PROGRAMME LAVIGERIE File no 3

DESTINED PRINCIPALLY FOR AFRICA

“Love Africa... I loved everything about Africa.” (Cardinal Lavigerie).

The Constitutions are very clear: our congregation is destined principally for Africa (Cons. N° 1); dedicated to the evangelisation of the peoples of Africa (Const. N° 2); to proclaim the Good News to the African peoples is the particular call that has brought us together as a congregation (Const. N° 10).

Our life experience

1. What do you feel reading the above?
2. Looking at your life experience, how did this preferential love for Africa mark you?
3. In what you are living today, what is “Good News” for you?

 Our founding experience

In the beginning, our first Sisters went to the continent of Africa, not as tourists, but as apostles, with an inquisitive as well as a respectful and positive look. They have been pioneers going to encounter a different people with another culture, so as to create links. “Algeria is a door opened by Providence to a continent of two hundred million people… where the apostolate must reach out.” (Cardinal Lavigerie)

Time for Independence is there, Africa wakes up, questions herself; we are present at the independence of many African countries.
This situation questions us and changes our perspective. We intensify the formation of leaders; we privilege dialogue between the different ethnic groups and religions. We encourage people to be more and more responsible in the decision-making concerning them so as to build their future. We are proud of the realisation of our Founder’s words:
“You are only initiators; the lasting work will be accomplished by the Africans themselves, once they become Christians and apostles.”

Changing context

The African countries oscillate between civil war and the process of democratisation. For the African, the colonisation era is closed.  Shouts of anger explode sometimes, like at the UNO: “What we want is the definitive banishment of tutelage, interested protectorates, “gratitude”, excessively gratuitous. With yesterday’s imperialism, association, yes, but no union nor integration whatsoever.
We are all marked by the colonial history of Africa that still influences our relations today. The tentative analysis of the inquiry on interculturality speaks of the domination of the occidental culture, numerous prejudices… Love for Africa and the congregation invites us to continually engage ourselves on the way of conversion.
Actually, Africa is everywhere! Pushed by the political and economical instability of their country, refugees and migrants arrive in great number in the Northern countries. We feel challenged by this situation of which we are also responsible. With others, we engage ourselves to fight for more justice in our relations with this continent. And at another level, we are present to these persons by working alongside with them so as to facilitate their integration in those countries.
Since the last Synod meeting in 1994, the situation in Africa has changed considerably. (1) This new reality requires a thorough study in view of a renewed evangelisation effort… Beyond the sufferings of the present moment, those who have eyes to see and ears to hear can indeed discern the work of Divine Providence in Africa.

a) Some positive developments
… all can agree with the words of Pope Benedict XVI that Africa "is the great hope of the Church". In fact, hopeful signs of a rebirth of a fruitful, dynamic Christianity and the advent of new societies are increasingly evident, namely, the remarkable increase of the number Catholics, priests and consecrated persons; the growing number of African missionaries in Africa and outside the continent and the creation of a continental consultation platform for them; the vitality of African liturgies and small Christian communities; the growing role of the Church in promoting the continent's development, especially in education and health… and, despite her weaknesses, the great credibility which the Church continues to enjoy among the African peoples. In many countries of Africa, only the Church functions well, enabling people to continue to live and hope in a better future.

The following new developments can also be noted: the advent of peace in some African countries; the burning desire for peace throughout the continent, especially in the Great Lakes region; growing opposition to corruption; a deep consciousness of the need to promote African women and the dignity of every human person; the involvement of the laity in "civil life" for the promotion and defence of "human rights"; and the ever-growing number of African politicians who are aware and determined to find African solutions to African problems.
All this is a cause for rejoicing in the Lord for the wonders he has accomplished in Africa over these past eleven years.

b) Some negative developments
However, something must also be said about the many worrisome situations decried in the Apostolic Exhortation. Over the years, these have only worsened: "the widespread deterioration in the standard of living, insufficient means for educating the youth, the lack of elementary health and social services with the resulting persistence of endemic diseases, the spread of the terrible scourge of AIDS, the heavy and often unbearable burden of the international debt, the horror of fratricidal wars fomented by unscrupulous arms trafficking, and the shameful, pitiable spectacle of refugees and displaced persons".
The infant mortality rate continues to grow… Access to potable water is still very difficult for many.

c) Some elements of analysis
Generally speaking, the great majority of African people live in a state of want for basic goods and services.
Today's situation cannot fail to touch consciences. In these times, Africa more than ever is dependent on rich countries, and is more vulnerable than any other continent to their manoeuvring aimed at giving with one hand and taking back twofold with the other…

Violence and Poverty - Violence oftentimes is caused by poverty as a reaction to growing social isolation and an increasingly unjust, discriminating society. How can we explain the drama of child soldiers or child sorcerers? Violence will not be eradicated, until we change the social structures, which cause the growing impoverishment of people, the scandalous enrichment of others, the rural exodus and unemployment… Obviously, the real solution to violence is not found in social justice alone. Violence is also a cultural element. Efforts must be made to recreate a culture of peace. In fact, violence and war are a by-product of culture that originates in the everyday life of society from a model of hostility, which educates people to violence.
Frustration is also at the origin of social upheaval: inequality in access to education, a lack of rightful participation in economic or political power, a lack of identity and consideration by society and the thirst for human warmth, love and fellowship. The solution to this situation requires a spiritual transformation. Peace in the world passes through personal conversion. (2)

How is the Church facing these challenges?

