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This first issue of the Petit Echo for 2018, the Jubilee Year of our foundation, is devoted to Initial Formation which is divided into four Phases. The First Phase is centred on philosophical studies and organised at Provincial level. This Phase enables candidates to discern their vocation better when faced with the demands of missionary life and it helps them to progress to a genuine human and spiritual maturity by giving them the elements of doctrinal formation (Cf. CL 117). The Second Phase is the Spiritual Year. “It aims at developing in the candidates a deeper attachment to the person of Christ” (Cf. CL 122) through reflection and prayer. It is commonly known as the Novitiate, but in reality it is not a novitiate in the canonical sense of the term as it is governed by the Society’s own Law (Cf. 123). The Third Phase is the period of Apostolic Training which the candidates do outside their Province of origin in order to allow themselves be confronted by the reality of missionary life in the African world and, since the Chapter of 2016, other places where our charism is needed. Finally, the Fourth Phase allows the candidates to deepen what they have learnt during the preceding Phases through theological and doctrinal reflection. Formation in these different Phases is only possible thanks to the work of our missionary and vocation promoters and the formation teams of the pre-First Phase centres who prepare the aspirants for Initial Formation. I would like to renew once again the gratitude of the General Council and the Society to them all.

What we call Initial Formation today began 150 years ago on the 18th October 1868 at the “Maison Rostan” on the heights of El Biar in Algeria. The novices were seven in number and they were accompanied by a Jesuit, Fr. Vincent who was in charge until May 1869. Joining him was a member of the Sulpician Order, Fr. Gillet, a professor of Theology, and an African layman, professor of Arabic trained by the Italian Comboni Missionaries. During the course of the years and with Algeria becoming independent, this Initial Formation programme developed progressively in Europe and North America.

Today, with the exception of the First Phase, which is under the authority of the Provincial Superiors and the Third Phase, all the other Phases are in Africa and come under the direct responsibility of the Superior General and his Council. The pages of this issue of the Petit Echo tell us how our Society has developed in this area of formation and it gives the word to Formators who express their joys and sorrows. In this Jubilee year, we express our thanks to the Lord who has given us an abundant harvest. We began the year (academic) with 508 candidates divided among 19 formation houses of which 11 are in the 1st Phase, 3 in the 2nd Phase and 5 in the 4th Phase as well as those stagiaires in the 3rd Phase living in communities. We are thankful for all these developments and we can determinedly look to the future with hope.

Our Society takes great care to propose a long holistic formation journey to candidates which responds as far as possible to the needs of the mission today and tomorrow.. It links together a formation that is human, spiritual, intellectual and training for an intercultural, international, community and apostolic life of a missionary character.

Formation is a key aspect of our mission. Our future as a missionary society depends on the way we invest today in training our young people. The 2016 Chapter reaffirmed that Initial Formation is a priority for our Society and is the concern of everybody and not just those for whom it is their primary mission. It drew our attention on the need to rethink our intellectual formation so that it might be more missionary and less clerical in outlook (CA 4.1.4b). It reminded us that the apostolic vision of our Founder, Cardinal Lavigerie, “Be apostles and nothing other than apostles” sums up our identity as missionaries. It is the foundation on which our formation programme is built and through which we prepare men for a total commitment to follow Christ at the service of the mission in the African world and there where our charism is sought. Thus, starting from this vision which inspires our missionary life, the Chapter, which was an important moment of returning to the basics while, at the same time, widening our vision, urges us to make our candidates aware of the values and demands of the Mission in order to be able to discern their missionary vocation, (cf.CA. 4.1.2a). As the Capitular Acts state, “When it comes to choosing places of apostolate, we should look first to Missionary of Africa priorities including apostolates with those on the periphery of society” (CA, 4.1.2d).

As the Society is composed of Priests and Brothers, the Chapter paid particular attention to the training of Brothers. It tasked the General Council to look again at their formation by launching a reflection at all levels of the Society and to organise a special forum of all the Brothers with the aim of clarifying the specificity of the Brother’s vocation and to make it more attractive in order to provide a better service to the mission. As a first step, a preparatory committee composed of some Brothers met in Rome from the 5th to the 8th December 2017. In addition, the Chapter insisted that, “the Brothers should receive a professional formation so as to be well prepared for the Mission” (CA, 4.1.4h).

The Chapter reaffirms the responsibility of the Society to form missionary disciples according to the heart of Jesus in view of a preferential love for the poor. In its 150 years of existence our Initial Formation programme has evolved a lot. From 18th October 1868 to the 19th September 1875, the responsibility for running our novitiate lay with the Jesuit Order. The novitiate was closed from the 31st August 1870 to 18th October 1871 because of the Franco-Prussian War which broke out on the 15th July 1870. The first Missionary of Africa to take charge of the novitiate was Fr. Charbonnier (+1888) from 19th September 1875 to September 1880. The first scholasticate opened at Maison Carée on the 18th October 1871 with four students under the direction of Fr. Ducat, a Jesuit. The first Missionary of Africa to be in charge was Fr.Léon Livinhac (+1922) from 19th September 1875 to the 8th March 1878. Certainly our Initial Formation has evolved positively but the objective remains the same: train missionaries following the vision of our Founder, missionaries who are full of the joy of the Gospel and always available for a prophetic mission of Encounter and Dialogue and a witness to the love of God in the African world or wherever people seek our charism.

Didier Sawadogo, M.Afr.
Assistant General