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We tend to oppose Pastoral Charity over and against Pastoral Justice, in the name of Mercy but they are two sides of the same coin: the pastoral care of the People of God. To reflect about Pastoral Justice, requires firstly that we come to a common definition of what we understand by Pastoral Justice.

Continue reading “Pastoral imperatives for a just and caring ministry (PE nr 1090 – 2018/04)”

Victor Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning is a good starting point for our reflection. Without delving into the details of the book, the author, a holocaust survivor and a psychiatrist, puts forward the message that we are all engaged in a search for meaning. This search involves the longing for fulfilment and to belong. Peace is the result of these processes. Our resilience and quality of life depend on whether or not we find “a logos”-a meaning to our existence. It is also a common

Continue reading “All migrants in search for meaning and peace (PE nr. 1090 – 2018/04)”

From its earliest times, our Society has cultivated the praiseworthy and noble custom of cherishing the memory of its deceased members. Long before our days, many men heard the Lord’s call and Lavigerie’s invitation to the African mission. They became the ancestors to whom our Society owes the present.

Continue reading “A Word about the Necrological Calendar (PE nr 1090 – 2018/04)”

I have been asked to share my experience as a confrere doing further studies in a formation house (4th phase Small Formation Group in Kinshasa, DRC). What link should I make between my experience of being just another student at the university and as a student priest and collaborator in a formation house?    

Continue reading “My experience of specialised studies in the context of Initial Formation (PE nr 1090 – 2018/04)”

It is a reality that the question of ecology involves the whole planet, as it is a collective good. In fact, already its etymology, which is “Ökologie” in German, or “oίkoς” in Greek, means ‘house’ (Mother Earth), giving us that sense of commonality and collectivity! Our responsibility towards ecology, therefore, extends to future generations.

Global warming is not a hot air story; it is a reality that we face, a reality that we encounter today, in our contemporary world. In the Book of Genesis, God gave us dominion over creation (cf. Gen. 1:26-28), but we have corrupted it by the sin of selfishness and greediness. Instead of dominion, we have turned it into domination. “We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life” (Laudato Si’, no. 2). Pollution, deforestation, degrading  natural sources of water, illegal and uncaring exploitation of natural resources, genetic engineering, human trafficking (which is the third illegal and inhuman global money-making industry after the arms and drugs industry), just to mention a few, are part and parcel of the causes of the ecological crisis.

All this poses serious and urgent challenges to our lifestyles today. It demands that the way we live should be oriented according to the principles of sobriety, temperance and self-discipline, both at personal and social levels. People need to escape from the consumer mentality and promote methods of production that respect the created order as well as satisfying the basic needs of all. This change of mentality would be helped by a greater awareness of the interdependence between all the inhabitants of the earth. The encyclical letter of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, “Laudato Si’” is still a good guide to find a solution to the ecological crisis! Indeed, the Church as a whole speaks with loud and clear voice about the nature of man (human being) who is created in the image and likeness of God, and his place in the world, which is now being turned into an ecological tragedy. Surely, Vatican II was the reinsertion of the Church into history and the rediscovery that the Kingdom of God (malkuth shamayim) is not alien to earthly reality.

In practical terms, this means that the ecological crisis is becoming – or has become – one of the major theological themes of theological anthropology, which is fully aware of its relationship to God. It directly calls into question the relationships among human beings, which is social ecology, and with nature, which is physical ecology. From this point of view, the ecological crisis can be seen as an aspect of the groaning of creation. “We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains” (Rm 8, 22). This groaning is triggered by the sin of egoism of individuals and society. The harmony and balance of nature is being dismantled; it is not respected according to God’s order, God’s command. “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her” (LS, no. 2).

In the last few decades, especially after Vatican II, the Church has taken some initiatives to address this serious aspect of the ecological crisis. The writings and research of individual theologians, philosophers, and scientists such as Alasdair Maclntyre, author of ‘After Virtue’, James Lovelock’s ‘Gaia’ and Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ on finding a solution to the ecological crisis have been based on models of development rooted in a relational vision, in a more personal and ecological attitude towards the world, towards creation. One comes to realise that there is a return to the truth of the biblical vision of humanity and to an understanding of the relational aspect of reality. This relational attitude is a structural characteristic of the Christian vision of reality at all levels. Being is relational.

