We also thank him for all of his mediations and continous assistance to our student confreres while they attend the German courses in the Diocesan Languages high school.
* Don Baniak, SdC, will return from Poland soon and on October 1st he will take over his vicariate at Boxberg-Ahorn, not far from the ancient Franconian town of Würzburg. Inge and I will go there
and introduce him to his new Church of St. Aquilinus at Boxberg. Fr Baniak will assist a large vicariate with eight different churches.
* Don Edgar Wunsch, parish priest of this pastoral unity, is waiting for our confrere, Wieslaw, along with his polish assistant Fr. Dulik. Both are leading the pastoral unity which counts over 8,000 Catholic believers.We thank Fr. Edgar for his spontaneous sympathy for our congregation. On 12-10-13 Fr. Luigi and Fr. Rocky Antonyraj will assist with his official introduction to the Catholic community of St. Aquilinus. Inge and I will of course, be ‘godparents’ of Fr Wieslaw. Fr. Edgar was chaplain at St.Francis Church of Pforzheim in the 70’s.
* Dr. Johannes Mette, a former classmate of Fr. Edgar, (a pure case of Providence), was the long time curial priest at Freiburg, and for almost five years was the parish priest of the pastoral unity of Pforzheim West. Most importantly, he is a neighbor to the MCI Pforzheim St. Antonius Church, which is only 100 m from our future Mission offices.
* ‘Don Rocky,'( a nickname Inge and I have given this sympathic young Guanellian from Chennai), has received permisison from our mentor, Bishop Klug, to say the Holy Mass every Sunday in the Abbey of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Freiburg operated by our Dehonian friends. In fact, the national delegate of all Italian Missions in Germany and Scandinavian countries is Fr.Tobia Basanelli, (another strange combination). Fr. Bassanelli was the one who has accompanied Fr. Luigi, Fr. Baniak and I to Vicar Bishop Klug on October 12th when the contract among the Guanellians and the Archdiocese of Frieburg was concluded.
*David Father, is an Indian diocesan parish priest of our neighbouring towns of Friolzheim-Heimsheim, and an ex-patriot from Sivagangai. He knows many of our confreres like Fr. Peter Sebastian, appreciates our engagement in India, and now hopes to develop a good friendship with our Benjamin, Fr. Rocky.
* Donations: The cooperation with Charitas Pforzheim during the present fund raising campaign has strengthened my ties with this solidarity entity. I’ll mediate close cooperation with Mr. Lemke managing director of Charitas Pforzheim, which has five elderly homes, one disabled center, and many kindergartens. Their significant Mottos are:
– Open your eyes and act, because no one should believe alone. (It refers to the suffering children of divorced parents).
– Leave traces and a scent of your earthly appearence through your lived solidarity.
– Be a precious leit motif for all German Guanellians.
We should not have to wait for people to come and knock at our Mission door, but we must move and visit the jails, hospitals, homes for the elderly and abandoned , and suffering individuals!
There is a lot to do and for this reason we ask for your prayers and spiritual assistance. The work we have to do with our congregation in Germany will bring many surprises, and Holy Providence will show us the right path. Therefore we close with a simple prayer: May the Lord, through the intercession of our Holy Mother Mary, Queen of the Rosary, and our saints Louis, Clare, and Aurelio: bring patience and great hope to his plans. We ask the Lord to put his paternal hands on our shoulders so that we may be able to put our own hands on the shoulders of our sick, poor, abandoned brothers!
Potentia Domini mirabilia facit!
Servants of Charity 