Louis BIRA sx
The 16th number of the Cahiers of the African Study Center of the Xaverian Missionaries has just been published[1]. It is dedicated to the centenary publication of the Testament Letter (TL) of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries, written to his dear present and future sons in the Saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society.
Here is the Edito.
The title "Here Is The Time Of The Heirs" of the book by the famous Cameroonian theologian Jean-Marc Ela, co-written with René Luneau, to highlight the conditions for the future of Christianity in Africa[2], serves me to characterize the spirit which runs through the texts of this Cahiers dedicated to the centenary publication of the Testament Letter (TL) of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries, written to his dear present and future sons in the Saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society. The TL’s heirs are the present Xaverian Missionaries.
Faithful and creative heirs
The texts published in this Cahiers are imbued with the deeply rooted conviction of African cultures that "the true heir is someone who shows himself to be faithful to the last will handed over to him, his duty being to perpetuate his family tradition”. Therefore, today’s Xaverian Missionaries are truly heirs insofar as they are faithful to the charism handed over to them by their Founder, Saint Guido Maria Conforti. In a nutshell, this means for the Xaverians to work with ever increasing zeal for the spreading of the Gospel among the nations where Christ is not known, and giving their contribution, however modest, to the fulfillment of Christ’s wish to make humanity one single family(TL1).
The Xaverians’ fidelity requires a continuous reference to the fundamentals of their Institute as they emerge from: the Gospel, the Testament Letter, the Constitutions, the Fundamental Rule, the 125 years of the history of the Congregation and the life of holiness and witnessing of their confreres that stands as a living charism.
However, a true heir is never a museum curator. On the contrary, a good heir is like a gold miner who knows how to retain the value of his pearl despite the time that passes. For him, the virtues of fidelity and creativity go hand in hand. If the first virtue requires a permanent reference to sources; that of creativity calls for a capacity of constant renewal, a mind that is always open and adapted to the conditions of the world in which he lives.
In this Cahiers, the need for fidelity has motivated us to publish the full text of the TL followed with introductions by two Xaverian confreres, Faustino Turco and Gabriel Basuzwa. We also wanted articles about the meaning of religious vows in TL. But the requested authors withdrew from this task at the last minute. It would have been interesting to deepen the link between religious and apostolic life (TL 2) as it is incredibly needed today as true missionary lifestyle. Moreover, in an African context where religious vows are sometimes perceived as a discipline imposed byoutsiders, presenting religious vows as a free choice of love in line with Saint Guido Maria Conforti’s legacy would avoid the pretexts that are observed here and there in the breach of religious vows yet freely taken. Indeed the TL invites us to love poverty and chastity (TL4-5) and to cherish obedience (TL 6).
Three texts are to be read in this Cahiers which highlight the difference between the context in which the TL was written and that of today. The text of Father Louis Birabaluge, “Celebrating the jubilee as liberation”, records the paradigm shift that has recently occurred in missiology and indicates the conversions that this paradigm calls for on the part of the present missionaries. In his article, “The mission Ad Gentes in the context of religious pluralism”, Father Pierre Emalieu states that the fact of religious pluralism specific to our time was not so obvious when the Founder wrote the TL. Therefore, today the mission understood as first proclamation has to be articulated with the challenge of religious pluralism. In his article, “Interculturality as a path of mission", father Gilbert Mbula says that in a world facing social, ethnic and religious political exclusions ... the dream of Saint Guido Maria Conforti “to make of the world one single family” (TL1) is rediscovered in our times with powerful relevance. This is why he affirms that mission today is to be lived by communities with an intercultural mode.
As a contribution to the celebration of the TL’s centennial, this first group of authors, all Xaverians, articulated fidelity to the past and openness to changes both in the world and in the Church. It is for this reason that this Cahiers is published as "The Reception of TL" of Saint Guido Maria Conforti. The authors did not only seek to understand Conforti's teaching on mission and religious life. Rather, they wanted to apply it to the world and the Church which are theirs today.
The advent of the charismatic family
The TL was addressed to the very dear missionaries present and futureof the saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society. This number 16 of our Cahiers records one of the happy developments in the recent history of the congregation. It is the advent of the Xaverian laity in African countries. They are married men and women or young people who find in the Xaverian missionary spirituality a way of happiness and holiness. On the occasion of this jubilee, we want to know what motivates them and what they consider to be their contribution to the mission entrusted to the Congregation.
