Season of creation prayer 2023
Creator of All, From your communion of love life sprung forth like a mighty river and the whole cosmos came into being. On this Earth of overflowing love, the Word was made flesh and went forth with the life-giving waters proclaiming peace and justice for all creation. You called human beings to till and keep your garden. You placed us into right relationship with each creature, but we failed to listen to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the most vulnerable. We broke with the flowing communion of love and sinned against you by not safeguarding the conditions for life. We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats, we grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished, and we ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and violence that we…
Youth, be a witness to the hope of Christ
Sister Joselyne Nisingizwe of our Tchad community, accompanied the young people of the vocation group to the Diocesan Vocation Camp in Doguindi. Here is what she shares with us about this experience. This year we had 116 young people! The theme of this camp was: ‘Youth, be witnesses of Christ’s hope in today’s world’. I thank God for this experience with young people. After noticing the evil that invades the world, we saw together how we can live in hope. By referring to the Holy Scriptures, we have seen some characters who are models of hope. Abraham is an example. The book of Genesis retraces the significant events in the life of Abraham before the sacrifice of his son. In the New Testament, the story of the widowed woman who had only one son (Lk 7:11-12), shows us that even if evil exists in the world, it does not…
Golden jubilee celebration for Sister Bijundi Bashige
Report by Sister Mariette Macozi, for the Kinshasa community Following the announcement of Sister Bijundi’s appointment to Bukavu, we were looking for a simple way to say goodbye. The conditions being right, we combined her farewell with the celebration of her 50 years of religious consecration as MSOLA. The small number in our community was not an obstacle for us to mark this important day for our sister. Given the limited space available to welcome a large number of guests in our home, we approached our brothers the Missionaries of Africa to welcome us to their home for this important celebration. Once we had obtained their agreement, we asked their young people to help us lead the mass. Many people responded positively to our invitation. We had initially asked Father Ange Kufwakuziku, SVD (Director General of the organization for the Reclassification and Protection of Street Children – ORPER) to…
Opening the Season of Creation
The Season of Creation starts on the 1st of September and our Congregation and our brothers Missionaries of Africa are starting the celebration with a letter from our superiors Here is the link to download the PDF 2023 0729 SoC_En
We gave what we received
Clémentine Mukampabuka, of the Oran community, reports on her participation in this year’s summer camp. The Diocesan Centre Pierre Claverie (CPC) in Oran organized its 16th summer camp in the first half of July. This is a two-week summer camp for children aged 7 to 13. This year there were 60 children and a dozen animators. The children were divided into two main groups: the lions, aged 11 to 13, and the fennecs (desert foxes), aged 7 to 10. These names symbolize the city of Oran, Wahrân in Arabic, which means two lions, and Algeria’s national animal, the desert fox. The children wore these names with pride. There were 5 workshops: drawing, cooking, crafts, games and dance. Everyone had the opportunity to take part in all the different activities. The first week ended on a high note with an outing to a farm called “My Rose”. Roses, a…
Tikondane Silver Jubilee, Malawi
By Sr. Marie Sakina Kataluka, community in Tikondane, Malawi As you are all aware Tikondane care for Children on/off the streets is one of our MSOLA projects which we are proud of. It was started in 1998 as a response to a new development in Malawi of the growing number of children living and beginning to live in the streets. Tikondane aimed at protecting and empowering vulnerable, marginalized children who are living and exposed to street life as well as those living in a hostile social environment. We advocate for their cause in fostering a spirit of justice, healing and reconciliation; thus, promoting children’s development to their full potential as persons created in the image of God. This year Tikondane is celebrating 25 years of service to vulnerable and marginalized children. Tikondane staff and the board of governors has planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary throughout this year. Indeed,…
My experience of learning Kiswahili language
By Sr. Sylviane Rouamba, community of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania As our Founder said, “To learn the language and culture of a people is to belong to that people”. This invitation from Cardinal Charles Lavigerie gives me the courage to learn Swahili with joy and love. I am delighted to share with you my experience of learning Swahili in Tanzania, in our community of Dar Es Salaam. This experience has filled my heart with happiness because it has helped me feel part of this country as if I were in my own country. I started learning Swahili on January 9, 2023. I started by learning the basics, i.e. greetings such as “Tumsifu Yesu Kristu”, the greeting used by Tanzanian Catholic Christians, “Habari za asubuhi” (good morning), “Habari za jioni” (good evening). Then I learned verbs, grammar and vocabulary. Little by little, I was able to speak, follow the conversation…
How we experienced union with the capitulants at the General Chapter
By our sister Birgitta Gremm in Nairobi, Kenya During our 26th General Chapter we lived in deep union with our sisters gathered at Sacrofano. This deeply lived union had begun already with the Convocation Letter, written on 2nd January 2023: “It is with a grateful heart that we call on each sister and each community to continue the road, which leads to our next General Chapter.” And it was with a grateful heart from our side having received this invitation and we answered it with gratitude and joy. Our union continued to be strengthened during our sharing about the questions asked in the Convocation Letter and in the sharing among the sisters of ECA Entity. The day came 28th of April, our first two sisters were ready to go to the airport and we waited for the other two sisters to leave later. When the suitcases had been loaded…
Celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Africa
From our sister Georgette Ouedraogo, Lilongwe community, Malawi On 29th April 2023, MSOLA sisters in Malawi, we celebrated the feast of our Lady of Africa. Before the appointed day, we had some reflections and discussions about how to celebrate the feast, seeing that our parish and cathedral is named “Our Lady of Africa”. At the end of all the discussions and in the midst of so many ideas, suggestions and possibilities, we opted to use the opportunity to open our doors by inviting a few members of our parish and our brothers the Missionaries of Africa to join us for the celebration. This was in view of calling out to them for a new form of belonging with a focus of finding people who would like to be part of Lavigerie group in Malawi. The program for the Mass included at the beginning the sharing of the history…
News from the American Entity
Before the summer we share some news from our communities in Canada and the USA Sr. Rita Toutant, from the Adelaide community, has kindly agreed to be the JPIC leader for the America Entity. As for ‘Rencontre et Dialogue (RD), it intends to collaborate in networking with other “InterFoi” groups with the aim of promoting “the common home”. She also agreed to be the delegate to the CATHII (Committee for action against internal and international human trafficking). We thank her warmly for her availability and wish her every success in her new mandate. Participation of the Capitulants of our Entity for the 26th General Chapter and sharing of their experience. Sr. Madeleine Bédard and Sr. Jocelyne Morin left for Rome on April 9th to help finalize the preparations for the Chapter. Sr. Francine Maas left on April 24th and Sr. Jacqueline Picard on April 27th to join the…