When I visited him at Alpignano, he was so quick to greet me in Kikuyu. I wanted to share with him but he couldn’t hear me. I had to write down some questions to which he responded enthusiastically. To all those who have known him, I dedicate this interview to you, where he gives his ideas for the mission and new indications for young missionaries.
Q: Fr. Mongiano, this year in June you made 90 years of age and 69 of them as a Consolata missionary. How do you feel for such a gift from the Lord?
A: I just thank the Lord. I also thank my parents because they are the ones who made me know God up to the point of reaching to His altar. What else can I say?
Q: But Father you are now 90 but still very young physically. Which would be your secret for living such a long and healthy life?
A: I have no secret. Good health is a gift from God. I joined the institute when I was 16. Now the hour has come. My only future is to die. I thank the Lord for all the years I have been in the Institute and in the mission. This is a grace that God has given me. Now I can only say, ‘Deo Grazias.’ Thanks be to God.
Q: Father, you hail from a family that has given a Consolata bishop, 2 Consolata priests and 2 Salesian sisters. What do you think about the difficulties of finding vocations in Europe today?
A: The reason why there are no vocations in Italy is because they are rich: rich of money but poor of children. Most families got only one child. They don’t want many children for increasing expenses. They also lack faith. It is better to be poor than to be rich. My family was a poor one. We were 8 and 5 of us became religious. But with a family of one, what do you expect?
Q: And do you have any memories of when you were deciding to join seminary?
A: I joined seminary when I was 16. Peter, my eldest brother is the one who opened the way for us and then we followed him. My brother Aldo (the bishop) is younger than me with one year. Even him he inspired me a lot. I had a brother who never wanted that I would join seminary. He was telling me, ‘don’t go, don’t go!’ And I had fear. It is my brother Aldo who inspired me. I had fear but when that my brother went away, I joined seminary the same day with Aldo and we were even ordained the same day.
{mosimage}Q: Last year, you returned home after over 50 years in the mission. How do you find yourself in this community after such a long experience outside home?
A: I feel OK because they are confreres like me. At this age, nobody expects to go back in the mission. We are more or less at the same level. We are only expecting the hour of God’s call. I have 90 years, what else can I wait for? We are waiting for God because all our life we spent it in the mission. We are all relics of the mission.
Q: And in your over 50 years in the mission, which were your best moments that still remains deep in you memories?
A: For me I don’t have good or bad moments. They are all fine because I have spent them in the mission and when we respond to the vocation, we do what God wants. I had no problem. We had many catechumens and we were baptising them Where the superiors were sending me, I was going. When we do that which we have to do, we realize that we are just useless servants of God.
Q: And Father, if you were today a boy of 14 years, which type of life would you choose?
A: If I were young today, I would certainly choose anew to be a Consolata missionary.
Q: And having worked all these years in Africa, do you think the African Church is mature enough to stand by itself without missionaries?
A: Now that you, the African priests you are many, there is no need of missionaries in Kenya. Our missions are now in Asia. There is no need now of going to Africa. We have opened missions in Korea and Mongolia. You Africans you are no longer receivers, but a people that gives. Africa is now mature to give missionaries because with only one child, the European families cannot give vocations. And you must not remain in Kenya. You are the ones now to go out. Kenya no longer needs missionaries. Our missions are now in Asia.
Q: And what message would you give to young Consolata missionaries regarding the value of the sanctity of life as proposed by our Founder, ‘ First saints, then missionaries?’
A: Holiness is that which we must struggle to reach. I can’t say that I have arrived. We reach holiness when we die. As long as I live, I must grow and mature. I must continue. First saints, then missionaries does not mean that now we are saints and then we are missionaries. This ‘first, first’ is always first up to the death. (Questo ‘prima, prima’ è sempre prima fino alla morte).
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