17th SVD General Chapter

FR. JOSE ANTUNES DA SILVA ELECTED AS GENERAL COUNCIL MEMBER

Fr. José Antunes da Silva, SVD

Fr. José Antunes da Silva, presently the provincial superior of Portugal (POR), is elected to the General Council. He is the fifth councillor to be elected, thus completing the elections to the General Council.

Fr. Da Silva was born on December 5, 1957, at Maxial da Campo, Sarzedas in Portugal. His father is João Nunes da Silva. His mother, Esperança Antunes de Almeida, passed away in 2005. He has a brother.

After his primary and secondary schooling at Maxial da Campo and Tortosendo, he joined the SVD novitiate at Fátima in 1975 and made his first vows on September 26, 1976. He studied philosophy and theology at the Catholic University, Lisbon. He was ordained priest at Fátima on May 6, 1984.

Fr. Da Silva was a missionary in Ghana (Kintampo) from 1986-1989. He then did his master in ‘Religion and Culture’ in Washington D.C. from 1990-1992. For the next eleven years, he was involved in Campus Ministry at Guimarães, Portugal. During this time he was also teacher at the philosophy faculty at Braga. Fr. Da Silva was the Vice provincial (POR) from 1998-2001. Before

he was elected as the provincial superior in 2007, he was spiritual director of diocesan seminarians at Braga, Director of “Contacto SVD” and provincial assistant of SVD Lay Missionaries.

FR. ARLINDO PEREIRA DIAS RE-ELECTED AS GENERAL COUNCIL MEMBER

Fr. Arlindo Pereira Dias, SVD

Arlindo Pereira Dias was born in the city of Cipotânea, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This small town of about 5,000 inhabitants, strongly Catholic, has offered about 40 priests and 20 religious to the Church.

His father, Corsino Dias Lopes, who died in 1997, was by profession a farmer and builder. His mother Belmira Pereira Dias is housewife and is currently 79. Arlindo is the second of four children. José Aloisio Dias, the elder brother is married and has two children. He works in the Colegio Arnaldo, an SVD school. The third one, Adilson Dias, who suffered from down syndrome, called by them “the pearl of the family” died on January, 18, 2011 at the age of 45. The last son, Ronaldo, drowned in 1994 at the age of 23.

After completing primary school, at the age of 11 he joined the SVD at the Pre-Juvenato São Geraldo, in the town of Barbacena, (SVD BRN – Northern Brazil). He attended secondary school at the Colegio Arnaldo, in Belo Horizonte (1977/1979); philosophy at the “Jesuit Faculty” in Rio de Janeiro and at the “Catholic University” in Belo Horizonte (1980/1982) and novitiate in Miracatu, in 1983. On February 2, 1984 he professed his first vows.

In 1984 he was sent to the Seminario Verbo Divino in Ponta Grossa for a year of regency. He studied theology at the Instituto Teologico S. Paulo (ITESP – 1985/1988). He professed perpetual vows on March 6, 1988. On December 3, 1988 he was ordained a priest.

After receiving his first assignment for the SVD BRC province, from 1989 to 1996 together with a group of religious and lay people he founded the NGO called Rede Rua (Street Network) dedicated to the homeless in S. Paulo. He was at the same time Mission Secretary of the province. From 1997 to 2001 he was prefect of the SVD theologate in S. Paulo. During this time he did a master degree in Social Communication at the Universidade Metodista de S. Paulo. From 2001 to 2006 he was Provincial of the BRC province and Chairman of the Executive Committee of PANAM Zone. He was elected to the General Council at the 2006 SVD General Chapter.

FR. PAUL BUDI KLEDEN ELECTED AS GENERAL COUNCIL MEMBER

Fr. Paul Budi Kleden, SVD

Fr. Paul Budi Kleden is elected as a member of the General Council of the SVD. He was a capitular representing the Ende Province in Indonesia (IDE).

