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Forced like Jesus Christ to flee…

Forced like Jesus Christ to flee...

World Day of the Migrants and the Refugees

The 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) will be celebrated on Sunday 27th September 2020.

With the title “Like Jesus Christ, forced to flee”, Pope Francis urges us this year to discover the reality of internally displaced people more deeply. Every month, a new video of Pope Francis and other multimedia materials delve into the sub-themes present in the Message of the Holy Father. The first sub-theme was “To know in order to understand” and the second one was “To be close in order to serve”.

You can watch the third, newly released video, in which the Holy Father explores the sub-theme “To listen in order to be reconciled.” It offers the real-life testimony of an internally displaced person that explains how teamwork and mutual acceptance can create a brighter future and peaceful coexistence between people of different religions.

WDMR 2020 - Liturgical Resources

Ordinations 2020

Ordinations 2020

To keep you updated: with a green background, those already ordained - with an orange background, those who are due to be ordained.
Pour vous tenir au courant : sur fond vert, ceux qui sont déjà ordonnés - sur fond orange, ceux qui doivent être ordonnés.

Season of Creation (NAD) – Meditation week 3

Season of Creation (NAD) - Meditation week 3

Robert Nicolas, R.I.P.

Society of the Missionaries of Africa

Father Emmanuel Lengaigne, Provincial Delegate of the sector of France,
informs you of the return to the Lord of Father

Robert Nicolas

on Sunday, September 20th, 2020 at Pau-Bllère (France)
at the age of 91 years, of which 67 of mission years of missionary life
in Mali and in France.

Let us pray for him and for his loved ones.

Milestones in the life of Father Robert Nicolas

Born in Paris XVI
on 26/11/1928
Spiritual YearMissionary OathPriesthood ordination
in the diocese of Bayonne25/09/194929/06/195318/04/1954
 Nationality: French  Maison-Carrée (Algérie)Thibar (Tunisia)Carthage (Tunisia)
9/10/1954VicaireKakoulou, Diocèse KayesMali
21/5/1956 SagabariMali
21/9/1963Grande RetraiteVilla CavallettiItalia
29/1/1969VicaireKassama, Diocèse KayesMali
1/1/1982VicaireSagabari, Diocèse KayesMali
30/4/2000Aumônier ReligieusesSagabari,D.KayesMali
1/12/2002VicaireSagabariMali
1/6/2010Nommé PEP (PE 07/10) France
1/7/2010AccueilParis,FriantFrance
26/9/2013RésidenceBillère,Villa P.B.France
1/1/2014RésidenceBillère,M. LavigerieFrance
20/9/2020Retour auprès du PèreBillère,M. LavigerieFrance

Ordination in times of Covid-19

Ordination of Paschal Ewuntomah in Damango (Ghana)

Live continues and for our young confreres ready for ordination, it is indeed the beginning of a new live. 

Despite the covid-19 pandemic, Deacon Paschal Ewuntomah was ordained a priest by Right Rev. Bishop Peter Paul Angkyier in his Cathedral of Damango Diocese in Ghana on the 5th September 2020. 

The mood was rather a festive one, even with the famous masks supposed to prevent the propagation of the virus. 

Homily of the Superior General in memory of Gotthar Rosner

"Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

After returning from the places where we were blocked during the confinement brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, we, as General Council, wished to celebrate a mass in memory of all our confreres who died since the beginning of the confinements. When Father Gotthard Rosner, Superior General of the Society from 1992 to 1998 passed away on 2 September 2020, we decided to honour his memory and to pray for him and for all the confreres who have died since the beginning of the confinements. There are forty of them in all! It’s a lot in six months. Some succumbed to Covid-19. Others have died from other illnesses. But they all share one thing in common: they past away during a period where it has been impossible to organise a normal funeral for them. In this evening’s Eucharistic celebration we want to pray for all of them as we begin our activities together again in Rome.

We were sad to hear of the deaths of our confreres and especially for our communities not to be able to say goodbye to them in the usual way. Today, it is a song of thanksgiving that we address to God for their long lives consecrated to the Mission in Africa and for the African world. The youngest among them in missionary life had fifty three years of missionary oath and the oldest seventy two. Like the seventy-two disciples sent by Jesus, most of them came back full of joy telling how even the evil spirits submitted to them in His name. And we are witnesses to what they did! Yet this is not the reason why we rejoice and give thanks. We rejoice because their names are written in heaven (Luke 10:17-20). We give thanks to God who first called them and made them grow in their love for him and in their relationship with him. They remain for us, above all, witnesses of this faith.

Father Gotthard Rosner, who died on September 2, is the latest of the confreres to return to the Father. He was a member of our Generalate community as Superior General of the Society. In celebrating this Eucharist for him and in associating in it all the other confreres who have died in recent months, we recognise the role he played in his mission at the service of confreres and we symbolise this by placing the names of the other confreres around his. Among the names of those for whom we pray tonight is that of Father Jean-Claude Ceillier with whom he served on the General Council.

