Ash Wednesday in Madagascar

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Written by Bp. Donald Pelletier, M.S.
That year I began Lent in a singular fashion.
 
I went to Belo-sur-mer for Ash Wednesday. I felt bad for the Christians there – Fr. Yan is home on vacation in Poland – and figured I would make an effort to serve them as we launched into Lent. As the crow flies, Belo-sur-mer is only 45 miles from Morondava. In the dry season it takes about 4 to 5 hours by car – access is by a dirt track (we call it a road) that leads to two major rivers which are not spanned by bridges. You traverse seemingly endless salt flats and drive through miles of deep, fine sand. 
 

 
Fr. Donald Pellietier, M.S., standing fifth from left, as a young missionary in Butafo, Madagascar
But my trip down on Tuesday, Mardi Gras, was by sea. A company here – called Aquamen – has a speedboat with two 90 horsepower outboard motors, and I hitched a ride. The trip was good, even though I held my breath all the way – 180 hp and Belo-sur-mer in one hour! – bouncing over the waves and graciously taking in the ocean spray. I have gone to Belo-sur-mer hundreds of times over the years and that was the fastest I ever made the trip. 
 
Having traveled early in the morning I had all day to visit and meet with the people. We had a Mass at 5:30 PM after hearing confessions for 45 minutes. On Ash Wednesday we also had a good liturgy – except for the homily that was too long, all of 40 minutes. Over 100 people participated in the liturgy. After Mass there was a meeting in church to set up a visitation schedule because Fr. Yan – who regularly serves this place – will be in Poland for some time.

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A New Pentecost for Myanmar

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Written by Sr. Tammy Saberon
Beginning of the National Workshop
I serve as the Myanmar National Coordinator for Biblical Pastoral Ministry. I am proud to say that the effect of last year’s national workshop entitled “New Pentecost” was a deep sense of the Spirit’s presence during the 2nd National Biblical Apostolate Workshop. It was held held on March 1-6, 2011 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, ministered by the La Salette Missionaries in Chanthagone, Mandalay, Myanmar. 
 
When we began planning the 2011 event in September of 2009, we expected less than 100 official delegates and about two hundred extra people at the most to witness the Biblical Awareness Festival. However one week before the event, I was told that there were many more people than we first expected, arriving by trains, boats and buses. On the whole there were about 600 people who attended the Biblical Festival and an additional 110 official delegates including three Archbishops and five Bishops who came as resource persons and for other functions.

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Kinderhilfe Bethlehem: A Small Bridge for Peace

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Written by Klaus Röllin
Fr. Ernst Schnydrig, M.S.,
born on Sept. 16, 1912,
professed on Sept. 9, 1932
died on April 15, 1978
Editor: Mike Ursini, a La Salette alumnus told me about this article about Fr. Ernst Schnydrig, M.S. on the web site of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, founded in 1926 by Pope Pius XI. This article shows the power and courage of one La Salette when confronted with need and injustice.
 
The year was 1952. As the bells of the Church of the Nativity rang out, calling Christians to the Christmas services, a Swiss priest, Father Ernst Schnydrig, M.S., stood watching a father bury his child in the muddy ground before his tent. A child had died of hunger near the very place where Jesus was born.
 
Profoundly moved by this incident, Father Schnydrig, who was working for Caritas Switzerland to help war refugees in Palestine, rented two rooms in a house and installed 14 cots to form the nucleus of what he confidently named the Caritas Baby Hospital.
 
The hospital grew gradually, with the help of a local doctor and a refugee worker from Switzerland. Meanwhile, Father Schnydrig began working for the German Caritas Association. Caritas was not in a position to run the hospital permanently, but Father Schnydrig was able to find church members in both Switzerland and Germany who were ready to form an association that would sponsor the children’s hospital and manage its legal, financial and organizational affairs. Thus Caritas Kinderhilfe Bethlehem, now known as Kinderhilfe (“children’s aid”) Bethlehem, was born in 1963, with its headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland. Later, offices were established in Geneva and Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

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