We Would Love
to Keep in Touch!
Onward and Upward in Tanzania
When Our Lady appeared at La Salette, her words were addressed to the two unsuspecting children but also to all her people – that is, all the people of God. Her welcoming words were directed to Maximin and Melanie and her prophetic words of warning, spoken in formal French, were directed to all her people.
Their Church’s Sanctuary (from left): old and newShe then spoke in the patois of the area about the many concerns for her people. Then, after responding to Maximin’s forgetfulness about the event in the Field of Coin, she gave the children – and us – her mandate to make this messaged known to all her people.
In response to Mary’s final words, the La Salette Missionaries have continued to reach out to Mary’s people in many and varied countries. On July 17, 2016, they established a new mission in the Diocese of Bukoba in Tanzania.
As you can see by the accompanying pictures, the life of faith of the Tanzanian people is vibrant and hope-filled. In fact, we were asked specifically by the bishop to bring the needed witness of our religious charism to this fast-growing diocese.
Bishop blesses new sanctuary with new tabernacleFirst, the diocese is not lacking priests to minister to the faithful because they still have the capacity to send priests for studies abroad and to assist other dioceses which are in need of their service.La Salette in Grand Baie on Mauritius Island
In the mid-nineteenth century, there developed , in the world, a great devotion to the Beautiful Lady, manifested by numerous constructions of oratories, chapels and churches.
The Church Arose from the Ground
In 1864 the site was thus erected in the Parish of Our Lady of La Salette. But the Mazery family, the founders and benefactors of the church, realized that the project was too extensive. The project had be reduced in size and the work was suspended: their finances were exhausted.
Several programs, lotteries, and loans were explored. In 1872, we began the most urgent work: roofing, plastering walls, paving and a temporary altar. The construction spanned eleven years. The church was not open for worship until 1875, although even then it was not yet finished.
We Welcome a New La Salette General Administration Team
Like the ordinary pattern of family life in the world at large, families can experience a change in family structure and responsibilities. Perhaps the mother is offered a very good job and the father needs to stay home to raise the children. Or for lucrative job considerations, the family needs to move to another city, state or country. Discussions or decisions may be necessary and plans drawn up accordingly.
So also in religious life, each congregation has a schedule – according to their Rule of Life – every six, nine or twelve years. We meeting with representatives of the congregation in a “General Chapter”. The La Salette Rule explains the purposes of the General Chapter:“The role of the general chapter is to examine the spiritual and temporal condition of the Congregation; to give the opportunity for the Congregation as a whole periodically to take account of itself and its mission, to adapt itself to the times in order better to answer to the needs of the world, to assure that it will make the best use of the means at its disposal and to affirm its unity” (#195 C).
Our recent General Chapter met in Argentina for several weeks, and after listening and responding to reports, they voted for the following La Salette Missionaries to serve our La Salette community based in our House in Rome, Italy.Read more We Welcome a New La Salette General Administration Team
La Salette in Dominica
Dominica is one of the Lesser Antilles, West Indies, (was) part of the British Empire, but for the possession of which England and France have fought many battles. It was, in the sixteenth century, the home of a tribe of Caribs, said to have been fierce warriors and cannibals. They have a settlement of their own, to this day, but their number has dwindled to about one hundred full-blooded Indians. They are all Catholics.The French were the first to colonize the Island. Hence, many of the names of places and families are French: Grand' Hanse, Vielle-Case, Grande-Savane, Soufriere, Rivière, Beaurisseau, Larocque, Duverney, La-Motte, etc.
The people's language, even now, is "le Creole" or "patois", almost identical in vocabulary and grammar, with the patois of the neighboring French Islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Roseau, the Capital, is the seat of a Bishopric.
A Devoted Parish Priest Brought La Salette
In 1861, Msgr. Poirier, Bishop at the time, sent his nephew to France in quest of priests and resources to organize parishes, build churches and schools. Rev. Father Ardois, during his stay there, learned of the Apparition and devotion to Our Lady of La Salette. He fell under its powerful influence and resolved to introduce it into his parish. When he returned to Dominica, he brought with him the La Salette group, a beautiful statue of Our Lady and statues of Melanie and Maximin.Consecration of Brazil’s New La Salette Shrine
On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2017, the Mass of Consecration of the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, in the city of Caldas Novas (GO), central Brazil was celebrated. This pilgrimage center was conceived seventeen years ago on the initiative of Bishop Antonio Guilherme Werlang, Bishop of the Diocese of Ipameri, where is located the city of Caldas Novas. He is a Missionary of the Holy Family, a community Founded by Fr. Jean Berthier, a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette (1840-1908), promoted to become a saint in the Catholic Church.
