Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - “We are therefore grateful to God today that Africa, thanks to the many centuries of selfless sacrifice by hundreds of thousands of missionaries from Europe and elsewhere, has a vibrant Church and, now rich in vocations to the Holy Priesthood and Consecrated Religious Life, is offering priests and religious personnel for missionary/pastoral work in the world in gratitude to God.” This is what was written in the Final Message composed by participants in the Seminar on “New situations of the Ad Gentes mission: Exchange of priests and pastoral agents- Training and Vocations.” The Seminar was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, November 10-14, promoted by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) (see Fides 5/11/2010; 11/11/2010)
The Seminar was “a further step in enhancing Communion and Pastoral Solidarity between Africa and Europe, the main objective of this CCEE-SECAM collaborative project,” the message says. It is addressed to “Bishops, clergy and religious, and to the faithful People of God in our two continents of Europe and Africa.”
Addressing the new situation of the Church, the message says that “in the last thirty years or so, the Church all over the world has seen enormous changes, which have posed new challenges to the very mission of evangelization that Jesus Christ entrusted to the Church” and recalls that in response to these challenges, Pope John Paul II “Pope John Paul II, now Servant of God, called for a new evangelization,” and Pope Benedict XVI has created the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization. “We rejoice in this and join our Holy Father in prayer for success to crown this new thrust in the evangelization mission of the Church,” they comment.
In the course of the discussions and exchange regarding priestly and religious vocations, “we acknowledge the need to prepare our priests and religious better and to equip them with the needed intellectual, pastoral, psychological and spiritual competences for the work of the new evangelization as demanded by the challenges of today,” say the Bishops. “Apart from the formation of our seminarians, priests and religious, we also examined critically the different kinds of presence of African priests in Europe and vice versa.”
As for priests sent to Europe, they “should first and foremost be a matured person, well prepared culturally and spiritually to make the best of his sojourn and to benefit his Church of origin as well as the Church of destination, be it in Europe or in Africa.” “We bishops of Africa and Europe recommit ourselves to intensify our fatherly care and pastoral solicitude of all the priests, our own or those from other Churches/dioceses sojourning in our ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as priest-students or fidei donum missionaries. We take this opportunity to thank all priests and religious who have left home, family and country to give in sacrifice their lives as missionaries elsewhere all over the world. We pray that God will raise up many more such missionary vocations in our Churches.”
Lastly, in what regards the missionary sending wherever necessary, the Bishops call for “still greater cooperation between us bishops and between the Church in Africa and in Europe in the training and sharing of personnel for the various pastoral ministries. This would require well worked out written agreements and contracts that take into consideration whatever is necessary for the wellbeing of the priests as much as possible. This should be in the spirit of greater communion and solidarity.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/11/2010)
