New participants in the International and Intercultural Communities of the Institute

After five weeks, the Formation Program for International and Intercultural Communities ended. The Program started in Manziana (02/06/2023) and ended at the Hermitage (05/07/2023). Brothers and lay people of 7 different nationalities (11 participants and 2 coordinators – Brother Valdicer Fachi and Rosa Schiaffino), from 4 different continents, of different ages, men and women who share the desire to live their vocation in the service of the most needy in the different projects of the Institute, participated in the Program. Undoubtedly, the Program helped each participant to discern motivations for international and intercultural life and mission, to value cultural diversity and to understand the personal challenges of intercultural life. It also contributed to the development of competencies, skills and a spirituality marked by an intercultural environment.

At the end of the Program, during the final celebration on July 5, Brother Luis Carlos Gutiérrez, Vicar General, on behalf of Brother Superior General, Ernesto Sánchez, sent the new members of the Lavalla200> Communities and confirmed the others for their continued participation in one of the Institute’s International and Intercultural Projects. 

• Laura Patricia de la Maza Borja and Márcio Sampaio de Paula, both from the Province of Brasil Centro-Norte, were sent to the Lavalla200> Community of Tabatinga.
• With the approval of the General Council, the Lavalla200> Community of Malawi will open in the second half of 2023. Brother Dieudonné Byenda (PACE) and Maggie Gundo (Province of Southern Africa) were sent to this community. Brother Frédéric Nadji Ngarsandje (Province of West Africa) and Liz Igoy (Province of East Asia) will also be part of the community.
• Zana Yazbeck (Lebanese) and Helen Chagoma (Province of Southern Africa) were sent as volunteers to the Fratelli Libano Project. Brother Guillermo Moreno, FSC, will also continue his mission in Fratelli Lebanon.
• For the Fratelli Maicao Project in Colombia, Brother Julio Huerta from the Province of Compostela, was sent to continue the mission.
• The continuity of Brother Maurice Paul Razanandro, from the Province of Madagascar, was confirmed for the Hermitage Community.
• Neimir Paulo Mentges and Fabieli Storch, from Brazil, will continue their mission in Mindelhein (Germany).

We wish all the participants a happy return to their places of origin and that they may contribute to the development of life and mission in the places to which they have been sent, thus contributing to the realization of Champagnat’s dream: “all the Dioceses of the World enter into our plans”.