September-October 2009 LEAVES
Special Issue Note
The Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill is celebrating its 100th anniversary. This special issue of LEAVES is in honor of the Mariannhill Mission Society. We thought our LEAVES family would enjoy knowing more about us.
For more information about our missionary work, please visit our website: www.Mariannhill.org.
We consider the readers of LEAVES to be an important part of our ministry around the world. God bless you all.
The Trappists of Mariannhill began their work 27 years earlier, but the same priests and brothers, now constituting the Mariannhill Mission Society, continued the work 100 years ago. From the very start our mission work has been accomplished with the support of people like you, our dear LEAVES family. Throughout our history the assistance of lay people has sustained us in the mission field.
The Body of Christ is worldwide. All are God's children. All are deserving of receiving the Good News. We Mariannhillers have dedicated our lives to bringing the Gospel to far-flung places, which we do with your help.
St. Teresa of Avila wrote: "Christ has no body on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out upon the world, ours are the feet with which He goes about doing good, ours are the hands with which He blesses His people."
The task of evangelization falls to all members of the Church. All are called to safeguard and share the faith in their families, their local communities and churches and to the wider world. For 70 years the LEAVES family has been a faithful partner in Mariannhill's missionary efforts to do just that.
While the phrase attributed to St. Francis of Assisi -- "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary" -- is not likely to have been spoken by him, the sentiment is a worthwhile reminder to us all. More conversions are made through good example than through words merely spoken.
You, dear LEAVES readers, live your faith faithfully and with great dignity. You offer up your sufferings on behalf of those in most need. You raise your voices in joyful thanksgivings for prayers answered. Your prayers, sacrifices and charity give great witness to your sincere devotion, a most precious example of living your life according to your faith.
The faith of you and your families that you share serves to encourage and instruct others in their celebration of faith. How great a blessing it is to know that you are supported by the prayers of others across the globe. That is how our people in the missions feel. How wonderful to know that no matter your situation, you can always offer the immeasurable value of your prayers for your brothers and sisters in faith at home and the world over. That is how you, our readers, should feel.
We are grateful to you beyond words for all your support of our efforts throughout the years. The Lord's work is never done, and your aid helps sustain us so we can continue our missionary efforts for many years to come, God willing.
We at LEAVES are honored to be a vehicle of sharing the mission work of Mariannhill and also sharing the beautiful devotion of you, our dear readers. We bring the missions to you and take your generous love to the missions. It is an avenue of great blessings for all.
As Mariannhill celebrates our 100th anniversary, we ask you to kindly continue to keep us in your prayers. We do not doubt their effectiveness and acknowledge the tremendous blessing they are to us. May we follow God's will in all that we do to build up the Kingdom of God on earth. Know that we, in turn, offer unceasing prayers on your behalf. May God grant you abundant blessings always – Father Thomas Heier, C.M.M., Editor in Chief.
Note from the Editor
When I came on board as editor of LEAVES some 18 years ago, I met with some of the Mariannhill missionaries. What most struck me was their joy. Although intensely serious about their faith, they were amazingly happy people. This was not joy of having laid up great earthly treasures. This was an exuberance of those who live what they believe.
It is quite fitting that as Mariannhill celebrates 100 years of working in the missions, the Holy Father has called for a Year of the Priest. Being a missionary priest is not for the timid soul. Some places of the mission field are, at times, inhospitable areas that can also be dangerous. In fact just months ago one of the Mariannhill missionaries, Father Ernst Ploechl, was murdered in South Africa. Please pray for the repose of his soul and also pray for those who took his life that their hearts will be converted.
Some mission territories are in isolated places that have few resources. These areas depend on the good will of people like the LEAVES family. Our dear readers have proven to be magnificent benefactors who respond generously with their support. As a matter of fact, through your help new houses of formation have been built in Africa.
The Mariannhill Congregation has proven to be conducive to promoting holy lives. At the present moment causes for canonization have been opened for both the founder, Abbot Francis Pfanner, and Father Engelmar Unzeitig, a Mariannhill priest who was martyred in the Dachau concentration camp. Readers of LEAVES know well their stories and also the testimonies of their intervention on behalf of us today.
Please join with your prayers in wishing Mariannhill another fruitful 100 years. This is truly God's work and we are humbled to be a part of it through the LEAVES magazine. God bless the Mariannhill Missionaries at home and abroad and God bless our readers – Jackie Lindsey, Editor.
On May 24, 2009, Pope Benedict quoted Abbot Francis: "Let the light of joy and cheerfulness burn and keep it in your heart." You can find it on Mariannhill's web site at: www.Mariannhill.org,
Mariannhill in North America
By Fr. Alain Rodrigue, C.M.M.
The Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill (Mariannhill Mission Society) is now 100 years old. This is a long history during which many developments took place. It is also a short history, if you compare it with many other religious orders in the world. Other articles in this issue will deal with the history of our Order, so I would like to share with you the current picture of our presence here in North America – the United States and Canada – and the challenges it brings to us and to our Catholic Church.
In the last few decades the diocesan seminaries and the religious orders in the northern half of our world have experienced a dramatic decrease in the number of new entries. The vocation to the religious life and to the priesthood does not seem to be as attractive anymore for someone who wishes to answer God's call. This may seem both disappointing and discouraging, and rightly so.
But we can also look at this in another way. Our Church has been called to find new ways of expressing her faith, new ways of getting actively involved in her mission. Lay people have been called by their bishops to take part in the apostolic work. Lay people have also been called by different religious missionary orders, like ours, to take part in the mission abroad as lay missionaries. This has surely been a positive development for our Congregation here and elsewhere in the world, and it continues to be so.
A new situation in now emerging. While vocations to the religious life and the priesthood are decreasing here, they are plentiful in other parts of the world. It is this new situation that has brought the superiors of our Congregation in Rome to ask us if we could help with the formation of some of those young members. We answered yes to the request, and we already have some of them among us. There will be more to come.
Of course, this is a challenge for us, but it is also a challenge for the whole Church here in North America, for now we are receiving young missionaries from elsewhere, whereas we were used to sending missionaries from here abroad. We are very grateful for this development, because it has been life-giving to our religious community and to the people around us. It shows that we are a missionary Congregation ready to listen to the signs of the times. Mission is not a matter of North to South or West to East anymore; it has really become a call to be true witnesses of Christ anywhere in the world. There are no boundaries.
