Apostles for Today
April - 2025
"I came so that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: (+39) 393.556 0794 E-mail: uacgensec@gmail.com
Apostles for Today
January - 2025
We recognize that periodically the Church promotes a significant moment of reflection, forgiveness and spiritual conversion. Drawing inspiration from biblical times, the Church has convened and celebrated several jubilees since the 1300s. About 300 years ago, a fixed date was set, and so every 25 years Catholic Christians celebrate this event.
Fr. Daniel Rocchetti SAC
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Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, 204 00186 Roma, ITALIA
Tel: (+39) 393.556 0794 E-mail: uacgensec@gmail.com
Apostles for Today
December - 2024
Sr. Monika Jagiello SAC
How To Rekindle Love For and In Others.
Love is a typical subject at any time. Every generation thinks about it and tries to define, describe, and express it. Every human being desires and seeks it. A great deal has been written about love. People are still looking for it, asking about it, and dreaming about it.
Nowadays, there seems to be a crisis in the subject of love. In Poland, for example, more than 81 thousand divorces were recorded in 2023. In Europe, this number, like in Poland, is still growing. The increase in suicides, the pandemic, and the associated isolation and sense of anxiety have also wreaked havoc on interpersonal relationships.
St Vincent Pallotti repeatedly drew attention to and reminded us of God's love for man. He sought and appealed for man's response - to God's love. Based on his life and mission, Fr. Vincent also knew that love is realized in relationships. There is no other way, it is impossible to love without contact, without dialogue, without collaboration, without proximity and presence. Pallotti initiated the cooperation between priests and laity in the Church. He bore witness that a reciprocal relationship can only be kindled in contact with one another; together, one with the other. He knew love could also be kindled through common works, meetings, and initiatives. They are often born out of curiosity - who the other person is. I am writing this article at the request of the General Secretariat of the UAC. I feel invited to join the circle of Pallotti's collaborators and contribute my knowledge and experience on the subject. This relates to my work and interest in creating reciprocal relationships, dialogue, and communal works. Daily I work - as a psychologist - with families in crisis. I founded and run the KORALE Foundation for the Support of Families. The Foundation cooperates with many communities, mainly with the Family Juvenile Courts, and Social Welfare Centers. We work with a team of 10 professionals. I have been learning to interact with people for 15 years.
When I think of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, I have good memories of working together to help Ukraine or at the Pallottine Institute in Konstancin-Jeziorna (near Warsaw) and being a member of the NCC UAC in Poland. When I recall these activities, I have a sense of closeness to the Good and an appreciation of diversity in being with others. I also have experience with failures in cooperation, an invaluable understanding of the hardship of being with others, and a school of acceptance of one's and others' limitations.
In this article, I also want to share knowledge about love. Yes, knowledge! It turns out that psychologists, in their passion for studying psychological phenomena and human relationships, have developed a MODEL FOR LOVE ??. For the ordinary person, love is something in the heart, something between people; it is an interest, a desire to be with another and to create something together. Although I am opposed to the psychological language, which has done more harm than good, let me draw on scientific research and discuss the MODEL FOR LOVE developed by Robert Sternberg. He argues that love has three components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment. In the graphs describing the longevity of the components, passion ‘peaks’, it rises the highest but lasts the shortest over time. Commitment, on the other hand, persists the longest over time of all the love components mentioned. This seems to speak quite well of us humans - commitment in interpersonal relationships lasts the longest and falls the slowest in the time curve. Research also confirms that relationships on average last around 14/15 years. Sternberg also distinguishes the following patterns:
We may not fully agree with these patterns or wonder how they relate to Union. It is important to remember that we can make friends in our communities. We can evoke in each other - a love of friendship, based on closeness, respect, reciprocity, and mutual sharing of experiences, dreams, desires, and thoughts. This would be Intimacy in friendship. Experience + commitment could be understood, in the context of community, as nurturing the relationship`s permanence and awareness, making an effort for its duration, and committing to a common goal and uniting for a specific mission. In my work, I often deal with training, therapy, or interpersonal training groups. I observe that in groups, where people share their emotions, experiences, and thoughts, they develop a special relationship. They want to be with each other, they are curious about each other, they like to talk, ask questions, want to spend breaks together, exchange contacts, and meet up somewhere outside the group. It seems that the deeper the level of openness, the greater the bond between people.
The experience of being in the online UAC group was amazing for me. We formed it to bring aid to the victims of the war in Ukraine, which started at that time. We organized food collections for the usual people and soldiers, sleeping bags, and underwear. There were about 6, from different parts of our country. We communicated mainly by messenger, and yet I felt a bond between us. Not only did we exchange information about how much money we had, what we could buy, where to send the necessary things and articles, and who would take care of them, but we also shared our emotions from time to time (e.g. anger about the ongoing war, joy that we are not powerless in the face of the ongoing drama of our neighbors, that something is working and help is reaching those in need; there were also jokes that we made together.
And even though we have been out of contact for a few months, I still bond with these people. A kind of affection and bond has formed between us. So, taking into account what I have written from my piece of knowledge and experience, let me venture to conclude that to rekindle mutual love in people, you need three elements:
A good community can be a place for healing the wounds of past experiences and the suffering of harm inflicted on a person in a relationship. We are all programmed for love. Every human being desires and seeks it. As human beings, individually and communally, we carry within us the proof that... ‘these three FAITH, HOPE and LOVE last. And of these, LOVE is the greatest".
Izabella Owczaruk
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, 204 00186 Roma, ITALIA
Tel: (+39) 06.6876827 E-mail: uacgensec@gmail.com
November - 2024
MANIFEST CHARITY IN CONCRETE GESTURES OF LOVE FOR NEIGHBOURS
- How have we used resources as an institution to concretely demonstrate charity towards others? Or from far away?
