Cans send kids in Congo to school

By William T. Clew

Lynn Brouillette of Brimfield delivers mail for the United States Postal Service.
And she collects cans and bottles to send youngsters to school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) in central Africa.

The only thing that one has to do with the other is that some of the people on her mail route in Sturbridge, Brimfield, Holland and Wales save their bottles and cans for her. She does not pick them up while she's delivering mail, but does so afterwards, or has helpers pick them up, she said.

She picks them up every couple of weeks, she said. She cashes them in, gets a check and sends it to Father Ephrem Kapitula, an Assumptionist stationed in Butanbo, D.R.C.
Father Kapitula uses the money to pay the cost of schooling for youngsters picked by the local parish, Ms. Brouillette said.

Archbishop Mbogha Kambale Charles, A.A. (1942-2005)

The oldest of the Augustinians of the Assumption, Archbishop Mbogha Kambale Charles, A.A.,  (63 years old) died in Bukavu (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo) on Sunday, October 9, 2005, at 2:37 AM (local time). The illness that led to his death (high blood pressure which resulted in a stroke) came to light during the ceremony on the day he was to become archbishop of Bukavu in June 2001. From that day he had been taking medication and following a regime of rehabilitation exercises, all the while completing his mission as well he could as the pastor and overseer of the Ecclesiastical Province of Kivu. During those four long years, Archbishop Charles proved to be a man of great faith.

Three years ago on May 26, 2002, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, beatified our beloved brothers in the Lord: Kamen Vitchev. Pavel Djidjov and Josaphat Chichkov. On the night of November 11, 1952 they were shot to death for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Bulgarian Martyrs - Icon by Father Donat Lamothe, A.A.

In his homily in Plovdiv, the Pope meditated on the mystery of the Trinity, a mystery which goes to the heart of our faith, a mystery of love and of communion which inspires a prayer found often on our lips: “To you be glory and praise forever.” We are speaking of a Trinitarian God, to whom we owe all praise: a Father whose love and mercy are always faithful; a Son who shared with us his daily life and his suffering; a Spirit who dwells in us and who gives us the courage to live our Christian faith.

Augustine intended his community in Hippo Regius to be a concrete representation of the “Whole Christ.” He began the Rule for his community with these words:“ In the first place, live in harmony and be of one mind and heart intent on God; for this is the purpose of your coming together.” His community was to be, within the Church, an example of what the Church is in the first place, the “Body of Christ” intent on ascending to God the Father.

If the Gospel is to be really Good News for real men and women, he insisted that it must to be concrete: it has to be a promise that can be realized in the present. Living “in community” was not a matter of lifestyle; it was matter of “reality.” The only good worth possessing, the only real “common good” is God. In a community where each possesses God, all other possessions lose their significance and can be held in common. Where God can be one’s lover, exclusive relationships lose their significance and their power. Where God is the Sovereign Good, one’s own will for a happiness infinitely less than God loses its hold on one’s life. An Augustinian community is to be where God is pursued exclusively as the only Good that is really humanly satisfying.

To be “of one heart and one soul intent on God” is for the community to have Christ at the center of their lives and to be that center themselves. This requires the courage that Father D’Alzon demands: to be Christ for one another. A community where the brothers or sisters dare to be Christ for one another becomes itself the promise of possibility for the Church. If you want to be saved, be Jesus Christ yourself in your world. If you need an example to encourage you to be Jesus Christ for others, you should be able to see it in a community that has set out to live in the spirit of Saint Augustine.

by Father Roger Corriveau, A.A.