“…This is the first time that someone has come to see us!” (PE nr. 1083)

Posted on by Maurice Oudet

When I read the title of the proposed subject for this article, I did not pay much attention to the second part, “Changing Africa.” Yet there is a very clear link between the two terms.

Pope Francis has often hammered home the message, “The Church must come out of herself,” And not to preserve its structures or to live “closed in on itself and looking only to itself.” She must have the courage to move beyond her borders and her customs, and to “go and carry the Gospel” where it is not heard or received. Continue reading ““…This is the first time that someone has come to see us!” (PE nr. 1083)”

Uniting Forces And Energies For The Peripheries (PE nr. 1083)

Posted on by Maamalifar Poreku

Lavigerie Family:
Uniting Forces And Energies
For The Peripheries

Pope Francis’ persistently calls on the Church to go to the peripheries and invites consecrated men and women to return to the roots of their charism and founding experience. This brings memories of our Founder’s bold and courageous action to fight against slavery in Africa. In confronting the horror of slavery, he cried out, “I am a man, and nothing human is foreign to me. Continue reading “Uniting Forces And Energies For The Peripheries (PE nr. 1083)”

Living with people on the margins (PE nr. 1083)

Posted on by Elias Mwebembezi

My experience
of living with people
on the margins of society:
The Batwa of Burundi 1999-2017.

My apostolate among the Batwa began in 1999 after eight years of studies and parish work. I was to devote the next 18 years of my missionary life to them. The appointment was the result of a decision of the Burundian Sector of the Missionaries of Africa to start a mission among them. It also responded to a deep desire of mine to work as a missionary in this area. The persons who were going to become the centre of my life were considered repugnant, pariahs, people living very much on the margins of society. They did not enjoy any recognition in society and played no part in any of the usual social frameworks such as churches, schools, businesses or administration. Continue reading “Living with people on the margins (PE nr. 1083)”

From our comfort zone to the ‘peripheries’ (PE nr. 1083)

Posted on by Martin Grenier

Going forth from our comfort zone to reach out to the peripheries’ in need of the Gospel

During my eight years of formation with the Missionaries of Africa, the two years of the stage were the ones that marked me the most. First, the stage followed the Spiritual Year which I did in Fribourg in Switzerland. During this time, I had no other choice but to restrict my social activities in order to embrace the silence, to look again at my past life and to give myself body and soul to the spiritual exercises proposed to us. Continue reading “From our comfort zone to the ‘peripheries’ (PE nr. 1083)”

Intention of the Pope

Posted on by admin

AUGUST : Artists.

That artists of our time, through their ingenuity, may help everyone discover the beauty of creation. Continue reading “Intention of the Pope”

Books and articles published by confreres (PE nr. 1082)

Posted on by Dominique Arnauld

Mapunda Regina Battista, Jubilei ya huruma ya mungu iendelee kuponya majeraha ya familia zetu (The Jubilee of God’s Mercy Continues to Heal our Family Wounds), Dar es Salaam, 2016, 153p.

Michael L. Fitzgerald, Praise the Name of the Lord. Meditations on the Names of God in the Qur’an and the Bible, (new edition) Collegeville Minnesota (Liturgical Press), 2017, 150p.

Francis Nolan, The Departure of the Missionaries of Africa (The White Fathers) from Mozambique in 1971, Rome (Society of the Missionaries of Africa- History series n°17), 2017, 148p. et sa version en français, traduction de Walgrave Neven.

Aloysius Beebwa, The Legacy of the Politics of 1979-1986 in Uganda for authoritarianism, London (SOAS), 2014, 48p.

Notes Africaines, Mélanges offerts au Père Joseph Roger de Benoist, Dakar, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Institut fondamental d’Afrique

Raphaël Deillon, Quatre prédications en Islam, in Prêtres Diocésains, n° 1534 – spécial L’homélie, 2017, pp.215-223.

Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Teach me, Lord, your way ! Meditations on the weekday Gospels Advent, Christmastide and Ordinary Time (weeks 1-9), Nairobi (Paulines), 2016, 150p.

Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Teach me, Lord, your way ! Meditations on the weekday Gospels. Lent and Easter, Nairobi (Paulines), 2016, 112p.

Jean Fontaine, La littérature tunisienne, Tunis (Arabesques), 2017, 145p.

Jürgen Pelz, The Last Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) from Europe and Canada in Western Uganda, 1980-2016, and the first Missionaries of Africa Originating from Western Uganda.Mbarara (Nyamitanga Printing Press), 2017, 52p.

Stefaan Minnaert (sorti de la Société depuis 2000), Histoire de l’évangélisation du Rwanda. Recueil d’articles et documents concernant le Cardinal Lavigerie, Mgr Hirth, le Dr. Kandt, le P. Brard, le P. Classe, le P. Loupias, le chef Rukara, Mgr. Perraudin, etc., Kigali (Imprimu ltd), 2017, 332p.

Maurice Borrmans, Christian de Chergé et son échelle mystique du dialogue in Islamochristiana 42, 2016, pp. 115-135.

Maurice Borrmans, Ragione e fede nel dibattito dei pensatori musulmani, in Linguaggio e verità. La filosofia e il discorso religioso, in Theoria XXXVII, 2017/1, pp. 19-47.

Michael Fitzgerald, Lodate il Nome del Signore. Meditazioni sui nomi di Dio nel Corano e nella Bibbia, prefazione di Claude Rault, Magnano (Edizioni Qiqajon, comunità di Bose), 2017, 192p.

Michael Fitzgerald, The most beautiful Names of God. A Shi’ite Commentary, in Quaderni di Studi Arabi, n.s. 11, 2016, pp. 15-24.

MSOLA, Listening to Mother Marie Salomé, Selected Texts Addressed to the Sisters, Presented by Sr. M.M. Guillaumin, translated by Sr Reninca & Sr Catherine Booth, Rome, 2017, 411p.

Dominique Arnauld, Archiviste

Pierre Croteau 1940 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)

Posted on by Michel Carbonneau

Pierre was born on the 24th April 1940 at Saint-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba Canada. He attended the local primary school before going on to the Holy Family Junior Seminary at Winnipeg for his secondary school education. He studied Philosophy for two years at St. Matthew’s College in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. He entered the White Fathers’ novitiate on the 7th August 1963. He studied Theology at Eastview, near Ottawa from 1964 to 1968. Continue reading “Pierre Croteau 1940 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)”

Henk Kager 1928 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)

Posted on by Marien van den Eijnden

Henk was born in Hoogkarspel in the Diocese of Haarlem on the 10th August 1928. He followed the usual White Father training programme at the time for Dutch confreres; Novitiate and Theology in ‘s-Heerenberg, where he took the Missionary Oath on the 21st June 1954, and a final year of Theology at Monteviot in Scotland. He was ordained in Galashiels on the 26th May 1955. Continue reading “Henk Kager 1928 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)”

Jean-Claude Quennouëlle 1928 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)

Posted on by Gérard Malherbe

Jean Claude was born in Paris on the 2nd July 1928. There were nine children in the family. Two of his brothers became priests, François joined the Benedictines in France and Alain served in Japan as a member of the Missions Étrangères and much involved in a Foyer de Charité. Those in charge of his training and other confreres often underlined the perfect education that he received in his family.
Continue reading “Jean-Claude Quennouëlle 1928 – 2017 (PE nr. 1082)”

Rein Folst 1932 – 2016 (PE nr. 1082)

Posted on by Marien van den Eijnden

Rein was born in Schiedam, Netherlands on the 14th September 1932. He wanted to become a missionary brother and followed the training course for WF brothers in St. Charles, near Boxtel and ‘s-Heerenberg. He took his first Missionary Oath on 28th January 1956, taking the name Casimiris, as was the custom for the Brothers at the time. Before he entered the White Fathers, Rein had worked as a fitter and lathe operator and as a warehouseman. Continue reading “Rein Folst 1932 – 2016 (PE nr. 1082)”