Contents

• A word from the Superior General
• Fr Etchecopar wrote...
• Betharramites, sons of the Heart of Jesus, family of disciples on mission on new ways of communion
• A portrait for a project (1): Dabakala
• 5mn with Br. Angelo Sala
• 1959-2009: Betharram in Ivory Coast (4)
  

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A word from the Superior General

Obedient to death on the Cross

The Pascal experience consists in the meeting of the disciples with the Risen Christ. This was the experience of Mary Magdalene, the other women, Peter, John, Cleophas and the other disciple of Emmaus, Thomas, the other apostles, and then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brethren at the same time… (1 Cor 15, 6)  It is the same experience that Paul had on the way to Damascus. “All the scientific analysis are incapable of explaining or solving the problem.  Only the event and a deep meeting with Christ is the key to understanding what happened; death and resurrection, renewal on the part of Him who had appeared and spoken to Paul.  This meeting is a veritable renewal which completely changed his outlook.  He can now say that what previously was essential and of utmost importance, had now become “refuse” and was pure loss, because from then onwards only Christ was of importance in his life” (Benedict XVI public audience 3rd September 2008)
Meetings of this type have taken place down the ages and continue to happen today, in our midst.  Many of us could easily relate similar experiences of the Risen Christ.  Meeting with him has convinced us that Jesus is alive. Not only in the Gospels, but in our own lives.  Today, for me Jesus is God with us risen from the dead.
Thanks to this experience we come to understand the true meaning of the death of Jesus, of his personality and mission. Had there been no meeting with the Risen Christ,  the death of Jesus would have been a failure. And we who had been so full of hope… this is not all; it’s already the third day since this happened….but of him, they saw nothing. (Luke 24, 21-24).
Thanks to the meeting with the Risen Christ we understand that the death of Jesus was a success, the Good News, for the Father of Jesus and for all mankind. The Risen Christ was the Crucified One. See my hands and my side…
Through his death Jesus has given us his life. This is my body, given up for you…This is my blood shed for you. (Luke 22, 19-20)  In this way he shows in his flesh that there is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends (John 15, 13) What he announced came to be: The Father loves me because I give my life to take it back. No one has been able to take it from me; I give it of my own free will. (John 20, 17-18)
In this great gift which Jesus gives through his death, love shows itself as the real value of the life of God and of men. He who lives in love possesses a power against which sin and death can do nothing.  Love alone is capable of overcoming death, for love is stronger than death.
Jesus experiences his death as the height of his relationship as the Incarnate Word with the Father’s love. At the hour of his death on the cross, Jesus feels terribly alone. Beyond the feeling of abandonment by his Father, he abandons himself to Him.  He is certain of the love of Him who cannot fail in his promises.  Despite all appearances he is sure of his Father’s love!
esus lives his death as the total destruction of his person to show us the personality of the Father.  He accepts the failure of his personal projects to show the project of the Father, the salvation of mankind.  He who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18, 14)  In the death of Jesus where everything seems to be at an end, something new is beginning:  God is saving humanity.  And as a result, in union with Jesus, dead and risen again, every man and woman can live a new life.
o love really in our human condition, means risking one’s life, giving it up to death.  Jesus doesn’t escape this. One has to remain faithful, obedient and trustful in the Father’s love, in the midst of situations which have happened, are happening and will happen for anyone taking love seriously. This can be seen in the history of Cain and Abel, of Joseph and his dreams, of Jeremiah, of the Maccabee brothers, in the psalms and the witness of martyrs down the ages.
n the experience of the meeting with the Risen Christ, the close link between the events in the life of Jesus during these days, can be easily seen: You must surely be the only person in Jerusalem not to know about what has happened these last few days….(Luke 24, 18-21), what the Word of God announces: he explained to them everything in the Scriptures concerning himself  (Luke 24, 25-27) and what is celebrated in the Eucharist: while he was at table with them he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them (Luke 24, 30). Then the word of God set their hearts on fire.  When we make the link between these three events, we understand that what took place on the cross was an act of love – of offering (the bread broken) – by which, both the Father and the Son were involved in the salvation of mankind.
his is an experience which strengthens our faith:  Who can separate us from the love of Christ?.... (Romans 8,35)  It gives sense to life’s hazards and teaches us to accept them as disciples of Christ: to live them through love like the Master.  This is how one can live out joyfully the day to day events, be faithful to one’s duties, even at times of great suffering.  The assurance of the Father’s love, the meaning of a life spent in simple relationships, the joy of knowing that our life is going in the right direction, instils us with a deep peace within ourselves and with our brothers. Peace and joy are the Easter gifts from Jesus, dead and Risen again, for all who have decided to live for love after his example.
esides, our meeting with the Risen Christ encourages us to go towards those who also have met Christ Crucified and Risen again from the dead.  And this is how there is a new experience, that of the Christian community.

