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PAO : Gathering of stagiaires

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

The meeting of PAO ‘stagiaires’ took place from 17 to 23 April 2018 in Bobo-Dioulasso. It was attended by 19 ‘stagiaires’ and two facilitators, Fathers Delphin Nyembo Mabaka and Pawel Hulecki. The arrival of the ‘stagiaires’ and the facilitators went as planned. The organization chart of the meeting included a morning of recollection, various sharing of ‘stage’ experience, a visit to a site in Sindou, the visit of the Samagan Novitiate and the renewal of the declaration of intent.

The meeting began with a recollection preached by Father Jean-Claude Kaburame. Its main theme was: To new wine, new wineskins. This allowed the participants to return to the source of their mission and their commitments in the Church. An invitation to join the Body of Christ, to become a light body with Christ and in the Spirit. An invitation to work in the vineyard of the Lord, to earn bread. The recollection was closed by a Eucharistic celebration.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to the sharing of ‘stage’ experiences. Overall, it turned out that everyone, as far as he was concerned, could detect the roses and thorns of his experience that could be in community as well as outside of it. However, grace has abounded in everything. And as all the experiences contribute to our formation, all is good for the one who loves God.

After that, the visit to Sindou had many surprises in store. We were welcomed into the community of the Missionaries of Africa, but the actual visit began the next day. The site of the caves in Douna bathed us in wonder, with the view of the peaks and the nature. We were about to build three tents… Coming out of the caves, we had a good time and a reunion at the Samagan Novitiate.

Finally, on Sunday the 22nd, nine ‘stagiaires’ from the second year of ‘stage’ renewed their declarations of intent during a Eucharistic celebration presided over by the PAO Provincial Assistant, Father Delphin Nyembo. During the meal, we had a nice surprise. The Archbishop of the Diocese of Bobo-Dioulasso, Mgr. Paul Ouedraogo, visited us. Everything went very well, under the influence of the Spirit.

All’s well that ends well, as they say. After this precious time of meeting, the students of the PAO expressed their joy of being able to meet, to share, to gather around the only Master. May our Society live.

Bobo-Dioulasso, 22nd Avril 2018
Ferdinand CITO, ‘Stagiair’ MAfr.

 
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Photos: Pawel Hulecki

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Bruno Loiselle, R.I.P.

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Father Gilles Barrette, Provincial of the Americas,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Bruno Loiselle

on Tuesday the 24th April 2018 at Sherbrooke
at the age of 88 years, of which 63 years of missionary life
in Uganda and in Canada.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

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Herman Konings, R.I.P.

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Father Luc Putzeys, Provincial Delegate of the sector of Belgium,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Herman Konings

on Friday the 20th April 2018 at Bruges
at the age of 81 years, of which 55 years of missionary life
in Burundi, Rwanda, Italy and Belgium.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

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Inter-religious Dialogue Seeking Peace in Tanzania

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

In Tanzania, the office of Justice & Peace and Inter-religious Dialogue has had several activities with the Muslim fraternity. The main event was in February, 2018, when we held a two day conference on inter-religious dialogue and peacebuilding in Tanzania, with a special attention to the case of Dar es Salaam. It was a top level diplomacy approach. We invited several dignitaries from embassies and the European Union and the American cultural centre. The conference was graced by his H.E. Most Rev. Marek Solczynskinew, Apostolic Nuncio to Tanzania. The speakers and key players were university lecturers and researchers who presented very concise research findings. The Muslim leadership in Dar es Salaam was well represented and the leaders gave their views.

The main event of the conference was the launching of the book on “Religious extremism and violence in Tanzania – the case of Dar es Salaam”, by Dr. Elias Opongo SJ, and Dr. Felix Phiri (M.Afr.).

The conference on inter-religious dialogue in Tanzania was held at Atiman House of Missionaries of Africa. The Nuncio flanked by  two Sheikhs on either side with Br. Elvis standing right behind the Nuncio.

The primary objective of the conference was to analyse the situation of religious extremism and violence emerging in Tanzania in close association with the current global situation whereby many parts of the world have become destabilized by religious intolerance. Although the Tanzanian situation could be a typical case, considering the country’s history, it could nonetheless contribute in some way not only to understanding the roots of religious extremism and violence but also in providing possible means of pre-emptying the occurrence of such incidents in the interest of a more constructive interreligious coexistence globally.

