News archive

George Smith, R.I.P.

Society of the Missionaries of Africa

Father Hugh Seenan, Provincial Delegate of the sector of Great Britain,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

George Smith

on Monday 4th October, 2021 in Glasgow (Scotland – Great Britain)
at the age of 82 years, of which 59 years of missionary life
in Tanzania, Canada, the Philippines and Great Britain.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

(more…)

News from some provinces

As usual, it is the time chosen by some provinces to keep us aware of what’s going on in their mission. 

Province of Europe

French Sector

Belgian Sector (in English)

Province of East Africa

Province of central Africa

Roger Bisson, R.I.P.

Society of the Missionaries of Africa

Father Réal Doucet, Provincial of the Americas,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Roger Bisson

on Monday 27th September 2021 in St. Petersburg (Florida – USA)
at the age of 94 years, of which 67 years of missionary life
in Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Togo-Dahomey, Madagascar and United States.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

(more…)

Tent of the Encounter, 4th edition

Tent of the Encounter, 4th edition

The season of creation is in full swing and in this fourth week a prayer meeting took place once again. This time, last Saturday, September 18, Father Peter “Subagyo” Stoll and all the Oblates of Mary Immaculate hosted us for a third time! We are at a loss for words to thank them. For this prayer, the theme of the tent was maintained but with a greater emphasis on the need to expand the space of our tents in order to welcome the unexpected. This unexpected which presents itself to us in countless ways and through which our Lord Jesus never ceases to present himself to us. Hence the importance, as St. Paul tells the Colossians, of putting on feelings of compassion, benevolence, humility, gentleness, patience and therefore of being ready to bear with and forgive one another (Col 3:12-13). Such virtues, no doubt, enable us to keep the door of our tent wide open and to make room for it!

This time of prayer began with the rap song Laudato Sii, composed by Sister McAbe, to set us on the right note. Through the readings and prayer intentions, well-chosen songs by the “Padri Bianchi” choir accompanied our reflection. We also had the joy of praying with the Philippine ambassador, his wife and members of the embassy. This embassy is well situated because it is flanked by two guardian angels! The property of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the convent of the Marist Sisters.

As on the other Saturdays, many participants came from the various congregations in the neighbourhood. Sheila Kinsey reminded us, with her well-known enthusiasm, of the next challenges to be taken up together in order to move forward with the platform Laudato Si’ in Action! A challenge that consists, as she so well summarised, in not consuming beyond our needs and in ensuring that future generations will also be able to benefit from a world, an earth, an environment that will be able to offer them a good living environment.

So don’t miss our next prayer time which will take place once again at the Oblates of Mary Immaculate on Saturday, October 2 at 4:30 pm. Until then, let us avoid the use of disposable plastic objects!

 

Martin Grenier

Laudato Sì Rap chanté par les OMI le 4 septembre

Ethiopia – an eye opener

Ethiopia - an eye opener

What is really happening in the Tigray region of Ethiopia? Before November 2020, nine Missionaries of Africa confreres were working there. Today, they are only two left. Paul Reilly, recently appointed for studies in Rome, accepted to contact Jose Bandres, M.Afr., and together with him, they give us some pointers to better understand the situation.  Assessing the crisis as insiders can be tricky, but their aim is only to inform us better, not to expand their political views. (Webmaster)

On 3rd September 2021, Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin of the diocese of Adigrat (which comprises the entire region of Tigray) released a letter to all interested parties. In it he gives a brief overview of the current situation in his diocese in which millions are experiencing dramatic food shortages and pleads for help and prayers to bring the war and suffering of the innocent people of Tigray to a peaceful conclusion.

To better understand what has been happening in northern Ethiopia over the past few months, we provide a brief context to the outbreak of war and the severe famine currently underway in Tigray.

Social and political background: In the last 35 years, Ethiopia has suffered five different wars and two devastating famines.

Some important dates:

1974 – Emperor Haile Selassie overthrown in a military coup after his government fails to deal with famine. Mengistu Hailemariam becomes head of a military junta.

