MISSIONARY CHRONICLES

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 Fr Roland Laneuville and Fr Ergete Tesfaye  participated in the international meeting of the Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life (SOMIVA) held between May 2 and 6. It took place this year 2022 in Paris at the Missions Étrangères de Paris.

 In his chronicle, Fr Ergete Tesfaye shares about this  recent meeting SOMIVA/MISAL in Paris. You can also look at a short testimony of some participants in the meeting by clicking on the following:  https://youtu.be/cbOuldujp38

INTERCONTINENTAL MISAL MEETING 2022 (Paris, 25-29 April)
par Ergete Tesfaye

The Intercontinental meeting of MISAL (Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life) or SOMIVA (Sociétés missionnaires de vie apostolique) took place in Paris from April 25 to 29, hosted by the Missions Étrangères de Paris (MEP). The participants were from 16 missionary Societies from around the world. These regular meetings are good opportunities to share ideas on similar issues, express friendship and solidarity on common projects. Allowing a few hours for touristic visits to Notre-Dame de Paris, Montmartre and a “mini-croisière” on La Seine, the content of ongoing formation for the superiors was particularly important this time. Here is a brief overview of the interventions that I summarize for you

The meeting started, on Tuesday 26 April, with words of welcome by Mgr Georges Pontier, Apostolic Administrator of Paris at that moment. He discussed about the difficulty of transmitting our Christian values and the way of evangelisation and living our faith today. Then, we had a tour of MEP headquarters and the museum depicting the history of the MEP at their mission. The morning program concluded with the Eucharistic celebration. The afternoon program consisted of sharing news from the MISAL missionary societies as well as sharing in small groups on the recent constitution Predicate Evangelium concerning the reform of the Roman Curia.

The second day, Wednesday 27 April, was dedicated to the mission ad gentes and inter-religious dialogue. The conference was animated by Fr Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. His main presentation focused on the question of dialogue and proclamation. He revised the background development of inter-religious dialogue inspired by the spirit of Vatican II. His major presentation focused on mission and dialogue and discussed extensively the approach of the Church and its guideline. He outlined the major events that took place to promote dialogue such as the Assisi prayer for world peace in 1986, the plenary assembly on mission and dialogue in 1987, etc. He discussed extensively the reasons for mission and dialogue: the situation of world rapid communication, mobility of peoples, religious plurality awareness and the important role of religious traditions. He also discussed about the efforts done to come up with guidelines as to deal with challenges in religious dialogue. He concluded by providing concrete implications for interreligious dialogue in which as missionaries, we ought to be citizens of the place where we are sent.

On Thursday 28 April, Mme Francoise Buzelin, historian, gave a presentation on a history of missions of the MEP as described by Mgr Louis Laneau in the years 1600. Then, we had a session on “’the writing of missionary experience” presented by Mme Catherine Marin. She summarized the different means of communications used by different missionaries about their missionary experiences in different eras.

On Friday 29 April, the last intervention was carried out by Mgr Georges Colomb, the former General Superior of the MEP. He spoke about the doctrine of the faith citing Pope Francis who stresses the importance of establishing friendly relations with others. He explained well how Pope Francis stresses that our testimony needs to be built on the love that we received from the Lord. ●