Gaspar Fernandez,SCJ

Fr Auguste Etchecopar wrote... to Fr. Victor Bourdenne, Betlehem, March 26th 1893

Death had to be overcome by death.  Jesus undergoes death so as to suffocate it in his arms. Behold his tomb has become his throne and the source of our life and resurrection!!!! Vita et resurrection nostra.  Those who know neither this light nor this life are to be pitied! They are darkness; they are dead, in the tomb the stench of which reminds us of paganism and calls for the miracle worked in favour of Lazarus.
“Lord Jesus, for a moment you were imprisoned in this tomb, here present, and you rose triumphantly from it,  we who benefit from your Resurrection  and give you thanks for it, we now say, with the faith of the sister of Lazarus:
Oh great friend of souls, look on this poor humanity whose nature you took for yourself.  When far from you she is dead and is in danger of falling apart. You have only to say a word and she will revive.  For you are the Resurrection and the Life; no death, no decomposition can offer resistance to the Life which has only to say the word so that from emptiness and death everything may flourish once more.“

Betharramites, sons of the Heart of Jesus, family of disciples on mission on new ways of communion

BETHARRAMITES
When a theme is proposed for the year, it often begins with “Betharram”: the institution, its history. But for many, Betharram recalls very different realities: a chapel, a place of solidarity, a parish, a Mother House with its sanctuary and Calvary, a college, etc.  What diversity in this panorama! And how difficult it is to unify around the same word emotions, feelings, both positive and negative.  However, when the word “Betharramites” is employed there is the passage from the institution to people...
Today “Betharramites” are not only the religious, but also the laity called personally to partake of the same charism at the school which St Michael left us as a heritage.  The Betharramites are real people and not buildings made of bricks and mortar.  Often people are confused with buildings, like the blind man in the Gospel who took the trees for men.
For the past few years the Betharram religious have chosen to rediscover their vocation as consecrated individuals.  Lets stop being the guardians of museums so as to become what was being demanded at the time: “We want to be religious” (General Chapter 93), “Lets share our mission with the laity,” and “formation, formation, formation” General Chapter 99)  It can be said that Betharram also exists as an Institution. Yes, it exists and will continue to exist in so far as we don’t mix up the idea that we imagine with the real Betharram, composed of such people. 
In Argentina in the 1990’s, Fr Bruno used to say Betharram is an old mother that we must look after; later on, at the turn of the century, Gaspar would say Betharram is a weak infant, but full of hope. Recently, Fr Enrique reminded us that Betharram is a family, wanting to work in collaboration.
Whether Betharram is an old mother, or a weak infant or a family, they are three aspects of a similar reality of a Congregation alive with individuals (religious and laity) wishing “to live and die” in it as St Michael would say. There you have “the Betharramites”.

SONS OF THE SACRED HEART
Some time ago as I was looking at a famous painting of Christ, holding his Sacred Heart in his hand, I had a feeling which soon became a conviction; in the silence I could hear Jesus saying to me:  Here is my Heart. Don’t reject the sufferings of the heart; you will become a son like me.
This interior feeling greatly surprised me; the more I thought about it the more I felt great peace and consolation which has not left me since. The Lord had spoken and I understood that we are Sons of the Heart of Jesus. St Michael used to say the same thing: “He has begotten us, we owe him everything.”
Today, just like yesterday, as Betharramites we are alive thanks to this “secret spring”: the Love of the Sacred Heart. We live it out in a spirit of generosity which has nothing to do with pious weeping. The Heart of Jesus is courageous, “Just like the spouse, he appears outside his tent and rushes forward as a joyful conqueror” (ps 118) It is a route not lacking in crosses and they are as hard to carry as the signs of victory. What an Illumination for a religious family called to serve according to its charism!

