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Newsletter South Africa No 57 – 26th November, 2015

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On November 26, 2015

In Missionaries of Africa, News, Publications, South Africa Sector

Newsletter South Africa no 57 title (2)My dear Friends, Greetings! I hope you are well. Today, as you receive this NEWSLETTER, most of us M.Afr are travelling to Merrivale, our house of formation, for two great celebrations. Indeed, six of our candidates will take their Missionary Oath tomorrow, Friday, and thus become fully fledged Missionaries of Africa. The following day, they will be ordained deacons! After their last year of theology, sometime toward the end of next year, they shall be ordained priests in their respective parishes of origin. But this being such an important occasion, some of their relatives have travelled to attend these two great events. Already yesterday, the parents and a nephew of our Tanzanian deacon-to-be, Konrad, arrived from Dar-es-Salaam. This afternoon, I will be driving with them to Merrivale. The others are Albert from Burkina Faso, Alphonse from Rwanda, Robin from Zambia, Damian from Uganda and Douglas from Kenya. I hope that we will have one or two good photos of them in the next Newsletter. You may be asking yourself “What is a missionary oath?” Well, here is a short explanation. We, Missionaries of Africa, are not a “religious congregation” as such. We are a “society of apostolic life” and we also live the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience; but we do not take vows. We promise to live a simple life style (poverty, or freedom from things), obedience to our superiors (freedom to serve), and chastity (freedom to love) in our missionary oath – which is a solemn promise on the Bible. Here is an extract of the text of our missionary oath: “… I promise and swear to the Superior General of the Society fidelity and obedience… to observe celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom.” I therefore ask you to keep in your prayers these six new Missionaries of Africa.

Newsletter South Africa no 57 titleI hope this month has been a blessed one for each of you. In spite of all the upheavals happening in the world, the students’ strikes and violent demonstrations, we can see some positive signs of life here and there in our society and throughout the world. Pope Francis is now in Kenya since yesterday. His coming to Africa – his first one – is under the sign of hope and peace to our broken world. Everywhere he goes, he brings a refreshing touch of joy, the joy of the Gospel. Let us pray that his visit in Kenya, then in Uganda and finally in the Central African Republic will sow seeds of peace among these nations of Africa and at the same time, be an inspiration to the rest of the world.

Today is “Lavigerie Day”: yes, for us Missionaries of Africa and Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (MSOLA), we celebrate this as our FOUNDER’S DAY. Please, pray for us and for vocations. Thank you!

In a few days, we shall start a new liturgical year, the year of the Church. The time of Advent is really an occasion for opening up to Jesus and our neighbours. Many people nowadays like to wish us “happy holiday” and they have forgotten the reason for the season: Jesus! When they greet you like this, be proud to answer firmly and proudly: HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you all a prayerful Advent and a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Fr. Michael Meunier, M.Afr

No. 57 November 2015

Towards the 150th anniversary of our foundation

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On November 25, 2015

In Missionaries of Africa, MSOLA, News

M.Afr and M.S.O.L.A. Logo 2Rome, 26th November, 2015

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We wish you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we commemorate the death of our common Founder, Cardinal Lavigerie. We thank God for the gift of his life and of his vision, of his courage and his hope, of his ability to address some of the most important questions of his time. We are proud to be his sons and daughters today and we ask him to intercede for us so that we may know how to read the signs of our times and how to do our best to give appropriate answers as followers of Christ. (…)

We want together to thank the Lord for the vision of Cardinal Lavigerie, who realized that he needed both men and women apostles in order to bring the Good News to Africa. We want to thank the Lord for the heroism of so many of our brothers and sisters, who have worked so as to announce the Good News and to bring about the birth of the Catholic Church in a number of African countries. They were not put back by difficulties and hardships. The formation of the local clergy as well as of twenty-two female Congregations is a tangible fruit for which to praise the Lord. Our continuing presence in Muslim countries is another. (…)

Celebrating our history together, both in what has united us as in what has separated us, will help us know each other better so as to be ever more faithful to our common vocation. As brothers and sisters, we are called to collaborate in order to bring the Good News through our daily lives. Let us together speak to Cardinal Lavigerie about our past and receive from him appreciation and advice.

May the activities we undertake during this coming year help us look at our past with gratitude as well as with realism, so as to gain more energy for living our present challenges!

May Cardinal Lavigerie bless us in all our endeavors!

