Installation of an Indian Confrere as Parish Priest in Italy
GINOSA, Italy - On Sunday, October 5, the Parish Community of the “Immaculate Heart” of Ginosa – Taranto (Italy) gathered with Bishop Sabino IANNUZZI for the “entry” rite of the new parish priest, Fr. Cletus M. DAVID, SMM, on the path of life and faith. Originally from the Vice-Province of India, Fr. Cletus (called by all as "Padre Cleto") is already on his third experience in a parish entrusted to the Province of Italy, and during the last three years, he had been a parish priest of Pardesca di Bianco (Reggio Calabria).
The presence of the world was considerable in an atmosphere of deep prayer and sympathy. The bishop, in his homily, sent messages to those present: “We must all be ‘consistent’ to avoid the risk of ‘saying and not doing’; everyone...for every role we have in walking together. Avoid any form of hypocrisy which often leads to pretending, or even ‘playing a role’. Dress yourself with a healthy dose of humility and smallness, for such is the wisdom of the Gospel. In the journey of faith shared with the parish priest, Fr. Cletus M. DAVID, SMM, and the collaborators, namely Fr. Eugenio PERICO, SMM and Fr. Domenico DI LIBERATORE, SMM, the ‘logic of the world’ (hypocrisy, vanity, worldliness, clericalism) and to clothe ourselves in the ‘logic of service’ (kindness, patience, hospitality, altruism). This is our commitment as Christians today, here in the territory where we live and in the relationships that were established with everyone. Only in this way will we be ‘believers’, ‘believed’”.
At the end of his exhortations, Bishop Sabino affectionately addressed Padre Cleto: “Always offer your life; spend it for the brothers that the Lord gives you today; so that our Parish Community, entrusted to the Montfort Missionaries since 1957, continues to walk through history, with an evangelical style of gratitude and solicitude; so that it can become ever more a synodal Church which shares the path with others, even with the brothers who often find themselves on the threshold of the door; be an open Church that recognizes the value of others to generate paths of grace; to be a worried Church, in the anxiety of our times, in a generative creativity which makes us credible witnesses of the Lord”.
In conclusion, the bishop added: “And as Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort writes in the Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary: To you, like a slave, I abandon and consecrate my body and my soul... leaving you a complete and full right to dispose of me and everything that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, to the greater glory of God in time and eternity. Amen”.
Have a good journey everyone and... courage!
Fr. Eugenio PERICO, SMM
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