1977-79 – The Tigrayan guerrilla movement appears in Tigray.

1984-85Another serious famine devastates much of the country.

1991 – Lead by Meles Zenawi, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) deposes Mengistu Hailemariam after 17 years of guerrilla warfare and forms with other ethnic groups the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A period of prosperity and stability is established and during his 21-year authoritarian rule considerable economic progress is achieved.

1993 – Eritrea becomes independent through a referendum process.

1994 – New constitution establishes Ethiopia as a federation covering the 7 ethnically based regions. Meles Zenawi officially assumes the post of Prime Minister.

1998-2000 – Ethiopian-Eritrean border war with big human loses on both sides.

2018 – Abiy Ahmed, an ethnic Oromo, becomes Prime Minister and launches a comprehensive programme of political reform at home and diplomatic bridge-building abroad. The government releases thousands of political prisoners, invites exiles to return home, promises greater freedom of expression, privatization of the press as well other important sectors of the economy, specifically telecommunications. Abroad, he negotiates an end to the state of war with Eritrea thereby earning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2019. As part of the package of his political reforms, he dissolves the ethnically based regional parties making up the EPRDF and creates a new national “Prosperity Party” (PP). The TPLF refuses to join the PP, withdraws from the governing coalition, and takes up the mantle of the principal opposition party. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, PM Abiy announces the postponement of federal elections due in principle for the summer of 2020. The TPLF reject the reason for the election delay, claiming that PM Abiy is using the pandemic as an excuse to have more time for campaigning and to grow support for his Prosperity Party.

2020 September- November: The TPLF, against the decision of the federal government, organizes elections on 9 September within the region of Tigray and wins. Bellicose rhetoric heats up on both sides and eventually leads to the outbreak of hostilities on 4 November, when the TPLF attack and occupy the northern military command located in the Tigrayan provincial capital Mekelle as well as other federal military bases throughout the region. PM Abiy Ahmed responds in kind, calling upon three different military forces: the federal army of Ethiopia, regional militias from neighbouring Amhara state, and the invading forces of the dictator Isaias Afwerki, President of Eritrea.

Of course, as in all wars, those who suffer the most are the innocents. Since the outbreak of hostilities in early November 2020, thousands of individuals have been killed, women raped, children made orphans, harvests ruined, villages burned to the ground, families separated and displaced, hospitals, clinics, factories, educational institutions looted and destroyed. Due to the constant insecurity, normal life has become impossible. Those with jobs cannot work, students cannot study, farmers cannot plant crops. Millions of people have been displaced, either escaping to Sudan or moving within Tigray. Day by day food became more and more scarce and prices skyrocketing. All private banks have closed, and the government bank only allows limited withdrawals. Even Médecins sans frontières had to withdraw from the territory for lack of security when three of their members were killed in late June 2021.

June 2021 – After a series of military setbacks, the federal government declared a unilateral ceasefire according to which the federal military, Eritrean forces, and Amhara militias, withdrew from the capital Mekelle and from most of the territory of Tigray. The move became very soon openly a tactic to asphyxiate the population through hunger and disease, with a total lockout of the region. (No flights, no banks, no telephone, no internet, no medicines and practically no food coming in).

Desperate current situation:

In June 2021 according to Mark Lowcock, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, after the release of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, “The number of people in famine conditions in Tigray… is higher than anywhere in the world, at any moment since a quarter million Somalis lost their lives in 2011.” His statement – at a roundtable discussion ahead of the G7 summit – described the situation then, on the authoritative assessment of the crisis by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). In a report, it estimated that 353,000 people in Tigray were in phase 5 (catastrophe) and a further 1.769 million were in phase 4 (emergency).

