The
24th of September saw an unprecedented and unparalleled historical event
in the Southern African Province (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa). For
the first time in the life of the province, all its confreres were gathered
(interestingly, a great majority of them did respond positively to the
initiative) for an encounter meeting in Zomba (Malawi) from the 24th
to the 28th of September 2008. 50 confreres were at the rendez-vous.
From the province, 46 confreres were present, among who were its 8
stagiaires. Also present were 2 representatives from the Province
of Zambia: Christopher Chileshe, Assistant Provincial and Francis
Kangwa Vocation Animator, Felix Phiri, who was invited to conduct
a session on Encounter with our neighbour (and specifically Islam) and
Richard Baawobr, First Assistant General.
The
meeting started with a Eucharistic celebration presided by the Provincial.
This prophetic act has enfolded in itself the significance of the meeting.
As a province, we constitute a unit that could be identified in Paul's
words to the Corinthian Christian community, "the Body of Christ".
Body implies unity, a necessary flow of being and becoming, of cohesion
and identity, a bond of complementarity. In parallel, as an apostolic
and missionary "body", our flow in being and becoming, of cohesion
and identity, our bound of complementarity owed to and did express itself
in this starting step of encounter. In fact, the provincial, Louis
Blondel did not fail to make the point. As to express the objective
of the meeting, during his homely at the opening Eucharistic celebration,
he invited each and every confrere to step out of himself, of his secure
zones, and reach out to the other, to encounter and to get to know other
confreres. The facilitator of the day, Sean O'Leary, conveyed also
the same massage, saying that the meeting was above all for us to have
a good time together and to get to know each other better. Certainly,
encounter starts at home. Getting to know each other better, to know each
other's community and pastoral projects, to share our joys and sorrows,
our fulfillments and challenges, was very important and happily was not
a lost objective.
The
first part of the session was dedicated to brief presentations of the
pastoral projects from the different communities: traditional parish work,
youth ministry in normal and 'fracture zones', pre - first - second -
third and fourth phases' formation work, cultural centres and programmes,
social centres, schools and prisons chaplaincy work and programmes, pastoral
formation centres and projects, housing projects, communication work,
etc. Brief presentations of the political situation of the different countries
have also been offered. The presentations were all embracing: from socio-cultural
to politico-religious; an amazing great variety of pastoral activities
and approaches. These contextual approaches to evangelisation have shown
how socio-economic, politico-religious and cultural contexts are a hermeneutical
and expression principle of our apostolic mission. This great variety
has been very enriching and indeed inspiring to all.
Re-creative
activities were also foreseen on the agenda. In fact, the digestion of
the richness of the first day's session has been helped by an excursus
outing day organised on the 25th. A choice between two places of visit
has been offered: Mua Parish and Cultural Centre, and a beautiful hill
top botanical park. This wonderful relaxing day appeared to have been
very well appreciated and a good transitional tool to the following part
of the session: Missionary Encounter with the other (more specifically,
Islam).
Two main speakers were at the rendezvous: Our confrere Felix Phiri
and Sheikh Yahya Tambuli. Key persons of an inter-faith project (the
Mangochi inter-faith project) were also present to share their experience
of joint effort for inter-faith (Christian and Muslims) dialogue in view
of peace building: Mr Willy Kasanga, project officer, Fr Saindi of
Radio Maria and Mr Tobias Jere of a Centre For Social Concerns.
The
first part of their presentation was consecrated to what could be the
motives for encounter, and the second part to some specific elements of
Islam. For Phiri, the starting point of encounter is self-knowledge. Mission
starts at home. Dialogue depends primarily on our personal attitudes towards
the other. Our first dialogical and encounter partner is therefore our
self. Encounter is a conversion or transformation step that starts at
a personal level. For "our stand point determines our view point".
Who we are defines our needs and desires. There is a sociological necessity
for dialogue and encounter such as social cohesion and globalisation factors.
But before all, the driving force of dialogue should be charity. It makes
us seek to reach out to the other in order to render him/her our neighbour,
someone close to us. This challenging first part of the presentation,
the second part on specific elements of Islam, the different experiences
shared, and the group reflections have awakened a general awareness and
alertness, and prompted a desire to commitment. For where there is co-existence,
there is encounter, and therefore a need for personal attitudes for dialogue.
In
other respects, the situation of the new province has been tackled. The
unification of the two provinces - SAP And Zambia - is very close at hand.
The good news is that the final charter is almost concluded. The new province
will probably keep SAP (Southern African Province) as name and will be
comprised of 5 sectors (Zambia will be divided into two sectors). However,
challenges still lie ahead. Being a big unit, there is still a need of
defining the role and function of the provincial. Also important was the
choice of the place of residence for the provincial following some clear
pre-established requirements. A consultative vote took place for 4 possibilities:
Johannesburg, Lilongwe, Lusaka, and the possibility of the provincial
to choose his place of residence. The consultative character of the vote
did not reduce the enthusiasm of the confreres to expressing their preferences.
The majority of the confreres would seemingly prefer that the provincial
is given free choice. It is still to hear the views from Zambia, and to
leave once more Rome to speak.
Richard
Baawobr gave some briefings, among which was the present situation
of the Generalate. Seemingly, things have been slowed down in order to
review the different possibilities wisely and make the best of them. As
ancient wisdom says, ‘patience is a golden path’ (‘La patience
est un chemin d’or’). Here again, wisdom is proving itself right.
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Balaka : New House of Formation 1st
Phase
The last day of the meeting, Sun-day (day of light, a light that enlightens
not just the present, but allows us to project into the future) has been
a day of blessing and thanksgiving for the Province. Richard Baawobr officiated
at the Blessing Service of the First Phase in Balaka and the celebration
of the Eucharist, an event that coincidentally happened in the absence
of the students. The presence at the celebration of the staff and the
different MAfr communities show that they also have a very important role
to play in Formation. They remain co-formators with the staff. It is in
these communities that candidates truly receive a foretaste of missionary
life and commitment. Hence the necessity of coherence between what we
say and what we live.
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Eucharist in the chapel of the consortium and the name of the consortium
It has to be said that the Zomba event was a historical
leap that not only offered a good time of get-together to confreres, but
has given us a newer sense of proximity, unity, fraternity and conviviality
and charity. It offers a new vitality and a new and richer sense of identity
as a missionary body. God bless the Province. God bless the future.
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1. Peter Van Houlten (Sup Secteur Malawi), Jan de Groef (S.C.South
Africa) Louis Blondel provincial, Fernando Perez (Mozambique), et Christopher
Chileshe (Assistant Provincial Zambie)
2. Balaka : Matthieu Froment (constructeur), Julian Kasya (responsable)
James Calder et Reynen Eckehard