Canada and the United States have gone through tremendous changes. We need to acknowledge the fact that the religious context here has evolved. It is different from one place to another, but while some years ago in the province of Quebec in Canada 98% of the people were Catholic and going to church, we now face the reality that, although people are still Catholic on paper, they are not attending church anymore – less than 8% are.
This surely calls for a different mindset. The society we are in and the religious orders themselves are in a period of transition, of drastic changes. While our presence in the northern hemisphere was mainly to develop mission awareness among Catholics of the needs in other countries, we are now called to do mission work here at home too, to perform new ways of evangelization. The answers are not easy tofind. We need to find new ways to evangelize people who have become very critical of the Church as an institution. This is really uncomfortable and it challenges our mindset.
We remain active in mission activities that we believe answer to the needs of today, including:
* publication of a Catholic magazine in each of our two countries (LEAVES and RMM);
* mission sermons and appeals for support in parishes;
* retreats for adults and youth (preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation);
* chaplaincies and parish work;
* mission experiences with youth and adults in Peru;
* forming lay missionaries and sending them abroad as Pfanner Lay Mission Companions;
* sacramental work among Chaldean Catholics;
* collaboration with various other missionary organizations, including the diocesan offices;
* sponsorship of refugees;
* particular work for justice by fair trade activities;
* pastoral work and presence among immigrants and refugees from Africa and South America;
* promoting mission awareness in schools and parishes;
* accommodation of immigrants and refugees from the time of their arrival to the finding of an apartment;
* lay associate members; and
* activities that promote dialogue with people and with other religions.
In this mission work some of our elderly members are unable to play an active role anymore. Yet they are extremely important in their prayers for the success of our communities' works, in their wisdom and in their testimony of holy personal lives for the benefit of the rest of us.
We would like to develop new fields of evangelization of adults and of a pastoral presence and work among immigrants and refugees in our areas. Young members coming from the South and from our own countries should eventually assist us with the help of God and His Holy Spirit to achieve this goal.
On the occasion of this celebration of the centennial of our Congregation, I commend my fellow members and me to your prayers that we may have the courage to say "Yes" to the calls of God that we can still hear today, just as Francis Pfanner said "Yes" when he heard the call of God to leave for the African continent. May God bless all of you for your permanent commitment and generosity to our Congregation throughout the years.
[Father Alain Rodigue, C.M.M., has been the provincial superior of the American-Canadian Province since 2004.]
A Life of
Fr. Engelmar and
A Novena for Abbot
Francis Pfanner
There is now available a booklet of the life of Father Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. and a novena for Mariannhill's founder Abbot Francis Pfanner. You may receive a free copy of them by sending a stamped (44 cents for "A Life" and 61 cents for the novena), self-addressed envelope for each booklet requested to: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121.
The Origin of Mariannhill
The young Father Pfanner, chaplain of a convent of sisters at Agram (Zagreb), Croatia, had often preached to them about the necessity of preparing for death. Now the recurring pains in his lungs convinced him it was time that he himself do some serious preparing for death. For a while he considered joining the Jesuit Order, but eventually decided "it was better to work myself to death than to study myself to death," and so chose the Trappist Order.
In 1863 he entered the monastery of Mariawald in Germany, resolved to spend his remaining days in prayer, silent recollection and manual labor. Under the Trappist regimen Father Francis Pfanner regained his health in a remarkably short time, but peaceful retirement eluded him. After less than four years at Mariawald, he was sent to begin a new foundation in Austria-Hungary. Finding no land available there, he crossed over to Bosnia, which at that time was under the rule of Islamic Turkey. Near Banjaluka he began the new foundation of Mariastern. The hardships were tremendous, but Mariastern Monastery flourished.
The 1879 General Chapter
In 1879 a general chapter of the Trappist Order was held at Sept-Fons, France. The assembled delegates were prepared to elevate the monastery of Mariastern to the status of abbey and confer the abbot's crozier on Prior Francis. Events however took a totally unforeseen turn. Bishop Ricards of Grahamstown in the Cape Colony of South Africa appeared at the chapter and pleaded with the Trappists to establish a monastery in his vicariate. His plea was met with embarrassed silence. Suddenly Prior Francis spoke up: "If no one else will go, I will." Bishop Ricards agreed to supply a large tract of land of his and furnish the needs of the new foundation until it should become self-sustaining. The chapter delegates approved of the arrangement.
The Dunbrody Fiasco
Bishop Ricards named the land he offered the Trappists "Dunbrody" after an abandoned monastery in his native Ireland. The drought-stricken land, covered with thistles, thorn bushes and cacti, looked nothing like the green hills of Ireland. It was totally unsuited to the Trappist way of life. The Trappists work in silence and with their own hands to supply their simple needs for food, clothing and housing. Lack of rain simply nullified the valiant efforts of Prior Francis and his thirty fellow monks.
Mariannhill Monastery
Bishop Jolivet in Natal welcomed the Trappists to settle in his vicariate. So Prior Francis purchased a large farm called Zeekoegat (seacow valley) in the neighborhood of Pinetown and Durban. On December 26, 1882, with their goods loaded on ox wagons, the monks came to their new home. The first "monastery" was a makeshift construction of packing crates and tarpaulins. In the Benedictine tradition the Trappists were skilled of hand, and soon they built more substantial buildings.
Prior Francis placed this new foundation under the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her mother St. Anne, naming it Mariannhill. This place was suitable for the monks' life of prayer and work (Ora et Labora). Seven times a day the monks come together to worship God by praying theDivine Office of the Church in choir.
Christianizing the Africans
The Africans living on the vast farm became the responsibility of its new owners. Initially the monks did not set out to preach the Gospel by word of mouth; rather they let the silent preaching of their lives attract the Africans. Soon the Zulus were coming to them asking for explanations and instructions, and so the work of Christianizing the people began. Mariannhill could in many ways be compared to the monasteries of Europe in the very early Middle Ages: they were civilizing and Christianizing centers for the people. So too Mariannhill.
The monks sought not just to instruct individuals in the faith, but they worked to build Christian communities, to create a society in which the converts could live their newfound faith. The goal of Mariannhill, later formulated in the motto of Father Bernard Huss, was "Better fields, better homes, better hearts." Besides teaching the people about Christ, the Trappists also taught them reading and writing, better agricultural methods, trades – carpentry, blacksmithing, tailoring, printing, tanning and leather work – hygiene and homemaking. Prior Francis once expressed the idea that his monks were really "pre-missionaries" breaking ground for the regular type missionaries, who would come later.
The Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood
To create Christian homes, Prior Francis saw the need of women to train the Zulu wives and daughters. He began by recruiting five young ladies from Germany for this work. These five formed the nucleus of a group that developed into the flourishing community of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood.
The mission work spreads
The activity at Mariannhill attracted wide attention among other Africans, and soon various tribal chiefs were begging the Trappists to come to their areas to help their people too. The mission stations began to multiply, each station to some extent a smaller copy of Mariannhill Monastery. A foundation would usually have a central station – with church, school, hospital, shops, convent and monks' quarters – and several outstations. An outstation might be a building doubling as classroom and church, or maybe just a kraal (a livestock enclosure) for saying Mass and administering the sacraments. In time some of these outstations flourished and became in turn mother stations from which further outstations were established.
The brothers and priests usually designed and erected their own buildings, often built their own roads, drilled wells and constructed dams. In earlier times they even baked the bricks and hewed the timbers for building. As was the Trappist custom, each new foundation was named in honor of Mary; almost every Marian shrine in Europe soon had a namesake in the Mariannhill missions in Africa. At the time of Abbot Francis' death in 1909, there were twenty-eight mission stations covering an area of 44,000 square miles in Natal and Cape Colony.
Developing native vocations
Vital to the policy of establishing permanent Christian communities was the development of African vocations. In the beginning priest candidates were sent to Rome for training. The first African priest was ordained in 1887. St. Mary's Seminary was established in Ixopo in 1925. A religious community of native sisters, the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi, was started in 1922. A community of native brothers, the Franciscan Brothers of St. Joseph, was begun in 1923.
Use of the press
Father Francis was a great believer in the power of the press. He brought a hand press with him to Africa. His newsletters kept the people in Europe well informed of the mission work in Africa. The Mariannhill presses were, and are, used to print material for catechetics and the classroom, and to print an African-language Catholic newspaper for the home.
Conflict over the way of life
While the work of Mariannhill spread, an inevitable conflict arose between the Rule of the Trappist Order and the mission activity. On one side there were sincere men who believed that any relaxation of the Rule would lead to spiritual laxity and decay; on the other were sincere men who believed that "the Sabbath was made for man" and the good of souls required adaptation of the Rule to the pressing needs of the Church. Abbot Francis – he had become abbot when Mariannhill Monastery was raised to the status of abbey three years after its foundation – belonged to the latter group. He was accused of violating the Rule and in 1892 was suspended from office for one year. He was exiled from the monastery to the mission station called Lourdes. When the year was over, he resigned from office and withdrew to an outstation, Emaus, where he remained till his death in 1909.
The Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries
The basic conflict between the Trappist Rule and missionary activity was not settled by Abbot Francis' resignation. It was resolved finally in 1909 when the Roman Congregation for Religious decreed that Mariannhill should become an independent modern mission congregation. An attempt was made to work out some sort of affiliation with the Cistercian Order, but no feasible arrangement was fashioned. The Constitutions of the new congregation were published in 1914. It was not until 1920 that the Divine Office in choir was ended and the Trappist garb was dropped for the present Mariannhill habit.
Change came also in the training of candidates. Untrained recruits were no longer sent to Africa to be trained in Mariannhill Monastery. Instead the seminaries and novitiates were established in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Spain), the United States and Canada. In recent years houses of formation (including novitiates) have been limited only to Germany, Spain, Canada, South Africa and Kenya.
Mission work continues
The internal problems of the institute did not bring a halt to the mission activity. The missions continued to spread to the Transkei area of South Africa and to Zimbabwe. In 1897 four missions were opened in German East Africa (now Tanzania). In 1959 the mission field of the Diocese of Lae, Papua New Guinea, was entrusted to the Congregation. Today Mariannhill has missions in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Kenya, Mozambique, Botswana and Colombia.
Setbacks
Our mission work has been severely hindered by various wars. The Boer War (1899-1902) interfered withmission activity in South Africa. During World Wars I and II our missionaries of German origin were interned in camps or confined to Mariannhill Monastery for the duration of those wars. In World War I the monastery itself came within an inch of being burned down by an angry anti-German mob. In Europe younger members of the Congregation were drafted into the armed forces, and some died on the battlefields. In the more recent war in Zimbabwe, mission stations were destroyed and several missionaries killed.
Wars were not the only hindrance to our mission work; the policy of apartheid in South Africa was especially harmful. In 1948 the Boers – who now preferred to call themselves Afrikaners to emphasize their love of the country – came to political power through the ballot box. The laws of apartheid (separateness) made interaction between the missionaries and the tribal Africans illegal and very difficult. Apartheid ended in 1994 when the Africans were enfranchised and won the election.
The future
Today Mariannhill faces many new challenges: the de-Christianization of Europe and North America and the resultant collapse of new vocations there, the urbanization and industrialization of societies in the Southern Hemisphere that is changing their values and aspirations, the growing anti-white spirit in some areas and the break-up of family life because of restrictive government policies. On the other hand a great sign of hope is the dramatic rise in vocations for the last twenty years in the South, so much so that by now almost half of the members of the Congregation are Africans and Papua New Guineas. As the number of these grows, they will take up all the positions of service, administration and ordination in the Church in their own countries that formerly were held by missionaries from the Northern Hemisphere, and they will supply more and more missionaries for re-evangelization of and service to the Church in the North that presently lacks so many of its own priests, brothers and sisters to care for its needs.
Abbot Francis stands before us now and always as an inspiration squarely to face the needs of our time, to retain what is essential in missionizing and to dare to improve or change our methods of doing it, so that we may more effectively "make disciples of all nations."
Lay Mission Companions
Pfanner Lay Mission Companions (PLMC) was established by the Congregation of the Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) and the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (CPS) in 1996.
PLMC is made up of dedicated women, men and/or families who have been called to follow Jesus through a commitment in another culture and/or country where they will create solidarity links and where they will help make the Kingdom of God more visible. They are sent elsewhere by their local Church to live an ecclesial experience and thus help to build bridges between the two Christian communities to which they belong. When they return to their own culture/country, they are invited to keep their commitment by sharing their experience.
No talent is too humble or too high for the service of God. Sponsors of PLMC are always needed.
For more information contact: Mariannhill Mission Society, 23715 Ann Arbor Trail, Dearborn Heights, MI 48127; tel: 313-561-7140; rodalain@hotmail.com.
