08
Wed, May

Togo has a unique relationship with the SVD when it comes to its own history with the Catholic Church. Although Protestant missionaries were already present in the country, with the exception of one Catholic missionary of the SMA who tried unsuccessfully to establish a Christian community in the middle southern part of this country, the first Catholic missionaries to evangelise the country were the Divine Word Missionaries. Thus, the 130th anniversary of the first arrival of the Divine Word missionaries in Togo also coincides with the age of the Togolese church, since evangelisation in this land begins with the arrival of the Divine Word missionaries.

Blurbs about Afua Kuma, the book, and Kirby.  The Surprising African Jesus: the lost prayers and praises of Afua Kuma, translated & edited by Jon P Kirby, transcribed by Joseph Kwakye (Wipf & Stock Publishers, www.wipfandstock.com $22 paperback, $35 hardback) (Amazon, Ingram, Kindle).

General situation

Early in the morning of Thursday, February 24, Russian troops invaded independent Ukraine and the war began. The military action immediately caused a huge wave of refugees to move to neighboring countries. As of March 3, 2022, more than one million people have left Ukraine so far, according to estimates. Poland is hosting the largest number of refugees. Over the past week, more than half a million people have already crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border. Most of them are Ukrainians, but there is no shortage of refugees from Africa and Asia, who mainly started their studies there.

On the 11th and 12th February 2022, before starting the new educational year, the leadership team of the Divine Word Missionaries in Argentina held a meeting with members of the schools "Cristo Rey" in Córdoba, "Guadalupe" in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, "Instituto Verbo Divino" in Pilar, "Instituto José M. Estrada" in Rafael Calzada, "Del Salvador" in Jujuy and representatives of Colegio San José in Esperanza.

On December 16, Thursday evening, Super Typhoon Rai, with winds of about 195km per hour, hit the southeastern islands, bringing havoc and destruction. Rescue teams have described scenes of "complete carnage." Fr. Heinz Kulüke commenting on the typhoon, says, "In my 35 years in the Philippines, I have never experienced a typhoon of this magnitude and such devastation in Cebu. The following is Fr. Kulüke's assessment of the situation two days after the typhoon's landfall.

On July 16, 2021: Brother Roland Scheid, SVD, Rector of St. Michael Mission House, informs Father Superior General Paulus Budi Kleden about the situation of the rising Maas River and the situation of the three communities: The Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS), The Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAp) and the Divine Word Missionaries SVD). According to the rector, the water level of the Maas River is rising and is expected to reach the highest level this midnight. However, it has not caused damage, human and material losses so far.

Our SVD Lay Partners, called as FRIENDS OF SVD, here in Kenya took initiatives to help the vulnerable and needy people in their neighbourhood during the lockdown caused by COVID-19. They contributed money from their little savings to buy different food items like maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, sanitizers, soap and masks to donate to the poor and needy families to show solidarity with them.

Dear Confreres: More than 100 countries are reported to have people infected with COVID-19, and many have died due to this virus. China is very much affected due to this virus. However, Italy draws much attention with a more than 460 deaths, and more than 9,100 people infected with this virus according to the information on 10th March. Every day, there is a notable increase of deaths and infected people.

Dear Confreres and friends, Greetings in the Divine Word! Surely, most of you, if not all, have read about, heard or seen in the news, the events surrounding the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. You may also be aware that the Arnoldian Family (SSpSAP, SSpS and SVD) have a few communities in close proximity to this volcano. Our own Divine Word Seminary (DWS) in Tagaytay and our Postulancy are among these communities. Naturally, this was already a source of concern for all of us.

The PANAM Zone SVD Formators meeting was held from 18 to 24 July 2019. 26 formators and vocation promoters, coming from 10 different countries, representing all the formation stages, met in the Divine Word Mission Centre in Quito, Ecuador. This meeting takes place every three years and this year’s theme was “A Systemic and Relational Vision of a Missionary Formation. Exposition of a Human and Spiritual Formation, in the View of family ties and relations”. Fr. Higinio Yescas Martinez, SVD from Mexico Province, presented this theme.

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