This December (3–16), we will meet in Yaoundé (Cameroon), with the General Government, the Provincial Government of the only Claretian Province in Africa, located in East Nigeria (including Chad), and the governments of Delegations in other countries: St John Paul II (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Our Mother of Africa Delegation (Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe), José Xifré Delegation (Equatorial Guinea and Gabon), Democratic Republic of Congo Delegation, St Charles Lwanga Delegation (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania), West Nigeria Delegation (including South Africa), and the Cameroon Delegation. Countries where missions or communities are beginning, such as South Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe, are also invited.
We superiors already know one another from ACLA Conference meetings. However, this gathering—following this year’s general visitations in 2024—aims to explore greater convergence within the ministries we carry out in Africa.
We have shared a common project for many years: Initial Formation in the various centres of the Congregation in Africa. There are postulancies in almost every country, four novitiates (in Spanish, French, and English), and five theological seminaries. In addition to sharing candidates, we are encouraged to share formation tasks in intercultural teams. Likewise, the General Prefecture of Vocational Youth Ministry invites us to join various initiatives it promotes.
Another significant project is INCLA (the Institute for Consecrated Life in Africa), located in the territory of the West Nigeria Delegation. This institute continues to grow and is becoming better known across Africa through in-person and online programmes. ACLA superiors are responsible for approving the institute’s annual programmes, activities, and budgets and supporting it with Claretian personnel.
We also have an active group working in SOMI (Solidarity and Mission). This includes Mission Procurators, those responsible for promoting Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation activities, and our collaboration with the Claretian team at the United Nations and the Religious at the United Nations Coalition for Justice. Projects, training sessions, best practices, prayers, and reflections are shared. Next year, we will have a gathering in Kenya in July.
The General Government meeting is being prepared with a brief report on activities from 2001 to the present, based on the action plans of both the General and Provincial Governments. The aim is to identify paths for better bringing the Word of God to the peoples of Africa.
There is much room for coordination in the Service of the Word, missionary parish ministry, primary and secondary school services, efforts toward self-financing in our communities and ministries, and finding donors for development programmes and projects.
These conversations will take place in the Spirit, helping us discern where the Lord wants to guide us in these lands, enriched by the diversity of cultures, languages, and backgrounds. It is also part of the ongoing charismatic reflection on the Congregation’s embodiment in different ACLA countries.
I count on your prayers that we may listen and dialogue in God and dwell in the silence of encounter with our brothers.
A fraternal embrace in the Heart of the Mother. Let us keep one another in prayer.
Fr. Joaquín Ma Béjar Alvarado, CMF