Mariannhill in the U.S. and Canada
In the United States
His experience at Dunbrody taught Abbot Francis Pfanner that to establish a monastery in South Africa he would have to rely on the material support of overseas benefactors, and that to increase the number of monks he would also have to recruit new members overseas. So on Jan. 4, 1883, only nine days after the foundation of Mariannhill Monastery itself, he dispatched a monk to the U.S. to raise money and draw new members.
Permanent presence
For three years this brother traveled about without a place to call his home. For only a short while two others succeeded him, but in 1899 a third one to replace them arrived. He rented an apartment in Detroit, Michigan, and it was the beginning of Mariannhill's continuous presence in this country. He traveled widely throughout the nation, personally visiting Catholics in their homes, a technique of soliciting their prayers and alms in support of the African missions, after the personal example of Abbot Francis traveling in Europe. He also began to sell Americans our German and Polish mission magazines printed in Europe.
Printed publications
When in 1920 Mariannhill severed its last monastic ties and began in earnest to assume the shape of a modern missionary institute, it expanded its American base. The first priest arrived the next year to join three brothers already here. They purchased their first residence (in Detroit) and immediately made plans to produce their own mission magazine.
From its very beginning Mariannhill learned from Abbot Francis the advantage, even the necessity, of the printed word to publicize its mission work and garner support of it. When World War I interrupted the flow of its magazines from Europe, they saw the necessity to print an American magazine, Mariannhill Missionary. It began in 1922 with four editions: English, German, Polish and French. Within two years the French and German editions were discontinued because of insufficient subscriptions. In 1933 property was purchased in Dearborn Heights, and the Detroit community and magazine operation transferred there the following year.
The magazine was renamed The Apostle after three years, and it gradually changed its viewpoint to that of a Catholic family periodical. The Polish edition ceased publication in 1968 and the English edition the following year.
In 1938 Mariannhill began a second publication, Leaves magazine, a bi-monthly devotional periodical.
Missionary training
In 1923, when it purchased a farm near Brighton, Michigan, Mariannhill entertained the hope of opening its own training center for Americans who wished to become members. Not until 1936, when the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S. Dakota, made it an attractive offer for starting a minor seminary there, was its hope realized. But before it could begin, Mariannhill assembled a teaching staff mostly of its own priests from Europe. The number of members here more than doubled in two years: from thirteen to thirty. They were enough to become the American province in 1938. School began at St. Bernard Seminary in 1937.
When the diocese sold the school building to the federal government fora military hospital at the end of 1943, Mariannhill moved its staff and students to temporary quarters at Brighton. Six years later the seminary was in a new building in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. In 1943 Mariannhill also began its own instruction of its major seminarians at Brighton (St. Benedict Seminary), which lasted 12 years. The first American novice, a brother candidate, opened the novitiate in 1937; the first American-born priest was ordained in 1948.
American region today
St. Bernard Seminary was discontinued in 1969, but its buildings are converted for use as a formation center and a youth retreat center. Other buildings house the community, Leaves magazine, publicity and fund-raising, and vocation office. In 1955 Mariannhill established a house in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, that served as a novitiate in its later years, but it was closed and sold to the diocese in 1990. The religious community left the farm near Brighton in 1968 and the land was leased to another farmer. Parts of it were sold in 1995 and 2005.
We gladly carry out our responsibility to evangelize here by Leaves and our devotions, still to publicize the work of our missionaries and support it with prayers and with our alms and those of our benefactors. We pray for vocations, even though we seldom receive a new American into our community anymore, but it is in the hands of God how He will answer these prayers. Confident of His guidance, we are ready to adapt to the needs of the times to be effective tools in His hand for extending His Church to the ends of the earth.
In Canada
In 1946 the Superior General made plans for starting a minor seminary in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Mariannhill members came from Europe to staff it and school began two years later. The next year our Canadian members began publishing a French-language magazine, today named RMM. This community and later ones in Quebec were made part of our province, so that now it consists of American and Canadian regions. In 1960 Mariannhill opened a novitiate in Sherbrooke. In 1965 it opened its second house, a students' residence, at the college seminary of St. Augustine's in Cap-Rouge, a suburb of Quebec City. Eleven religious Congregations were part of this seminary. Unfortunately it had to close its doors in 1996 for lack of students.
Challenges today and tomorrow
Mount St. Ann, the minor seminary, eventually became a boys' Catholic boarding school, and in 1983 the administration and operation of it were handed over to the laity. The Christian values taught in it and the personal witness of them by the staff make the school attractive to parents and students, so that the enrollment has remained large. In 1993 a new monastery for our members was built across the road from the school. In 1996 St. Augustine College closed for lack of students. The process to sell it and our residence there began. In 2001 our community moved from there to a smaller residence in Quebec City.
In June 2008 a third house was opened in Gatineau, next to Ottawa, to welcome young Mariannhill members from various countries all over the world. They study theology in St. Paul University, Ottawa. The Canadian region has twelve members now. One Canadian overseas has been made bishop of the Diocese of Lae, Papua New Guinea, in 2007.
The Missionary Methods of Abbot Francis
By Sister M. Annette Buschgerd, CPS
"The fire you wish to enkindle in others must burn in yourself" – St. Augustine.
Abbot Francis adopted the
Benedictine approach
to evangelization. A monastery was established in mission
territory. Tenants were taught advanced farming methods and related
skills. The
seed of Faith was sewn in the process. The principle was ancient and
tried, but its
application by the Trappists in 19th-century South Africa was new.
The Cape Times welcomed the monks and their "Benedictine tradition by which they would teach colonists how by thrift, self-denial, and a knowledge of farming and industrial pursuits, a land could be made prosperous by steady, earnest, and intelligent labor." Abbot Francis added: "Yes, every Brother, regardless of whether he leads the plow or herds the oxen, has become a missionary, for by his example he teaches our people more about prayer than Rodriguez [Alphonsus Rodriguez S.J., The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection] with all his learned treatises on prayer."
As a positive innovator, Abbot Francis succeeded in changing people's lives for the better. Championing the cause of equality for the Zulus of Natal, he brought about development and growth. His principal method was a comprehensive educational program and his professed aim: the empowerment of people towards self-reliance and self-management.
Realizing that this could not be achieved without a change in structures, he demanded racial nondiscrimination in all areas of public concern – education, employment, law. In his 1890 Principles for Mission he declared that Mariannhill's aim was "to pursue and bring about an equal status for black and white people." His candid defense of the silent majority was like a sharp gust shaking the jealously guarded domains of colonial settlers and officials, and it earned him caustic criticism from the press.
