CONTINENTAL MISSION YEAR FOR AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR, 2021

The General Chapter of 2017 gave this general administration the mandate with an exhortation from the challenge number six of the Acts of the Chapter: “Governance is not simply a way of managing, but a way of being present, of entering into relationships. A leader must be a contact person, actively involved in the life around him, loving humanity.” Responding to this call, as general administration, we dedicated our close fraternal presence, in the year 2019 to America and Caribbean zone, in 2020 to Europe, and 2021 to the geographical zone of Africa and Madagascar, and we will conclude with Asia and Oceania in 2022. This presence is meant to stimulate the confreres, to know them better, to share in the mission of the entities, to inspire enthusiasm and to reignite once more the fire of Christ’s love which enkindled the heart of Father de Montfort to preach the gospel of Christ.

The continental mission year for Africa and Madagascar is an opportunity to journey together towards meeting squarely three important objectives: to strengthen a sense of belonging and unity of the entities within the geographical zone while extending this unity to the entire congregation in a world where we are confronted by human division and isolation; to take stock of the kind of presence we have offered to this continent as Montfort Missionaries; and to outline new missionary perspectives for the future.

The theme chosen to be the guiding light for this continental mission year comes from the experience of the Church in Africa. The synod of bishops of Africa, Madagascar and surrounding islands in 1995 named the Church in Africa as follows: “The Church as Family of God.” Pope John Paul II in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa (EA), highlights the central place that the family holds in the African worldview. The family is the environment where the values of life, love, and solidarity are born and nurtured. The Pope, during his visits to 38 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa during his pontificate, discovered that in African culture and tradition the role of the family is everywhere held to be fundamental. Open to this sense of the family, is love and respect for life… “The sons and daughters of Africa love life” (EA 43). The African conception of life is not only biological but touches an expanded spectrum of what it means to live. This is why all principles of African morality and ethics are to be sought within the context of preserving life and its power or force. The Pope states that “African cultures have an acute sense of solidarity and community life… Indeed, community life in African societies expresses the extended family” (EA 43).

However, John Paul II citing the Synod Fathers decries to see what has become of Africa: “One common situation, without any doubt, is that Africa is full of problems. In almost all our nations, there is abject poverty, tragic mismanagement of available scarce resources, political instability and social disorientation. The results stare us in the face: misery, wars, despair. In a world controlled by rich and powerful nations, Africa has practically become an irrelevant appendix, often forgotten and neglected” (EA 40). How, then, do we dare to hope in such a context that respects life and family very much and yet we see the contrary taking un upper hand? The other way of putting the question is to ask: “In a Continent full of bad news, how is the Christian message ‘Good News’ for our people? In the midst of an all-pervading despair, where do we find the hope and optimism which the Gospel brings?” (EA 40).

The centrality of family and respect for life is what makes Africans tick. In the context of the events that appear to obscure these important elements of African worldview what will the continental year highlight? The preparatory committee discerned that the theme that would capture the goal of the continental mission year is: “Montfort, a sign of hope and life in the family of God”. The continental mission year will highlight the fact that “evangelization stands for many of those essential values which sometimes our continent very much lacks: hope, peace, joy, harmony, love and unity” (EA 40) that the family of God ought to offer. The goal of this year is to relive, as Montfort Missionaries in this geographical zone, the burning desire which enkindled the heart of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort to preach the gospel of Christ in docility to the Spirit and under the guidance of the blessed Virgin Mary and to inspire hope through the same gospel. It is primarily an invitation and encouragement to fan into flame the Montfortian mission already at work on the continent. We have already many signs of hope in which we rejoice: The first sign of hope is that the spirit of Father de Montfort and his spirituality precedes the Montfort Missionaries in many African countries with an increasing number of lay associates. We witness the presence of many vocations as many young people are asking to join us. There are many young people already in the houses of pre-novitiate and post novitiate formation and there is already a vision to reopen the novitiate in Uganda for the Anglophone Africa and another novitiate in Madagascar by 2021. This will be a year to stimulate and reinforce this gift of vocation in the youth of Africa and Madagascar. This year will magnify the living spirit and mission of Father de Montfort to make Christ and his mother known and loved in Africa.

The continental year will be officially launched on 31st January 2021 in Gitega, Burundi, in the presence of the General Council, some confreres from the three entities of Africa and Madagascar, also in attendance will be the representatives of the lay associates. Between the opening of the year and its closure there are several event within entities and outside the entities among which are the canonical visitations, the continental assembly from 19th-23rd October 2021 in Malawi, and closure of the year on 31st December 2021 in Madagascar.

The department of communications has already placed on our website the prayer that will be recited the whole year praying for the fruits of the Spirit of Christ in this geographical zone at the intercession of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort. With this announcement of the continental mission year, I ask the members of the company of Mary, starting with the general administration, to pray and help the Montfortian family living and working in Africa and Madagascar to incarnate the Montfortian charism and inspire the fullness of life and hope in this family of God, the Church in Africa and Madagascar.