SAFCAM Communique #59 - English

SAFCAM Communique #59            03/07/2021 

Dear Subscribers

Happy feast of St Thomas.

Don Camiel has finally managed to get through to visit the last communities of ATE in Equatorial Guinea and expects to complete the extraordinary visitation of that province one schedule in 10 days’ time.

I forward another quick communique between the two retreats I am preaching to the confreres in AET.

The first went well, despite frequent power outages and an age gap ranging from early twenties till early eighties. The environment was lovely and the food excellent. This evening I will begin the last week of three that I am spending in Ethiopia and hopefully it will go as smoothly and fruitfully as the first two. I look forward to seeing more of the country's great potential as we travel from Addis to Dilla.

While the world is distracted with the Euro soccer tournament, and the upcoming Olympics, and two first ‘civilian’ trips into the stratosphere by Branson and Bezos in the coming weeks, there are so many important issues which would need attention on our own continent. Here in Ethiopia the results of the election which took place on the 21 June are still not being published and the situation in Tigray is still tragic. Some confreres have lost family members in the injustices of the war. Some of the salesian communities in the North are incommunicado. Please keep these among your intentions.

A laugh for these rather sad times:

A man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeds to follow the queue into the water till he bumps into the preacher.

The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol.

He asks the drunk:  'Are you ready to find Jesus?'

The drunk shouts: 'Yes, I am.'

So the preacher grabs him and dunks him under the water.

He pulls him up and asks the drunk, 'Brother have you found Jesus?'

The drunk replies, 'No, I haven't found Jesus.'

The preacher shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer.

 He again pulls him out of the water and asks again: 'Have you found Jesus my brother?'

 The drunk again answers, 'No, I haven't found Jesus.'

 By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again - but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds and when he begins kicking his arms and legs he pulls him up.

The preacher again asks the drunk: 'For the love of God have you found Jesus?' The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher, 'Hey, are you sure this is where he fell in?'

I noticed that this paragraph from last week’s Communique did not get uploaded and so I repeat it here:

A note about Joseph Cafasso whose feast we celebrated last week:

1830 - When 15-year-old John Bosco met 19-year-old Joseph Cafasso as a cleric for the first time in Morialdo, after starting minor seminary in Chieri, it was the start of a 30-year accompaniment relationship. John, in the Memoirs, refers to the friendship with Cafasso as relevant for his 10 years in Chieri, especially when he had to decide for his future, at the end of his formal schooling. It was because of Cafasso that ultimately John entered the seminary. Cafasso - though only 4 years older than John - was able to mobilize benefactors and guarantee the payment of John’s 1^st year fees at the seminary. The following years John benefited of the scholarships granted for his outstanding results and behaviour. So Cafasso already ‘accompanied’ John in those 11 years of initial formation, and continued to do so for the 19 years that follow John ordination: 1841-1860. Accompaniment is much more important when we have greater responsibilities to handle.

Accompaniment during initial formation is only a training in view of lifelong accompaniment!

God bless, and don’t forget to have a look at the latest postings on the website!

Camiel (still in ATE) and François (still in AET)