AEFJN celebrates her annual general meeting

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aefjn-celebrates-her-annual-general-meeting

Pro Minoribus N° 3

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PRO MINORIBUS – Sept-Oct 2021 English

Mgr Paul PELLET Centre

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Mgr Paul PELLET Centre

On 30 June 2021, the Centre Mgr Paul PELLET welcomed the participants of the ICOF programme. On July 1st 2021, we had the inauguration and the blessing of the new SMA house, named “Centre Mgr Paul PELLET”, by Mgr Boniface ZIRI, Bishop of Abengourou. FRANCIS Rosario, SMA General Councillor and SEKA Narcisse, SMA Provincial Superior of Côte d’Ivoire. As representative of the ICMA, we welcomed Brother KONANI Nicodème, OFM (Rector of the ICMA).

The centre is very well equipped to host a programme of this kind. In general, the house was appreciated by the participants. The rooms have bathrooms with hot water. The conference room is professionally equipped.

This year’s ICOF Abidjan programme had 14 participants, ten women and four men, from 6 different religious congregations and 9 nationalities; among the men there was a diocesan priest from Mali. All 14 participants came from outside the Ivory Coast.

We had a wide variety of modules that helped the participants to renew themselves. Some of these were: Mission and Witchcraft in West Africa, Holy Scripture and Mission, Leadership, Forgiveness, Dreams, Interculturality, Living in Community and Working in Teams, Appreciative Discernment, Transitions in Life, Resilience and Trauma, Consecrated Celibacy and Emotional Maturity, Addiction. The programme included a seven-day retreat.

The theme that accompanied the participants was: “With Jesus at the centre of our lives, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, let us each take flight to live fraternity without borders for an ever-renewed community”.

Participants were invited to take advantage of the accompanying services provided by the programme. There were seven evenings where participants were invited to share in small groups. The aim of these sharing sessions was to provide a forum on active listening and confidentiality where each participant could express how things were going for them. The activity was well integrated and appreciated. We also have community meetings where the group could express ongoing concerns about activities, our life together, arrangements for timetables, accommodation, food, etc. The meetings were useful for adjustments, clarifications and information.

We had organised liturgical and sharing groups who committed themselves to prepare the liturgy of each week. The variety of local and international congregations brought creativity to our liturgy.

In connection with some of the modules, we had the opportunity on some evenings to watch different films and documentaries which added to the understanding, broadening the horizons. The two films shown illustrated the themes of interculturality and forgiveness, while the documentaries dealt with the sexual abuse of nuns in the Church, resilience and addiction. The activity was greatly appreciated.

The programme organised three outings. The first one took place on the very first Sunday of the programme and allowed for an insertion into the local culture/liturgy with the participation in a priestly and diaconal ordination at the cathedral of Yopougon. The second outing took place on 10 July. The participants went to discover different localities of Abidjan, the Abidjan Cathedral and even the Atlantic Ocean at the Grande-Bassam beach. For the third outing scheduled for 31 July, we went to Yamoussoukro (Basilica of Our Lady of Peace) and to the hospital located not far from there. Finally, on 16 August, several participants organised to visit and pray at the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. All these outings and visits were very much appreciated.

We had to divide ourselves into two different cultural evenings because of the large number of nationalities. The participants were well prepared and great creativity was displayed: audiovisuals, dances, games, poems, songs, gifts… it was an occasion for great joy.

During the programme, we had the opportunity to celebrate our birthdays, anniversaries of professions in the consecrated life, patronal feasts and even the day of the independence of the Ivory Coast. We also had a social evening every week or so. This helped us to strengthen our family spirit.

This year, some of the participants shared their various talents with us: entertainment evenings, decorating the chapel, cooking and baking… to name but a few. We were able to enjoy delicious cakes, pizzas and quiches.

In conclusion, we can say that it was a very enriching trip.

Yago Abeledo

(Translation : mafrome with the help of DeepL)

Call from South Sudan

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Call from South Sudan

Add Your Heading Text HereThree young confreres in South Sudan to start a Missionaries of Africa community

Cletus Atindaana, Innocent Iranzi and Jean Dieudonné Mohamadi Nare landed in Juba on Tuesday, October 19, to begin a Missionary of Africa community in the Diocese of Malakal, South Sudan. They were thus formalizing their response to the call launched especially to the young confreres by the General Council on November 23, 2020 for the mission in the youngest country of Africa. In Juba they were welcomed by our confrere Jim Green, the only missionary of Africa in the country so far and who is serving ‘Solidarity with South Sudan.’