Undaunted, the Founder of Mariannhill continued to buy land and settle his converts on it. Eventually, he reasoned, these would establish the first Catholic families, parishes and villages. It was this vision upon which one of his monks, Fr. Bernard Huss, based his famous program "Better Fields – Better Homes – Better Hearts." The daring pioneer was criticized for continually starting new projects before the old ones were consolidated. His reply was the same as Lavigerie's, the founder of the White Fathers, "We are here to initiate evangelization; our African people must complete it."
Like other missionaries, Abbot Francis enlisted the support of benefactors. However, a Trappist monk who spoke from personal experience struck people as unique, as, for example, when he appealed to their sense of solidarity: "The saints have always set the table for the poor even when they had nothing left to give from kitchen or pantry, because they counted on help from outside."
What distinguished his public addresses was not so much their novelty but the refreshing style and emphatic fervor with which he promoted missionary awareness and vocations: "Do you not feel a desire in your heart to leave your homeland and go to Africa as a missionary?" His flaming appeal could not fail to enkindle a response. He magnetized the youth. Women and men followed him, many of them, likeBernard Huss, "experts in humanity, ready to share all its aspirations and at the same time people who had fallen in love with God," as Pope John Paul II would say about missionaries later. His founding charism pulled them along on the steep path of a venture that required additional courage and generosity because the mission to the Zulus had only just begun.
Jesus said, "I have come to cast fire on the earth and how I wish it were blazing already!" (Lk12: 49). Abbot Francis paraphrased these words: "I want the fire to burn in Africa – now!" So powerful was his impact that after a few years his monasteries in Bosnia and South Africa saw several hundred members. In addition, he established two new religious communities: the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood and the society of the Franziners, a forerunner of priests volunteering for some time in the missions, such as, the Fidei Donum priests inaugurated by Pius XII in 1957.
However, the most revolutionary change Abbot Francis made was his attempt, as a Trappist monk, to combine the monastic lifestyle with active missionary engagement. Though this was precisely what his spiritual ancestors, the Cistercians, had done in medieval Europe, he called his monks who were working in 19th-century Natal simply the trailblazers of the real missionaries of the future. Once these would come and take over, the Trappists would again resume full monastic observance. Meanwhile, he asked from candidates only a lively faith and the spirit and skills of a pioneer. "A turbine and a brother who can install it are more useful to me than the most splendid picture of a saint and a brother decorating it."
Soon the mission stations he established across Natal and the Transkei developed their own dynamic. The Trappist priests he put in charge found it increasingly difficult to integrate monastic observance with missionary engagement. Twice the founder made a formal request for a mitigated rule that would allow them to do mission work within the context of the rule, arguing that it was a shame for Trappists to recite long prayers in choir when millions of people had not yet seen the light of faith. "I believe," he wrote, "that there is greater joy in heaven over one converted and baptized Zulu girl than over 99 Trappists assembled in the monastery chapel, having no need of baptism."
Each time his request was ignored. Nevertheless, in order to pave the way for an alternative mission practice, four years before his death he drafted the statutes of a new missionary society, which he called propaganda piccola. This society would be directly responsible to Propaganda Fide in Rome and would adopt from the Trappists only practices that were compatible with mission work – a contemplative spirit, discipline, simple lifestyle, and pioneering expertise. Members would be in close contact with people's needs and free to serve the local church. His draft was put on hold.
Today the founder's vision meets with a much better reception than 100 years ago. After Pope John Paul II called for missionaries to be "contemplatives in action" (Redemptoris Missio, 90), many new ecclesial communities endeavor to combine contemplative and active lifestyles for the purpose of evangelization.
[Sister M. Annette Buschgerd, C.P.S. is author of A Man of Faith and Action, the life of Abbot Francis Pfanner, and of articles on him here since the May-June 2006 issue.]
A Return to East Africa
By Bro Yvon Bourret, CMM
According to the Chronicle of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (CPS), in 1897 Mariannhill (CMM) had already sent some Trappist monks to East Africa to start a mission in Neu-Koeln, now Gare, in what is now Tanzania. Abbot Francis himself, together with Brother Nivard Streicher, paid them short visits in 1901 and 1902 in order to encourage them during their difficult time – five Trappists died within the first half year! In 1907 Abbot Obrecht, visitator of Mariannhill Monastery, demanded the withdrawal of the Trappists from East Africa. But the CPS sisters, who had joined them in 1898, remained behind.
It was under the guidance and the assistance of the CPS sisters that our CMM Province of Mthatha, in the person of Brother Pierre Ferland, got involved in an intensive vocation drive in East Africa in 1995. During his several visits to East Africa he also heard about the Social Ministry Program at Tangaza College, Nairobi, Kenya, a program geared towards a good training of Brothers and Sisters, helping them to understand their profession of vows as an essential ministry in the Church of today. It happened that our African provinces were looking at that time for such a program for the spiritual formation of their brothers.
Then Father Robert Deshaies, provincial superior, and Brother Yvon Bourret, both of the Province of Mthatha, joined the trek to Nairobi in order to finalize the arrangements for a CMM presence there. Eventually a suitable property with a house was purchased and officially opened in May 2000 by Brother Yvon and two young brothers as the Mariannhill house of formation, an inter-provincial residence where brother candidates of the four Southern African provinces could receive appropriate training for their future ministry. Soon an additional house on an adjacent property had to be purchased and enlarged to provide more rooms and space. Our CPS sisters proved to have been very helpful during these initial stages.
Not only were we present here in two houses, but in the meantime the Mariannhill Missionaries received their legal incorporation in Kenya, allowing them seriously to plan future developments.
In 2001 the new provincial superior of the Mthatha Province, Father Dieter Gahlen, asked Brother Yvon to become postulant master of the East African aspirants. In the meantime Father Philip Voorn arrived to give some help. But soon it became clear that a house of formation was not the ideal place for a postulancy. Another place was needed not only for the postulancy but also for the emerging East African community to constitute a complete home base in East Africa.
In May 2003 Brother Yvon and the postulants moved out of the formation house (Nivard House) and rented a building in the vicinity of Karen till we could find an appropriate property for the East African community project.