At the conference, it was reported that in coastal region of Tanzania like Tanga, radicalization of the youth was slowly gaining momentum. It is a known fact that Tanzania has suffered terror attacks in the recent past. However, there are some sections of the Tanzanian civil society who do not feel comfortable to say that there is a problem of religious extremism in Tanzania, fearing that it could paint a bad image of the country. The temptation therefore is to choose to keep silent about it. Unfortunately that would not be the right approach to eradicate religious extremism in Tanzania. We need to address the problem before it gets out of hand. Feeling bad about having fundamental extremists in one’s own country is normal but choosing to keep silent about the problem is very dangerous. There is need for a paradigm shift in the analysis, and strategic response to the problem of religious extremism and violence in Tanzania.

Our conference indicated that the problem of radicalization was gathering pace on the coastal area due to many factors such as perceived economic injustices, lack of employment among the youth, political power agenda, and foreign geopolitical strategic interests. In addition, it was observed that in regions like Tanga where the young population are very much exposed to wrong teaching and could easily fall victims of religious radicalisation. Another factor is the proximity between Tanga and Mombasa where the al-shabaab easily infiltrate in the local population. However, all these factors tend to hide under the guise of religious fundamentalism. We cannot deny that religion has been instrumentalized to justify these extreme acts of violence. Moreover, we need to dialogue as religious leaders of different religions and answer the question “what is our role and how can we help reduce the damage?” At the end of the conference, we all agreed that inter religious dialogue is vital in deconstructing the ideology behind religious extremism.

One can say we have hope for more collaboration between Muslims and Christians (i.e. Catholics) in Dar es Salaam. Our task is to coordinate with our muslim brothers in Dar es Salaam and see how we can reach out to other coastal regions such as Tanga and help the young people to stay away from wrong teaching.

The future research would look into the implementation of long term approach to addressing root-causes of religious extremism and violence; such as socio-economic and political marginalization, unemployment, victimization, uncoordinated response, and lack of effective strategy to addressing the problem.

Religious extremism and violence in Tanzania – the case of Dar es Salaam, by Dr. Elias Opongo SJ, and Dr. Felix Phiri (M.Afr.) – Here the cover of the book translated in German by Missio.

About the next conference, one of the researchers challenged us that most of these dialogues are conducted among elderly men. Often we exclude women and the youth. To the contrary the reports on radicalisation show a lot of young people as the major human capital. Recently, we have seen the number of women participating in radicalisation increasing too. Thus, we have to see how to engage young people and women in these dialogues. We hope to contact universities to see if we could hold round table discussions with the students at the campus and eventually hold the conference with the youth.

Bro. Elvis Ng’andwe, M.Afr.

Brother Alfons Weber, R.I.P.

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

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

Alfons Weber

on Thursday the 19th April 2018  at Munich (Germany)
at the age of 90 years, of which 64 years of missionary life
in Germany.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

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Hubert Barbier, R.I.P.

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Father Patrick Bataille, Provincial Delegate of the sector of France,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Hubert Barbier

on Thursday the 19th April 2018 at the hospital of Bry-sur-Marne (France)
at the age of 91 years, of which 65 years of missionary life
in Mali, Sudan and France.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

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New Antenna of AEFJN in Kenya

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

A new antenna of AEFJN has been launched in Nairobi on February 16, 2018. It was preceded by a two-day workshop (February 15-16) on Advocacy and AEFJN. The antenna is anchored by the Conferences of Major Superiors of Kenya. Prior to this time, the two conferences (male & female religious congregations) worked independent of each other. AEFJN is now a common voice for the two conferences. A structure to coordinate the activities of the antenna for the next one year has been set up. The antenna chose the theme of Tax Evasion/Money laundering for their advocacy activities and will be meeting in the coming days to develop their Plan of Action on this theme. The Secretariat is very grateful to the antenna of UK and the Executive for their contributions in the setting up of the new antenna. The antenna of UK has further committed to working closely with the new antenna to mentor her.