A womens’ garden with a “drop by drop” system in Guéné-Goré, Mali

However, we do not find definitions of God, human beings and the world in Scripture. And of course, the Bible is not meant for that. It is not a dictionary! But there are series of narratives in which the multiplicity of relationships between God, human beings and the world are communicated. A human being is understood as a complex of relationships with God, with his fellow human beings – men and women – and with the world and also with the creation which God has mandated him to care for. Nature is always seen in relationship to God and humanity. The life of God Himself is understood as relational life and source of relationships. God as Trinity, a communion of life and love, creates the world as ‘other from Himself”, as a distinct reality with which He is in relationship. In particular, He creates human beings in His image. This implies that a human being is not an individual, closed in on himself or herself, centred on oneself, but a person, as a dialogical being, who reaches his fulfilment in relationship with others and with nature.

The relational dimension expressed in the Scriptures – between God and human beings, between God and creation, between human beings and creation, and among human beings themselves – is not limited to the spirit, but it is also revealed in the reality of its physicality. The body is the place of exteriorisation, of communication, of physical and spiritual manifestation. The biblical and ecological perspective throws into chaos the theory of division, namely body and soul, mind and spirit, human being and the world, men and women, appraised by some old and modern supporters of individualism. This biblical and ecological perspective challenges the rigid boundaries between human beings and nature, between “mine” and “yours”; the spirit of “I, Me and Myself”; the absolutisation of private property. The spirit of “I care for myself, and I don’t care for the other, ‘to whom it may concern’!” is surely the source of the ecological crisis!

It is exactly this ‘bodiliness’ as immersion in the cosmos, which reveals the common dimension of brother-sisterhood, which binds us to nature. In a way, nature is our common body. This pushes us to rethink our attitude towards creation, in the sense of ‘Integrity of Creation.’ It leads us to relate to it (creation) in terms of reciprocity as it stands in terms of sister-brotherhood. Here lies the greatness of the vision of Francis of Assisi, which is taken up by Pope Francis, clearly expressed in “Laudato Si’ ”. Since everything is truly connected, an integral ecology must guide humanity’s decisions and life-styles; hence, we must stop the ecological crisis that we are facing. We should not forget that, “We ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen. 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters” (LS, no. 2).

Call it Irma, Maria, Katrina or Harvey, a hurricane can be devastating and I do not say that lightly.

Since the 18th October 2017, the different artistic, political, sporting, religious and other backgrounds, whether in our own country (Canada) or elsewhere, have felt the shockwaves of seismic proportions. It’s a shockwave that has crossed five continents. This is a debate that is going on right now and I do not think anyone can stop it, because EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT.

Is it a good thing that this debate should take place?

I like the expression “I was overtaken by this duty to truth” that the film director and ecologist Jean Lemire used in his book ‘L’Odyssée des Illusions’ when he is describing the state of our wounded planet and our mistreatment of it. As Pope Francis says, “We treat this planet like predators and not as protectors.”

Unfortunately, we can act in the same way when we deal with people. We can sometimes consider other people as objects whether they be a man, a woman or a child.  I exercise power over another person, I dominate them and I do what I like with them. The powerful person, with a lot of money, who has authority, who controls everything, we associate with success. This image is dangerous. A very talented person is not exempt from committing sexual violence. We should never forget the negative impact on the victims.

We are, sometimes, frightened by the scope of sexual criminality. The extent of the problem forces us to reflect. All five continents denounce sexual misconduct. Sexual violence is, perhaps, one of the greatest weaknesses in world society today. One has to make the effort to look.

Sexual aggression can really harm people and one remembers it many years later. One third of women, it is said, have been victims of it at least once in their lifetime. Men can also be victims and equally children, one has only to look at the problem of paedophilia.

This tempest has allowed many women to reveal the wounds and the scars that they have borne for a long time. It has been the same for many men who have disclosed the sexual violence they suffered when they were children.

When this problem arises, it is much easier to close one’s eyes and shut up rather than face reality. Nobody likes to be considered as a victim and that is understandable. There are surely laws in place to condemn sexual aggression as well as policies against violence. Social networks have done their best over the last few years to detonate the truth in this domain. Truth frees and that is a fact.

What follows from this hurricane of # MOI AUSSI or #ME TOO is not the condemnation of one or the other. It may be a time to step back, to try to understand, to look for ways to change the culture or find ways to get around the problem of what makes us act badly sometimes.

