Missionaries of Africa

Slavery today

Posted on 03/03/201903/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

On the occasion of the feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita on February 8, 2019, the Lavigerie community in Karlsruhe, Germany, organized an evening of awareness raising against human trafficking. This evening was held in collaboration with the local NGO “justice project”.

A few weeks earlier, we had already advertised this meeting by distributing posters in parishes, universities and other NGOs’ public places, in magazines and on the Internet. We decorated the room with roll-ups of our Sisters and Fathers, presenting their work on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of our two institutes.

Scandal of human trafficking today

Our meeting began with a video on Saint Bakhita and an overview of the anti-slavery campaign of our founder, Cardinal Lavigerie. The “Justice project” then presented its actions in the city of Karlsruhe against forced prostitution, prevention and information work in schools, universities and various local church groups and parishes: they try to identify female victims. Flora Ridder works in the Griesbach house where migrants and refugees with health problems are found. In collaboration with the “justice project”, she informs them of people involved in the prostitution network. Kordula Weber collaborates with “justice project” in a state reception centre for all migrants and asylum seekers. Every Wednesday evening there is a women’s café. In just five months, 13 women were helped. Thereafter, they can benefit of protected housing, support in administrative procedures and receive medical and psychological assistance.

The care of victims of organ trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, forced labour, prostitution, forced migration, commodification and exploitation of farm workers, young people caught up in online harassment is done in collaboration with others involved in the reception and support of migrants and refugees.

An aperitif at the end of the evening provided an opportunity to discuss further with the speakers.

A Eucharist specially prepared by the community on this feast of Saint Bakhita was celebrated with parishioners to pray and raise awareness among Christians about the human trafficking that still exists today.

Very few people have responded to our invitation, but this does not prevent us from continuing to move and go beyond what is known to be sowers of hope.

The Karlsruhe Lavigerie Community

Rolf Rosin, R.I.P.

Posted on 02/03/201902/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Father Rudi Pint, Provincial Delegate of the sector of Germany,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Rolf Rosin

on Friday the 2nd March 2019 at the University clinic of Tübingen (Germany)
at the age of 78 years, of which 50 years of missionary life
in Zambia, Austria and Germany.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

Download here the announcement of Father Rolf Rosin’s death Continue reading “Rolf Rosin, R.I.P.”

Renewing the way we look at things

Posted on 02/03/201902/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

This text by Bernard Ugeux appeared in the last Info-PAC.

This jubilee time is for us an opportunity to take a renewed Christian look at our brothers and sisters, at the Church, Africa, the World…

Jesus has a unique way of looking at the people he meets, especially the most vulnerable, of recognizing the signs of the times in the expectations of crowds without a shepherd and the oppositions of religious authorities. He has renewed the hope of his people.

As for Cardinal Lavigerie, he too, throughout his life, took a very profound and demanding look at the realities of the world and the Church.

A look inhabited by the Spirit who benevolently discerns the new calls addressed to the Church by the societies of his time, in France, in the East, then in Africa.
An apostle’s look at all those who ignore the God of tenderness and forgiveness proclaimed by Jesus Christ.
A visionary and passionate look, he who is ready to give his life for the salvation of the infidels of Africa as a whole, “as if he saw the invisible”.
A look of reconciliation when he meets the prelates of the East invited to return to full communion with Rome.
A look that calls, confirms and sends apostles – men and women – for Africa, inviting them to consider martyrdom without fear.
A look that courageously and serenely confronts the opposition of those who refuse the Church’s openness to the people of North Africa.
A look of deep compassion that invites us to begin the proclamation of the Gospel by caring for the bodies while waiting for the awakening of souls.
A tender look at orphans boys and girls, abandoned people and victims of massacres or epidemics, whether in Lebanon or Syria, in Kabylia or the Sahara, or in the depths of the African continent.
A wrathful and provocative look in his tour of European capitals to stop the slave trade in Africa, appealing to humanity as much as to the faith of his listeners.
A sometimes dominating and overpowering look at his collaborators, which then leads him to humbly ask forgiveness from those he has hurt by the overwhelming nature or demands he has placed on them.
A look of contemplation and adoration placed with confidence for hours each day on Christ, the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Sacrament, and which is implored at the feet of Mary, Joseph and the great martyrs of North Africa. …

