Meet Fr. Vanãcio Nunda, M.S.

Fr. Nunda Venanciao, Regional Superior of Angola

While at the General Chapter Father Vanãcio Nunda, MS, Regional Superior of Angola, explained a bit about his homeland and the La Salette mission there.

The mission in Angola – then a Portuguese colony in Africa – began in 1946 when eight La Salette Missionaries came from Switzerland. Their missionary zeal was directed to poorer regions of Angola. As a result of their efforts to evangelize, to form Catholic communities, to build schools and to educate youth, they soon began to draw vocations. However the first native priest – Fr. Tarcisio Tchiheke – came to the La Salettes from the diocesan clergy. Today the La Salette Region in Angola is composed of 54 priests, 3 Brothers, 23 professed scholastics in four years of theology and 8 novices. There are 56 young men in three years of philosophy and 45 others in the first two years of college.

We have a mission in Opuwo, Namibia with three priests and two deacons serving there. Soon we will take on another ministry there, opening a new pastoral center. There is one priest studying in Brazil and another in France. Yes, God has blessed us in spite of hardship – or perhaps because of the fidelity to Mission – during more than 30 years of civil war in our country.
 

 

La Salette Sisters in Angola

We no longer have a minor seminary as we did in the years before the war. It had been a flurishing seminary but everything was destroyed. Young men and even boys were compelled to flee or be forcefully inducted into armies – either the government or the rebels. At present we have no intention of re-opening the minor seminary. Rather, in conjunction with diocesan efforts, each parish has a vocation program, encouraging young boys and men, aided by the parish priest, to come together frequently in order to discern their vocation. Only when together they judge that the candidate has reached a mature point in his education and discernment will he be invited “to knock at the door of a seminary or religious house.” Of course La Salette priests and brothers encourage them to think of and try a La Salette way of life.

The La Salette Sisters in Angola began many years ago under the direction of a La Salette Missionary. With almost no possibility of adequate communication with the larger world during the war years, they choose to begin as a local diocesan religious congregation, and were known as the “Messengers of La Salette.”  A few years ago they were able to merge with the Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette – SNDS. Now, with several sisters serving in Brazil and France, they have truly become an active part of a worldwide Religious Congregation.

Angolan Seminarians in Philosophy

Today La Salettes serve 17 ministries in three dioceses of Angola. Five of these ministries are dedicated to formation and seven are mission posts. We have a beautiful Shrine and Spirituality Center  in Lubango,  a Regional house in Catumbela and two Pastoral Centers. The 17th place – Tchindjendje – is now a total disaster. It was the gem of the La Salette missions, with a church, rectory, sister’s convent, boys’ and girls’ school plus boarding schools, a full hospital, and professional trade schools. Everything was destroyed during the war. It is a classic case of “not one stone being left on top of another.” One of our challenges is to decide if we want to try “to put Humpty-Dumpy together again” for the good of the people – it would be a costly program – or to branch out in another direction. Other places – like Ganda and Catumbela where our printing presses put out Bibles and prayer books in our local languages and produced school books – were also destroyed and present similar challenges.

We were happy that, during this General Chapter, India has gone from the status of a La Salette Region to that of a La Salette Province. Our La Salette Missionaries in India worked hard to make this happen and we congratulate them. Our central project is to prepare ourselves to do the same. We face two major challenges: formation and financial self-sufficiency. As I mentioned earlier, we have many vocations, for which we thank God. With the help of the former General Council we have put into place quite a good formation program. I believe we need to deepen it and own it ourselves by adapting to our cultural reality. That is very possible. Self-sufficiency, however, is a greater challenge. Today

Angolan version of La Salette Apparition

various mission posts still depend on ordinary financing from our Regional Administration. Our first step is to bring our missionaries to a point where they will not be totally financially depend on the Region. Even if they begin by producing their own food – and perhaps some food for our formation houses – it would be a big step forward. Most of our parishes have refugees returning to our homeland after having been away for years. They, like us, return to total destruction of their homes and fields – some still unable to be used because of land-mines. We can be a great inspiration, example and encouragement to them if we can become self-sufficient in some ways.

It is our hope that, with peace now in our country, foreign visitors will come to visit us in view of helping us with projects – like rebuilding churches and schools. This is where the laity, especially from other countries, can be of valuable help. After years away, we have lost much enterprenurial expertise. For some projects, like rebuilding, we lack professional skills. If anyone or any group could help us – especially during school vacation which stretches from June 1st  to August 15th when we would have place to lodge visitors – we would welcome you with open arms and share what little we have. Our first invitation is “Come and See.” Then we will follow it up, when funds become available, by a second invitation: “Come and Stay for a While” to help do the building and bring the project to a close.