Journey of the Missionaries of Africa with Muslims
The foundation of the Society of Missionaries of Africa is "naturally"
linked to the Muslims and the Islamic religion for two major reasons:
Firstly, the encounter and dialogue of our Founder Cardinal Lavigerie
with the Muslims in Lebanon-Syria and in North Africa; and secondly,
the birth and growth of this Society in the Arab-Islamic milieu of
Algeria and Tunisia.
Cardinal Lavigerie with Muslims
The
first encounter with the Muslims in Lebanon-Syria (1860) did not only
humanly affect Cardinal Lavigerie for the rest of his life; it also
re-oriented his Christian-priestly vocation. While in Algeria twenty-five
years later, he talked about this experience saying, "It was
there that I found my true vocation", and then relating it to
his stay and work in North Africa in particular and in Africa in general,
he said, "...so when I came to you....I was only following where
I had been led since my youth. I was responding to the call of God."
This call of God received on the road to Damascus as Lavigerie
referred to it, later on developed into a threefold vocation: to witness
Christ to the Muslims (cf. North Africa), the proclamation of the
Gospel to Africans, (i.e., South of the Sahara) and to promote ecumenical
dialogue, especially with the Eastern Churches. In his speech on the
day of his enthronement as bishop of Algiers (1867),
Mgr Lavigerie addressed these words to Algerian Muslims:
"I
claim the privilege to love you as my children even if you will not
recognize me as your father..... there are two things that we shall
never tire to do, things that should never worry you nor drive you
away from us: the first is to love you and if possible to prove it
by doing good to you; the second is to pray for you to God, Father
and Master of all created things, so that He may abundantly give us
light, mercy and peace."
Journey of the Missionaries of Africa with Muslims
To
fulfil this threefold vocation, Archbishop Lavigerie founded the Society
of the Missionaries of Africa (1868), and the Society of Our Lady
of Africa (1869). Whereas our name in general defines the geographical
and social field of our commitments, our traditional habit (white
cassock - gandourah, red hat-chechia, burnous and rosary), on the
one hand symbolically expresses the spirit and methodology we have
to follow while carrying out our mission.
This comprises adapting ourselves to the people to whom we are sent,
i.e., in their culture, language and way of life as long as it does
not contradict the Gospel values, in other words, "being-all-things-to-all"
(1 Corinthians 9:22). On the other hand, this habit continues to remind
us of our Arab-Islamic roots and our mission towards the Muslims in
general. Our Constitutions and Laws remind us of this mission, "Because
of its origins, the Society has always had a particular interest in
Muslims," (Constitutions and Laws, Chapter I, article 1).
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Articles
Ashura
The Hegira
Aïd
el Kabîr
Ramadan
1433 (2012)
End of Ramadan
l Aïd El Fitr
Feast
The
Moon, the Calendar of Muslim
Feasts.
ISLAM and its MOVEMENTS
Holy Day of the Sacrifice:
Aïd al Adha or Aïd el Kébir
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Team White Fathers
for dialogue between cultures and religions
in Europe
- Sahel: Vie
et coutumes des touareg. (extrait de la conférence de M.
Dag Ibrahim)
- Algérie : Les
100 ans du Diocèse du Sahara par Mgr Michel Gagnon
- Dialogue inter religieux
: Conférence
dans une mosquée Michel Lelong
- Proche-Orient
: Les P.B. à Jérusalem (Stéphane Joulain
& Michel Deffrennes)
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NEWS
- EVENTS
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Activities
Still
actively present in Lebanon,
Jerusalem, in Algeria, Tunisia, 
Niger,
Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, etc., they try never to
attempt between them what they can undertake with believers of other
religions. There are so many areas today where we can work together
as Christians and Muslims. We can advance the cause of justice and
peace and diminish poverty, forestall and extinguish hotbeds of violence,
help the displaced, keep watch over the natural riches of our planet.
Continuously
involved in the aim of this interreligious dialogue, the White Fathers
have founded several specialised Institutes that enable a better
understanding of Muslim culture and faith and that open pathways to
dialogue.
The PISAI (Institut
Pontifical d'Etudes Arabes et Islamiques) Rome
For information, contact info@pisai.it
See the webpage about the Pisai
University-standard Institute, preparing licentiate or doctorate
in 1, 2 or 3 years
You will also find the sites of magazines published from this
point of view, in particular:
ISLAMOCHRISTIANA
: (PISAI Annual Review)
L'IBLA
(Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes) Tunis 
In Bamako, Mali, l'IFIC
(Institut of Islam-Christian Formation) 
In France, they collaborate with the
church of France and, in particular, the Secretariat for the Relations
with the Islam .( See the network S.R.I.)
and also with the "Gric"
( Islam-Christian Group of Research)
SE COMPRENDRE
by Jean-Marie Gaudeul (Monthly, note new address: "Pères
Blancs, 5 rue Roger Verlomme 75003 Paris. tel: (33) (0)1 42 71 84
54 / (0)1 42 71 71 51; Fax: (0) 1 48 04 39 67
In Africa
In Mali, in Bamako EN
CHEMIN, 
In Uganda: TOGETHER, you can write to Fr.
Roger Labonté
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Fr. Richard Nnyombi Coordinator for JPIC and Encounter and
Dialogue
Contact : Email
