Au Revoir aux confrères de Villepinte !

Last night I finished stuffing my two carry-on suitcases (down from four, a month ago!) and am heading to the Villepinte railway system (RER) to one of Paris' main train stations.  There, at the Gare du Nord, I'll board a train to my next destination, a bit over an hour north of Paris.  Amiens is most commonly known for having a (arguably the) splendid example of Europe's gothic architecture in its magnificent cathedral, Notre Dame d'Amiens.  This ville, along with our Vincentian mission house just minutes away from the train station, has been included in all of our ongoing education courses at our Paris Centre (C.I.F.) since 1994.  Still more important personally for me, Amiens is where Vincentian missioners have been associated since our beginnings in 1625.

I take my leave from Villepinte very, very grateful for the welcome and easy rhythm of common life with my Vincentian confreres here.  Of course, in France, we are still known as les Lazaristes, a term used first by Parisians to describe Vincent's missioners coming in and out of our historical mother house St. Lazare.  

From left to right:  Newly arrived P. Pierre HUNG NGUYEN, cm Vice Province of Vietnam; Henri, a friend of the CMs; P. Guillaume LEUKEUMO, cm; P. Gabriel ENDOM, CM -- both from Cameroun, a Region of the Province of France;  P. Mathew OCHUPARAMBIL, cm Province of North India.

The men pictured here above have given me much to think about as well.  Each manages to contribute to the ministry of the two mission* parishes -- St. Vincent de Paul and Notre Dame -- while continuing their studies or finishing an advanced degree for later teaching.  I've rarely seen a group of our own more in sync with each other, willing to help whether it's praying together, leading or participating in one of the three parish prayer centers, visiting the sick, celebrating funerals or eucharists during the week, or cooking, doing laundry, and cleaning up...   They and the two churches make up a vital parish community with impressive participation by the local residents.

Parishioners departing after the 11:00 Sunday Eucharist, L'Église Saint Vincent de Paul.
Young lady on the left could not stop beaming, having just been entrusted with a stature of Notre Dame de Lourdes.  She, along with her little sister and mother, will make heir home the neighborhood center of Marian devotion for this coming week.

I'm sure all of these takes some planning and coordination of who does what and when... but I certainly found the house to be a natural and fraternal atmosphere these past ten days.  Although we communicate with each other in French -- being in France (!) -- each man in the mission house speaks at least two other languages and as many as five.

They come from Cameroon, India and Vietnam, but they are the new faces of our worldwide Congregation of the Mission.

[* "Mission" here is used to indicate that this "mission house" has always been intended as a temporary commitment between the Congregation and the bishop, in this case, Bishop Pascal of the Diocese of Saint Denis, a very poor area in the northern suburbs north of Paris.]