Next weekend 21st and 22nd we welcome priests from the Comboni Missionaries to our churches for the annual appeal that each year one congregation is allowed to make in each diocese. Please give them a warm welcome and generous support. They request us to pray “for the Comboni Missionaries, especially for those who are at present working in difficult and dangerous conditions. May they be encouraged by our spiritual and material support.” Intercession writers please include this in the Bidding Prayers next week. Meanwhile, here is something about their founder and their work.

Daniel Comboni, born in Limone, Italy, in 1831, knew at an early age that he would be a priest and missionary. His love was Africa, and in 1854, when God called him there, Daniel answered with all his heart and soul. St Daniel devised a Plan not just to bring the Gospel to people who never heard it but also to prepare Africans to evangelize their own people – a revolutionary idea for his time. His motto, Save Africa with Africa, captures the essence of the trust he had in the African peoples.

Named the first Bishop of Central Africa in 1877, St Daniel continued his faithful ministry until, at the age of 50, worn out and plagued by fever, he died, but not before founding the Comboni Missionaries and Missionary Sisters who today carry out their founder’s charism across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. St Daniel Comboni was canonized in 2003 and remains an inspiration to all who have a heart for mission.

For 150 years, the Comboni Missionaries have travelled to nearly every corner of the world, sharing the good news of Christ and working to protect the dignity of all people. They are now an international Catholic organization dedicated to ministering to the world’s poorest and most abandoned people, often working in unstable political climates, in the midst of extreme poverty. Despite these challenges, their missionaries are dedicated to their mission of serving God’s people.

Fr Matthew