In meditating on the TL, the couple Aimé Bisimwa and LaurentiaNakinja finds that the TL contains a message also for married couples. The couple marvels at the spirituality offered by Conforti, because they consider it accessible to every Christian.
Moreover the interviews conducted in the DRC and Burundi by fathers Aimé Mitengenzo and Jean Dieudonné Ndaboroheye provide informations on what lay people themselves consider to be their mission within the Congregation and their needed contribution in the proclamation of the Gospel. The convincing testimonies of Burundian Xaverian lay people highlighted the fact that many of them were previously touched and moved by the testimony of Xaverian fathers and sisters.
In this centenary year, the advent of the Xaverian laity in Africa is to be understood as one of those “very dear missionaries in the future" to whom Saint Guido Marie Conforti was addressing himself. From their testimonies, some lay people expressed clearly the desire to belong fully to the Congregation, after a journey of formation through an official commitment, a sort of vows for lay people. If they already feel affectively members of the Congregation, they wish to take part effectively in the work of proclaiming the gospel according to the Xaverian charism alongside with the religious missionaries. With them, they want to form the “charismatic Xaverian family”.
Two book reviews on consecrated life in an Africa are also published in this Cahiers. The first is the book by Louis BIRA, Why Africans Consecrated? Rediscovering the Social Dimension of Religious Vows, Paris, L’harmattan, 2015. The second is the book by SIGNIE Jean Marie and MAKIANG Angèle, It Is Your Face That I Seek Lord. Consecrated Life in Africa Today, Mauritius, Croix du Salut, 2020.
On behalf of the African Studies Center of the Xaverian Missionaries, may all those who have contributed to the production of this number 16 of our Cahiers find here our sincere gratitude.
[1] Find the full text here: https://dg.saveriani.org/en/saveriani/centri-saveriani/cea/item/cea-16-la réception- de-la- Lettre- Testament- de -Conforti
[2]The full title of the book is :Voici le temps des héritiers. Eglises d’Afrique et voies nouvelles, Paris, Karthala, 1981, 269p.
The 16th number of the Cahiers of the African Study Center of the Xaverian Missionaries has just been published[1]. It is dedicated to the centenary publication of the Testament Letter (TL) of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries, written to his dear present and future sons in the Saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society.
Here is the Edito.
The title "Here Is The Time Of The Heirs" of the book by the famous Cameroonian theologian Jean-Marc Ela, co-written with René Luneau, to highlight the conditions for the future of Christianity in Africa[2], serves me to characterize the spirit which runs through the texts of this Cahiers dedicated to the centenary publication of the Testament Letter (TL) of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries, written to his dear present and future sons in the Saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society. The TL’s heirs are the present Xaverian Missionaries.
Faithful and creative heirs
The texts published in this Cahiers are imbued with the deeply rooted conviction of African cultures that "the true heir is someone who shows himself to be faithful to the last will handed over to him, his duty being to perpetuate his family tradition”. Therefore, today’s Xaverian Missionaries are truly heirs insofar as they are faithful to the charism handed over to them by their Founder, Saint Guido Maria Conforti. In a nutshell, this means for the Xaverians to work with ever increasing zeal for the spreading of the Gospel among the nations where Christ is not known, and giving their contribution, however modest, to the fulfillment of Christ’s wish to make humanity one single family(TL1).
The Xaverians’ fidelity requires a continuous reference to the fundamentals of their Institute as they emerge from: the Gospel, the Testament Letter, the Constitutions, the Fundamental Rule, the 125 years of the history of the Congregation and the life of holiness and witnessing of their confreres that stands as a living charism.
However, a true heir is never a museum curator. On the contrary, a good heir is like a gold miner who knows how to retain the value of his pearl despite the time that passes. For him, the virtues of fidelity and creativity go hand in hand. If the first virtue requires a permanent reference to sources; that of creativity calls for a capacity of constant renewal, a mind that is always open and adapted to the conditions of the world in which he lives.
