Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
PROGRAMME LAVIGERIE

Letter of introduction

Rome,  8 September 2007

Dear Sisters and Friends,

The 2005 Chapter entrusted  the General Council with this task of continuing the ongoing reflection on Mission in today’s context. 
In order to assist them in this, they formed the Lavigerie Committee, composed of six Sisters with different backgrounds and experience, from the Provinces of CUM, Europe and the 4 regions of the future Province of Africa.
Accordingly, we the members of the Lavigerie Committee received an invitation to hold the first working session in February 2007. To begin our work, we met with the General Council for two weeks in Rome.

PROGRAMME OF ONGOING FORMATION ON THE THEME OF MISSION

This programme will be made available over the next 4 years to all  Sisters and Lay Missionaries.
As stated in the last Capitular Acts, the aim of  the proposed programme is to:

+ Keep Mission alive in us, as this is our raison d’être.

+ Continue the ongoing reflection on mission in today’s
context.

+ Foster life and unity in the Congregation through streng-                  
thening our MSOLA identity for mission.  ( CA 05 p 22)

We realised that the above would be no easy task and it took us some time to find the best way to proceed.  After personal reflection, sharing and input, we realised that our first task was to focus on and reinforce Our Identity and Sense of Belonging.  It was important therefore to see what unites us, what is our shared history, and what can help us to deepen our commitment to mission in a changing world.  It was decided to plan 2 files a year, each one on a different theme.  Our intention is to add to each file suggestions for additional reading in the form of a “Well.”

Therefore we chose the first three themes as follows:

1. Rooted in the Trinity for Mission.  Our desire is to grow in awareness of what it means to say with Cardinal Lavigerie: I am ALL THINGS TO ALL because I said to the God of all  I AM ALL YOURS.

2. Nothing but Mission.  Here we reflect on the fact that our Congregation is exclusively missionary, (Const. n° 1) and how we can live that mission today in our changing circumstances.

3. Principally intended for Africa.  During the last Chapter, we once more asserted that our Congregation is intended for Africa and every appointment is mission and service for Africa. (Const. n° 13)

For each file we freely quote Cardinal Lavigerie, Mother Salomé, The Origins of the Congregation, [Les Origines de la Congrégation] and the Capitular Acts of the last 20 years.

STRUCTURE FOR EACH FILE

An introduction, to explain the title, followed by questions pertaining to and based on our life experience.

Our founding experience, a reference to our combined MSOLA and personal history.

The changing context of our world, which is changing so rapidly nowadays that we need to be constantly reading the signs of the times and acting accordingly.

How Jesus and his disciples faced challenges. Looking at the Gospels, we discover how Jesus and the early Church responded to similar challenges in their contemporary situation.

How the Church faces these challenges: by looking through Church documents such as Vatican II, Encyclicals, Mission Statements..., we discover the enlightenment to respond to them.

How the Congregation faces them. We realised how in the last 20 years the General Chapters have re-affirmed our mission and have tried to offer a response to these challenges.

And us... Finally, we propose some suggestions for reflection, sharing and motivation for action.

As our work progressed, we became increasingly aware of our richness as a Congregation and felt evermore motivated in our work as the Lavigerie Committee for Mission. One of our expectations is that each one of us will also find inspiration in these files and so recognise and cherish even more the great gift of our Missionary Vocation.

We do hope that you will find time for reflection and prayer on these subjects both personally and as a community. The questions and proposals are not exhaustive and you might find other points that are not mentioned. Don’t hesitate to integrate them into your reflection. Furthermore, if ever you find other articles on the subject, feel free to use them and share them with others.

We know that the Spirit is always at work within us and among us. Let us pray together for continual guidance and inspiration as we embark on this programme. 

We especially recommend this journey that we are undertaking as a Congregation to the prayers of our elderly Sisters.

Your Sisters,

The Lavigerie Committee: Annemie Hens, Diana Hess, Tiny Hölscher, Léocadie Kana, Viviane Lafrenière, Prospérine Samba
The General Council: Piluca Benavente, Hélène Mbuyamba, Marie-Alice Terrettaz, Chantal Vankalck