The current crisis caused by this tornado is not only a disaster; it also includes a chance for people not to trivialize sexual violence any more. There are behaviours that will no longer be tolerated, silences that will no longer be kept.

Whether we like it or not, the experience that we are encountering now constitutes a radical transformation. The revelation of our weaknesses may be able to bring us a new freedom and a desire ‘to see new things happen.’ It can also help us to get closer to our values and to our convictions. I like these words that I saw somewhere; “there are interpersonal skills that need developing in order to help good behaviour grow in a healthy way.”

I am in contact with the world of migrants in France since the year 2000…in Paris…especially with those who have been waiting illegally for 10 years before hoping for a residence permit. Since 2012, I am in Lyon with those seeking asylum. They are better protected because they have an official document allowing them to stay while waiting for an answer from the authorities, which can take a long time. All these foreigners come without any preparation for what they are going to experience here. They are often weakened by their journey and they are completely disorientated because they have not found straightaway the country of their dreams…food, how to greet, ways of dressing… everything is new for many of them except for the small number who have managed to return after being expelled.

For us who live in religious communities – especially if one is a confrere from another continent, he has had many years to prepare for international life, moreover he will have no difficulty to find a bed and a welcome in our big houses, with confreres ready and able to help him with any problems. That is why, he should be fluent  (like those who go to Africa or elsewhere) in the local language, to be able to adapt to the local customs of the moment that are not against or too far away from his way of witnessing the message of Jesus. As a priest in Tanzania,

I never wore shorts which were, at the time I was there, only worn by boys in primary school. They were never worn by an adult. As far as

I could, I always ate the local food, but, of course, from time to time;

I enjoyed a good meal prepared by a confrere from another culinary culture. However, I never took a tin of anything into the villages in order to eat by myself in a corner as I have seen other European confreres do. It is up to us to show that no matter where, any person with a bit of an effort can live and integrate into another culture other than his own while still keeping his personality and involving others in all the wealth of the country from which he comes.

“I believe that from the moment when one stops saying, ‘in my country, we do things this way,’ we can establish a relationship and discover the riches of a people” (Sister Amanda, from Colombia) (La Vie 03/08/2017)

“The arrival of so many sisters and brothers in the faith, offers

the churches in Europe an opportunity to fully achieve its universality…the migrants have the duty to get to know, to respect, to assimilate, the culture as well as the traditions of the nation which is welcoming them.” (Pope Francis on the 28/10/2017 at the Congress in Rome on ‘Rethinking Europe’).

We have had emigrants who left by cutting all the bridges with their past…one talks nowadays of migrants who are in constant contact with their kin in the home country and who sometimes return to the country of their ancestors.

It is true that Jesus did a lot of healing but he did not come on earth to start a group of healers or makers of magic potions. There were already too many of them around at the time and they were very successful (Lk 11. 19). If Jesus healed the sick, it was to proclaim a Kingdom, a new community close to people and especially to those who were the most destitute and often rejected by the religious world. Jesus often refused to let people speak about his healing miracles or that he did extraordinary things (Mt 12, 38 – 42), which is often the case of those who practice these gifts so that they might be spoken about. Many of these types of people are false messiahs, whereas when the crowds wanted to make Jesus a king, he withdrew all alone to the surrounding mountains. For Jesus, the most important miracle was the “bread of life” (Jn 6, 58) and in verse 66 we read that many abandoned him. Let us ask ourselves therefore, what can I do when I am in the presence of sick people, those who are starving and excluded from society? Speaking personally, I do not pray for rain (those who act as rainmakers often observe nature closely such as hyperactivity in a termite mound, a sure sign of approaching rain). I encourage people to prepare their fields when the time for the rainy season is approaching rather than hanging around the bars. I also encourage them  to plant vegetables (peas, lentils, beans, etc.) that enrich the soil, to reforest and not to plant only maize (when I bless seeds, I always make sure that people have also included some cassava plants as they are very drought resistant). When I am called to the home of a sick Christian, no matter what kind of illness even mental ones they are suffering from, I believe that they are loved, and that I have to listen to them. I administer the sacrament of the sick surrounded by the family and community of the sick person and I invite all those present, not only me, to place their hands on the head of the sick person because he will feel better and I do not want to pass myself off as a miracle worker. This means that each one present can ask him or herself, what sort of gifts have I received and how am I going to use them to be close to everyone in my community and in my neighbourhood when “the Padri” is not there?