In this Cahiers, the need for fidelity has motivated us to publish the full text of the TL followed with introductions by two Xaverian confreres, Faustino Turco and Gabriel Basuzwa. We also wanted articles about the meaning of religious vows in TL. But the requested authors withdrew from this task at the last minute. It would have been interesting to deepen the link between religious and apostolic life (TL 2) as it is incredibly needed today as true missionary lifestyle. Moreover, in an African context where religious vows are sometimes perceived as a discipline imposed byoutsiders, presenting religious vows as a free choice of love in line with Saint Guido Maria Conforti’s legacy would avoid the pretexts that are observed here and there in the breach of religious vows yet freely taken. Indeed the TL invites us to love poverty and chastity (TL4-5) and to cherish obedience (TL 6).
Three texts are to be read in this Cahiers which highlight the difference between the context in which the TL was written and that of today. The text of Father Louis Birabaluge, “Celebrating the jubilee as liberation”, records the paradigm shift that has recently occurred in missiology and indicates the conversions that this paradigm calls for on the part of the present missionaries. In his article, “The mission Ad Gentes in the context of religious pluralism”, Father Pierre Emalieu states that the fact of religious pluralism specific to our time was not so obvious when the Founder wrote the TL. Therefore, today the mission understood as first proclamation has to be articulated with the challenge of religious pluralism. In his article, “Interculturality as a path of mission", father Gilbert Mbula says that in a world facing social, ethnic and religious political exclusions ... the dream of Saint Guido Maria Conforti “to make of the world one single family” (TL1) is rediscovered in our times with powerful relevance. This is why he affirms that mission today is to be lived by communities with an intercultural mode.
As a contribution to the celebration of the TL’s centennial, this first group of authors, all Xaverians, articulated fidelity to the past and openness to changes both in the world and in the Church. It is for this reason that this Cahiers is published as "The Reception of TL" of Saint Guido Maria Conforti. The authors did not only seek to understand Conforti's teaching on mission and religious life. Rather, they wanted to apply it to the world and the Church which are theirs today.
The advent of the charismatic family
The TL was addressed to the very dear missionaries present and futureof the saint Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society. This number 16 of our Cahiers records one of the happy developments in the recent history of the congregation. It is the advent of the Xaverian laity in African countries. They are married men and women or young people who find in the Xaverian missionary spirituality a way of happiness and holiness. On the occasion of this jubilee, we want to know what motivates them and what they consider to be their contribution to the mission entrusted to the Congregation.
In meditating on the TL, the couple Aimé Bisimwa and LaurentiaNakinja finds that the TL contains a message also for married couples. The couple marvels at the spirituality offered by Conforti, because they consider it accessible to every Christian.
Moreover the interviews conducted in the DRC and Burundi by fathers Aimé Mitengenzo and Jean Dieudonné Ndaboroheye provide informations on what lay people themselves consider to be their mission within the Congregation and their needed contribution in the proclamation of the Gospel. The convincing testimonies of Burundian Xaverian lay people highlighted the fact that many of them were previously touched and moved by the testimony of Xaverian fathers and sisters.
In this centenary year, the advent of the Xaverian laity in Africa is to be understood as one of those “very dear missionaries in the future" to whom Saint Guido Marie Conforti was addressing himself. From their testimonies, some lay people expressed clearly the desire to belong fully to the Congregation, after a journey of formation through an official commitment, a sort of vows for lay people. If they already feel affectively members of the Congregation, they wish to take part effectively in the work of proclaiming the gospel according to the Xaverian charism alongside with the religious missionaries. With them, they want to form the “charismatic Xaverian family”.
Two book reviews on consecrated life in an Africa are also published in this Cahiers. The first is the book by Louis BIRA, Why Africans Consecrated? Rediscovering the Social Dimension of Religious Vows, Paris, L’harmattan, 2015. The second is the book by SIGNIE Jean Marie and MAKIANG Angèle, It Is Your Face That I Seek Lord. Consecrated Life in Africa Today, Mauritius, Croix du Salut, 2020.
On behalf of the African Studies Center of the Xaverian Missionaries, may all those who have contributed to the production of this number 16 of our Cahiers find here our sincere gratitude.
[1] Find the full text here: https://dg.saveriani.org/en/saveriani/centri-saveriani/cea/item/cea-16-la réception- de-la- Lettre- Testament- de -Conforti
[2]The full title of the book is :Voici le temps des héritiers. Eglises d’Afrique et voies nouvelles, Paris, Karthala, 1981, 269p.