The Missionaries of the Holy Family at the Source
A Brief History
Fr. Jean Berthier, M.S. (1840-1908)Father Jean Berthier, Missionary of La Salette, was thinking of regrouping vocations to allow those who want to become priests, but who are unable to do so because of their age too advanced or because of the lack of economic means, to be able to follow their call. And the Missionaries of La Salette did not have the means to open a seminary for late vocations. So, Father Jean Berthier, with the approval of his superiors, founded a Congregation under the patronage of the Holy Family in 1895.
The hostility of the Third Republic in 1895 expels all religious congregations from France. Fortunately, this enabled many congregations founded in the nineteenth century to take root all over the world. Fr. Berthier therefore opened his first apostolic school for late vocations in Grave, Netherlands. The vocations are firstly res ordered in 1905. The body of Father Berthier now rests in the community cemetery of the La Salette Shrine on the Holy Mountain in France.
A Discernment Week about our Future
For the last week of September 2017, as the present Superior General of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, with my counselors, invited our Provincial Superiors and their delegations to come together to consider the future of our Congregation and update our charism. We are nine hundred members, ministering in twenty-four countries on four continents.
First La Salette Shrine in India
When in her Apparition at La Salette the Blessed Virgin twice repeated the command, "Well, my children, you will make this (my message) known to all my people," no doubt she foresaw the day when Shrines to her honor would encircle the globe; when in every land there would be found churches and altars erected in her name where people of every clime would kneel invoking her intercession.
Three La Salettes Ministering in Mozambique
Three La Salette Missionaries accepted the responsibility for a new missionary project.: Father Joao Holek of Brazil. Father Helio of Angola and Father Edegard of Brazil, who will arrive next February. This community of three, under the General Council, are taking charge of Sacred Heart Parish in Nangolo, in the North of the Diocese.
La Salette Sisters in Algeria
A community of four Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette was set up in El Meniaa, Algeria, in 2013, in response to the request of Bishop Claude Rault, Bishop of the Diocese of Laghouat-Ghardaia, Algeria.
Expatriation and Acculturation
La Salette Sisters Marie-Bernadette, Lalaina, Eulalie, and PerlineWe primarily attempt to deepen our knowledge and practice of the Arabic language, and even keep up with our French, as we are all Malagasy. We try to deepen our attitudes of openness, adaptation, availability to events and situations, and be of service to our people. The theme of General Chapter was: "Being disciples, we follow Christ in our multicultural diversity, solidifying our La Salette refounding way”. We also welcome the "Mercy of God” which is also important to those of the Muslim faith.
Patience, Patience, And More Patience!
In our diocese, our new arrivals spend six months learning the Arabic language. We have even learned the regional Arabic which allows us to listen and speak more easily with the mothers who come to us in their need. Our “Life-Helper”, Aisha – who has served the religious communities that preceded us – acts as our guardian, and helps us a lot when we find ourselves in need of guidance.Rutete, Tanzania – a Land of Mission
Map of Northern Tanzaniathe La Salette Congregation has finally accepted the invitation of the Bishop of Bukoba Catholic Diocese in Tanzania to start the La Salette presence in Tanzania. The decision to open the mission in Tanzania was a response to the call of the Blessed Mother to "make her message known to all her people". The mission in Tanzania is the fourth country on the African continent where the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are present…
The diocese has entrusted to the Congregation the administration of a Parish-elect station (Parokia-teule in Kiswahili) located in the Village of Rutete in Rural Bukoba Tanzania, around 50 kilometers from Bukoba town, within the Kagera Region. The station is one of the highly-Catholic populated places in the diocese.
The mission in Tanzania has a different character.
- First, the diocese is not lacking priest to minister to the faithful because they still have the capacity to send priests for studies abroad and to assist other dioceses which are in need of their service.
- Second, the majority of the population in the territory of the diocese is Catholic; and in fact, the region (Kagera) was already Christianized more than a hundred years ago.
- Third, the opening of the mission was initiated by the diocese through an invitation to the Congregation with the request that an international community shall be established.
- Fourth, the place has already its own church building and rectory built by the faithful themselves. The church building is a stone church built more than 60 years ago and the new rectory was built in view of the arrival of the missionaries.