Fr. Budi Kleden was born on November 16, 1965 at Waibalum-Larantuka, Flores, Indonesia. Born as the fifth child of Petrus Sina Kleden (gone to his eternal rest in 2000) and Dorotea Sea Halan, Fr. Budi Kleden has two brothers and 4 sisters. Fr. Budi Kleden did his schooling in SDK-Waibalun, Larantuka and the minor seminary at Hokeng.

He joined the SVD in 1985 at Ledalero and completed his novitiate and

philosophical studies there. He completed his theological studies at St. Gabriel, Austria. He was ordained priest at St. Gabriel, on May 15, 1993.

From 1993-1996, he worked in Switzerland as assistant parish priest first in Steinhausen and then in Auw. He did his doctoral studies in systematic theology in Albert Ludwig’s University at Freiburg, Germany from 1996-2000.

From the year 2001 he was professor of theology at Ledalero. He was a member of the provincial council (IDE) from 2005-2008, and was the Vice-Provincial for one year during this term. From 2011, he is also the director of post-graduate program in Ledalero.

FR. GREGORY PINTO RE-ELECTED AS GENERAL COUNCIL MEMBER

Fr. Gregory Pinto, SVD

Fr. Gregory Pinto is re-elected as a member of the General Council of the SVD. He was first elected to the general council in the 2006 General Chapter.

Fr. Pinto was born on December 31, 1948 at Mangalore, India. He is the youngest of the four children of Xavier and Maria. Both his parents are gone to their eternal reward. He has a sister and two brothers.

Gregory did his primary and secondary schooling at Mangalore and joined the SVD minor seminary in 1963. He completed his novitiate in 1971 and made his final vows in the same year. He did his philosophical and theological studies at Pune, India, and was ordained a priest in 1978.

Fr. Pinto has a Master’s degree in Social Work and a doctorate in Counseling. He is an experienced formator and administrator. He began his missionary life as vocation promoter at Mangalore and has been rector at the SVD Philosophate at Mysore and at the SVD Theologate at Pune. At his return from the Philippines, after the doctoral studies, he was the director of the Center for Spirituality and Counseling in Mumbai.

From 1987-1993, he was a member of the Provincial Council of the then INS province. From 1996-2002, he was the ASPAC Zonal Coordinator for formation. In 2002, he was elected Provincial Superior of the Mumbai Province in India (INM).

BROTHER GUY MAZOLA MIDI ELECTED AS GENERAL COUNCIL MEMBER

Brother Guy Mazola Mido, SVD

The 17th General Chapter of the SVD has elected Brother Guy Mazola Mido as a member of the General Council. He is the third to be elected to the General Council after the Superior General and the Vice-Superior General.

Brother Guy was born on October 31, 1962 at Bagata in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was the fourth of 10 children born to Leonard Mazola and Vistorine Lukie. He has five brothers and four sisters. He did his schooling at Beno (DRC) and his university studies at Kinshasa (DRC).

Brother Guy joined the SVD at Beno in the year 1981. He did his novitiate from 1982-1984 and made his first vows on October 1, 1984. He made his final vows on August 30, 1992. In 1984 he received his mission appointment to the Central Province of the Philippines (PHC) where he was the assistant formator in the novitiate from 1994-1995 and later worked in the SVD Friends’ Office till 1998.

He was then transferred back to DRC and was the Provincial Councillor of the Congo Province (CNG) from 2003-2008. From 2003-2010, he was the Chairperson of the Formation Board in the (CNG). From 2005 he worked as Brothers’ Formator and Superior Delegate in the province. From 2007 on he is the Area coordinator for Formation for AFRAM. From 2009, he is also the Chief Editor at the “Verbum Bible” publications center at Kinshasa.