Today, what view does Lavigerie invite us to take of the human spaces that Pope Francis calls the peripheries?
What look of renewed indignation and compassion at the countless contemporary slaves and human trafficking that primarily affect children and young people; at migration, the looting of raw materials from poor countries and all forms of human exploitation?
What discernment about contemporary developments in globalization and its victims?
What invitation to dialogue between the currents within the Church and with other Christian confessions and religions?
What openness to differences in language, culture, religion, faith, gender, generation, recognizing that otherness is not a threat but a gift, when it does not impose itself with fanaticism?

In short, today, the Cardinal invites us to know him better (1) in his complexity and richness and to convert our viewpoint so that he may come closer to that of Christ, in his benevolence and his demands, beginning with ourselves.

Bernard Ugeux, M.Afr.

(1) In May 2019, Bernard Ugeux’s book will be published, Prier quinze jours avec le Cardinal Lavigerie, Nouvelles cités

From Rome … Emmanuel Ngona

Posted on 02/03/201902/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

This excerpt from the letter of Emmanuel Ngona, provincial of the PAC, written from Rome during the meeting of the provincials, and published in the last Info-PAC, gives us a small idea of the debates that took place during the week of the meeting between the provincials and the General Council.

Hello to each of you from Rome, Eternal City! And may the Peace of Christ dwell in your hearts in this Jubilee Year! I hope that each of you is well where the Lord has planted him to blossom.

I am writing to you today to share some of the elements that struck me during our meeting between the provincials and the General Council from February 10 to 16, 2019.

1) During a private audience on February 8 between Pope Francis and the Mafr and MSOLA on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of our Foundation, the Pope recalled our mission today where we are:

“The mission ad extra is in your DNA… I encourage you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, so that you never forget that the true Missionary is first and foremost a disciple and that the proclamation of the Gospel can only be lived at the cost of a true missionary communion. May the Spirit make you build bridges between people. Where the Lord has sent you, contribute to the growth of a culture of encounter; continue to be the servants of a dialogue that, while respecting differences, knows how to be enriched by the difference of others. And I thank you in particular for the work you have already done in the service of dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters. Through the style and simplicity of your lifestyle, you also demonstrate the need to take care of our common home. Finally, in the wake of Cardinal Lavigerie, be sowers of Hope, fighting against current forms of slavery. Always seek to be close to the small and the poor, to those who wait at the periphery of our societies, to be recognized in their dignity, to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated…”.

2) In the context of our Jubilee and the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict 15’s “Maximum” Apostolic Letter (a letter that served to awaken missionary awareness, give new impetus to the mission ad gentes and recall the raison d’être of the Mission), which will be celebrated in October 2019, we want to give a new impetus to our Mission at the personal, community, sectoral or provincial level in line with Cardinal Filoni’s challenge to us: “What does the centenary (150th anniversary, ndlr) of a religious family mean, if not to reflect fundamentally and understand why it was created and what role it still has today?”

3) Great attention must be paid to all our Institutions where we work with children and vulnerable adults so that these places become safe and evangelical spaces for them.

4) Everywhere the opening of our Jubilee went well. But let us not only focus on external manifestations, we want to take advantage of this opportunity and this time of grace for a new missionary impulse to make a difference thanks to our charism and the Holy Spirit who leads us on the roads of the world.

Let us continue to pray in community that this Jubilee Year will be a time of grace for our Society and the local Churches with whom we collaborate fraternally and that the next Plenary Council to be held in Kampala from mid-November 2019 will renew our enthusiasm and missionary strength that no power can take from us.

Emmanuel Ngona
Info-PAC n°79

PAC – Info-Pac nr 79

Posted on 02/03/201902/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

The PAC newsletter has just been released. Read it right and fresh from your screen here.

Praise the Lord for His Creation by reading from your screen and preserving the trees of our forests.

Appointments Young Confreres

Posted on 02/03/201901/03/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Here is the list of the appointments already finalised. Only the province (section) is here mentioned as local constraints might modify final destination.

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Various readings available online

Posted on 28/02/201928/02/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Please note the following readings online:

BEFORE PRINTING, thank you to consider reading from the screen.

