Dear Friends,

Here is the latest piece of news that we received about our kidnapped brothers who have been missing for more than 2 1/2 years. The following item originally appeared in French not long ago on the website of a radio station in Bukavu, a large city in the eastern Congo, south of Goma.

"http://www.radiokivu1.org/index.php?action=emissiondetail&emission=Actus%20du%20Kivu&tokene=14&token=1430718459#

It would appear that the three Assumptionist priests kidnapped in Mbau are dead!!!

Abducted the evening of October 19 between 9-10 PM from the parish of Our Lady of the Poor in Mbau in the district of Beni, Fathers Jean-Pierre NDULANI, Edmond KISUGHU and Anselme WASUKUNDI had refused to convert to the Islam of the terrorist forces of the ADF/NALU (Allied Democratic Forces/National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, two Muslim-inspired rebel groups opposed to the current government in Uganda).

According to an ex-ADF woman rebel who spent 18 years in the bush with Jamil MUKULU (the main figure of this rebel group, a former Catholic who converted to Islam), these priests were kept in an underground prison in the Medina area (eastern Congo near Beni) where their heads were beaten with hammers and died three days after being taken into captivity."

On Sunday, April 12, 2015, His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, archbishop of Manila, celebrated Mass at Assumption College in Manila, an institution run by the Religious Sisters of the Assumption, on the occasion of the golden jubilee of religious life of three of the sisters in the community.

Before the Mass he greeted some of the Assumptionists present (left to right --- Fr. Bernard Holzer, the superior general's delegate for Asia, Fr. Gilles Blouin, vocation director, and Fr. John Franck, assistant general).

He took this opportunity to thank Fr. Gilles for his many years of service to the Filipino Church. Fr. Gilles has been given a new assignment in Nairobi, Kenya, where he will be leaving shortly to join the formation staff at the Assumptionist international house of theology in the Kenyan capital. In the past, Fr. Gilles has worked at the Assumptionist community at St. Peter-in- Gallicantu in Jerusalem and in various assignment in his native Quebec, including shrine director, vice-provincial, campus ministry, and ecumenical work.

On May 2, 2015 — a day of great joy — Brother Ronald Sibugan, A.A., was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Robert McManus in front of a standing room-only crowd at the Assumption College Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

An Assumptionist for ten years, Father Ronald — a campus minister at the College and vocation director for the Congregation — was joined by his parents, who visited the United States from Manila for the first time in their lives to be with their son on this special occasion.

On Saturday, March 21, 2015, the bishop of Rancagua, Chile, Most Rev. Alejandro Goic, ordained two Assumptionists brothers, Jorge Rojas and Alejandro Godoy, to the diaconate in the basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes in Santiago. Many fellow religious and a large crowd of lay friends and parishioners attended the ceremony to pray for these young men and show their support.

Br. Manuel Alejandro Godoy Vásquez, born on April 28, 1980, in the city of Santiago itself, is the son of Manuel Fernando and Ana Magdalena. Alejandro has one brother, Pedro, and two sisters, Ana María and Claudia. Alejandro began his Assumptionist formation as a candidate in 2006 in the Chilean capital, completed his novitiate in 2009-2010, and started theology studies in 2010 at the Universidad Católica de Chile. He was then asked to join the Assumptionist mission in Riobamba, Ecuador, the community of Nuestra Señora del Chimborazo, where he has worked ever since in two Assumptionist parishes, especially involved in youth and vocation ministry. He recently completed his theological studies at the Franciscan seminary in Quito.