News archive

Migrants in Italy, an opportunity ? Statistics ! (PE nr. 1082)

Italy holds 4% (10 million) of the 244 million migrants in the world: 5,200,000 Italians live abroad and 5,026,153 foreign nationals live in Italy. Many immigrants arrive illegally. In 2015, 154,000 disembarked on Italian soil. They were asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution and economic migrants fleeing misery. Continue reading “Migrants in Italy, an opportunity ? Statistics ! (PE nr. 1082)”

Migration: a view from Mauritania (PE nr. 1082)

Mauritania faces the Canary Islands, gateway to Europe and, at the same time, it is on the edge of the Sahara giving access to North Africa. For many years now, it has served as a transit zone for migrants coming from different countries of Africa who want to go to Europe. Their arrival is often linked to political events or war situations in their countries of origin. So we have seen at different times, waves of people from the DRC, Nigeria, Cameroon, and (at the time of Gbagbo crisis) from Côte d’Ivoire. The list is not exhaustive! Continue reading “Migration: a view from Mauritania (PE nr. 1082)”

My experience of working with Migrants (PE nr. 1082)

For eight months now, I have worked with the religious of different Congregations at a Reception Centre for migrants, newly arrived from Libya after crossing the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. With the little experience that I have, I will never again allow myself to utter generalisations about the causes of migration that so many ‘experts’ make from the comfort of their air-conditioned offices! One simply cannot look in the eyes of those traumatised by their experiences and continue to speculate with the ‘experts.’ Most of the migrants have been sold wholesale (in bulk) and then resold retail at the slave market in Libya. They have been tortured in prison or private houses, forced to work without wages or simply killed for the simple reason they are black. Continue reading “My experience of working with Migrants (PE nr. 1082)”

The history of the world is one of migration (PE nr. 1082)

Amnesty International has blamed «failing EU policies» for the soaring death toll among refugees and migrants in the central Mediterranean. It said the EU was turning a blind eye to abuses in Libyan detention centres, and was mostly leaving it up to sea rescue charities to save migrants. It also stated that more than 2,000 people have died in 2017 trying to get to Europe. Continue reading “The history of the world is one of migration (PE nr. 1082)”

Andrés Urquizu A., R.I.P.

Father Jesús Zubiría O., Provincial Delegate of the sector of Spain,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Andrés Urquizu A.

on Saturday the 22nd of July 2017 at Pamplona (Spain)
at the age of 79 years, of which 53 years of missionary life
in Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), in Chad and in Spain.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

Continue reading “Andrés Urquizu A., R.I.P.”

Maurits De Weerdt 1935 – 2017 (PE nr. 1081)

Maurits was born on the 9th April 1935 at Antwerp, Belgium. His father, a renowned lawyer and Professor at Louvain University, died when Maurits was just four years old. Maurits attended Notre Dame College in Antwerp for his secondary education. He spent a year at the Notre Dame de la Paix University at Namur studying Natural and Medical Sciences. He entered the White Fathers in September 1955 at Boechout. After novitiate in Varsenare, Maurits went to the recently opened Scholasticate at Totteridge, London for his theological studies. He took his Missionary Oath there on the 11th July 1961. He was ordained priest in Heverlee on the 29th June 1962.
Continue reading “Maurits De Weerdt 1935 – 2017 (PE nr. 1081)”

Thierry Cornet 1931 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)

Thierry was born in Bruxelles on the 19th February 1931. He came from an aristocratic background. His father was Count Cornet d’Elzius de Peissant who worked for the legendry Wagon-Lits company. Thierry studied at the Institute Saint-Josse in Bruxelles. In September 1949, he entered the White Fathers at Thy-le-Château. He then went on to do the novitiate at Varsenare and theological studies at Heverlee. He took his Missionary Oath there on the 16th July 1955 and on the 1st April 1956, he was ordained priest.
Continue reading “Thierry Cornet 1931 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)”

Theo de Jong 1925 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)

Theo was born in Nes, on the island of Ameland, Netherlands on 18th May 1925. He followed the usual formation programme of the White Fathers at the time: studies in ‘s-Heerenberg where he took his Missionary Oath on the 22nd July 1953 followed by further theological studies in Monteviot, Scotland. He was ordained priest in Galashiels Parish on the 10th June 1954. His paternal uncle was Johannes Cardinal de Jong (+1956) who played an important role in history of the Church in the Netherlands.  Theo had a sound judgment with a facility for matter-of-fact critical assessment. He could find it difficult sometimes to put his thoughts into words. He was a very dedicated person with great simplicity and gentleness; he was someone one could rely on. However, he knew what he wanted and persevered until he got it. He could be somewhat emotional and nervous, and his teachers wanted him to develop his self-confidence.
Continue reading “Theo de Jong 1925 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)”

Hugo Van den Haute 1930 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)

Hugo was born on the 25th July 1930 in Ninove in the Diocese of Gand, Belgium. There were eight children in the family, which ran a textile shop and a printing press. Hugo did his first two years of secondary schooling in the College Saint-Louis at Ninove before transferring to the Jesuit run College Saint-Joseph at Alost for his final four years. He met missionaries there and so began a dream, “in the scouts and the Catholic Student Group at school of which I was a member, we were encouraged to follow such ideals.”
Continue reading “Hugo Van den Haute 1930 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)”

Jean Vialleton 1926 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)

It was Sunday, the feast of Christ the King and the nurses were helping Jean get ready to go down to Mass at our Nursing Home in Pau. As there was plenty of time, they invited him to lie down before going to the chapel. Hardly had he done so, when his heart gave out and Jean Vialleton died as discretely as he had lived his life.

Jean was born on the 10th April 1926 at Dunières a village in the northeast of Haute-Loire Department in the Diocese of Le Puy. His father was in the confectionary business while his mother was the homemaker.

Continue reading “Jean Vialleton 1926 – 2016 (PE nr. 1081)”

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