Who will support the drastic changes in conduct which must come about to change Africa's destiny, so that reconciliation will come in the midst of so much hatred and divisions, and peace and justice will finally reign in Africa? How should the Gospel be proclaimed in an Africa marked by hatred, wars and injustices? How can we tackle the negative aspects of globalisation? In brief, how can the Church remain faithful to the Lord's command and contribute to the promotion of reconciliation, peace and justice? Before these challenges, the Church as Family in Africa has no other response than that of Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life…"

There is no easy answer to the above questions. However, the Church as Family in Africa holds that the only solution is one Person: Jesus Christ! This is why she invites her members to continue to hope in him, the only one capable of restoring Africa’s dignity and true freedom.

The 2nd Special Assembly aims to enliven our love, faith and hope in Jesus Christ in the thoughts and deeds of the sons and daughters of the Church in Africa. (3)

 Missionaries following Jesus
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem  but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth". Acts 1:8
At the end of the Luke’s gospel, Jesus also leaves us a command to preach "to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24, 47). The promise of the Holy Spirit is given for mission and that mission has its starting point in Jerusalem; its arrival point is to all the nations, to the ends of the earth. The term "nations" also includes all cultures and peoples. This will be the program of the entire book of the Acts: it is the Holy Spirit who breaks down cultural and geographical barrier.  
Pentecost: "How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language?"  Acts 2: 8
The marvel of Pentecost is that all the peoples and cultures that were present there are able to hear the apostles in their own language.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostles find the right language to proclaim the Good News. They all understand in their own native tongue, from their own cultural world. The mission of the Church is to carry the Good News to all the peoples of the world in a way that is meaningful and understood. The Holy Spirit does not remove differences, but encourages unity in diversity.
The text of Acts also tells us that each one was speaking one’s own language, but they all understood one another. Pentecost is a demonstration that the diversity of languages and cultures does not necessarily lead to division and confusion.

The first witnesses had to overcome their cultural and religious particularities to open themselves to the universal impulsion of Pentecost at the Council of Jerusalem.
To be missionary is to proclaim the Good News wherever people dialogue and collaborate. Mission is no longer on frontiers, it is there where there is communication: on all the roads of the world, in all places, on all the television screens. Wherever we meet one another to give meaning to our life, there is room for Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel becomes culture.

To be a witness, a missionary lives this tension through a kenosis, i.e. this stripping of oneself as Jesus accepted since the Incarnation up to the Cross. It is the fight to overcome one’s own particularities and open oneself to the other, to be ‘all to all’ because of the Gospel.

How does the congregation try to meet this challenge?  

Chapter of 1993: Africa remains the priority place in our mission. When facing the dramatic situations of Africa, we realised that our charism responds with the same urgency, the same cry of Africa as it did during Cardinal Lavigerie’s time… Our goal is indeed to help God’s Kingdom come in Africa.
In face of the deteriorating image of Africa we take every opportunity to give a truer and more positive image of Africa by emphasising all the efforts.

In 1999 we confirmed again that by our charism, we are for Africa; our reality as a congregation made us however ask ourselves: are we still a congregation for Africa? Would we not be of greater use to Africa by committing ourselves more in the countries of the North?
Our answer was that our charism for Africa, a gift of the Spirit to Cardinal Lavigerie for the universal church, remains for each of us a call to live today the I have loved everything in our Africa… Shaped by Africa, we are called to live the ad gentes aspect of our charism wherever we are sent.  The African continent is our part of the vineyard for the mission…
The Chapter of 2005 reaffirmed our specificity for Africa, as since our origin, Africa has always been the privileged field of our mission. In the present context, wherever we are, be it in Africa or in Euramerica, and whatever our age, our commitment, our nationality, we are called to be attentive to the African world, so as to participate fully in the mission of our congregation. (p 48)

Proposals

Because we belong to the same body, every assignment is a sending, and each service is a mission for Africa (Const 13)

• How do I express this preferential love for Africa in what I am living and doing here and now? How do I feel called ,
  here and now, to proclaim the Good News to the African people?
• How am I challenged to better live the preferential love for Africa…  to deepen it…
• What concrete steps do I / we need to take…individually, as a community?
•  People ask us … “ Are you sure that missionaries are still needed in Africa”?
  Let us take time to ponder over our answer