Newsletter of Belgian sector – Nuntiuncula nr. 711 of January / February 2019

Newsletter of French sector – Mini-lien nr 482 of 1st March 2019

Petit Echo nr 1097 of January 2019

Sister Elisemarie CROCHET (Rémy-Marie), R.I.P.

Posted on 28/02/201928/02/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
invite you to share their hope and pray for

Sister Elisemarie CROCHET (Rémy-Marie)

from the community of Chevilly-Larue,
entered into life on February 2, 2019 in Antony
at the age of 93, including 66 years of missionary religious life.

Her missionary life took place in Algeria, Burkina Faso and France.

A look back at the meeting of the Provincials in Rome

Posted on 27/02/201927/02/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Recently, at the Generalate, the meeting of the General Council with the provincial superiors and the two sections took place. Two confreres attached to the general services – Stéphane Joulain for the integrity of the ministry and Andreas Göpfert for JPIC – addressed them. Here is a summary of their interventions.

Stéphane Joulain : The provincials were able to listen and discuss with Fr. Benoît Malvaux, General Procurator of the Company of Jesus, invited by the General Council. The subject of his conference was “the preliminary inquiry”. This conference was also given to the Safeguarding Delegates during their last training in Rome who took place in November 2018. So, Provincials and Safeguarding Delegates have received the same information. This preliminary inquiry precedes the canonical process in case of allegations of behaviour against the sixth commandment by a cleric on a minor or a vulnerable adult. The provincials were able to ask Fr Malvaux other canonical questions. His competence and numerous examples have made it possible to address these difficult and delicate questions in a very practical and serious manner.

Andreas Göpfert: On February 13, 2019, there was a JPIC-ED working session. For one hour and a half, the General Council, the Provincials and the Section Delegate Superiors met with the coordinator of JPIC-ED, Fr Andreas Göpfert. The first part of the meeting was devoted to the reading of some signs of the times and the interpellations heard during the audience with Pope Francis and to the celebration of the 150th anniversary with Cardinal Filoni (see PowerPoint below). In the second part, the coordinator reviewed the 2018 activity report and expressed some concerns, for example, about the functioning of the provincial commissions. There was a fruitful exchange between the participants calling for improvement. The coordinator also insisted on collaboration with Talitha Kum and with AEFJN and AFJN. The third part provided an opportunity to explain three events that will be organized by the coordination: a workshop on “Ecumenical Dialogue, a call for prophetic commitment” in March 2019 in Rome; an exchange and consultation meeting on “Islamic-Christian Dialogue” in April 2019 in Nairobi; a training workshop on “Life in intercultural community as an apostolic witness today” in September 2019 in Rome. Before concluding with the prayer of St. Bakhita, the coordinator gave some information on the pastoral care of human mobility taught at SIMI (Scalabrini International Migration Institute) in Rome (www.simiroma.org/site/) and SIHMA (Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility) in Capetown-South Africa (http://sihma.org.za/).

Start the Power-point by clicking on the small central white arrow at the bottom left and move it forward by continuing to click on the right arrow.

Lent 2019 – Pope Francis

Posted on 27/02/201927/02/2019 by Vitus Danaa Abobo

The Pope’s message for Lent 2019 was made public and presented at a press conference on 26 February 2019. Starting from the liturgical cycle, the Pope explains that the mystery of salvation “presents itself as a dynamic process that also embraces History and the whole of creation. Saint Paul says it: “Creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God” (Rm 8:19)”. It develops its subject in three parts:

1. The Redemption of Creation : “If man lives as a son of God, if he lives as a saved person who lets himself be guided by the Holy Spirit and knows how to recognize and implement the law of God, beginning with the one written in his heart and in nature, then he also does good to Creation” ;

2. The destructive force of sin : “The rupture of communion with God has deteriorated the harmonious relationship between human beings and the environment in which they are called to live, so that the garden has been transformed into a desert” ;

3. The healing power of repentance and forgiveness : conversion “calls Christians to incarnate in a more intense and concrete way the paschal mystery in their personal, family and social lives, especially through fasting, prayer and almsgiving”.

Read in La Croix of February 26, 2019

Read Pope Francis’ message