Youth ministry workshop

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We're now running our workshop on youth ministry organised by the RSASS vocational group.

There are many partecipants from all South Sudan and abroad.

Here some pics

Pope Francis and the questione about female deacons

2016-05-12 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis led an in-depth discussion on Thursday about the role of women in the Church, saying he wants to set up a commission to study the possibility of reinstating female deacons. His conversation was part of a question and answer session with some 900 heads of female religious orders and congregations who form part of the International Union of Superiors General, or UISG.

Pope Francis spoke off the cuff during his closed door encounter with the sisters, who are currently holding their General Assembly in Rome this week, marking the 50th anniversary of the foundation of their organisation.

During the hour and a half long conversation about the mission and ministry of women in religious life, the Pope responded to several delicate questions, including one about the history of female deacons. He said understanding about their role in the early Church remained unclear and agreed it would be useful to set up a commission to study the question.

Women deacons in the early Church

Up to the 5th century, the Diaconate flourished in the western Church, but in the following centuries it experienced a slow decline, surviving only as an intermediate stage for candidates preparing for priestly ordination. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Church restored the role of permanent deacon, which is open to single and married men. Many experts believe that women should also be able to serve in this role, since there is ample evidence of female deacons in the first centuries, including one named Phoebe who is cited by St Paul in his letter to the Romans.

More women in leadership positions

Pope Francis reiterated that he wants to see an increase in the number of women in decision-making positions in the Church, saying women's perspectives are very important for both the elaboration and the carrying out of such decisions. 

Asked about the possibility of women preaching the homilies during Mass, the Pope said it's important to distinguish between other types of liturgies, where the sermon can be preached by consecrated or lay women, and the Mass, where the homily is connected to the role of the priest serving "in persona Christi".

Changes to Canon Law

Questioned about the prospect of changes to Canon Law which would facilitate the reform process being undertaken by many women's congregations, the Pope said such changes could be possible, providing they were the result of a process of discernment by the competent authorities.

Service not servitude

Finally Pope Francis spoke about the vital work of the sisters who care for the poor and marginalized. He said this is a vocation of service to the Church and must never be confused with servitude, which is sometimes still asked of them. They should not fear being labelled as 'activists', in their service to the needy, he said, but they should also find time for rest and for listening to older or sick members of their communities who are a precious source of wisdom and memory. 

Comment to Pentecost Sunday Readings - year C

Pentecost's Readings Reflection – Year C
Acts 2: 1-11; 1Cor 1: 3-7, 12-13; Jn20: 19-23
"To be mysteriously Fruitful"
Evangelii Gaudium # 280

When Pentecost day came…. As this Pentecost celebration arrives, let us ask ourselves: how will the Spirit find us today?  Enclosed in the room of fear like the disciples? Disappointed for not seeing the striking results we were expecting? Struggling to understand and to be understood like the people assembled in Jerusalem? Restless in search of that peace that the world cannot give us? Trying to remain impassioned with Jesus' mission? Let us recall what Pope Francis considers the secret of every missionary endeavour: "Keeping our missionary fervor alive calls for firm TRUST in the Holy Spirit, for it is he who "helps us in our weakness" (Rom 8:26). But this generous trust has to be nourished and so we need to invoke the Spirit constantly. He can heal whatever causes us to flag in our missionary endeavour.
This Pentecost let us entrust generously ourselves once again to the Spirit of God. Let us allow him to come anew into our lives. Let us nourish our personal relationship with the One who knows how to lead us in a mysterious but fruitful way. Let us TRUST in Him! This is the secret!
They were all amazed and astonished….How does it happen…? We continue quoting Pope Francis while he describes the experience of being led by the Spirit:  "It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will find… YET, there is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing to the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills.
Letting go our securities, disoriented before the newness, amazement, surprise, freedom….all these happen when we trust and allow the Spirit to do in and through us. Yes, He makes us mysteriously fruitful!

Nobody is able to…., except in the Holy Spirit. "The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful.
With this assurance and inner certainty we move freely, fearless wherever the Spirit wishes to lead us. Sharing the many different gifts and through many different ways of serving but always in the same Spirit!

Peace be with you! Receive the Holy Spirit!
Empowered by the Spirit we are able to go forth from ourselves and turned ourselves into courageous sharers of the Gospel in every time and place. In this very special moment in South Sudan, let us remember the definitive, deepest and greatest motivation, the ultimate reason and meaning behind all we do: the glory of the Father which Jesus sought at every moment of his life, the glory of the Father who loves us.

As the Father sent me, I'm sending you! In the Spirit we can do it, we become MISTERIOUSLY FRUITFUL!
      
Sr. Nancy Noguera, Missionary Sister Servant of the Holy Spirit (SSpS)
Catholic Diocese of Yei, South Sudan.

Amoris Laetitia - Apostolic Exhortation on the love in the family. Pope Francis

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

below you find the link to “Amoris Laetitia”, Pope Francis Apostolic exhortation on love in the family.

It is a very long document (240 pages in pdf format), but worth reading especially for the ones of us involved in family issues.

you can also dowload the document from the same page of the Vatican link here below. Just click on the title:

 

 

AMORIS LAETITIA

 

 

have a wonderful time!!

