In the recent weeks we had the African Continental Meeting in Tanzania which was the first to be held after the XIII General Chapter. After the Continental meeting, what followed was the Regional and Delegation meetings of which the first in the continent was Ethiopian Region and then the South African/Swaziland delegation followed. 

We started the Conference officially on 29th January, which was at the same breath the 117th anniversary of our foundation. As naturally as it could be, we started with the Celebration of the Eucharist lead by Fr. James Lengarin, the Vice General Superior. In his reflection, he took us back to Our Founder's dream of being in the Mission. The long-life challenges that became an impediment of going to active Mission, the plan of having missionaries going to the 'dream land', specifically in Ethiopia; a process that started in 1890s, up to 1901. Fr. Lengarin reflected on the challenges the Founder had to endure and the ordeals he had to jump for his dream of evangelizing in African Missions could be fulfilled. Patience, determination and Faith were the key driving forces for our founder. The death of one bishop and restarting all over again with another, the travels to Rome to have audience with Propaganda Fide, the eventual reception of some young men for the missions, and consequently their withdrawal, his total trust of the intervention and help of our Lady   Consolata, and finally the breakthrough after all the ordeals had been jumped. This, Fr. Lengarin said, is what we need to learn and reflect from our Founder and from this day of foundation. We were challenged not to seek the comfort zones, but to go out and beyond the periphery of our comfort zone.

The Conference was officially commenced by the Delegate Superior, Fr. James Githinji. In his opening remarks, he called upon all of us to share and reflect deeply on the acts of the XIII General Chapter and the other documents given to us.  He termed the conference a moment of grace for the delegation since it will help to shape the life of the missionaries in the delegation for the next six years.

Opening Remarks...

In their opening remarks, Fr. Lengarin and Fr. Godfrey Msumange recalled the Spirit and call of the XIII General Chapter, focusing on Revitalization and Restructuring. They reflected on the Centrality of Personal revitalization, the aspect of personal relationship with Christ and the value of Prayer and meditation. Personal revitalization is the starting point to common, Continental and the whole congregation's revitalization. We should never therefore, forget our identity and centrality.

They further noted the fact that our congregation has changed in recent years. Majority of vocations, in fact 95%, more or less, come from the Continent of Africa. In fact, the number of missionaries in Africa is 444, a great percentage in the congregation. On the other side, there is a significant number of young missionaries. It is a blessing, but at the same time poses a challenge coming from self-identity and crisis that come along within the early years of priesthood. Therefore, a need of following up and continuous formation of the young missionaries is necessary. This was not just an idea, but part of the Continental Missionary Project also adopted in the Delegation planning.

The New Communities of the Delegation

We further had the presentation of the newly opened communities where we are based. Namely, Manzini (Swaziland), (2015/2016) Mamelodi (2015) and Osizweni (2016).

MAVP Presentation...

We had presentation also of the Missionary Animation and Vocation Promotion Office. The Vocation Animator made us aware of the activities of the office and the situation as it is now. We are much aware that we yet have no South African missionaries. We can however claim pride of having one candidate from Swaziland by the name of Boy Mahazule. A sign of hope for us. All of us were challenged to be Missionary and Vocation animators in our respective places. We shall continue animating and let the 'owner of the vineyard do His job' as the Animator called advised us.

The Seminary...

The Seminary of Merivale has had a number of constant numbers of Temporary Professed members that come for their theological studies. At present there are 10 students and two formators. The challenge brought forward is the support of the seminary in its daily running, but more importantly the financial constraints in the Theological studies. The Rector, Fr. Fredrick Agalo, appreciated the support of the members in both financial and gifts (in form of food) given to the seminary from our Parishes. This, he said has reduced the budget of the seminary significantly. However, more support is needed to keep the seminary running well.

The Memory of the Mission

We also had the presentation of our delegate superior narrating the history of our presence in South Africa, going back to the Second World War, in 1940s when some of our confreres became prisoners of war, till up to date in the current situation. We were presented chronologically the works, openings and closure of our missions throughout the years. We understood the history of our presence and this in fact challenged us to think of having someone who will compile this rich history that will make part of our archives of the documented history. In our further deliberations too, we came to appreciate the missionaries that have this history with them, namely; Fr. Rocco and Fr. Giorgio. These members, together with others who are outside the delegation can be a rich source of documenting our history.

Economy for the Mission

The Delegation Administrator gave his presentation on the economic situation of our Delegation. It was clear that every member has a role to play in contributing to the financial well-being of the Delegation. Proper use of our finances, accountability and openness are some of the pillars of stable financial situation in our delegation. The sky ahead seems grey, and hence, we were challenged to think more about how to help our delegation in making sure that we won’t fall below the cliff.

The Subject Matter of The Conference...

The VII DSA (Delegation of South Africa) Conference, in line with the XIII Chapter and the Continental Missionary Project based its deliberations, planning and decisions on the following;

• Evangelization
• Missionary Animation and Vocation Promotion
• Formation
• Economy for the Mission

The working Documents being:

• The Acts of the XIII General Chapter
• The Document of the Continental Project
• The Guidelines of the General Government (2017-2023)
• The Continental Action Plan for the next six years.

Other different documents on basic formation, administration, animation and evangelization that came from the just concluded continental conference in Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania.

Deliberations and Enacting

The members present, having already worked in their small communities and eventually coming up with Instrumentum Laboris divided into 3 groups that each took a theme to discuss and affirm the proposals of the Instrumentum Laboris. They had also the Continental Action Plan for the next six years to guide our discourses and the above-mentioned materials cum documents that were at our disposal.  On the first day, under the general theme of Revitalization, focusing on;

1. The Missionary Disciple 
2. Missionary animation and vocation
3. The formation to the Mission.

Three important areas were in focus:

1. The Individual Missionary
2. The IMC Community
3. The delegation

The second day we dealt on:

1. Fraternal Life in the Community
2. Missionary Ad Gentes and Service
3. Economy for the Mission

On the last day of our meeting, we dealt on Restructuring. In this aspect, we challenged ourselves to focus on our Ad Gentes Charism and penetrate in the areas that need us in this aspect, especially the outskirts of the cities, value and participate in religious dialogues, understand and enact the guidelines from the DG and the continental delegation.

In General

In summary, a road map for the next 6 years, based on the fore-mentioned areas as par the Acts of the General Chapter and all other documents used as the guidelines, together with the reflections in groups that reflected on the reality of our Delegation and the proposals taken in the small groups and eventually in the Plenaries, brought about the last document that forms the Acts of DSA XII Conference 2018.

In was agreed that an individual plays a very vital role in both Revitalization and Restructuring.

An individual's effort to revive the faith, word of God, prayer, meditation, fraternal spirit, accountability, sense of belonging, spiritual retreats and recollections, spiritual directions, Charism, discipleship etc is very vital for Communal Revitalization and growth.

A Community is the ideal place of living and practicing our discipleship. This can be possible through active participation in common programs. In mind was the ongoing formation, retreats, recollections, community prayer, and so on.

The Conference Spirit

The conference had a very positive and enthusiastic attitude. Further all members were engaged in reflections and deliberations. With no doubt, there was the family spirit, the sense of belonging, the sense of 'communal ownership' of all the areas of concern. This gave an opportunity for free interactions both in the meeting and in free times of breaks and ending of the day.

The spiritual aspect of Eucharistic celebrations and prayers was evident. We were one family that sat around the table, sharing ideas about the road map of our family. We hope the next six years will bring to fruition all the deliberations of this Conference.