Other antennae exist in Cameroon and in Central African Republic.

http://aefjn.org/en/antenna-of-nairobi-kenya/

Meeting of stagiaires in the Province of Europe

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

“Have an esprit de corps,” Lavigerie told us. One of the challenges we face in everyday life is the mutual support of our joys and sorrows. Ah ! If we were not only united but one; is it not the wish of every human being in his social, religious and even political life? At our level of formation with the Missionaries of Africa, this mutual support was concretized by a meeting of the stagiaires of the Province of Europe and their spiritual companions. Six members took part : Georges Jacques (Provincial Assistant and Responsible of the stagiaires within the province), Bernard Delay (stagiaires’ coordinator in the sector of France), Jesus Zubiria (Provincial Delegate and stagiaires’ coordinator in the sector of Spain), Jonas Yamba (2nd year of stage in Spain / Roquetas de mar), Moses Ariho (1st year of stage in France / Marseille) and Emile Kimembe (1st year of stage France / Toulouse). This meeting took place in Madrid from the 4th to the 6th April 2018 and in comported three parts. First a time of prayer, then a time of sharing of our apostolic experiences and finally a time of relaxation. What is the impact of the cultures of our places of stage on our spiritual, social and apostolic life? What did we learn? How were we welcomed in our sectors and communities? What are the prospects for the future? This was, by and large, the major questions of our meeting. This article will just give a general view. First we will briefly talk about the reception in the community. Then we will talk about our interviews. And finally we will talk about our time of relaxation.

It is a very strong and remarkable element when one arrives in the community of Nuestra Senora De Africa: a sense of reception almost infinite. A warm attitude, a spirit of sharing missionary experiences, a good sense of humor, a communal joy that becomes contagious, a spirit of the body during community services, etc. made our stay not only peaceful but also an encouragement in our vocational journey. One would think we are in the presence of the authors of this word: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13-35). Yes, we saw and believed. It would be ungrateful not to say thank you to the entire community.

Our meeting began on the morning of April 4th with a recollection on the theme: “managing my freedom”. Led by Georges Jacques, this time of reflection reminded us of Jesus’ freedom, which is submitted to the obedience of his Father’s will. Since the dawn of humanity, he said, man had difficulties managing his freedom. Far from being a poisoned gift of God to men, freedom is a great sign of trust and love. To be free is not to do what I want, but to want what I do, one says! To be free is to recognize myself as a limited being and thus make the choice of complementarity while respecting the differences. On a personal level, we were reminded that our freedom is at the heart of our limits. So to recognize and love them seems an asset in our life.

No time to waste ! The afternoon of the same day was therefore dedicated to a global presentation first of the Sectors of Spain and France, then of the Province of Europe and finally to the sharing of our apostolic experiences, which would end in the afternoon of April 5th. It was a time for mutual listening, support and enrichment. It was a highlight for us! Is there anything more wonderful than a free, sincere and rich exchange! Is there any encouraging time more touching than the sharing of the various difficulties encountered because of social, climatic, linguistic change for some of us! Yes, we felt very comforted by the sharing of one and the other. In addition, we also talked about some practical points regarding our training. As an illustration: the stage report, the declaration of intent, the annual retreat and the local holidays.

In the stadium of the Real of Madrid

The time of relaxation has not been forgotten. We had the opportunity to visit the Cathedral of Madrid, the Royal Palace, the Santiago Bernabéu stadium of Real Madrid, and in a special way the Missionaries of Africa project Africa Fondacion Sur. To congratulate us for this beautiful time lived together, a dinner party was at the rendez-vous at the Ham Museum.

A joy lived and shared with one’s peers intensifies, and a difficulty experienced and shared with one’s contemporaries is softened, they say. This meeting of stagiaires organized within the Province in our favor brought us great joy and full satisfaction. We will remember the experiences of each one of us because they carry great wealth. We will remember that trust that characterized us. We will remember the advice of our spiritual companions. We will remember this beautiful welcome in the community. Not everything was said, but at least everything remains etched in our hearts. Does not St. John say, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. “ (John 21:25)

Jonas YAMBA, Moses ARIHO and Emile KIMEMBE

The Missionaries of Africa as partners of CCP

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

On April 5th I had the pleasure of holding a presentation session of the CCP’s e-learning program, addressed to those responsible for the formation of the Missionaries of Africa. The congregation of the White Fathers has been actively collaborating with the CCP…

Read the full article here

 

Consequences (CIM clip 4)

Posted on by Vitus Danaa Abobo

Here comes the fourth short video clip prepared by Stéphane Joulain on the Integrity of the Ministry. It is part of the formation given to the members of the  Missionaries of Africa Society.