FR. ROBERT KISALA IS THE NEW SVD VICE-SUPERIOR  GENERAL

Fr. Robert Kisala, SVD

Fr. Robert  Kisala was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 12, 1957 to the late Mr. John Kisala and Mary Conroy. He has two brothers John and Thomas, of whom the latter has gone to his eternal rest.

After his primary education in St. Francis Elementary School in Chicago, Robert joined the Divine Word Seminary in East Troy in 1971. He entered the novitiate at Bay St. Louis in 1980 and made his first vows in 1981. He made his final vows in 1984. He did his philosophical studies in Epworth and theology in Chicago. He was ordained priest on March 16, 1985.

Assigned to the Japanese Province after his ordination, Fr. Kisala studied Japanese for two years before being assigned Associate Pastor at Kichijoji Church, Tokyo. Then he took up studies in Sociology of Religion at the University of Tokyo (1988-1994).

In 1994, he studied German for six months at Munich. From 1995, he was teacher at Nanzan University (Institute for Religion and Culture) and from 1999 he was formation director at Divine Word Seminary, Nagoya.

In 1999, he was elected Vice-Provincial Superior of Japan. In 2004, he was elected Provincial Superior. In the 2006 General Chapter, he was elected to the General Council and nominated Admonitor General.

The 17th General Chapter elected him the Vice-Superior General of the Society of the Divine Word.

NEW SVD SUPERIOR GENERAL IS FROM THE PHS

Fr. Heinz Kulüke, SVD,

Fr. Heinz Kulüke, SVD, the Provincial of the Philippine Southern Province (PHS) was elected the 11^th Superior General of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). His received 98 votes against capitulars Fr. Bob Kisala, SVD (10 votes), Fr. Greg Pinto (4 votes), Fr. Arlindo Dias (3 votes), Fr. Emmanuel Fianu (2 votes) and Fr. Jose de Silva (1 vote).

Born in 1956 in Emsland, Germany. Fr Heinz spent two years in electronics before he joined the Divine Word Missionaries in 1979. He was 22 then. Somehow he was not satisfied with his work. He confessed, “I was very good at it so I earned a lot of money, but it was not fulfilling.”

Joining the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) changed his life completely. He was ordained in 1986 after completing philosophy and theology. He had a short stay in London to practice English.  When he arrived in the Philippines, he immediately studied Cebuano and was assigned in Agusan where he stayed for 2 years doing parish work. After his short stint as professor in the seminary in Davao, he was transferred to University of San Carlos in Cebu on 1989.

He recalled that, “at night I would go out and visit street children who were living on the sidewalks. I saw people looking for food in trash cans and living on the sidewalks and thought that if this is the case there must be many people living on the dump sites. So I just took my motorcycle and followed a dump truck.”

His experience brought him to the dump sites of Cebu and bravely stayed there for a month. There he share their way of life, their livelihood, their food, their struggles, their joys, their pains. “…and also their sickness,” he added with a laugh.

Fr. Heinz with His Wonderful Friends in Cebu City

Soon he attracted others into his cause. A day care center was established with the effort of educating children and promoting nutrition as well as on-going formation for their parents. And the rest is history.

He became the Provincial of the Philippine Southern Province of the SVD in 2005. He was re-elected in 2008. In 2011, the members of the province decided that he should continue his mission as Provincial for the third term.

As a Provincial, he is a visionary. He has long term goals for the province which the confreres greatly appreciated. His dedication to also help the poorest of the poor in Cebu inspired so many. He also exercises efficient management in his sustainable projects for justice, peace and integrity of creation. Indeed, he is a gift to the people he served.

It is interesting to note that this is the second time that a Provincial from the Philippine Southern Province got elected as Superior General. In 2000, Fr. Tony Pernia, SVD who was also a PHS Provincial from 1993-1994 was elected to the highest post in the Society of the Divine Word.

Congratulations Fr. Heinz! God bless you in your new role as the great servant of our congregation. You have served the Philippine Southern Province with the heart of Christ. You will be always in my prayers. May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all.

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