Dear Sisters and Charismatic Family,

A year ago, you welcomed as a body, with joy, confidence and faith, the choice of Pope Francis over me through the appointment of Consultor to the CIVCSVA. One year later, I would like to say a sincere thank you for your support, your accompaniment and your solidarity. At first I was confused and wondered if this was true, but over the next few months I didn't need to ask myself any more questions.

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I thank the Congregation which allowed me to have collaborator sisters in various continents. Regularly, they carry this mission in prayer. Some give me news about consecrated life in their region. Added to other collaborators, they help me to have broader horizons and to open up to the universal. Thanks to Cecilia Bentacourt, Marluce, Elvia, Laure Deymier, Carme Boxadera and Anne Béatrice Faye. The Congregation also allowed me to take a language bath to learn Italian. I also reinforce English and Spanish.

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The meetings made at the level of the CIVCSVA and the large meeting of consultors that we had encouraged and calmed me. I felt like a daughter of the Church, welcomed and listened to. The load is not so heavy insofar as it is from time to time and each consultor can continue the mission entrusted to him in his institute or in the Church without being overloaded. The profiles of the consultors are varied: bishops, a few lay people, consecrated persons with various experiences and skills, professionals, superiors general, a nun...

As a theologian, the appointment also made me better known, I respond to various intercontinental requests according to my availability. Finally, what a beautiful experience of the Church! From time to time, I host conferences, meetings, I accompany animation teams, chapters, people too... in the end, I receive more than I give. These virtual or face-to-face meetings are extremely rich and formative and give me the opportunity to live the Fourth Vow to the full in the encounter with concrete people or various groups.

But on a daily basis, it is thanks to the formidable formative community with which I live that the entrusted mission acquires a new impetus. We are two sisters, Sister Irène Ekye Kaka and I, two postulants and two aspirants. Joy and peace, investment in the growth of young people is for me a concrete service of CIC religious life, as well as the availability for the service of formation in the Province, REPA and the Church.

Alongside this beautiful community that we form, we are in charge of the educational community of the Mother Jean Gabriel School Complex, which has 1,434 young people and 125 employees. A beautiful synergy where lay people and five institutes of consecrated life interact in the service of the education of children and young people, according to the charism of Saint Emilie. Animating, accompanying, training and supervising while walking together, such is our vision inspired by the Educational Project of the Congregation (PEC) and Emilie's practice.

Like Mary Magdalene overwhelmed by the call of the Risen One, I feel called by my name and, the Risen One, at each Eucharist comes to me in a particular way to renew his love and his trust. Also, I feel like a missionary of the resurrection, a fragile little servant, beloved by God and flooded with his mercy.

God fills us Alleluia!, may his name be blessed, may you also be blessed for what you are and what you do for the advancement of the Reign of God and for the Church in synodal progress.

Saint Emilie watches over us with incredible maternal solicitude! Pray again for me, I too carry you in my heart and in my prayers.

Again, Happy Easter!

Fraternally,

Marie Sidonie, cic

"What we are going through here, really, is a cruel thing. It touches the heart of humanity. People are treated like objects, like trash, and here in Peru it's the first time we've seen it. Let's see. It really is a cruel thing. The expression comes from the Missionary Joaninha Honório Madeira, of the Order of the Immaculate Conception. Known as Sister Joaninha, she is part of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network, whose work consists of offering social and religious assistance to residents of urban, riverside and indigenous communities of the triple border.

 
Along with other Catholic leaders, she found herself on the front line against shields and bombs thrown by the Peruvian police. "The police were extremely violent.   Before, we had only heard that they were violent, but yesterday (February 16) we saw it. We were almost beaten too. The first group [of immigrants who broke through the blockade] were treated very violently. Three pregnant women ended up at the health center,” she says.

For the Catholic missionary, Haitian and African immigrants also suffer from racism. According to Sister Joaninha, immigrants from countries like Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba manage to cross from one side of the border to the other. "We are witnessing racism here at the border. People from different countries pass through. Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil. Chile, Argentina. Everyone passes. Now when it comes to a Haitian or an African , the situation is different and they end up falling into the hands of exploiters,” she reports.

The missionary recalls that people of any other nationality pay 5 reais or soles (Peruvian currency) to cross the Acre River. On the other hand, Haitians and Africans must pay $50, plus $200 to get to Puerto Maldonado. For an average journey, vans from Iñapari to the capital of Madre de Dios cost 40 soles - the equivalent of 15 dollars. On the Brazilian side, immigrants are also victims of extortion by taxi drivers. For the short trip between the entrance to Assis Brasil and the binational bridge, you can pay up to 100 reals for a trip of less than eight kilometers. 

"This is exploitation. The border has become a way to profit from human suffering. We are looking for where we can denounce this. With the closure of the border, the river has become the solution to cross. Haitians are exploited because of the color of their skin. We see it with our own eyes,” says missionary Joaninha. 

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(Item Amazonia Real)

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