EUROPE/ITALY - “We want to find new paths for our missionary activity” says director of the Mission Office of the archdiocese of Trent which has years of mission experience in Chad

Rome (Agenzia Fides)- “We are determined to continue our missionary work despite difficulties connected with the general crisis in vocations in Europe” says Rev. Carlo Speccher director of the Mission Office of the archdiocese of Trent. “The Spirit, who leads us along often mysterious paths, will show us new ways to continue our missionary activity”.
Trent has a long missionary tradition. “At present” says Rev. Carlo “we have about 400 missionaries, Fidei Donum priests, men and women religious and lay people all from Trent spreading the Good News in various parts of the world: about 200 in Latin America, 150 in Africa, and the others in Asia, Oceania and Europe”.
Rev. Carlo himself was Fidei Donum priest in the mission of Gagal in the diocese of Pala, Chad. “In 1982 to help the local Church our diocese opened a mission in Gagal where some of our fidei donum priests work with the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, a Brazilian order founded by St. Paolina Visintainer. This saint is an example of the missionary vocation of the Catholics of Trent in distant lands. St. Paolina, born in a Trent, at the age of 12 emigrated with her family to Brazil. Later she felt a calling to the religious life and even founded a new order. Canonised by John Paul II, Saint Paolina Visintainer is at the same time the first saint for Trent and for Brazil”.
“In the Gagal Mission the Sisters are involved in pastoral animation and various social works including rural dispensaries a small maternity and childcare clinic where they teach mothers how to feed their children properly with locally available resources. The Sisters are assisted in their work by lay Catholic volunteers from Trieste (Italy), members of the Associazione di Cooperazione Cristiana Internazionale”.
“The reality of mission is therefore a fundamental component for the life of our archdiocese” Rev. Carlo concludes. “In fact our Archbishop Luigi Bressan encourages local priests to consider spending some time as Fidei Donum priests at Gagal where the work of our missionaries is deeply appreciated by Bishop Jean-Claude Bouchard, bishop of Pala and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Chad”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 14/6/2006 righe 37 parole 457)