Coronavirus 19

Thank you for opening a communication space to inform us and inform about the situation of our communities around the world and for solidarity in prayer and in what little we could do.
In our mother house some are in forced quarantine and two positives hospitalized. In Nairobi we have two seminarians with the virus who are treated separately, and the whole seminary has just finished quarantine. In other parts there are signs but nothing "serious" for the moment.
Fraternally,

Stefano Camerlengo

7/4/2020

Good idea to open a space
where the Superiors General of our Congregations can share what we are experiencing in these weeks of COVID-19 pandemic. As you know, our Order (Piarists) is mainly dedicated to education. Most of our schools continue their work online. But this is not possible in all places. I see with joy the creativity that is emerging among us to continue to accompany our students, pastoral groups, communities, etc. I share with you that we have also suffered four deaths from this pandemic, all four in a community in Barcelona which is a nursing home. Despite all the measures put in place, four of our older brothers left us. We continue to pray for each other, doing our best for our mission.

Pedro Aguado

Piarists

9/4/2020

Like many of you, I appreciate this possibility to share some of our experiences during this pandemic of Covid-19.

Thank you to the USG office for undertaking this service!

As with many of you, the Covid-19 virus has touched us quite personally. Five of our confreres have died. Another 14 are infected, and some in grave condition. Five of our Sisters in affiliated Congregations have also died, and others are recovering. And another three lay members of our Redemptorist Family have died. This has been a particularly difficult experience for community members, especially for our older confreres. We are living this situation in solidarity with so many families and seniors across the world...

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Michael Brehl

Redemptorists

Until Easter, I lived the isolation imposed by the epidemic in a Lenten spirit, as if crossing the desert, feeling strongly the need to strip ourselves of the superfluous and to beg God and His help with a humble heart. Now, it is as if a time of waiting, of poverty, of the desire for salvation was beginning, but I understand that it has a more paschal color. Christ is risen and promises us the Holy Spirit. Now we know who and what we must wait for: the Paraclete who gives the world the filial Life of Jesus who died and rose again for us. Then it is as if the isolation of retreat to the desert now becomes the isolation of waiting behind the locked door of the Upper Room. A more joyful isolation, because Christ is alive, His Mother is with us, and we are given a fraternal unanimity of desire and prayer that is already a miracle. We know that our great task is to beg the Spirit, the Lord who gives life. For at Easter Christ rises again, but at Pentecost we rise in Him, and a spring of living water begins to flow over the world, even in the suffering condition in which He now finds himself. I am accompanied by a phrase of Brother Roger of Taizé, in Dynamique du provisoire:

"God is preparing us for a new Pentecost that will set every man on fire with the fire of his love. It is up to us to rush to the event that will thwart all human prognosis and bring our dry bones back to life."

Holy Easter and a profound Pentecost to all!

Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori

Cistercian Order

At the General House we are doing well.

We are learning how to live and carry out our mission in quarantine mode.

We have lost four senior Brothers due to covid-19, three in Saint Genis Laval (Lyon) France and one in the United States. Some of our educators have been infected and are getting by. There are relatives of Brothers or Lay Marists suffering from the disease and some have died.

Given the quarantine situation in almost all countries, most of our schools are operating online. Some support initiatives are emerging: some of our houses are made available to take in medical personnel or for homeless people; in several places food is supported in the poorest areas; various ways of supporting "stay at home" orders; materials offered to young people to live Holy Week.

We try to live the present with an eye on the future, but without planning much for now. Everything is in God's hands.

Ernesto Sánchez B.

Marist Brothers

The Coronavirus pandemic has claimed,

and is still claiming, many victims in almost every country in the world. We too, as Comboni Missionaries and as the Comboni Family, have been hard hit by this pandemic, with many brothers in Italy and Spain, and many sisters in Italy, who have died with and without coronavirus. With our Comboni missionary sisters, we have experienced fraternity, closeness at a distance, mutual comfort, and solidarity.

As General Council we invited our confreres, expressing our desire to welcome this situation with much faith and hope, as an invitation from our Heavenly Father to become people more and more committed to communicate hope and trust in His protection with their lives. We are sent as Missionaries of serenity and health,

with a renewed impetus for the mission entrusted to us.

This experience is difficult; it is necessary to have a strong faith of our own to encourage our brothers and sisters to walk forward with faith. It is not easy but with the strength of the Risen Christ we go forward learning some things anew, and reacquiring others previously set aside.

The cessation caused by the coronavirus brings us back to life as a challenge and a teaching: the possibility of prolonged prayer, celebrating the presence of the members of our communities, working from afar and from a distance, solidarity, fraternity, etc.

We think of all those who suffer and who are still under the threat of the virus and we accompany them with our prayers. We give thanks to the Lord for those who have wholly recovered from this infection. We have learned much from the generosity of many doctors and nurses who have sacrificed themselves in service, as have many priests and deacons, religious, and lay people.

Tesfaye Tadesse

Comboni Missionaries