Mission in TODAY
Vol. XVIII x No. 1
JANUARY 2006
Mission in arabic
By Msgr. Camillo Ballin
Bishop of Kuwait
Ordained priest, I was sent immediately to Syria and Lebanon. Afterwards I went to Egypt and Sudan. Now I am the Catholic Bishop of Kuwait. And I am very happy to be a Comboni missionary. My congregation prepared me to meet my adopted country, the Arabic World, and taught me respect for other mentalities and especially other religions.
I am very happy to be a Comboni missionary. Ordained priest in 1969, I was sent immediately to Syria and Lebanon to learn Arabic. Then, after two years, I was sent to Egypt, where I remained for 19 years, till 1990. During this period I obtained a Licentia in Oriental Sciences and was the Delegation Superior for three years, then the Provincial Superior for 6 years. In 1990, I was sent to Sudan, where I stayed until 1997 when I was required to go to Rome for a doctorate. In 2000, I was again in Egypt, until 2005 when I have been called to be the Catholic Bishop of Kuwait.
I feel very happy of my missionary life. My congregation prepared me to meet my adopted country, the Arabic World (my work has been always in Arabic) and taught me the sound principles of missionary life. Respect for other mentalities and especially for other religions was inculcated in us through our studies and personal formation. Life with confreres of other countries since the time of basic formation has been another challenge which accompanied me all my life.
Now I am the only Italian in this priestly community in Kuwait and the only Comboni missionary, so I can appreciate the missionary character that is our fundamental character. I find no problems to live with missionary members of other religious societies or with diocesan priests. What unites us is Mission and not our personal belonging. Comboni wanted missionaries for Africa. His charisma pushed the Comboni missionaries to the Philippines and to China and now to the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. I appreciate very much this availability of Comboni congregation to help in many places, in spite of her relatively small number of confreres. I wish that we, the Comboni missionaries, remain always open to the calls of the Holy Spirit for the service of the Church.
Indians, Filipinos, Arabs
The Church in Kuwait is fantastic. The Catholics are around 158,000. The majority is from India (belonging to the Latin rite, or Syro-Malabar rite, or Syro-Malankara rite, then the Filipinos, the Arabs, the Bangladeshis and some Europeans. The Coptic-Orthodox are about 60,000, other Orthodox about 5,000, Protestants all together about 10,000.
I am new in this field but it seems to me that I have been always here. I find a marvelous collaboration from the priests and from the lay people. All are eager to serve the Lord. Our Masses are overcrowded, the problem is to have a place where we can welcome all these thousands of Christians. I like very much the spirit of prayer I found here. Many times the church is so packed that it is extremely difficult for the people to move in order to come to receive the Holy Communion. The third Thursday of every month is night vigil, prayer from 9 pm to 5.30 am. Every time I saw the church full! They pass all the night praying. Hours of adoration are organized regularly in all our three parishes.
Prayer is not only in the church but also before the grotto of the Virgin Mary in the courtyard. Every moment of the day, there is always somebody praying in the church or near the grotto. The continuous prayer that the monks are invited to practice in their life is here a daily reality. Besides that, many families meet every week in small groups to pray together.
However, this Church is not only for spiritual but also for charity. Poor people in Kuwait or outside Kuwait are helped by the generous faithful. Perhaps somebody would think that it is easy for these people to help others since they earn much money here. It is not true. We are in a rich country but our faithful are poor. Many of them are here alone, forced to leave their wife and children in India because they cannot afford to take their family with them to Kuwait. This is a sad situation.
Important goals
Like any other Church, ours has to walk towards important goals. First of all, she is called to be ever more Catholic, i.e. not bound to a particular rite. The fact that, in Kuwait there is only a Catholic Bishop, is already a sign that we have to be only one Church and not an assembly of many Churches which, for practical necessities, pray together in our parishes. Charity should be not only for the members of a particular rite but for others also because all of us are children of God.
Another essential goal is to deepen the spiritual formation of these brothers and sisters. About 4.000 people of our parishes are in the charismatic movement, “Renewal by the Holy Spirit” recognized by the Holy See. But prayer without a strong and constant appeal to conversion is a risk that may leave us as we are. We believe that we are with God because we pray a lot, but in fact there is the danger that we are good worshippers but not good Christians because we are not seeking for a deep conversion to Jesus Christ. Therefore, our charismatic meetings have to be accompanied by a revision of our life. The help of all the members of the charismatic group is necessary in this subject.
It is very important also to encourage other charisms to enrich our community. The Carmelite religious charisma, the Rosary Sisters charisma, the Comboni missionary charisma, the Don Bosco charisma, the monastic charisma and others should be spread and developed in our beloved Church of Kuwait.
Our mission is also to enter into dialogue with the non-Catholic Churches, and especially with Islam. This field is so large and so demanding that it requires very much attention and time. The Church of God in Kuwait is young (the elders if they have no sponsors any more after their age of work, must leave the country) having the courage, the enthusiasm, the joy and the creativity of the youth. She is a very beautiful Church and loved so much by God because He sees in her the image of His beloved Son Jesus Christ. <WM
Degree on "Religious persecution"
Bishop Camillo Ballin was born at Fontaniva, province of Padova, diocese of Vicenza, Italy, on 24 June 1944. After his secondary school, he entered the novitiate of the Comboni Missionaries and made his perpetual profession on 9 September 1968. He was ordained priest at Castelletto sul Garda (Verona) on 30 March 1969.
After the ordination, he was sent to Lebanon and Syria (1969-1971) to learn Arabic. Having been assigned to the Delegation of Egypt, he started his apostolate in the Latin parish of St. Joseph, Zamalek, Cairo where he was parish priest from1972 to1977. From 1977 to1978, he was again in Lebanon (Kaslik) to begin his studies for the Licentiate in Oriental Liturgy, which he completed in 1980 at the Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Rome.
From 1981 to 1990 he was professor of Oriental Liturgy at the Institute of Theology of Cairo, Delegation Superior and then Provincial Superior of his religious Congregation in Egypt. In 1990, he was assigned to the Comboni Province of Sudan where he founded the “Catholic Teachers Training College” for the formation of Religion teachers in schools (1990-1997).
From 1997 to 2000 he was in Rome for his doctorate on the History of the Church in Sudan, especially in the Mahdiyyah time (1881-1898). During that period, practice of any other religion, except the Mahdist Islam, was strictly forbidden. His research was on how Christians and Jews lived in those years of persecution.
Since 2000, he has been Director of the “Dar Comboni for Arabic Studies” in Cairo, a Pontifical Institute aimed at preparing missionaries for Arabic and Islamic countries. At the same time he was also professor of Church History in the inter-ritual Major Seminary. On 14 July 2005 he was appointed Bishop of Kuwait by Pope Benedict XVI. On September 2, 2005, he was consecrated as a bishop and has taken charge as Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait. <WM
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