A FAMILY OF DISCIPLES/MISSIONARIES
Does the family exist today?  When one tries to describe its actual life style we have more doubts than certainties.  It so happens that we Betharramites were called to be a real family
Fr Mirande, our Superior General in the 60’s, had a prophetic message on an “authentic Betharramite” and which can throw some light on the problem today. “The real Betharramite loves Betharram. He is attached to it with all the fibres of his body.  What concerns the Congregation concerns him. The joys, sorrows and hopes of Betharram make up his life.  He has reached the point of not being able to imagine what his life would be like outside Betharram. The true Betharramite loves the real Betharram; therefore he loves all the Betharramites, even so and so. We would be few Betharramites if our love for the Congregation didn’t help us to overcome all loathing, for what ever reason, of one or other. He is one of us. That should be enough” (See NEF, September 1959).
That’s the family spirit, a family accepting itself as it is. Without idealisation nor blame.  No discrimination of any kind. That has nothing to do with the Love which unites one Betharramite with another. This is why we firmly believe that Betharram (Betharramites) have a future. A family firmly looking ahead, as a theme for the year once put it.  
As we learn all the time, we are a family of DISCIPLES-MISSIONARIES. Ours must be the message of pastors who are longing for a Church on mission.
At the core of our charism is the text showing the double manifesto of the call and the response of every good Betharramite, disciple-missionary: “On entering this world, Christ said in the words of the Psalm: ‘You wanted neither sacrifices nor offerings, but you made me a body. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin; then I said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book, “God, here I am! I am coming to do your will.”
How important it is to observe the signs of the times, to open one’s ears, as it is said in Ps 39,7!  Don’t let’s hang on to the past, we are going ahead, like sons ready to give their life in a great act of Love, “in the limits of our tasks and positions.”
The disciple becomes a missionary, because he is on fire with the cause of God. His heart is on fire with the Love of Christ saving him from routine, a feeling of failure and from meaninglessness.  Consequently you don’t have far to go to be part of the mission. The mission is there, under our very eyes.  Let’s stop for a moment just to look, to listen, to dialogue. According to the Gospel, it was while he was on his way that Jesus stopped, asked for the blind man to be brought to him and asked him. ”What do you want me to do for you?” (Luke 18,41)

ON NEW WAYS OF COMMUNION
Today we can accept to answer our mobile phone or not, the propositions which come our way on the little screen without any invitation from us. We risk treating Christ in the same manner and his message of Good News. When he invites gently to come to him who can resist? The Lord doesn’t impose something, he simply proposes.  Who wants to follow me?
The condition for real communion is to be open whole- heartedly to Christ.
No need to multiply the links between us;  however effective are the modern means of communication, real charity demands real links – time spent together – a means of advancing together in the footsteps of our only Master. A common project.
It is our common experience of God which unites us, shapes us, keeps us on the same wave length.
In a society where relationships are fragile, short-lived, almost worthless, we launch a challenge to invent new ways of communion with Christ which will certainly lead us to the Father, that is to happiness, holiness and a deep-seated desire that every creature should be touched by  the Love of Christ.
Regionalisation is only the result of the experience which we have had of the charism bequeathed us by St Michael.  Particularly so the Unum sint  (that all may be one).  But it is only the beginning of a road which will lead us to him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And nobody goes to the Father without passing through Him. (John 14,6)

Gustavo Agin,SCJ

SOLIDARITY 2009 A portrait for a project (1)

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Sacred Heart Mission Centre
St Joseph’s Murcott Road, Whitnash, Leamington Spa. CV31 2JJ - U. K. 

5 minutes with... Brother Angelo Sala

Angelo Sala became familiar with our Congregation while he was on a volunteering mission in the Central African Republic. He has joined our religious family and is now preparing himself to take his final vows. We currently find him in Monteporzio where he is attending a course for religious educators at the Salesiana University in Rome. Let’s take advantage of his presence to ask him a few questions.