Having spent several years in our houses of formation Father Gotthard is known to many confreres. Many confreres, but also other people who knew him, have testified to his very human sense and the compassion he felt for the people to whom we are sent. He was ready to listen and to accompany. A man with a big heart, he was a source of inspiration for many. As Superior General, Father Gotthard lived through very difficult times such as the genocide in Rwanda, the death of our blessed confreres in Tizi Ouzou and the overthrow of the Mobutu regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All these events strongly affected the confreres in those countries as well as the Society as a whole.

May the souls of our deceased confreres through the mercy of God, rest in peace!

Stanley Lubungo
Superior General

Birth of Mary at St Anne’s (Jerusalem) by the Franciscans

For a long time, the Missionaries of Africa have had the privilege of taking care of the site where, traditionally, Mother Mary was born. It is in the old Town of Jerusalem that the Crusaders built, in 1104, a Church dedicated to St Anne, the mother of Mary. Every year, on the 8th of september, the feast of the birth of Mary is celebrated. It is normally a magnificient celebration where the Church is filled with many French faithful. This year, the celebration was rather strange, as the confinement regulations prevented regular participants from attending the festivities. Here below, you can see a few photos, taken by Nadim Asfour (CTS). You wll find as well a link to the webpage dedicated to that day, and a video dedicated to the feast of the Birth of Mary in St Anne’s. 

In Memoriam Covid-19 Times

In memory of Father Gotthard Rosner and other deceased confreres

At the beginning of the pastoral year 2020-2021, in memory of Father Gothard Rosner, Superior General of the Society of Missionaries of Africa from 1992 to 1998, who passed away on 2nd September 2020, and in memory of all our confreres who have returned to the Father from the period of lockdowns, a Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel of the Generalate of the Society in Rome on Wednesday 16th of September 2020 at 18:00 hours.

Join us on this day, wherever you are, in praying for our confreres.

Stan Lubungo,
Superior General

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Confreres who died since the beginning of the lockdown in Rome (March 9th, 2020)

Gotthard Rosner02/09/2020
Bernhard Pehle01/09/2020
Jean Chardin26/08/2020
Maurice Gruffat21/08/2020
Wolfgang Büth20/08/2020
René Ledeul19/08/2020
Marc Deneckere10/08/2020
Paul Tremblay09/08/2020
Jean-Bernard Delannoy29/07/2020
Eugenio Bacaicoa A.21/07/2020
Pierre Landry13/07/2020
Wlly Delen04/07/2020
Alois Reiles21/06/2020
Gerald Stones21/06/2020
Josef Moser13/06/2020
Bernard Jobin12/06/2020
Justin Louvard09/06/2020
Lucen Van Wielendaele20/05/2020
Ger van Dieten17/05/2020
Marcel Amport15/05/2020
Karel Louwen22/04/2020
Jean-Pierre Claude15/04/2020
Bernard Vulkers14/04/2020
Michel Lelong10/04/2020
Bruno Chupin08/04/2020
Peter Kelly08/04/2020
Karl-Heinz Pantenburg07/04/2020
Johannes Tappeser06/04/2020
Paul Devigne06/04/2020
Anton Weidelener05/04/2020
Martínez López Antonio05/04/2020
Joannès Liogier03/04/2020
Fançois de Gaulle02/04/2020
Henri Frouin29/03/2020
Pierre Lafollie26/03/2020
Robert Laberge18/03/2020
Hans Gyr17/03/2020
Jean-Claude Ceillier16/03/2020
Maurice Redouin15/03/2020
Jan van Haandel12/03/2020

Psychological Health of Priests – an interview with S. Joulain

Psychological Health of Priests - an interview with S. Joulain (Radio Vatican)

Recent events in the Catholic Church in France, but also in other countries such as India or the United States, have been marked by several priest suicides. A progressive awareness is emerging in the church of the need to pay greater attention to the psychological fragility of priests and religious in a context of social and media pressure which can be a source of exhaustion. Psychological support cells have been set up in some dioceses and more and more seminaries are introducing psychologist interventions and sometimes even personalised accompaniment in their courses to help the seminarians identify their own limits even if it means interrupting their journey. The challenge is also to help the future priests to face the psychological difficulties of the people for whom they will be responsible for their souls. Father Stéphane Joulain, a member of the Society of Missionaries of Africa, is also a psychotherapist. He explains to us this morning how the Church is trying to develop psychological support for its ministers of religion by helping them in particular to find a realistic balance in their relational life.

Please note that the interview is in the French language.

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Season of creation (NAD) – Meditation week 2

Season of creation (NAD) - Meditation week 2