Visiting our Consolata missionaries: Jack Viscardi, Guido Guerra, German Dassie...

with Fr Jack Viscardi IMC
After the "ad limina visit" I came to Turin to meet a youth group that will be visiting the Kingdom of Swaziland in August.

The "mother house" of the Consolata Missionaries and the Consolata Shrine are here in Turin. This afternoon the superior of the house offered me to go to Alpignano. That is the place where missionaries who need special care because of their health stay. How could I say "no" when I knew it would be a great joy to see each other again?

These are the missionaries who were close to us during our formation or had to bear the craziness of the "young" generation, recently ordained or new in the country. 

In fact the first one I met was Fr Salvatore Mura whom I met in 1982 in Colombia when I was a novice. He was all fire! He was part of a team working in Tocaima (Colombia) and a witness to what team work was for us. 


Then I met Fr Guido Guerra. He was in bed so I decided to put a photo that will "talk" to many of us: his typewriter in its container on top of the wardrobe. It has never left him all these years. Fr Guerra generously worked for more than 40 years in Argentina. Full enthusiasm all his life. A well known Consolata Missionary in Argentina because of his work with the scouts. 


Fr German Dassie remains incredibly joyful though his health is not really good and is really struggling. Fr Dassie worked in Mendoza (Argentina) among other places.

Finally... Fr Jack Viscardi (first photo above), the first Consolata Missionary to arrive in South Africa in 1971, together with Fr John Berte. Jack generously gave his time to teach Zulu to the newly arrived in South Africa in 1993 and 1994. He put the best foundation we could have at the time of learning the language. He would leave his parish to be with us full time but that implied "having class" from 9 to 12 and from 3 to 4 ... six days' a week!