FROM THE EDITOR

The founder of the FIC congregation Msgr. Louis Rutten had a great concern for the poor and neglected youth in his native town of Maastricht. Just like our founder, Bro. Bernardus Hoecken, the first Superior of the congregation, also urged the brothers never to lose sight of the poor (const. #9). This is the heritage FIC brothers need to protect. We can do this by “listening carefully and humbly to the needs of people around us.” In this issue of the magazine, we offer readers a reflection on this original spirit with the theme, “The Poor are our Masters.” It is our task to continue the original motivation of our founders in order to give meaning to our call and mission in the church. Our true vocation lies in serving God through people, especially the poor and needy.

In this issue Bro. Raphael reflects on the topic “Focusing our apostolic works on the most poor and needy”. Those who are materially poor are the focus of this presentation; that is those who lack the most basic essentials of life. There are a lot of poor people in our world today, and it is our Christian duty to provide for these people and to change their situation of misery and marginalization. FIC tries to do this through education and formation of the youth. We invite not only FIC brothers but our collaborators and numerous readers, to give special attention to the needs of the poor and neglected around us. We are grateful Bro. Jos van Dinther shares with us his “50 years of life and work in Ghana” where, among others, he directed the street children project in Accra. To demonstrate another side of serving the poor, Bro. Michael Sidharta shares his experience on a visit to Tanjung, and his encounter with teachers of FIC schools in Indonesia. People who are vulnerable are among the poor and therefore our target. Bro. Patricio Guentilican Perez from Chile tells us about vulnerability of people in Chile currently.  To give another perspective to the theme of our magazine, Bro Andrew Makocho from Malawi gives his opinion on the poor who are at the centre of our apostolate.

Beloved readers, as usual we present the profiles of two of our brothers: Ge van Vugt from Chile who has been on mission there for so many years, and actually celebrates his 60^th anniversary as a brother FIC this year (2021), and Heribertus Iriyanto Mulyono, who heads the office of Budi Mulya Semarang Social Foundation, that focuses its apostolate on the poor. We hope their sharing will inspire you, and give more meaning to our life and work. The rest are picture news, news from our provinces, from the Vatican and an article about Mary with the title “Mary Mother of the Poor”, written by Bro. Aaron Nee-Eru from Ghana.

In the spirit of our founders and for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we continue to give meaning to our apostolic work targeting the poor and the needy with the believe that an encounter with the poor is an encounter with God Himself, and that, we are not merely giving them something but also learning from them. It is our desire to remain good and do good to humanity through service to the poor and neglected. Thank you for your attention, support and collaboration, and may God remain the light on our path.