Mission, Youth, Vocation Ministry and Formation in Francophone Africa

There are three members of the General Secretariat of Formation, Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, Fr. Fermo Bernasconi and Fr. Elias Sindjalim; Fr. Fidèle Katsan, Superior of the Chad Delegation and Continental coordinator of  formation in French-speaking Africa, vocation promoters and formators  of the pre-postulancy, Postulancy, Novitiate and Scholasticate, coming from the Delegations of Chad and the Central African Republic and from the Province of Congo. The Province of Togo-Ghana-Benin is represented only by Fr. Léonard Ndjadi, because the other four confreres could not obtain in time the Entry Visa for Congo. We note also the absence of the provincial animators of the on-going  formation, who, in principle should be present.

In his words at the beginning of the Assembly, Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, explained the event in the overall context of our Institute (Process of revisitation and revision of the Rule of Life, the implementation of the last General Chapter 2015, the Assembly of Maia 2017) and of the Church (Synod of Bishops on the Youth). He defined this Assembly not as a decision-making body but as a guide for the improvement and renewal of our formation. He concluded by saying that some issues such as Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation invite us to reflect more in order to respond to the diverse challenges of formation as a holistic and ongoing process.

The Assembly experienced three moments: a moment of on-going formation on the New Technologies of Information and Communication, followed by topics related to our Comboni formation proper and concluding with the transversal theme of  Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. The second moment is the Subcontinental Assembly and the last is the Subcontinental Council. Slightly over twenty confreres participated in the meeting.