That was three months ago. Now the situation is a hundred times worse. According to reliable sources – La Croix 12 August – already in mid-August 5.3 million people were in need of food, and 400,000 were suffering severe famine. That is why on 3 September the Bishop of Adigrat, Msgr. Tesfaselassie Medhin, in a desperate move, tries with his letter to alert any authority in the world to act strongly politically, to stop such a genocide, to start cease-fire conversations through mediators, and to open up the frontier to bring in food and medicines.

As far as we know, only US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to implement targeted sanctions against individuals and groups perpetrating violence and impeding humanitarian aid in Ethiopia. However, no individuals or entities were specifically named.

Prior to the outbreak of the war in November 2020, the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) had nine confreres working in the region of Tigray. At present, only two remain. Please keep them, all the priests and religious of the Eparchy of Adigrat, and the innocent people of Tigray in your prayers. And above all, let us pray for an urgent return of peace to Ethiopia!

Jose Bandres & Paul J. Reilly

Abune Tesfaselassie Medhin, Bishop of Catholic Eparchy Adigrat, with priest & MAfr
Ethiopia Adigrat-Tigray Catholic Eparchy

Message from the General Council

A home for all? Renewing the OIKOS of GOD.

A home for all? Renewing the OIKOS of GOD.

In the context of the TIME FOR CREATION which is being celebrated from the 1st of September to the 4th of October, our community of Missionaries of Africa, together with the community of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (MSOLA), the Marist Sisters and the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate, have undertaken a common initiative this year.

To live the theme “A HOME FOR ALL? RENEWING THE OIKOS OF GOD”, every Saturday afternoon we devote a time of meeting and prayer around a tent, which is moved from one garden to another and which makes us aware of the symbolism of the tent, based on different texts from the Old Testament.

On Saturday 18 September, the celebration took place in the M.Afr. garden. Father Stanley Lubungo, our Superior General, and Sister Maria Carmen Ocón Moreno, Assistant General of the MSOLA, welcomed the participants around the tent which reminds us that we are pilgrims, a people on the move on the earth, our common home.

After the reading of Leviticus 23:33-34 by Sister Gisela Schreyer, the participants were given a palm leaf to immerse themselves in the spirit of the Jewish festival of Sukkot. This festival reminds us of our dependence on God’s gift of creation – earth, sky, seas, birds, animals and insects – and God’s invitation to humanity to share the earth, our common home, and God’s universe.

Several members of the community formed a choir accompanied by our musicians. They enriched the celebration with songs in different languages from different continents.
The prayers of intention, prepared by the MSOLA community, also gave voice to our voices and concerns about the dramatic ecological state of the five continents. Father Martin Grenier concluded the prayer with a blessing presented by confreres in Moore, Dagara and Arabic.
The meeting ended with a shared glass of water and biscuits. Nearly 100 religious men and women from a dozen congregations participated in the prayer.

This prayerful, joyful and inclusive, inter-congregational and inter-cultural experience under the trees of the garden and the warmth of our brother Sun, was well appreciated by all participants. Next Saturday we will continue our journey in favour of the OIKOS, our common home, in the garden of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Week3
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Too much mixing between Catholicism and traditional faith

Too much mixing between Catholicism and traditional faith

We need to focus on catechism for adults !

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, reported by Agenzia Fides, Johannesburg 20/9/2021

Some ten years ago, I was the Parish Priest of a rural Zulu Parish near Pietermaritzburg. The people were having many ancestral ceremonies, alongside but not integrated in their Catholic faith and practice. As I insisted in being invited, as Parish Priest, to these events, I started being more and more interested in trying to evangelise those practices. Unfortunately, I left South Africa too early. (signed: Philippe Docq)

Poverty, racism and the influence of ancestral cults are among the greatest challenges to evangelization in South Africa. This is what the Archbishop of Johannesburg, His Exc. Mgr. Buti Tlhagale said to a group of new missionaries.