 

God bless you all

Congregation website link

Dear Brothers & Sisters,
 

Please not that on the left hand-side sidebar named

"Religious Order and Congregation Web-site"

I have added a new link for the "Missionary and Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit".

 

You can also click here to be redirected to their website

That Congregation in...

THE BEGINNING

In response to the call of the Holy Spirit and the needs of peoples where the services of women are crucial, on 08 December 1889 in Steyl in the Netherlands, Arnold Janssen, the Founder of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), together with Mother Maria, Helena Stollenwerk, and Mother Josepha, Hendrina Stenmanns, lays the foundation of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS), as a religious-missionary community dedicated to the life-giving Spirit. In 1896 he establishes yet another congregation, Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP).  Initially the two foundations for Sisters are one Congregation with two branches depending administratively and financially on the SVD.

 

Name of the Congregation Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit 

 

Arnold Janssen’s personal dedication to the Holy Spirit, made in Vienna, Austria on 3rd October 1887, is a concrete expression of his desire to come to know the greatness of the Spirit’s love. This desire is born of his deep rootedness in the Trinity.
Two years later when he gives the new women’s congregation the name Servants of the Holy Spirit, he confirms his dedication to the Spirit, and acknowledges the Spirit’s central role in the Church.
In his faith journey, Arnold comes to understand the Holy Spirit as the Father of Love; and the life-giving and unifying love of the Holy Spirit as the true source of the Church’s missionary dynamism.
Our Founder’s ultimate desire is that the Spirit’s love be an inspiration to others. He describes the special aim of the Sisters as follows: “to love the Holy Spirit as the Father of Love and the Dispenser of graces, to adore and glorify Him, and to try to spread love and devotion to Him in others.” He even calls the Holy Spirit the Father of the Congregation.
In 1914, for various reasons the name ‘Society of the Servants of the Holy Spirit’ (in Latin SSSS) which was customarily in use, is changed to the ‘Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit’ (SSpS). When the revised third edition of the Constitutions are submitted for approval in 1925, the Congregation, which is now distinct from that of the SSpSAP, is referred to for the first time as ‘Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit’. By the time of the definitive approval of the Constitutions in 1938, ‘Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit’ has become the Congregation’s official name.

RSASS Executive Body visits the Minister of environment.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Tuesday this week as executive body of RSASS we had the opportunity to visit the new elected Minister of environment, honorable Josephine Napwon.
The Minister welcomed us in her private house where we had a small talk and fr. Daniele Moschetti briefly told her about RSASS and our recent meeting on "Laudato Si". We gave her a copy of the encyclical and a copy of our final communique.
Honorable Josephine looked pleased as she is very close to the Church and hopes in further cooperation.

Peace to you all
Executive Body RSASS

Final Communique of RSASS General Assembly

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

few days ago we ended our Annual General Assembly of RSASS. It's been a nice time we'd spent together and we all agreed on the final statement we have already handed to the Minister of Environment hon. Josephine Napwon.

Here below a copy of our final document:

Religious Superiors’ Association of South Sudan (RSASS)

LET US TAKE CARE OF OUR COMMON HOME, SOUTH SUDAN

Workshop on the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si - Final Statement – Juba, 30 April 2016

“Let us read the signs of times” (Cf. Mt 16:3)

We came together in Juba from the 27 to 30, April, 2016, as representatives of the more than 500 religious present in South Sudan to reflect on the message of the Encyclical letter of Pope Francis “Laudato Si” (May You be praised) and its implications for us today.

While the country is trying to come out from the violence, death and destruction of the civil war and implement peace, we are called to overcome our anxieties and fears and not to lose hope. We ‘raise up our heads’ (Lk 21:28) and read the signs of the times. We don’t want to react to any kind of challenge we have to face but to interact with one another and with all people of good will and live our universal call of being co-creators of the world we live in.

Looking around at our reality in South Sudan, we SEE some worrying signs: pollution of the water, of the land, of the air; deforestation and cutting of trees without replacement, burning the forests, overgrazing; oil exploitation as the major income for the country but as a grave polluting agent.

Exercising our JUDGMENT, we see a breaking of the fundamental relationships that make us men and women created in the image of God. In the long years of war we lost the relationship with our brothers and sisters, becoming like Cain who killed his brother. We have lost our relationship with God who has entrusted to us, as stewards, his creation, and making ourselves lords of creation we put in danger our sacred home. We have lost sight of the common good because of greed and thirst for power.

As the prophet Micah (6:8) said we feel called to ACT justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God. Education of children and youth and formation of leaders is a priority in our parishes and schools. As a Church we feel the need to be a prophetic voice towards those who are decision makers in the political arena through our commitment to Justice, Peace and the Care of Creation. By using the media, particularly radio, we intend to spread the message of Laudato Si in our communities. Liturgical celebrations and international days of observance can be the chance to sensitize our people on the importance of planting trees, keeping the environment clean, particularly in urban areas, and improving and practicing agriculture.

Finally, we cannot avoid making a personal reflection on our life-style, being self-critical and open to change, aware that the resources at our disposal are limited. Our spirituality has to be translated into our actions.

Together with Pope Francis, Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope. (No. 244)

Best regards to all of you
Executive Body RSASS