On 14 January 2012, after a year of novitiate experience, the following confreres made their first vows: Valmir Michael Majola, Oberdan Fiorese Henrique, Jose Francisco Nascimento Adailton, Thiago Batista da Luz, José Cidrón Rodrigues do Amaral de Souza Mendes Genivaldo, Sergio Adrián Elifonzo. All of them are of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family (MSF).
Fr. Arnoldo van de Kruis, a former provincial superior of the MSF in Chile, died on the feast of Saint Stephen, 26 December 2011. Fr. Arnoldo was born in Heeze, Holland, on 27 July 1921. After elementary school he first worked on the farm of his parents for a few years. Then he joined the Missionaries of the Holy Family.
Fr. Willibald Pfeuffer MSF was born in Kaistern, Germany, on 30 May 1940. After his first vows on 1 Mai 1966 he studied at the Johann Gutenberg University in Mainz. He was ordained priest in the cathedral of Mainz on 15 July 1972. A year later Fr. Willibald was sent as a missionary to Kalimantan on 21 May 1973. He arrived there on 10 June 1973. He worked on Kalimantan for 40 years always in the same parish Sampit and in the fast area of the centre of the isle Kalimantan. Meanwhile the area has been divided into three parishes.
Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2012
The beginning of a new year, God’s gift to humanity, prompts me to extend to all, with great confidence and affection, my heartfelt good wishes that this time now before us may be marked concretely by justice and peace. With what attitude should we look to the New Year? We find a very beautiful image in Psalm 130. The Psalmist says that people of faith wait for the Lord “more than those who watch for the morning” (v. 6);
“Jesus, Mary, Joseph, give us the humility of your hidden life. That, penetrated like you by the greatness of God, we may give to him all the glory that he deserves for the gifts he gave us, not attributing any merit to ourselves.” - Fr. Jean Berthier (CI : 259)
