Africana Plus
No63 June 2005.1
2004 Chapter
The Missionaries of Africa
have trust in the future
What does a missionary think of himself
in this third millennium? Only one thing is foremost in his mind:
the Word of God. The messenger works at the mission with a free
and peace-filled mind. He shares this peace that is given him.
The missionary puts his energy in proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
His whole being is sustained by the work to which the Holy Spirit
invites him. He cannot settle anywhere permanently, for he has no
port of registry. The missionary proclaims a free salvation. He
has been chosen freely, he has accepted freely: he therefore
fills his mission in a spirit of poverty and selflessness, with
the conviction that God gives him the necessities through those
who accept his word. Being at peace with himself, docile to the
will of God, the missionary does not work for his own profit. He
works for the Good News, he implements it with others. This is
what distinguishes the missionary.
This is what also the Missionaries of
Africa have tried to express in their Society at their latest
Chapter in the spring of 2004. What has come out of this meeting?
Here is a summary of what their reflections have produced.
Our Mission, just as the Church’s
mission, is beyond frontiers because the action of the Spirit
does not recognize frontiers; the love of God has no boundaries
and his Kingdom surpasses the visible limits of the Church. Our
Mission has its source in the universal love of God, materialized
in our love for Africa and Africans.
Our missionary identity is in a fundamental
reference to Ad Gentes, where Christ is not yet known. In
addition, our Mission has meaning only within Local Churches. We
bring our specific missionary characteristic to them. By
remaining attentive to new areas of Mission and overcoming
possible misunderstanding, we contribute to their missionary
openness. Solidarity at the local lever is now organized
worldwide. The Christian community is opening up to the outside
world and the poor evangelize us. In this way, our apostolate has
a geographical, cultural and socio-economic dimension. These
certainties and circumstances are for us life-giving factors.
We are called to live out our Mission in all
the changes and challenges of contemporary Africa: Islam,
Ecumenism, New Religious Movements, African Traditional
Religions, but also in the situations of injustice, violence and
pandemics affecting it. The face of Mission today is expressed in
a special way by encounter, proximity to the people, and the
struggle for justice that has become the task of every Missionary.
Wherever we are, whatever we do, we are all
Missionaries. You are apostles and nothing but apostles. (Cardinal
Lavigerie) Reverential love for Christ and Africa gives us an
apostolic identity in our lives and apostolate. Our vocation as
contemplatives in action compels us to announce the Good News of
Jesus Christ, thereby promoting in-depth evangelization. This is
the ideal sustaining us, giving us strength.
We are called to live out our Mission in
international and intercultural witnessing communities. The
witness of the community in all the diversity of its members is
already a sign of the Kingdom. Several factors are life gibing:
community of sharing in faith, goods and project of life and
work, making it a place of mutual evangelization, discernment,
confrontation and growth. Here is therefore our missionary Creed:
Our common vision
Captivated by Jesus and walking in his
footsteps, sure of God’s passionate love for all and sent by
his Spirit preceding us, we want to work with, and for, today’s
African world which is going through a time of rapid change.
Through our commitment to parish
ministry and other missionary activities, concerned to promote
Christian unity, we work in communion with the Local Church, for
the proclamation of the Gospel and the growth of the Reign of God.
Invigorated by the breath of life and
hope blowing across today’s African world, we wish to
celebrate life and promote the values of the Kingdom, especially
at the frontiers of our Church. Like the Prophets, we become
involved at fracture lines and in areas of injustice that divide
and cause individuals and peoples to suffer. In this way we form
part of the surge of solidarity coursing through the world.
We want to continue being involved in
the encounter taking place between men and women of differing
cultures and religions, so as to journey together with them in
search of God and of a more just and fraternal world. Today
Islam, New Religious Movements and African Traditional Religions
challenge us in a special way. In the traces of those who have
gone before us, who have given their lives to the full, and
faithful to the inspiration of Cardinal Lavigerie, we remain
apostles by our whole life, being and activity. In witnessing
communities, transforming our diversity into a pathway of
communion, we put our various gifts at the service of our shared
mission. Christ’s love spurs us on: it is from Him that we
unceasingly draw our strength.
Cardinal Lavigerie responded to the social
challenges of his time. Inspired by Christ, he dedicated himself
to specific works. Our present-day commitments to justice,
especially at fracture lines, are consonant with his commitment.