- When there is an institution of charity near me, what was my real and emotional relationship with it?
- Has the Pallottine charitable charism that I experienced influenced the identity of the institutions close to me?
- What is the objective of charity in the life of the Pallottine Family? In the charity of Christ,
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, 204 00186 Roma, ITALIA
Tel: (+39) 06.6876827 E-mail: uacgensec@gmail.com
I am Antonio João Madeirense Tchissingui, a member of the UAC, and I live in Luanda, the capital of Angola. When I was invited to participate in the fourth UAC Congress, where representatives of various nations would be present and Angola would be part of this group, for me it was a utopia, I could not believe it. The situation became more serious when I learned that, as a member of the UAC, I would have the responsibility to testify about Angola's mission.
Even though I did not quite understand what it was, I quickly met with the members of the group and presented the proposal put forward by the General Secretariat of the UAC. But because of our economic situation, I did not get any positive feedback. When we learned that the costs for travel and accommodation will have to be borne by the group, there was no agreement. So, with great sadness, once again I would have attended Congress alone. Immediately I heard God's call to do my part and I was certain that He would assist me. By the grace of God, Maria Janota, continuing her discernment, informed me that she was willing to come with me to represent Angola in Congress.
The Congress for me was the realization of a great dream: to remember the 'Yes' to the Christian life already pronounced in Baptism. I would like to briefly tell you about three experiences I have had in this Congress.
1. During this meeting, I recalled the novena I made in preparation for the Act of Apostolic Commitment that took place on February 25, 2015 in the Church of San Salvatore in Onda in Rome. This was a more conscious assumption than I promised in Baptism. My 'Here I am' before the whole assembly and the Society of the Catholic Apostolate has marked and will always mark my Christian life.
2. Congress was a glorious act and I was also proud to represent my nation: Angola. I heard a voice inside me saying: 'Angola is also a land where it is possible to carry out the Pallottine mission'.
3. I can't say how happy I was to see Pallotti's sons and daughters from all over the world where the Pallottine mission is present. All animated by the same ideal of reviving faith, rekindling charity and spreading it throughout the world. In other words: rekindling the flame of faith, justice and love in people's hearts. Only me and Maria de Fátima Janota, two members of the group, actually participated in the Congress representing Angola, but the others who remained in their activities, supported and encouraged us through communion of prayer, messages of encouragement and above all offering the sacrifice of work and mission. The Holy Spirit will continue to enlighten our minds and strengthen our hearts so that Angola is enriched by a strong Pallottine mission.
What does it mean for us to be apostles today?
Our apostolic mission today is visible in the pastoral work we carry out in the parish of the Holy Family. In this parish, the Lord calls us to witness our Christian life and baptismal commitment by serving in the apostolic activities entrusted to us.
I thank the Lord because we are a significant group at the service of the parish, each with a specific task. This enriches us.
How do we organize our meetings?
There have never been fixed rules or pre-established places for our meetings, but rather in the homes of those who welcome us. We start with a reflection on a biblical text that opens our hearts to the action of the Spirit and each member shares their own path. In the end we leave for our mission more committed and strengthened.
After attending the IV General Congress, where I experienced how contagious the love lived in the Pallottine Family is, concerns and new ideas for our mission emerged.
Here are some of them:
How can we live and be disciples today in the mission of evangelization in Angola through music and singing? For, music and dance are important elements in the African liturgy?
What does music represent in African culture, particularly in Angola? Music is not just entertainment, but possesses deep religious meanings, rituals and cultural expressions that reinforce and perpetuate African traditions and values. We can say that the music in the liturgy helps us to pray and contemplate God, through sonorous, vibrant and harmonious melodies that reveal the beauty and greatness of God, who loves us with infinite love.
A European friend once asked me why we dance or what is the purpose of dancing in the Church. I confess that this question put me a little embarrassed. However, I can say that dance, in Angolan culture and liturgy, is part of the mission of the Church and is a form of praise, which serves as a means of evangelization. Dance is also a way to recognize the body as a gift from God and temple of the Holy Spirit.
Another frequently asked question is: how to live and be disciples today in the evangelization mission in Angola through music or singing?
I can try to say that the voice is a free gift from God, so singing is gratefully acknowledging the gift received. For this we must sing without vanity and evangelize with humility, glorifying God for his wonders.
After attending Congress, we have a burning question: What is the biggest challenge we face right now?
The testimony of Maria de Fátima Janota, told us about the great problem of children living on the street in Angola and elsewhere. These are basically children between the ages of 7 and 12. Many of them have a family, but they run away from home because they are mistreated or raped and do not have the economic conditions, and we know that in these conditions drugs and other vices soon find a favorable place. Children disperse on the street, there they soon learn to take drugs or use soft drugs, how to suck gasoline from Coca-Cola bottles, or they are forced to prostitute themselves.
With our personal resources and the collaboration of other organizations, we try to help them leave this life; it's a difficult mission, but we know it's not impossible. We try to do our best according to our strength and possibilities.
We thank and praise God for the gifts and graces he gives us every day in order to live our baptismal mission in the face of such obvious realities.
We implore the protection of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and the blessings of St. Vincent Pallotti to help us to be missionary disciples of Jesus, the Father's Apostle, being apostles of Love, Mercy and Solidarity.
The Angolan community - Luanda
Antonio João Madeirense Tchissingui
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, 204 00186 Roma, ITALIA
Tel: (+39) 06.6876827 E-mail: uacgensec@gmail.com