Extract from a letter written in Swahili to the Christians of Iboja in 1998

For some time now, I belong to the category of ‘Seniors’ so I am taking the risk of expressing some thoughts that I hope will have a wider application beyond what I can say about the only retirement home that I know (Maison Lavigerie’ at Pau-Billère).

Among the group of seniors there are two principal groups: those who accept on one level that they are ‘old’ and those who do not accept it at all at all. There is a third group that I will talk about later on.

Let us begin with those who recognise that they are ‘old’: In French, it is more elegant to say ‘senior’ because in Africa it is an honour to be old and in general, society recognises us for our wisdom and respects us. However, in Europe, the word is more a sign of decrepitude and we, Europeans, feel that very much. Even if we avoid recognising this condition; illness and tiredness remind us! Certainly, some people do accept to becoming old; we have had our time of full vitality and now it is the time to slow down but life continues towards its normal end as for every living creature. This risks adopting a passive attitude, letting go without accepting our situation.

As a member of an institute of common life (Missionaries of Africa), the ideal would be to prolong as far as possible the possibility of living a fraternal life in the time that is left to us. This is possible as long as there is a sufficient number of confreres to take care of those who are more handicapped. This is done in a number of feminine congregations especially those, that have a sufficient number of nurses among their members.

However for us missionaries who do not have many houses in Europe, this is not possible. The practical solution (at least in France) was to seek help from an EHPAD which is basically a medical organisation that looks after dependent elderly people. In fact, it’s a hospital and the main aim is to provide appropriate medical care. The official organization of this system relieves the heads of the institute (Provincials), both financially and in terms of the practical organization of the house: depending on the degree of dependence of the “residents.” In fact the house could have as many carers as there are residents. Even if these carers from the doctor and the lay director down to the cleaner are kind towards the old missionaries, on the whole it does not constitute a community and we are very far from the ideal that we hoped to find at the end of our lives.

These reflections need to be developed further regarding structures and people.

Structures: when a congregation asks an EHPAD to take over, the aim is not only to be rid of the burden of the material organisation of the house (medical care, financial administration…); it should also assure a real accompaniment on the level of spiritual life without being in competition with the direction of the hospital. This double direction is sometimes difficult to work out because the interests are often contrary.

Regarding help to people some more reflection needs to be done. I have not participated at a session for the 4th age but having seen what has happened in many other congregations, I would like to point out a few things.

In our missionary life (it is the same thing for active religious) there are personal events which force us to look at things squarely; it can be the weakening of our bodies, the result of a medical test, or a warning sign as a result of a remark made by a confrere. Even if this surprises us, we should not deceive ourselves: “I am going through a difficult time, I am getting weaker.” This is where I am whether I like it or not! It is up to me to face up to the situation.

Some people find difficulty in accepting this state of affairs. It is the 3rd group of which I have referred to above. They hang on to what they have done (in the past) and often that is justified. They are proud of their achievements. However that leads them to lie to themselves and to others. They do not accept any suggestion that they give up driving because they are becoming a public danger, they refuse to accept that their accounts are getting mixed up after having faithfully looked after them for 50 years as bursar, they refuse to accept that now they sing badly after having spent many years as choirmaster. It is not necessarily pride but incapacity to take into account their actual situation and they still believe and want to be useful as in the past.

Whatever group we belong to (still active, really diminished, or diminished without knowing it) we are called to look at Jesus. In the perspective of our life in Christ, this last stage makes us realise that Jesus did not experience old age. However, he comes to live in us: let us allow him to live with so many men and women through us. Like Him, we can show solidarity with all those who are experiencing this moment of the diminution and the aging process. We have a unique opportunity to share our life with Christ, with the poor, with the diminished. We need to prepare ourselves to enter into this perspective.

Teilhard de Chardin saw in suffering, Jesus approaching:

“In all those dark moments, O God, grant that I may understand that it is you (provided only my faith is strong enough) who are painfully parting the fibres of my being in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance and bear me away within yourself”.

And Teilhard concludes:

“It is not enough that I should die while communicating. Teach me to treat my death as an act of communion.”   

Can this be our perspective, without cheating!

You will find below the complete extract from Le Milieu Divin under the heading “Communion through diminishment.”