“There is still a lot of racism in South Africa, it is always under the carpet, below the surface”, said Tlhagale, adding that this translates into economic inequality where a minority is fine and the majority is ill. The Archbishop said he sees a lot of young people in Johannesburg going mad because of the dire situation they are facing due to realities like unemployment. “They sleep on the streets, they lose their dignity, they beg for food, and eventually you can see that there’s something abnormal about their behaviour”, said Archbishop Tlhagale. He pointed out that apart from material problems there’s a lot of brokenness amongst the people of South Africa which results in a loss of hope.

The Archbishop questioned the role of the laity in the society at large wondering whether they go out to make in impact on the society, motivated by their faith to try and change society and its expectation.

Archbishop Tlhagale believes that the major obstacle to total conversion is the ancestral cult, noting that people believe in the ubiquitous presence of ancestors. To make the missionaries understand something concrete with regard the ancentral cult Archbishop Tlhagale showed them a video of a trainee sangoma (Traditional diviner/healer). The video was of a Catholic who became a sangoma recently and the Archbishop was trying to show them that everyone is into this even Catholics of all walks of life. He said this traditional religion is mixed with Christianity even by Catholics including some priests and nuns.

The Archbishop made missionaries aware that there are cases where one goes to two funeral services of the same person on the same day because there has to be a service for the ancestors and a service for the Church. He said people do these things sometimes as a way of double insurance. For this reason Mgr. Tlhagale urged to place more emphasis on adult catechism which is almost non-existent, because after confirmation, the Catholic faithful stop studying and deepening the teachings of the Church.

After the “Catholic” celebration of the marriage on Saturday afternoon, the “real traditional Zulu” marriage took place on Sunday. It was very colourful and meaningful. I found my way to the ceremony, wondering how could we make of the two ceremonies one big feast, celebrating the beginning of a Christian covenant between two persons, between two families.

Ghislain De Jaeger, R.I.P.

Society of the Missionaries of Africa

Father Yvo Wellens, Provincial Delegate of the sector of Belgium,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Ghislain De Jaeger

on Monday 13th September 2021 in Bruges (Belgium)
at the age of 96 years, of which 71 years of missionary life
in D.R. Congo and in Belgium.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

(more…)

First meeting with the Chapter moderators

First meeting with the Chapter moderators

Here is some news from the Generalate at the beginning of the academic year. The General Council is once again complete after the usual summer dispersion. Two confreres have joined them in this first week of work, the mornings of which are dedicated to the preparation of the 2022 Chapter. They are the two future moderators, Innocent Maganya, who directs and teaches at the Institute for Inter-religious Dialogue and Islamic Studies (IRDIS) in Nairobi, and Yago Abeledo, who resides in New York and follows a 4 year specialised formation in process-oriented facilitation and conflict studies.

This first contact between the General Council and the future moderators of the Chapter is very important because the former have already reflected a great deal on the Chapter of 2022, notably by reading the responses to the General Consultation launched last year, while the latter are anxious to know what the description of their future task will be, that is to say, how they will be able to stimulate and nourish the discernment of the capitulants.

This week’s work is focused on three documents:

    • The internal regulations of the Chapter: the basis of this document will of course be the regulations already in existence at the 2016 Chapter, but which will be reviewed, corrected and adapted in view of next year’s Chapter. For example, the role of the spiritual guide of the Chapter will enhanced, as well as the times of prayer at the beginning and end of the day, in order to give more space to discernment and listening to the Spirit.
    • The method to be used during the Chapter was one of the questions of the General Consultation. There is a clear consensus for the so-called Cardinal Cardijn method “See, Judge, Act”. But the General Council has already gone further by taking inspiration from the famous “Pastoral Cycle” (Experience – Analysis – Theological Reflection – Action – Celebration – Evaluation…) widely used by JPIC.
    • The Chapter Calendar will be the third and final document to be drawn up during the working meetings of this week.

 

In a future working meeting, the spiritual guide of the Chapter should probably be present.

But Rome is not the only one to get to work. The Pre-Capitulars will begin in all the provinces. Their reflections will complement those of the General Council to give the future 2022 Chapter a solid basis for work and reflection.

Good meetings to you all!

And above all… with a touch of humour…