Missionaries of Africa, Jinja

A sentence read in the community report on a stagiaire struck my attention, all the more that the same topic came back in a couple of conversations with confreres. So, here is a letter addressed to all the candidates. Each of them should receive a copy. I leave it to you to see how to use it, either to let candidates read it personally or discuss it in teams or in community. Hoping it will help our young men to reflect on their practice and foster the growth of their spiritual life. The Missionaries of Africa are witnesses The Missionaries of Africa are witnesses: ‘Be apostles and nothing but apostles.’ Our predecessors had the very clear missionary vision of evangelising Africa. Their whole lives and all their activities were organised in view of this aim of evangelisation comprising the catechumenate, the learning of languages and cultures, opening schools, health care...  White Fathers almost everywhere in the world rose at the same time, said the same pra...

G reetings to you, candidates in formation and the elders who accompany them. In many ways, our formation programme and you, our candidates, deserve to be praised. But, as one does not need to correct what works well, the letters I send you usually treat of some points of concern. This one will be true to type. There is something strange in the New Testament. If you compare the confession of faith of Saint Peter and the words uttered by evil spirits when Jesus casts them out, you will see that they are very close to each other. Saint Peter says to Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 6: 16). The evil spirits use the same expression: “Son of God” (Mt 8: 29). How is it that a friend of Jesus and his enemies end up saying the same thing about him? Is there no difference between the two? I believe there is. The relationship is different. With the evil spirits, one finds knowledge, cold rational knowledge, outside of the context of a loving relationship. On the ot...

Editorial Team

With the acquaintance of Palmer Parker’s quote that, we are deeply an interconnected species, who need to embrace the simple fact that we are dependent on and accountable to the ecosphere, members of Lavigerie House embrace the simple premise of being part of a whole and seeing the whole in part of themselves.  This inspiration lies behind the creation of a splendid environment. The flowers that blossom with grace in front of the chapel, the flowers of new respire in front the apartments and the verdant foliage of green grass and green trees disseminate the compound with peace, love and sustenance of its beauty. The beauty personified in our compound serves to offer impressive meditations, and thus a journey to the beautiful. The aptitude of caring for, taming or interrelating finely with our ecosystem is expressible in: We do gardening; where we plant vegetables for our consumption. We also plant fruits such as pawpaws, oranges and guavas. We plant and...