The idea of a return to South Sudan came about in the General Council during the 150-year jubilee commemorations. From the very beginning of the reflection on the jubilee, the General Council sought to commemorate the event also with gestures worthy of our founder by committing ourselves to our missionary vocation. When it was decided to celebrate the closing of the jubilee in Uganda, we, together with our Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, decided to go on a visit of solidarity to the Church that our elders in the mission had established in this country which today is facing the influx of hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees. From the visit was born our commitment to give a strong hand to the Diocese of Arua in its apostolate with the refugees. Three confreres have been appointed. One is already there with two sisters. The other two confreres have been there and will join the third one soon.

The call from South Sudan rang loudest when Father Stephen Nyodho Ador, then newly appointed bishop of the Diocese of Malakal, stopped by at the Generalate one day in July 2019 to ask for additional personnel for his diocese. Having recalled how our confreres had gone to his diocese in the 1980s but unfortunately without settling there, he reiterated the invitation to the Society for a missionary presence among populations hard hit by the conflict that erupted in South Sudan in 2013 and which was still a source of great suffering until the latest peace agreement signed in 2019 which saw the advent of a government of national unity.

In March of this year, Martin Grenier, Assistant General, Aloysius Ssekamatte, Provincial of EAP, and I left to bring a message of solidarity to the Church of the Diocese of Malakal on behalf of the General Council. On our return to Rome we shared what we had seen and in council we decided to launch an appeal to the young confreres. Officially erected in 1974, the Diocese of Malakal covers the Upper Nile region, including Upper Nile, Jonglei and Unity States. It is a vast territory of 238,000 km2 with more than 5 million inhabitants of which about one million are Catholics.

Cletus, Innocent and Jean Dieudonné will begin learning Arabic at Christ the King Parish in Renk. They will then go to Jonglei State to St. Paul Parish in Bor. We entrust them to the prayers of all so that the mission in South Sudan, which had been intended many decades ago will be successful this time and that other confreres will soon follow them.

Stanley Lubungo, M.Afr

Jean Dieudonné Mohamadi (Burkina Faso), Cletus Atindaana (Ghana), Innocent Iranzi (R.D. Congo)
The photo shows, from left to right, Bro. Christian Carlassare, Comboni missionary, then vicar general of the Diocese of Malakal and appointed bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek, Martin Grenier, Aloysius Ssekamatte (provincial of East Africa), Stanley Lubungo, Bishop Stephen Ador of Malakal and Sister Elena Balati, a Comboni sister, during a visit to the diocesan curia.

Alphonse Tuzya, R.I.P.

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Society of the Missionaries of Africa

Father Emmanuel Ngona, Provincial of PAC,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Alphonse Tuzya

on Sunday 31 October 2021  in Lubumbashi (D. R. Congo)
at the age of 58 years, of which 23  years of missionary life
in Burundi, Tanzania and D.R. Congo.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

Download here the announcement of Father Alphonse Tuzya’s death

(more…)

Important communication from the General Council

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On October 10 2021 Pope Francis celebrated the start of the preparations of the next Synod of Bishops. This Synod will be held in Rome in October 2023. Its theme is Synodality, For a Synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.

The General Council invites all confreres to participate in the steps that the local Churches will organize in the diocesan phase of preparation for the Synod and which has as its objective the consultation and participation of the people of God (See Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality).

Furthermore, he invites all confreres to an exchange and community sharing on this theme of the Synod, using the questions proposed in the Preparatory Document for Synod 2023 in nr 26 and nr 30. A short report of this sharing may be sent to the Provincial/Section Superior who will communicate it to the General Council during their meeting in Rome in February 2022.

The purpose of the Synod, and therefore of this consultation, is not to produce documents, but “to germinate dreams, to arouse prophecies and visions, to make hopes blossom, to stimulate confidence, to bandage wounds, to weave relationships, to resurrect a dawn of hope, to learn from one another, and to create a positive imagination that illuminates minds, warms hearts, and restores strength to hands” (nr 32).

Evil and Meaningful Existence… by Bonaventure Gubazire

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Evil and Meaningful Existence:

A Humanistic Response through the Lens of Classical Theism.