In November 2003 we found a suitable property and in March 2004 we moved in. On it there were an old farmhouse, servant quarters, another old house and some sheds for chickens. We renovated what we could to suit our needs for sheltering the community and the postulants. Our new home was named Christ the Prophet Community. In 2007 we built another house for the community, and in May 2009 we finished the building of the students housing complex, which can accommodate 24 students in a new candidacy program of three years.
Not long before our establishment in Kenya in 2000, the archbishop of Nairobi approached us and requested that we get involved pastorally in one way or another in the archdiocese. After some time we decided to accept his proposal of taking charge of a newly created parish at Juja Farm. The new parish presented many challenges: it is situated in a remote area that had been neglected for a long time, and it is becoming more and more attractive to the urban people, as it is not far from Nairobi and has high development potential. Father Robert Kaiza, a Tanzanian confrere, has been appointed to look after the needs of this new parish under our care.
East Africa has opened a new chapter inthe history of Mariannhill. Not only is it favorable for vocations and the good spiritual and educational training of our young candidates and brothers, it also offers a lot of new opportunities for the work of evangelization. As this territory has at the same time Moslems, Christians and those of traditional African religions, the evangelization fields are here. The geographical position of East Africa also opens up opportunities for new missionary projects in neighboring countries like Sudan, Somalia, DRC, Congo etc.
After eight years of hard work and the support of a good number of benefactors and people praying for us, we can say that a lot has been achieved. But this is only the beginning. The infrastructures we have put in place should allow us now to look forward, to get more involved and to open new fields of evangelization. Let us thank God for the resources He has put in our hands up to now, and let us meet the numerous challenges we are called to face. May these new mission fields He shows us witness our commitment to the work our Trappist forefathers first started here more than a century ago, but had to abandon.
[Brother Yvon Bourret, C.M.M., a pioneer of our presence in Kenya, is the superior of postulants at Christ the Prophet House.]
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Missionary Methods in
Papua New Guinea
By Fr. Frans Lenssen, C.M.M.
The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1848. Priests and brothers of the newly founded Society of Mary (Marists) settled down on Woodlark Island and Rooke Island, the main island of what is now called Siassi Islands in the Diocese of Lae. A long period of technical and logistic preparations preceded the departure of Bishop Collomb and his team of Marists from Le Havre (France). Sailing via South America to Chile and from there zigzagging through the Pacific Islands down to New Zealand, Bishop Collomb and his team of two priests and one brother arrived after a long voyage of one year and three months in the region of New Guinea.
How were these zealous missionaries going to meet the challenges of their mission to a totally unknown and alien people and culture? How to pass on the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Melanesians dispersed over thousands of islands? The enthusiasm of the missionaries got a severe blow when, a few weeks after their arrival at Rooke Island, the leader of the mission and the Vicar Apostolic of the extensive Vicariate of Melanesia died of fever. Four months later one of the priests died also, leaving only one priest and one brother behind.
In spite of the great loss of two lives, the two remaining missionaries made the first attempts of evangelization by contacting the people. They operated from their house on the shore that the crew of the ship had built and went out to meet the people living in their surroundings. But it soon appeared that the European missionaries were ill-prepared for the challenge to communicate with the Melanesians, who observed the strangers with curiosity and scepticism. The two had first of all to try to survive in the harsh climate and lacked the skills to cope with practical things of daily life and particularly with health problems.
They suffered much from malaria and fever. After all, the indigenous people looked upon them as poor men who were not able to face the many challenges of daily life in a tropical climate. They had little respect for them because they had nothing to offer them. It is understandable that in such a context nobody was interested in the attempts of the missionaries to proclaim the Good News.
Their missionary method was also doomed to fail because the missionaries had the idea of planting a type of Western Church in an environment and culture that was totally strange to them. The bridge between Melanesian and the Western world was too big. After two years a ship came and the missionaries closed the station and left.
A second attempt by a team of missionaries of the Milan Mission Society, who arrived in 1850 and reopened the mission station at Rooke Island, remained also unsuccessful. The mission in New Guinea was abandoned two years later.
At the end of the 19th century French Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) and German Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) restarted the mission in New Guinea. They were better prepared for their task and aimed with their mission methods among the Melanesians more at the cultivation of the whole person. Intellectual education through schools and practical training in agriculture and various trades were the ways to improve the quality of life in which the Christian values of the Gospel could better develop to maturity.
It was especially in the period between the two world wars that large mission stations were erected with big plantations and all kinds of establishments and institutions for various groups of people: children, youth and adults. This method contributed much to a higher self-esteem of the people and to becoming more deeply rooted in their new way of Christian life.
At a later stage after WWII, many mission stations were rebuilt and new ones established. The Catholic Mission began opening up to new missionary understandings. The need was felt to make the people more aware that they are the Church – not the missionaries with their big stations and institutions – they are the People of God as Papua New Guineans. This increasing self-awareness resulted in more local people taking up responsibilities in their own church on various levels of their communities.
The great importance given to education on a higher level also resulted in the development of a young generation of Catholic leaders who became the founding fathers of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, proclaimed in 1975. Many of the first generation of intellectuals and political leaders had gone through Catholic high schools and also seminaries, and contributed substantially to the drafting of the National Constitution that is expressly based on faith in God and on Christian and Melanesian values and principles.
Today Papua New Guinea is 90% Christianized. The time of first evangelization of geographic territories is over. How does the Church understand her mission today and what methods are being used?
Instead of evangelizing tribes and territories, the challenge of missionizing lies in the many areas of the present society of Papua New Guinea. It is a matter of discerning, reading and interpreting the signs of the times, as mentioned in the Constitutions of the Mariannhill Missionaries. In this view there are many areas in Papua New Guinea that can be identified as challenges for missionary action. To mention only a few: priority of primary, secondary and tertiary education. The Divine Word University has become a professional and highly appreciated institute for formation of future leaders. The importance of religious education, especially in high schools but also of the younger generation (Sunday School), as well as the spiritual accompaniment of university students, is being stressed.
Work with and for women is being taken seriously as a method to improve family life. The Church supports actions against violence against women and children. Care for the sick especially AIDS patients, evangelization of prisoners, projects and actions of justice and peace, care for street kids, animating movements and organizations as the Legion of Mary, Couples for Christ, Antioch Youth, Women's Association, Men's Club – all of these are areas for missionary animation of the Christian way of life on various levels of society.
The role of the mass media and social communications has yet to be developed further as a missionary method to keep the Gospel values alive among the people. There is a weekly newspaper in Pidgin published by a Catholic Press, and a number of dioceses have their own broadcasting facilities in service of proclaiming the Good News and animating a Christian way of life. Much still has to be done in all these areas of missionary activities.