Nef - Brother Angelo, you’re attending a course for clergy trainers. Brother and Formator: what’s the beauty of this binomial?
- I am convinced that this binomial can only have a positive meaning. The two roles share a common path, inasmuch as a devote man is in a constant state of formation and it is quite absurd to think that this formation is confined to a specific period of time, Saint Michael said that the novitiate must last a lifetime. Being a religious formator? and also devout man means always being ready and willing to answer the call, aware that every day I’ll encounter difficulties, but I’ll also have experiences that will enrich my religious life. I’ll perform this role in collaboration with my brothers in Africa who have, beginning ten years ago, helped young people who have expressed the desire to become Betharramities. Indeed in the month of June the first fruits of their labor in collaboration with The Ordination of Brother Narcisse will be harvested. My departure for Africa is planned for the month of October. I’m currently attending a course for religious educators and I’m quite satisfied with it, as it provides me with the tools I need to develop a project of formation, even though the field experience will be fundamental. This experience is gained only through living side by side, day after day with these young people.

You’ve gained a rich experience working in the health field in Central Africa. What are the challenges you face as a devote man in your mission?
- The experiences I had in the health field were made possible only through the help of Tiziano Pozzi, who has involved me in this project from the time he met me in Africa. The biggest challenge to face as a devout man was that of knowing how to culturally adapt myself in the area in which I had to carry out my mission. The enculturation is a marriage of Christianity and the human culture in its variety and mutability. This entails a need to understand what must be culturally adapted, with a critical ability to discern the values that must be taken on and integrated. Another important challenge is the ability to collaborate with the local church and other congregations present in the area, above all concerning the difficult task of education and religious guidance. Lastly, we must awaken the youth through this formative process and not separate evangelization from human promotion like, for example, religious life and problems that men face. Evangelization means letting in spirituality and the real encounter with Christ and his gospel.

Does the T.A.D Home Treatment Project follow these criteria? Could you explain it to us?
- The T.A.D. Home Treatment Project was developed during the period in which I completed my second year of novitiate in the Family House of Villa del Pino. Four years have passed since then and they were important for me because this project requires the collaboration of capable, experienced people who often dedicate their lives to fighting AIDS and continue to believe that one day this war will be won. I believe it’s important to remember that there are many people involved in this project: Father Mario (on the organizational and formative research side) Father Pietro (who worked towards creating awareness among people and dealt with the logistical aspects) and Father Beniamino (who oversaw the construction of the center).
The objective is to assist people with AIDS living in the city of Bouar and its surrounding areas. The methods employed are essentially two: prevention, inhibiting the spread of infection through personalized counseling and healthcare; and home assistance: long-term patient care in collaboration with appropriate healthcare facilities, helping to establish, together with their partners and family members a strong support system, formulate and maintain informative and assistance based social-healthcare collaborations; conduct HIV tests, etc. Other initiatives will include, the training of local personnel; health education, pre and post testing counseling and the prevention of infection from mother to child, during and after the pregnancy. The administration of therapies, the creation of biochemical laboratories, the screening of blood donations, the prevention and treatment of illnesses associated with AIDS, etc. The task that lies ahead is a difficult one, but only through network collaboration will we be able to reach our goals that were pre-established as a congregation and contribute to the defeat of this epidemic.

The statement made by the Pope regarding the use of prophylactics has unleashed a storm of controversy in the media. In light of your experience, what do you think about this?
- According to me the use of prophylactics is not the solution to avoid the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Firstly we must fight an enormous problem that has afflicted Africa for years: poverty. The lack of fundamental necessities creates social pathologies such as polyandry: in the cities many women try to have children with more than one man to be able to ask for money from the largest number of people possible. The women, without other alternatives in sustaining their families chose prostitution, despite being aware of the risks involved. Many young men and women living on the fringes of society have indiscriminate sexual relations, and thus risky, due to apathy and to the lack of safety and the fact that they conduct a life on the edge. Africa also needs to seriously consider the culture of marital fidelity and moral integrity. The fight against this epidemic needs to have a constructive vision and needs to invest in its youth helping them develop a mature and effective sense of responsibility. I believe that the Church can do a lot in this field, especially in creating awareness throughout the younger generation. We must take into consideration the cases in which its reasonable to recommend the use of prophylactics, for example in discordant couples, or if one of the two is HIV positive, in this case the use of prophylactics would be seen as a means to preserve a person’s life.

