NEWS FROM THE MISSIONHURST COMMUNITY

The Missionhurst community experienced an influx of visitors this summer, ranging from Confreres coming for Mission Appeals to friends and families.

In September and October, we welcomed back our confrere Zebedee Lobo from Kinshasa, where he attended the Formators’ Meeting on his way to his Haiti Cherie through Santo Domingo. We welcomed our confrere Ramon Caluza from the Philippines on his way to Springbank Retreat Center, South Carolina, where he will be attending his sabbatical program. We bid farewell to our confrere Jean de Dieu Bukasa, who spent a month here at Missionhurst attending the International Language Institute in Washington, D.C., polishing his English. He then proceeded to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for his vacation. We welcomed our confrere Anselme Malonda from Guatemala, who came for his appointment with social security to apply for his Medicare. We bid him farewell as he returned to Guatemala a few days later.

On September 9, some confreres joined the family of our confrere Mike Hann for the

funeral mass of Anita Johnson, Mike’s sister, at St. Ann Catholic Church in Arlington.

On September 23, the Virginia and Maryland confreres held their first recollection at

Dominion House in preparation for next year's Provincial Assembly 2026.

From September 29 to October 3, Marlee Abao, Jean Marie Mvumbi, and Dorein Smith, our bookkeeper, attended the National RCRI (Resource Center for Religious Institutes) in Dallas, Texas (the last one for Jean Marie and the first one for Marlee).

On October 5, we started welcoming our confreres at Missionhurst for our Annual Retreat. All the confreres of the Province, except one (Moses Bwalya, our intern, who is taking some classes at The Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas), attended the retreat during which we celebrated the silver ordination jubilee of our confrere Ramel Portula, the 80th birthday of our confrere Ricardo Terga, and the 90th birthday of our confrere Bill Wyndaele.

During the retreat, we welcomed our confrere Charles Phukuta, Superior General, on his way to the diocese of Gaspe, Canada, and then to the Dominican Republic.

After the retreat, our confrere Andre Kazadi, Provincial Superior, attended the

safeguarding session in Florida before joining the Superior General in Gaspe, Canada.

The week of October 27, our confreres Marlee Abao, Jean Marie Mvumbi, Sonny Aryanto, and Andre Kazadi will attend the meeting on Alienation of Property in Santo Domingo. Following this, Andre Kazadi and Jean Marie Mvumbi will stay behind to attend the Regional Meeting the week of November 3.