Your sister and brother in the Lord and in Lavigerie,

Sr. Carmen Sammut,  MSOLA and Fr Richard Baawobr, M. Afr

Click on the following link to read the full PDF document: Towards the 150th Anniversary of our Foundation Letter

 

Africa: Religious Sisters Posing As Prostitutes to Save Sex Slaves Eye Expansion

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On November 22, 2015

In News, Publications

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Africa: Religious Sisters Posing As Prostitutes to Save Sex Slaves Eye Expansion

By Ellen Wulfhorst | Thomson Reuters Foundation (London) | London, 18 November 2015

An army of religious sisters who rescue victims of human trafficking by posing as prostitutes to infiltrate brothels and buying children being sold into slavery, is expanding to 140 countries, its chairman said on Wednesday.

John Studzinski, an investment banker and philanthropist who chairs Talitha Kum, said the network of 1,100 sisters currently operates in about 80 countries but the demand for efforts to combat trafficking and slavery was rising globally.

The group, set up in 2004, estimates one percent of the world’s population is trafficked in some form, which translates into some 73 million people. Of those, 70 percent are women and half are aged 16 or younger.

Thomson Reuters Foundation (London) chair“I’m not trying to be sensational but I’m trying to underscore the fact this is a world that has lost innocence … where dark forces are active,” said Studzinski, a vice chairman of U.S. investment bank The Blackstone Group.

“These are problems caused by poverty and equality but it goes well beyond that,” he told the Trust Women Conference on women’s rights and trafficking hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Detailing some cases involving trafficking and slavery, Studzinski said the treatment of some victims was horrific.

He told of one woman enslaved as a prostitute who was locked up for a week without food, forced to eat own her faeces, when she failed to have sex with a target of 12 clients a day.

In another extreme case, one woman was forced to have sex with a group of 10 men at the same time.

Studzinski said the religious sisters working to combat trafficking would go to all lengths to rescue women, often dressing up as prostitutes and going out on the street to integrate themselves into brothels.

“These sisters do not trust anyone. They do not trust governments, they do not trust corporations, and they don’t trust the local police. In some cases they cannot trust male clergy,” he said, adding that the low-key group preferred to focus on their rescue work rather than promotion.

“They work in brothels. No one knows they are there.”

The sisters were also proactive on trying to save children being sold into slavery by their parents, setting up a network of homes in Africa as well as in the Philippines, Brazil and India to shelter such children.

He said the religious sisters of Talitha Kum raised money to purchase these children.

“This is a new network of houses for children around the world who would otherwise be sold into slavery. It is shocking but it is real,” he said.

Studzinski said the network of religious sisters, that was in the process of expanding, also targeted slavery in the supply chain with sisters shedding their habits and working alongside locals for as little as 2 U.S. cents an hour to uncover abuses.

He said Talitha Kum, which translated from Aramaic means arise child, was now being hired by companies to see what is going on with respect to the supply chain and expanding globally would help address this issue.

“You can’t generalize about trafficking and slavery as no two countries are the same,” Studzinski said.

Mafrwestafrica – Lettre du 20 novembre 2015

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On November 22, 2015

In News

Mafrwestafrica 02Aujourd’hui, les Missionnaires d’Afrique de l’Ouest vous proposent de visiter de nouvelles pages sur leur site www.mafrwestafrica.net :

Dans la rubrique « Actualités » :

«  Serment et diaconat à Merrivale » la carte d’invitation à l’engagement définitif et au diaconat de six candidats Missionnaires d’Afrique. (lire la suite)

« Attentats de Paris, 13 novembre 2015 » un sujet inépuisable il est vrai, et toujours en cours, mais auquel nous nous devions de faire allusion. (lire la suite)

« Lettre de Laghouat Ghardaia » du mois de novembre 2015, texte envoyé par Mgr Claude Rault, Missionnaire d’Afrique. (lire la suite)

Dans la rubrique « Témoignages » :

« Pèlerinage aux saints d’Afrique en Suisse » un article des Pères Claude Maillard et Pierre Féderlé. Ce pèlerinage existe depuis treize ans. (lire la suite)

« Abidjan, vers le chapitre ». Comment les étudiants de 4ème étape et leur staff se préparent au chapitre général qui aura lieu en mai 2016. (lire la suite)