Bonaventure B. Gubazire

This is an article written by our confrere, Bonaventure B. Gubazire, who is based at the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Spiritan University of Ejisu in Ghana. This article is only available in English, but if you want to read it in another language, I recommend the very good online translation software DeepL (https://deepl.com)

EVIL AND MEANINGFUL EXISTENCE

Mission Sunday

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World Mission Sunday is the Holy Father’s annual appeal for spiritual and financial support so that the life-giving work of overseas mission and missionaries can continue. It always falls on the second last Sunday in October, meaning this year it will be celebrated on Sunday 24 October.

This year’s theme ‘We Cannot Remain Silent – We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20)’ is twofold. It is a message of hope – Jesus Christ is risen and we cannot keep his love, compassion, and mercy to ourselves. It also challenges us to stand up and speak out on behalf of those who are weaker. All too often, the voices that need to be heard are not the loudest. For them, we cannot remain silent.

Michael O’Sullivan, M.Afr.

Chairperson of Missio Ireland, Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly SMA, Sister Kathleen McGarvey OLA and Fr Michael O'Sullivan, the national director for Missio Ireland. The Irish branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies, formerly known as World Missions Ireland, is being rebranded today as Missio Ireland. The rebranding of the Pope's official charity for overseas mission takes place ahead of the annual collection on World Mission Sunday this weekend, which helps to fund the work of missionaries abroad.

Catholic mission agencies appeal for help for the suffering

Synodality

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You said ... SYNODALITY ?

It was in his mind for a long time, we read about it, talked about it, discussed about it… Now Pope Francis declared the process active. But are we clear about what is that Synod on Synodality ? Here is a selection of three videos, quite enlightening on the topic. The first one is proposed by the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar and AMECEA. Parts of it are in English, parts in French. The second one, dating back to 2018, is a documentary of the French Catholic channel KTO, which discusses very clearly the concept of Synodality. It is obviously in French. The third video is made by a famous British Catholic journalist and author, who presents also very clearly the mind of Pope Francis on the process of Synodality. And obviously, that video is in English. 

Pope Francis has inaugurated the path towards the Synod on #Synodality. “It is a process that involves the local Churches, in different phases and from the bottom up, in an exciting and engaging effort that can create a style of communion and participation directed to mission.” – Pope Francis To enrich our “journeying together” as the pilgrim and missionary People of God, the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) is partnering with the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) to provide resources that will enable the local churches, in the region and the entire Africa, to engage fruitfully and constructively in this synodal process. In this edition, we asked some African religious and youth what Synodality means for them.

“La Foi prise au mot” proposes to evoke a theme that we would not have spoken of a few years ago and which is becoming more and more important in the Church: synodality. This is a traditional form of government in the Church, called for by the Second Vatican Council, and widely promoted by Pope Francis, with increasingly strong demands from the faithful, those who are sometimes called “grassroots Christians”. This is the theme that the Church’s theologians are currently discussing, while dioceses and their bishops are trying to put it into practice. So what is synodality? Why is it a topical issue? How does it correspond to the mission of the Church? To talk about this subject, Régis Burnet will welcome Arnaud Join-Lambert, theologian and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, and Isabelle Morel, lecturer at the Catholic Institute of Paris and deputy director of the Institut supérieur de pastorale catéchétique. (“La Foi prise au Mot” of 18/11/2018.)

Austen Ivereigh is a UK-based Roman Catholic journalist, author, commentator and biographer on Pope Francis. In this very good video, he explains and comments on Pope Francis’ vision for a synodal Church. (24 June 2021)

Celebration in Merrivale

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On the 2nd of October, Bishop Jan De Groef started his homily in our Chapel saying: ‘I guess this celebration was not intentionally planned to take place in October, month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose patronage we are placed’. Indeed, it was a blessing that our Formation House in Merivale, on that day, had an extraordinary celebration of the Missionary Oath and Diaconate Ordination of Peter Bwire, as well as the Ministry of Acolyte of Nine (09) of our brothers in the third year of theology.

This ‘Acolytate’, which was supposed to have taken place earlier at the end of their 2nd year, was delayed because of the break out of the Corona pandemic since early 2020.

‘Leaving their parents, friends, countries…, which should have repelled them, inspire them with fear, this is precisely what attracts them’: Mission in Africa and to the African World. It was a significant step, on this 2nd October, for our new acolytes in their journey to devoting themselves totally to this cause. As for Peter, he committed himself totally to serving God in the charism of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa. Father Konrad, Sector Delegate of South Africa sector, received his Oath in the name of the General Council and of the Society at large.