Ekali, Cameroon. From March 28 to 31, 2022, the Major Superiors and Mission Coordinators of the Association of Claretians in Africa (ACLA) met for their traditional annual meeting at the Anton Probst Noviciate in Ekali.
During these days of intense work, they evaluated the life and mission of Claretians in Africa in the field of Formation, Biblical Pastoral Ministry, Youth and Vocation Ministry, JPIC, and the need for multiplying evangelizers and forming formators for the Church through the Institute for Consecrated Life in Africa (INCLA).
The participants were in communion with the entire Congregation. Father General sent a short but deep message. He reminded the members to keep in mind the shared vision for the mission in Africa and collaboration among the different Major Organisms.
To safeguard creation, they shared meeting documents digitally instead of printing papers. They also planted trees in the noviciate as a way of communing with nature and encouraging all confreres to have collaborative care of our environment as a priority.
In the meeting, Msgr. Juan Domingo, CMF, Bishop of Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea, visited the Major Superiors and encouraged them to be disciples of Jesus and testify our charism in the Church. In communion with the Local Church, participants visited His Lordship, Joseph-Marie Ndi Okalla, Bishop of Mbalmayo. They dialogued with him about the mission of Claretians in the Church and his diocese.
The ACLA session ended with a recreational evening shared with the novices. Present in the ACLA meeting were the Major Superiors and Mission Coordinators serving in the Major Organisms of St. Charles Lwanga, Padre Xifré, West Nigeria, East Nigeria, Cameroun, Congo, and the Mission of Mozambique. Though the Claretians from Zimbabwe and Mãe da África were not able to travel, with the help of technology, they participated online during some parts of the meeting.
As a pilgrim Congregation in Africa, holding the meeting in the Novitiate reminds us that we are rooted in faith in Jesus Christ and Claretian spirituality.
(From Fr. Jude Thaddeus Langeh, CMF, ACLA Secretary)
