Mill Hill

THE ORDER OF FRIARS SERVANTS OF MARY (OSM)

The Order of Friars Servants of Mary was founded by the group of seven lay men in the year 1233, who lived in the city of Florence in Italy.  They came together after Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them with a pierced heart and they devoted themselves to the life of penance, poverty and prayer in Caffaggio.

In 1245, Because of their need for solitude and an environment free from commotion, they shifted to Monte Scenario and this became a place of prayer. These men were joined by the other young men of who was St.Phillip Beniz, St. Peregrine Laziosi, the patron for cancer patients, St. Anthony Pucci among others. They formed a religious group that later became one of the mendicant orders. This order was approved by Pope Benedict 11^th in the year 1310.

The Order of Friars Servants of Mary is a community of the religious men gathered together in the name of Jesus Christ moved by the spirit of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As community members, we commit ourselves as our first fathers to witness the gospel in fraternal communion, at the service of God and his people. We draw our constant inspiration from Mary, the Theotokos and servant of God.

Our Formation House is situated at Kisoga in Uganda and our Philosophy House at Kiwa Mirembe in Jinja. Finally, our Theology Houses are in Nairobi and Rome in Italy.

St. Camillus de Lelllis. The saint of the sick.

“Go and preach …..heal the sick (Matthew 10:7-8). These words have been the programme of a man of courage, Camillus de lellis, who 400 years ago urged by God’s love embarked on a project, the project of organizing the care to be offered to our brothers and sisters who are sick.

For us   Camillians, who are inspired by Saint Camillus and whose ‘charism of mercy’ has been confirmed by the Church, the Samaritan action of creative compassion in the health-care field, responding to the challenges that this world poses to us today.

We are religious Order founded by St. Camillus Del Lellis in 1582 in Rome working as Priests, Brothers, and Sisters in over 46 different countries. The Order is devoted to quality and comprehensive health of the society, especially the sick poor for over 400 years. We work as; Chaplains, Doctors, Nurses, Administrators, Counselors, Pastoral agents, Social workers and Teachers. With a fourth vow of “Serving the sick even with the danger to one’s own life”.

“Go, heal the sick” Camillians have come to Africa to take care of the suffering, to dress the wounds of those of the injured by wars and hatred, to dry the tears of the orphan, to give hope to persons with AIDS, to give a home to the disoriented refugees, to humanize the healthcare institutions. To achieve these dreams of our founder St. Camillus in the year 2000 the first Camillians came to Uganda, to join Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa. It is also well established in the West Africa; in Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and in Madagascar. In Uganda we are still a little plant having its roots in the Diocese of Lugazi and Jinja.

The growth of Camillias in the pearl of Africa was initiated by the first Missionary Fr. Tom O’Connor by beginning to admit students who were sent to Camillians, Nairobi, Kenya. As a result we have the first Ugandan Camillian Priest, Fr. Richard Lubaale ordained on 14 July 2011. Later from the arrival of Indian Confreres in 2010 the Province decided to begin the first stages of formation in Jinja and we are blessed with five students in Theology seven students in Philosophy and another nine students in Aspirancy. Believing and praying for this ‘Little Plant’ we gaze into the future that this little plant will be a cause of opening new horizons of hope and healing for many in Africa. 

Link to the Camillians >>> 

COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Comboni Missionaries is the religious congregation opereting world wide. The congregation was named after its founder, St. Daniel Comboni. Our postulantcy is currently located in Jinja. The community is at present composed of eighteen members  two priests- Frs. Anthony and Patrick- and sixteen postulants. We humbly serve one another and our entire community; with enormous enthusiasm and love as our community chatter states that: “The humble service for our community.” The postulants are all Ugandan coming from various region mainly Western, Central, Eastern and Nothern. We are all joined in a spirit of mutual sharing and love for each other. This can be witnessed in events like celebrating our various cultures once a year where interraction is possible. This makes us also learn to appreciate and recognise values in each other’s culture.  We show a sign of togetherness in various sports especially football and volleyball  We strengthen our relationship with other communities by inviting them for sports and various celebrations in the house.

The community’s central focuss is grooming the postulants for better leaders and ressponsible individual in the future. We try to enforce this by assigning responsibilities to every individual where he can acquire leadership skill. Open discussion in chatechesis equips postulants with life skills to enable us act and behave maturely. Since we are all being shaped to be good leaders, creating a condition for frienship is the duty of every postulant. We still remain focuss to cultivate and achieve our primary aim of formation with relentless zeal, trying to encourage one another and learn from the other.  

The link for Comboni Missionaries >>> 

 

WHY THIS BLOG

This blog expresses the spirit of togetherness at Queen of Apostle’s Philosophy Centre-Jinja (PCJ) which is composed of many religious communities studying. These religious communities have young men and women wishing to serve God with a vocation of missionary life. These communities involve; The society of Missionaries Of Africa, The society of Mill hill Missionaries, Comboni Missionaries, Claretian Missionaries, Servants of Mary (Servites), Mantalate Sisters (servite sisters), Holy Cross, Holy Cross Sisters, Blessed Sacrament, Camillians (Ministers of the infirm), Little Sisters of St. Francis and Camelites. These communities are bonded together by the presence of PCJ as the study Centre. As noted in the PCJ anthem, “there are so many gifts, so many charisms" which when fused help our family to read the signs of time. Through the richness of these talents and charisms that we have a strong binding force and that we portray the missionary aspect of the catholic church which mothers each one  of us. Apart from being a philosophical family we are also proud to be a catholic family.

This blog reflects also the academic nature of our family as an academic family. This is done through the different courses offered at the institute. This nature of our family helps us to grow in self-consciousness and to come to learn how to live harmoniously in the modern world different culture and fast growing technology.

This blog also show how through the spirit of love in the PCJ family we share both within ourselves and outside our communities. We are empowered to reach out in form of apostolate to the communities around us, through groups like YCS, charismatic, peace and justice and legion of Mary. This will also be shown in the articles we shall write here. Like any other family, PCJ members relate both within and outside as can be shown in sports, social times (social evenings) and Cultural days.

There is a number of cultural backgrounds at PCJ both from Africa and other parts of the world which qualify us to be an international community. It is our pride to live same life differently as one family. This is very real and enjoyable in our context shown in our relationship.

Also this blog hints on the values cherished in our family. Being religious oriented family we cherish fraternity and the theological and evangelical councils; that is, chastity, obedience and poverty. This reflects on the intention why we are together. At the center of our family is the mystery of Christ crucified, dead and risen as bond that holds us with our strengths and weakness.

This blog is one way to show of gratitude to the people behind our existence and its constant growth. This gratitude goes to the lecturers both gone and present, the superiors of the different communities in our family, benefactors, OBS and OGS, the well-wishers, our parents at home and majorly God who is the primary principle of our existence. PCJ is affiliated to pontifical urban and Uganda Martyrs universities, we cannot forget to thank you.

Our family is located in the diocese of Jinja in the eastern part of Uganda in East Africa. In this we also extended a sincere gratitude to the bishop of Jinja His Grace Charles Martin Wamika, and the whole diocese for accepting our family in the Diocese.

This blog is a voice of the members of PCJ. It is also to enable everyone to follow actively and vividly different activities taking and to take place as far as our family is concerned. It is also a frame of reference for the past events concerning the affairs of this family.

 Enjoy the blog as you enjoy PCJ.