What do you say to a young person who tells you “I want to have an experience in Africa”?
- I could only encourage him to go and do it; an experience in Africa would never leave a young person who lives in our society of consumers and relativists unchanged. In the hopes that this experience might have a positive outcome, I’d like to give two practical tips. The first is to ensure the support of a mission that can help comprehend the cultural traditions of the area. The second is to be sure to have a specific job to carry out during one’s stay. Living in Africa, even if for a brief period of time, gives you to chance to see with your own eyes people’s poverty and suffering, often making you feel helpless, but it also allows you to share moments of joy, above all when it comes to children. Another positive experience is to be able to experience real community life, side by side with other missionaries, sharing with them the struggles and satisfactions that every new day brings.

1929-2009 BÉTHARRAM IN IVORY COAST It is nearly 50 years ago since our Congregation took its first steps in Ivory Coast. We are following the story of this undertaking during this jubilee year. We shall owe it to Father Laurent Bacho, General Councillor and formator in Abdijan.

4. RENEWAL

October 1966 sees the departure of another experience, responsibility for St John’s Junior Seminary, opened five years previously by Mgr Durrheimer who had been very convincing in discussions with the Superior General, Fr Amedee Brunot.  “What could be more important or more beautiful than the formation of priests?  Besides it corresponds exactly to the ideal of St Michael Garicoits.  I haven’t the slightest hesitation in entrusting to your Fathers our priestly vocations, meaning that it  is what I hold most dearly and most precious in my diocese”.
The first weeks were far from easy, for the Superior of the community, Fr Gabriel Verley, was retained by his doctors in France until Christmas.  He was replaced by Fr Jean Suberbielle for the time being, and was well backed up by Fathers Monnot, Minaberry, and Segur not forgetting a lay missionary, John Houpert and a young couple, Marie and Pierre Fouillassar;  A woman in a Junior Seminary…. A sign that things were opening up and in the direct line of Vatican II which had finished a few months previously!  At the service of 85 junior seminarians, their efforts were largely recompensed by the excellent results of the youngsters at their exams and in their sporting activities.  It is worth noting that Fr Segur saw to it that basket ball was well supported; the seminary had acquired an Olympic sized pitch and Fr Verley tended  the wounded!
On October 1967, the community was reinforced by the arrival of a young religious, Fr Jean Claude Vignau who, until then, had been in the college at Casablanca; thanks to him several constructions were completed, the refectory and a water tank.  The dry season stretches from All Saints to St Joseph’s; consequently it is most important to collect the maximum of water (there is no drilling).  While awaiting the arrival of the African priest promised by the Bishop, the community called upon diocesan priests to give retreats and recollection days; during the 2nd school year this was done by Fr Bernard Agre, today Cardinal, retired Archbishop of Abidjan, followed by Fr Noel Tekry, a future Bishop of Gagnoa.
s they had done at Ferke, the religious took care to build up community life and prayer;  the seminarians loved to see the religious reciting the office, saying the Rosary walking up and down the veranda in front of their residence.  The community gave a great welcome to the missionaries who would stop off after spending hours under the sun and the dust of the tracks.  The lay missionaries living at the seminary were invited to be part of the community.  There was another cooperant with John, Pierre Clivet.  The religious took charge of catechism in the school and Moderne College;  they would help out for Eucharistic celebrations in the villages and were diocesan chaplains to several youth movements.  Saturday evening is relaxation at the seminary:  a film borrowed from the French Cultural Centre at Bouake and brought in by the treasurer, Fr Minaberry, is shown to hundreds of youngsters from the sector and the parish; Fr Suberbielle introduces the film with great skill.  The media are already there!

Laurent Bacho,SCJ