[Father Frans Lenssen, C.M.M., the author of the book The Missionaries of Mariannhill in Papua New Guinea: A Documentary of Their Mission in Lae, began to serve in Papua New Guinea in 1971.]
Mariannhill and the Press
By Fr. Adalbert Ballling, C.M.M.
Without Francis Wendelin Pfanner (1825-1909) there would be no Mariannhill Mission Society. If this "Adventurer Monk" or this "Drummer for God," as he was called, had never existed, the German-speaking world of the printed word, at least, would be much poorer. For 13 years he was a parish priest, first in his home province of Vorarlberg, western Austria, and then in what is now Croatia. Then he became a Trappist in the monastery of Mariawald in the Eifel of western Germany because he wanted to prepare for death. Ironically, this silent monk turned out to be a real genius of public relations.
The once sickly pastor and convent chaplain soon became a press magnate like few in modern history. The strict monastery diet in Mariawald did him good. He soon got better and was not thinking any longer of death. Already in 1869, after only a few years in religious life, he founded a Trappist monastery in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which at that time was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
Ten years later at the bidding of a South African bishop, he volunteered to start another monastery on the Cape of Good Hope. This happened three years later when he laid the cornerstone for the Monastery of Mariannhill near Durban, Kwa Zulu-Natal, which has since become a mission center known far beyond South Africa. In 1885 it was raised to an abbey. Neither of these two monasteries could have been built without Father Pfanner's conscious and skillful use of the printing press to further these projects right from their beginnings.
In Mariastern, his monastery near Banja Luka, Bosnia, he already used the press to win friends. His "Letters from the Vrbas Valley" were reprinted in many newspapers. Some of the letters even found their way into German and Austrian school readers. Then came pamphlets from his hand, with such catchy titles as, "Are You a Chimney Sweep?" or "Something for Unbelievers."
By the time his South African project got underway, he, the self-made man, was already an accomplished publisher. Among the 30 monks who accompanied him to South Africa in 1880, there was also a layman, a printer. Father Pfanner also brought along his own manual printing press. He understood the importance of modern media. During the first year after their arrival in Africa, the first issue of his Flying Leaves appeared to report on the progress of the new venture. When Mariannhill was founded at Christmas 1882, the fourth issue was ready to go to press under the date of Dec. 27, 1882.
The magazine continued under the title Flying Leaves from Mariannhill. Later its title was changed to Forget-Me-Not. It still exists in the German-speaking world as Missionsmagazin Mariannhill. Soon other publications followed. A short historical survey of the mission publications of Mariannhill in southern Africa will show us how much Father Pfanner and his immediate successors were committed to remaining in the forefront of printed publications and how they set out on new ventures to improve their position.
In 1888 two experiments with Zulu newspapers were made: Izwi laBantu (The People's Voice), and Ingelosi yeNkosi (The Angel of the Lord). Unfortunately both experiments soon failed, but the monks were not discouraged. In 1902 another attempt was made with Umhlobo wesi-minya (Friend of Truth). This attempt also failed.
In 1910 they finally succeeded in starting a newspaper that lasted. It was called Izindaba zaBantu (Bantu Affairs). At first it came out twice a month, but by 1932 it was already coming weekly. Mariannhill was the owner and publisher. The paper had two editions, one in Zulu and the other in Sesutho. When the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) in Roma, Lesotho, started their own newspaper, Mariannhill continued publishing only the Zulu edition of the paper. To make sure it would not be thought of as connected with the Communist party in southern Africa, they decided to change the name of the newspaper to UmAfrika (The African), the name it still has in this 21st-century.
Mariannhill also published The Natal Record, an English-language news magazine for five years from 1885 to 1890 that had to be discontinued because of lack of subscribers. From 1901 to 1904 Pastor Bonus, a magazine for missionary pastoral matters, was published four times a year. Not content with all these diverse publications, Abbot Pfanner even considered building his own paper mill on the property of the Mariannhill mission center. Nothing came of it, but the idea lingered for a long time and shows once more how grandly the once silent monks of Mariannhill thought.
Still more popular than any of the foregoing publications was, and is, the Mariannhill Mission Calendar, a kind of almanac begun by Prior Pfanner in 1889. Its popularity is due to its larger circulation and uninterrupted appearance since 1889. In the beginning it too was printed in Mariannhill's own print shop in South Africa. Later when it became impractical to print and mail the calendar from there, ways were found to have it printed and mailed in Germany. To this day the mission calendar remains one of the most popular publications of the Mariannhill Missionaries in Germany and Austria. For years now both publications, the mission magazine and the calendar, have been printed by our congregation's own modern printing press in Reimlingen, Germany, near Augsburg.
The spirit of Abbot Francis Pfanner still lives among the members of the religious congregations he started – Mariannhill Missionaries and the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood. Wherever these missionaries work, whether it is in Europe, North America, Africa or the South Seas, they always take seriously the apostolate of the press. They publish newspapers, calendars (almanacs), magazines and internal bulletins in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as in South Africa and Papua New Guinea. By the way, until some decades ago our Leaves magazine had a companion publication called Apostle. For many years the Apostle also had a Polish edition for the benefit of the Polish immigrants to the U.S.
We Mariannhill Missionaries are very grateful to all our friends and benefactors, for without their generous help we could not have supported in the past the many projects of our missionaries in the Third World. Besides that, our Leaves magazine has not only been a means of contact between our missionaries and the home Church, but it has also inspired us individually to commit ourselves to the service of the whole Church. We are happiest when the magazine, like Abbot Francis, inspires even young people to dedicate themselves to evangelization. By means of his original publications and public relations work, he won some four hundred men for his monastery and about the same number of women for the sister congregation he founded. This is more than anyone else has done in the Church since the days of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the Middle Ages. Abbot Francis Pfanner's motto was: "If no one will go, I will." His second motto was: "We are part of the Kingdom of God, and it has no boundaries."
[Fr. Adalbert Balling, C.M.M., was the editor of our MMM mission magazine in Germany for many years and is the author of the book Abbot Francis Pfanner: A Missionary Who Made History and other books.]
Prayer for the LEAVES Family
Almighty Father,
We give you thanks for the gift of your Son, who saved us through the wood of the cross. We give you thanks for all the favors we received through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, the intercession of His Blessed Mother and all the saints.
