Our
work in Missionary Animation | |
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To
pass to others the missionary
spirit that enflames us, is an
important
part of the life of any MSOLA sister. |
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| Sr.
Catherine Booth and Sr. Danielle Vermette in Malawi with a group of young women
preparing to become missionaries. | | | |
To
make known to the rest of the world the reality of Africa, its Church, its resources,
its realisations, its struggles and challenges is part of the mission of any MSOLA.
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Read
what the MSOLA are doing on Missionary Animation |
Missionary and Vocation Animation a priority for
the coming 10 years.
Many Sisters felt that the Spirit blowing fresh air through our Congregation ,
when Missionary and Vocation Animation (MVA) was taken as a priority in our Congregation
for the coming ten years. How can the charism of a Congregation continue if
there is no one to live it?
Did not the Cardinal himself, at the origin of our small Institute, invested personnel
for recruiting young women who would be willing to give their life to share the
Good News of Jesus Christ with the African people?
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Missionary
and Vocation Animation in TanzaniaI
started my work as Mission and Vocation animator four years ago.
My main contacts with young women are through the Secondary and High Schools.
They allow me to talk to the students at the time for Religious Education or after
school hours. I present to them the missionary dimension of the Church and our
Congregation with its charism for Africa, our different ministries, steps of formation
and conditions to join. The students who feel a missionary call are invited to
give in their names, and address. Letters, Newslinks and eventually short seminars
during the holidays keep their desire burning. Occasionally, I am invited to speak
in some parishes. In this way the parents are reached also, as they have a big
say in the vocation of their daughter. I
have the conviction that there are young women who are searching and are willing
to give their life as a missionary but I have to look for them. The communities
are ready to open the doors for a "come and see", so as to know better
the young women and allow them to know us. A
close follow-up not only through correspondence but also through visits, short
seminars or retreats is very important. I
often feel like Cardinal Lavigerie, whose desire was to get at once 100 young
women ready to join, but the Lord gave them to him, one by one. So He does to
us. Prayer, patience will bring fruit in due time. Françoise
Nadeau
Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania)
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Young
aspirants with the community of Dar |  | |
Novices
at Arusha (Tanzania) |
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Why to do Missionary and Vocation Animation?
"I
am happy as a MSOLA, and I am convinced that our way of life, and the way of living
our mission, with the specific accents of the MSOLA is relevant to young women
today. Therefore I invite them to join the MSOLA congregation and help them to
grow towards an appropriate choice of life and commitment."
Sr. Raquel Ortega (Nairobi - Kenya)
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Opening
Poland to AFRICAAfrica
is very little known in Poland. The aim of the MSOLA presence in this country
is to introduce the Polish population to the African continent, by giving a witness
of its culture and its values, by speaking of the Church in Africa and by sharing
about their missionary experience. In
our house, we have a beautiful chapel with African symbols, and a museum of African
art. We often invite groups of children or youth with their school catechists.
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Sr.
Maite, Sr. Cecylia and Sr. Gosia with a group
of young women interested in
Africa. |
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Sr. Cecylia
Bachalska (from Poland), gives an input and tells them about the Africans' creativity,
artistic gifts and sense of beauty. She also speaks about their values and how
they have fashioned us, as we have shared in some of their history, living close
to them and sharing their life.We have organised an exhibition
of African children's paintings and drawings, from Ghana and Tanzania.Now we want
to produce a CD with African music from Arusha in Tanzania.
Our community of Lublin does pastoral work at the Catholic University of Lublin
(KUL). We animate a mission group where students are very committed. We have a
missionary Mass once a month in the chapel of the University. Sr.
Maite participates in the "Africa Project", accompanying young
people to Africa: Burkina Faso and Tanzania. About 15 young people, girls and
boys, spend some time in Africa in the communities of the missionaries. It is
a way for us, MSOLA, to share our Charism with young people, and it allows them
to discover our vocation in their contact with us, as they share in our daily
life. These contacts with Africa and with missionaries in a religious, pluralistic
context, allow them to deepen their faith, and to have an opportunity for opening
out to the world of Islam. After some time together, the young people are divided
into groups of two or three and they go to live in different communities. The
aim of these journeys is to awaken in these young people, the desire to commit
themselves at the service of the Kingdom of God in Africa or elsewhere.
Sr. Maite Sanz de Pablo
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