“House of Generosity”
For Sr. Valérie Kaboré, Hydra Parmentier, Algeria, collaboration takes the form of mutual aid, solidarity, partnership… I would like to share with you my experience at a day care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses and their family caregivers. It is a work of the Archdiocese of Algiers which began in 2015. I joined the team in June 2019 and have taken charge of its coordination since 2020. It is the only center of its kind in all of Algeria. The small team is made up of a cook, a speech therapist, a psychologist and three social care assistants. We welcome sick people, members of their families and occasional volunteers during the day. We also open our doors to interns, psychomotor therapists or speech therapists and everyone else. Finally, we have a partnership with health professionals such as doctors (geriatrician-neurologist-psychiatrist), physiotherapists, associations, professionals from other professions…
The history of the Mijikenda tribes, Kenya
“It is the study of the language that will help you to understand the people with whom you relate. We need to make ourselves similar to them, by adopting their external way of life, their clothes, their food, their nomadic life, their language; by being in a word, all things to all people to win them to Jesus Christ. Eat their food, learn their language and dress like them.” Words of Cardinal Lavigerie the founder of the Missionaries of Africa and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. From our Sister Xaverine Mukatabaza from the Malindi community in Kenya Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends, Greetings of peace. It is my joy to share with you a bit of the history of Mijikenda tribes found along the coast of Kenya. This is a place of first evangelization. The Muslims are more numerous than Christians. There is also…
Meeting on trafficking in Nouakchott
On Saturday June 8, in Nouakchott, we invited some of our friends, collaborators and parishioners to our community to participate in a meeting to share and raise awareness on migration and human trafficking. We were 22 participants. There were also 17 children who were present with their parents and one of our parishioners took care of them with games and songs. We had two resource persons: Ms. Fofana Dikel, migration project manager at Caritas Mauritania, spoke to us about migration, starting by defining this word, giving the different types of migration and ending with some concrete examples of what is experienced in Mauritania and all the dangers of illegal immigration. Our Sr. Begoña Iñarra, who intervened by Zoom from Spain, highlighted the general aspects of human trafficking: how to detect possible victims of trafficking, how to act towards them, what organizations work against trafficking in the destination…
“Bare feet, bare hands” Collaboration in mission
From Sr. Mariette Macozi, Kinshasa, DR Congo Since 2001, our Kinshasa community has collaborated with the SVD Fathers (Divine Word) in the mission of supporting children living in the street. This bond was forged thanks to three of our sisters who preceded us in the work of Reclassification and Protection of Street Children (ORPER in acronym). Sister Anosiata Keneema and I continue the apostolate initiated by our Sisters in this structure which has been in existence for more than 43 years. We are welcomed and fully integrated in this. Arriving in Kinshasa in 2021, I was sent to work at ORPER where I easily integrated into social work serving street children. At the local level, collaboration takes place as a work team where each educator makes their contribution to the success of the mission which we carry out together. The center manager, who is like the eye…
Resources for the synodal journey
The synodal process is first and foremost a spiritual path. On several occasions, Pope Francis has highlighted the risks of a synodal process that is not first and foremost a listening, a private and communal dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Below, we present some resources to take care of the spiritual and liturgical dimension of the synodal journey. Here us the link to the Synod website with resources in multiple languages Here is the link to download the INSTRUMENTUMLABORIS in PDF
Islamology session
A sharing from JovanieNITUNGA, novice MSOLA From June 9 to 14, the novices of MSOLA and the Missionaries of Africa, with the postulants of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate, we followed the Islamology session led by Father Pascal M.Afr and provincial assistant. This session allowed us to learn several aspects about Islam, to know the goal of Islamic-Christian dialogue, the characteristics of interreligious dialogue, the discovery of the conversion of our founder and to make our journey of personal conversion. Indeed, we have discovered the meaning of certain terms, namely: Islam which means to surrender or submit to God. The marabout is a traditional priest who knows the tradition well and who has converted to the Muslim religion. The imam is someone who can enter into a relationship with God and interpret the Quran. We discovered that Islam is a monotheistic and revealed religion. Muslims believe…
Visitation Month
“Mary’s “yes” sparked the first “Hail Mary”; it was with this word that Father Pierre Tequi introduced the Eucharist on the feast of the Visitation in our “cathedral parish” of Ghardaïa, where our entire central sector was gathered for our last Eucharist in the company of Sister Maria Angeles, Pierre Tequi (French Fidei Donum) and Claude Venne (Missionary of Africa) to whom we said goodbye on that day. Mary, eagerly going to meet her cousin Elisabeth, did not know in advance what God was going to reveal to her when she met this woman who, despite her advanced age, also saw the wonders of God. “How do I have this happiness that the mother of my Savior comes to me?” Yes, when we came to this country, to this region, we did not know in advance everything that God was going to reveal to us about Him,…
“… if you have love for one another”
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” John 13:35 By 5 MSOLA temporary professed sisters Sr. Anosiata Keneema in mission in Kinshasa, DRC, Sr. Eliane Nzoyisaba in Bunamwaya, Uganda, Sr. Eunice Kyohairwe in Tikondane, Malawi, Sr. Sylviane Rouamba in mission in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania and Sr. Xaverine Mukatabaza in Malindi, Kenya Dear sisters and friends, greetings of peace to all of you. We are glad to share with you our joys, discoveries, insights gained during the session that we had online for three days. Indeed, it was a very rich experience. This session was given by Fr. Joseph Baru, O.C.D. We were more than 100 sisters among whom 5 MSOLA Temporary Professed sisters who actively participated in this session. The topic was: “The vowed life lived in contemporary society”. As religious, we need to have the…
The SMNDA and the emerging Congregation of the Sœurs de l’Immaculée Conception de Ouagadougou (SICO)
Sr. Delphine with two postulants of the SICO Excerpts from the diaries from 1924 to 1934 The opening of the postulate February 11, 1924, Our Lady of Lourdes. The Novitiate of the indigenous Sisters having been completed, Monsignor chose this feast of the Blessed Virgin to install there our six postulants. He blessed the robes in our little oratory, then celebrated holy mass, after which our happy girls were taken to their new home. (Diary 1924, p.51). The first vows On December 8, 1930, they told us about the joy in Ouagadougou: Big day of celebration for Ouagadougou. The 5:30 a.m. Mass, Monsignor received the wishes of the first Black Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. The lucky ones were seven in number. The Church was full, and everyone listened attentively to the monition that Monsignor addressed to the future professed women. At the end of the mass, each…
Synodality – A new way of being church
the Klettenberg home and chapel From our Klettenberg community, Germany When we were young, we didn’t know the word “synodality”. For some years now, we have come across it more often, first in the writings of Pope Francis and more recently in connection with the synodal assembly in Rome. Today we understand it as a new way of being church. Jesus did not want a dictatorship for his church, he did not want a democracy either. He wanted the reign of God to be established. Today, synodality seems to be the best way to build the kingdom of God together. We have tried to describe synodality: • Travelling together, moving forward towards a common goal, praying, thinking, discussing, deciding and acting together, guided by the Spirit. • Everyone is responsible; in manageable groups everyone can have their say. Listening is the key to synodality. • Allow differences, accept…