We commend our family to your fatherly protection; heal the wounds of those who suffer, comfort the sick and those who are alone, and keep all of us in your love and peace.
Lord Jesus, through your cross, help us carry ours.
Holy Mary, Mother of grace and mercy, intercede for us.
St. Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family, watch over us.
St. Therese, St. Jude and all the saints, pray for us.
Today's Mission Methods in Africa
After having taught and trained future Mariannhill Missionaries in the 1960s at the seminary of Palencia in Spain, we who worked in formation were advised by our generalate in Rome that we should work a year or two in mission territories ourselves, and thus be acquainted with the mission methods in Africa.
So it was that I was encouraged to go to South Africa. This idea appeared excellent, but the vocational situation in Europe and North America quickly changed, and the mission outlook in the southern hemisphere developed in a different direction. Thus, due to a shortage of mission personnel, that envisaged one year of mission experience for me has become by now 41 years in the African mission field! I have been working since 1968 mostly in South Africa.
Some are of the opinion that the dwindling of missionary vocations in the North has also been a blessing in disguise for the South. Today you can hardly get any new mission personnel from the North. This has forced the local Church in Africa to take initiative and consider their indigenous vocations in a more serious light and to find ways and methods to train them preferably in their home countries. This has worked surprisingly well.
The mission methods in other parts of Africa differ in some ways from ours here in the south, but I am addressing methods of evangelization today in southern Africa.
Transportation
The methods of reaching the mission fields in Africa have changed. In 1968 I traveled half a day from Frankfort, Germany, by train to reach Venice, Italy. There we boarded a passenger ship that brought us around Sicily, through the Mediterranean Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean, and then sailed along the west coast of Africa, stopping at the Canary Islands, Luanda, Angola, and Cape Town, South Africa. The next stop was Durban at the Indian Ocean, where most of us missionaries disembarked after almost 20 days on the sea.
Today it takes only 10 to 12 hours from Europe by airplane to reach the southern tip of Africa. The flight from Johannesburg to Mthatha is now about one hour, whereas by car it would take a full day. The mission station Landsend is about a 10-minute drive by car from the present Mthatha airport, which did not exist when I first arrived. In 1970 we used horses to visit outstations. The advantage was that the "fuel" was mostly gratis, growing wherever we were riding on the hillsides. This changed after fences were erected along the roads. We now depend more on motor vehicles that are not (yet) able to consume grass.
Evangelization
Some decades ago evangelization and the transmission of faith, especially in rural regions, was mainly done by oral translation in the local language by an indigenous catechist who had acquired sufficient English. Now the majority of the younger generation knows how to read and write, so Bibles, catechisms and hymnbooks in indigenous languages can be used. In addition to the printed materials, updated audio-visual products are available and used.
Still the personal witnessing and good Christian example of the evangelizing persons cannot be completely substituted by the most advanced technological methods, especially when visiting the sick or consoling bereaved families, encouraging the downhearted and uplifting the poor.
Although the excellent mission method of Fr. Bernhard Huss, C.M.M. – "Better Houses, Better Fields, Better Hearts" – is still valid, the emphasis in recent years is shifting from providing mission activities to leading the local people to become more self-sufficient, encouraging their own initiatives towards self-supporting communities. Nevertheless this is a slow but important process that will still have to be assisted even by benefactors from outside for some decades.
Communication
With the spreading of technological methods and developments and the ever-growing availability of electricity, many mission stations in South Africa have access to e-mail and cell phones. Thus they can communicate with the distant bishop's office and neighboring mission personnel and catechists to share mission programs and timetables for meetings or workshops. The electronic means are also helpful to communicate mission activities quickly to sponsoring communities and to thank benefactors and friends for their support.
Radio and TV programs of various denominations are also increasing. On one hand it is a great advantage, but some bring a selective biblical message in a superficial way, and at times with a certain anti-Catholic bias. Only recently has the Catholic Church succeeded in getting permission from government officials to have the Catholic voice in "Radio Veritas" also heard.
The modern electronic media have great potential for mission work and for ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue. They have become an important part of the Catholic mission method in Africa. The still young Catholic communities must protect against the selective reporting and the teaching of half truths of some non-Catholics. They must love their own position so much that they can respect those of others.
Inculturation
Inculturation lets the local people feel at home within the Christian communities. It has become an important method for expressing and deepening their Christian faith. It is highly recommended because it uses local culture, for example, dance at festive celebrations and customary symbols of reverence, and strengthens and often harmonizes them with Gospel values.
However, the enthusiasm for inculturation appears to slow down a bit and encounters new challenges due to the migration of people. Also in South Africa more and more multilingual and multicultural communities emerge, and this at times causes tensions, confusion and disharmony. It becomes difficult to choose which culture may be considered as dominant, so that some mission parishes have to be multilingual and multicultural in catechesis and liturgies, in leadership training and spiritual renewal courses, and in re-evangelization programs as well, keeping in mind that the Gospel transcends all cultures and is the unity in diversity.
Mission animation
One other important mission method today in Africa is to train and guide the Africans of the local Church not only for self-organizing (self-maintaining) but to become progressively responsible for their own mission animation to Africa itself. By assisting them to have their own indigenous church leaders (bishops, priests and religious) they become missionaries to their brothers and sisters in Africa and beyond.
Part of missionary awareness methods is to have and maintain contact also in higher education circles like ACTS (Association of Catholic Tertiary Students) as at the University in Mthatha. There we encourage Catholic staff and students in regular Bible sharing groups and in Sunday services on the campus and share our joy and enthusiasm for being Catholic Christians.
Updating
We have to continue implementing the Church's mission program in Africa, as expressed by John Paul's II teaching and writings: "being people of life and for life, and building a culture of life and civilization of love." This includes a reasonable awareness of programs for holistic health and care for people with HIV/AIDS and an appreciation of human life in all stages.
The driving force and criterion for proper mission methods today still must be the Divine Spirit of love and peace and reconciliation. The risen Lord Jesus gave the Apostles that Holy Spirit when commissioning them: "Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you."
It is a fact that works of charity reveal the soul of true mission activity: love. It remains the sole criterion for judging the choice of the right mission methods as well. It is the principle that must direct every preaching of the Gospel and the end to which mission activity must be directed. "When we act with a view to charity, or are inspired by charity, nothing is unseemly and everything is good" (Redemptoris Missio 60).
[Father Francis Jank, C.M.M. is a seasoned missionary. He began to serve in the missions of South Africa in 1968.]