Our founder engaged the Society he established in the challenges
facing the world of Islam in North Africa. He insisted on the
necessity of being close to people, learning their language and
entering into their culture. Our spirituality should help us to
develop our ability to welcome, encounter, and listen to people,
allowing ourselves to be touched by their lives, deepening our
knowledge of one another, developing friendships and engaging in
shared action. His life at that time is our inspiration today.
Community superiors help confreres to
distinguish between doing works of mercy and helping to eradicate
the causes of injustice. They identify the major challenges of
today, with the aim of a firm commitment in different areas:
AIDS, youth, human rights, migrants, refugees, unemployment,
urbanization, respect for creation, lobbying and so on. After
having identified the great challenges, they help confreres to
take up one or two specific areas in which to take up a
commitment.
Unity and diversity in our vision of
Mission is an intrinsic part of our identity White Father.
Missionaries of Africa, we are united in the Spirit who send us
to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the African World
and the world of Islam. In our Society, there have always been
different ways of seeing and living out our Mission.
The prominence given to justice, peace and
integrity of creation (JPIC), to Encounter and Dialogue, has
contributed to diversifying our vision of Mission. Many confreres
took inspiration from this and found new impetus in their
missionary life. Some confreres advocate the primacy of primary
evangelization and pastoral care, while others place more
emphasis on other missionary commitments. Our strong point is the
fresh inspiration this new orientation gives to our Mission. Here
is therefore the second line of our missionary Creed:
Our common vision
Our vocation and our commitment to
mission create among us a strong bond of unity. We aim to
establish inter-cultural, witnessing communities, composed of
brothers and priests, as a sign of the Kingdom of God.
We accept diversity in our communities
as the will of God and an important part of missionary life,
according to the traditions of our Society. Welcoming diversity
as a gift, we respect the differences of our cultures,
backgrounds and interests, and open ourselves to mutual
enrichment and renewal.
Diversity is also a challenge to the
unity of the Society and its future. We therefore conceive our
communities as places of mutual evangelization, discernment,
confrontation and growth.
Committed to overcoming individualism,
we promote the sharing of faith and material resources in a
spirit of solidarity and transparency. In all humility, we
acknowledge that the mission we carry out is essentially God’s
work. Thus, in spite of our diminishing numbers, we welcome a
diversity of ministries, mindful of our charisma and the
priorities of our Society.
Superiors of communities will see to
deepening a spirituality of unity in diversity through knowledge
of self and of one’s culture as well as by spiritual
animation at Society level. They will help them continue
integrating JPIC, Encounter and Dialogue, Ecumenism and pastoral
care in all our ministries and community witness.
However we cannot but notice that our
Society has become weaker than before due to the decrease in
personnel. Should the structures that were erected for a Society
of 4000 members remain the same for a Society of less than 1700
members? Questions are being asked: how can we continue to
support services rendered to Mission and the confreres with the
personnel we have today and in the near future? Should we
continue with the present dispersal of communities or concentrate
only on some countries or in a region within a country? How do we
reduce full-time personnel to ease the structures? What criteria
should be used to appoint young confreres? These are real
questions that will need our attention in the future.
Moreover Europe and North America
have experienced a rise in the number of old confreres and a
reduction in the personnel available for the essential functions
of the Provinces. At the same time there has been a growth in the
presence of the African World and Islam in Europe and North
America, prompting an increase in governments’ decisions
concerning them. The Local Churches are appealing anew for a
missionary presence. This is the third line of our missionary
Creed:
Our common vision
We wish that each confrere be
welcomed, recognised, valued and supported so that all may truly
feel part of the family.
Several confreres in Europe and North
America devote themselves to administrative tasks in their
Provinces. In solidarity with confreres working in Africa, they
provide essential support for their missionary work.
Others dedicate themselves to the care
of retired confreres and those who require more particular
consideration. The presence, prayers, generosity, and acceptance
of suffering of those being cared for are a precious contribution
to their communities, and to the missionary commitment of the
whole Society.
With them, the whole Society commits
itself to live out the priorities of the Mission:
- In collaboration with the Local
Churches and other missionary Institutes, we are at the service
of the values of the Kingdom through our involvement in the
realms of justice, peace and integrity of Creation, in
welcoming migrants, and through our meetings with Africans and
with Muslims.
- We express our solidarity with
Africa and the African world by making known the cultural values
of Africa and the life of the Church in Africa.
Michel
Fortin, M.Afr.