« Monseigneur Livinhac, premier supérieur général », un texte du Père Peter Mateso, Missionnaire d’Afrique congolais, formateur à Abidjan. (lire la suite)

Dans la rubrique « Dialogue interreligieux » :

« Lutter contre la radicalisation religieuse » : une ligne politique au Sénégal, une sensibilisation au Pakistan, la nécessité de bien comprendre l’Islam. (lire la suite)

Dans la rubrique « Justice et Paix » :

« Relever le défi environnemental » ce sont les pauvres les premières victimes du dérèglement climatique, contre lequel il est essentiel de lutter « ensemble » (lire la suite)

« Prise d’otages à Bamako » des informations prises sur le site de Radio France Internationale, en ce 20 novembre 2015 (lire la suite)

Dans la rubrique « Vu au sud, vu du sud » :

« Paludisme et médicaments génériques » un article qui souligne le fait que peu de personnes connaissent l’existence de ce genre de médicaments, qui leur coûteraient bien moins cher. (lire la suite) 

Pope Francis’ Prayer for Our Earth

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On November 17, 2015

In News, Pope Francis

Pope Francis’ Prayer for Our EarthRome-18-03-2015-18

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

(Laudato Si’, No. 246) – Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Thanks to http://www.breathingforgiveness.net/

Death of Lazare Ndajizimana’s mother, Mama Marie Anne Ndererabandi

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On November 17, 2015

In News

Lazare Ndajizimana 2015_modifié-1Dear Confreres, I hope you are all doing fine in your respective ministries. For those who have not heard this yet, it’s with sadness that we learned on Saturday early morning (14 Nov 2015) of the death of Lazare Ndajizimana’s mother. Mama Marie Anne NDERERABANDI passed on at the age 65. She had been suffering for few months. The burial took place on Sunday 15 Nov 2015 in the afternoon. Lazare is our first year Rwandese stagiaire and is posted in the Mzuzu community of St Thomas Parish. Lazare had the chance to go back home and spent some days with his mother before she returned to the Lord. We pray for the repose of her soul and for the entire family that they may find their comfort in the Lord. To Lazare, I say, humura, mukomere cyane.

Message sent by Michel Sanou, M.Afr, Delegate Superior in Malawi

Death of the brother of Brother René Garand, M.Afr

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On November 8, 2015

In News

René-Garand-2014 JPGDear confreres,

I like to inform you that my brother Michel Garand pass away at Victoriaville Canada on 5th November 2015. He has been suffering of a cancer since many months, he was 73 years old. His wife died also of a cancer two years ago when I was on home leave he has four children, three boys and one girl. I do not know yet when the funeral will be?

Please remember him in your prayers, Bro René Garand, M.Afr

“I was a stranger and …” Mat. 25, 35. Ressano-Garcia railway station in Mozambique.

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On November 4, 2015

In News

By Jean-Pierre Le Scour, M.Afr

Ressano-Garcia railway stationOn Friday 15th May 2015, I was standing on the platform of the Ressano-Garcia railway station waiting for a very special train coming from South Africa which was foreseen to cross the border at 08:00. It finally arrived at 12:30 carrying 420 Mozambicans, mostly youth with no other possessions than their clothes. About 50 South-African Police were manning the train. Twice as many, including Immigration Officers, were on the Mozambican side. A South-African helicopter was flying over our heads to supervise the proceedings. Everything went well.

The “victims of xenophobia” (name given to these people by the local population) were made to sit on the floor in groups of 50. They were immediately dispatched to 7 buses and 4 railway carriages that had been waiting since early morning.

Bosasa Lindela Repatriation CentreWhat was their crime? They were simply caught by the new South-African law by which men-hostels and flats are systematically searched, preferably in the middle of the night, to arrest any undocumented person. They were then sent to the Lindela Transit Holding Centre before being escorted to the nearest border post. These work-seekers are treated like criminals in the name of security. This is a futile and expensive exercise because, as far as Mozambicans are concerned, they can go back at will to South Africa since the border is so porous.

zimbabweans-in-south-africaWhat is more disturbing is the general feeling. In spite of official denial, foreigners, even businessmen, are not wanted anymore in South Africa.

It is time for us Christians to stand up and claim with the Freedom Charter that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”. This can be applied to anyone because there is a little bit of a foreigner in each one of us. We need to uphold the Biblical Tradition found in Leviticus 19, 33: “Do not ill-treat foreigners who are living in your land, treat them as you would a fellow-Israelite and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God”.

NO TO XENOPHOBIA –  NO TO RACISM – NO TO FORCED REPATRIATION

Various announcements of death in Great Britain, Canada, Netherland and in Zambia

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On October 27, 2015

In News

On Monday, 26 October 2015, Father Michel Sanou, Superior Delegate in Malawi, informs us of the death of Brother John Murphy. “Dear Brothers, I have just received the sad news of the death of our confrere Br John Murphy from the UK. Br John worked here in Malawi for several years in Likuni and the sector House. He died on Sunday morning at the nursing home in Rutherglen where he had been staying for a number of years. Let’s remember John in our prayers, his family and the community of Rutherglen. May he rest in peace.” Note: Brother John died on the 25th October 2015, in Glasgow, Great Britain at the age of 78 years old of which 56 of missionary life in Malawi and in Great Britain.

Gaetan Bédard_JPEGOn Tuesday, 27 October 2015, Father Gilles Barrette, Provincial of the Americas, informed us of the death of Father Gaétan Bédard, M. Afr. He died on October 27, 2015, in Montreal (Canada), at the age of 91 years of which 65 of missionary life in Zambia and Canada. He has been treasurer of the archdiocese of Kasama before retiring to Canada. A funeral mass will be celebrate on 7th November 2015 in presence of the body and ashes will be buried at a later date. Let us pray for the repose of his soul.

We also recommend the following:

Jo van Kessel, brother of our confrere Henk van Kessel currently in Chipata and cousin of our confrere Toon van Kessel currently in St.Lawrence Parish in Lusaka. Jo van Kessel was a married deacon and very much involved in his church in the Netherland.

We also pray for Wilson Mofia, age 60, who was the uncle of our confrere Felix Kamunenge. The funerals are taking place on Wednesday 28 in Kalasa Mukoso in Samfya.

Finally, we got a message sent by our confrere Francis Kangwa on the 14th October informing us about the death of Bana Chansa, 81 years old, who was the immediate big sister of his mother who passed away last year. Sadly, the day after the death of Bana Chansa, his eldest nephew called Oscar Chuni, son of the daughter of his mums’ sister living in Lusaka West, also passed away.

We entrust all in the hands of the Author of life.

Handing over of our parishes in Kitwe, Zambia

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On October 20, 2015

In News

Nadal Oct 2015 Hand over 01By Jacques Natal, ex-stagiaire in Kawama and Twatasha Parishes.

Handing over is quite common in parishes. It is now the turn of two of them which were under the care of the Missionaries of Africa since 1994 who took themselves over from the SMA Fathers. Those parishes are Twatasha and Kawama in Kitwe.

It has been difficult for some Christians to understand this adjustment. Many felt sad even discouraged or apprehended tough time saying «Ba Diocesan balishupa sana» (meaning: diocesan priests are very tough). This decision was made some time ago between SAP Province and the Diocese of Ndola.

A farewell party was organized in Kawama Parish on 4th and in Twatasha on 10th October 2015. The Christians recalled the dedication of the missionaries of Africa with their apostolic zeal, spiritual depth and social concerns. They were very grateful to them and promised to continue praying for them.

Felix Kamunenge, up to then Parish Priest, mentioned that every separation is painful as there is time for everything (Eccl 3, 1-8); time to come and time to go. “I beg you to understand the event which is happening. We are leaving, others are coming. Even though the formation of the Diocesan Priest is different from the one of Missionaries of Africa, we are all Priests of the same God within the same Church. Therefore love them the way you loved us. Never waste time making comparison. Indeed, it can lead to misunderstanding.  Work with them hand in hand and everything will be fine.”

The final ceremony took place on 11th October 2015 in both parishes. Mass started in Kawama at 8hrs to proceed to Twatasha at 10hrs. As Bishop Alick Banda of Ndola Diocese was in Germany, Fr Chisenga, dean of Kitwe deanery, received the two parishes in the name of the Diocese. The names of the diocesan Priests chosen by the Bishop will be announced later on.

Nadal Oct 2015 Hand over 03Felix Kamunenge is foreseen for studies in the Philippines while Piet Van Heijst and the stagiaire Jacques Natal have already moved to Ndola on Friday 16th to create a new community with Reinhold Bloching.


The ceremony of handing over was also attended by our Delegate Superior Babaine Venerato and Laurence Tukamushaba.

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