Nairobi, Kenya.
The sixth day of the Meeting of the General Government with ACLA was dedicated to the first process of transformation which was facilitated by Fr. ArturTeixeira, General Prefect of Apostolate, Brother Carlos Verga, General Prefect of Youth and Vocations Ministry, and Fr. HenryOmonisaye, General Consultor.
The two sessions of the morning were on Claretian apostolic “radiography”, vision of the first transformation process and some concrete proposals for ACLA. Brother Carlos invited the participants to make a ‘radiography’ of the apostolate in each of the Major Organisms and Missions. At the end of the exercise, Brother Carlos asked them to answer the following in groups:
- Is our pastoral a response to all the interpellations/challenges that are mentioned in the General Chapter Declaration MissionariiSumus or some of them? How?
- Which of the traits of our charism discerned by the last General Chapter do we live already? Which of them do we need to improve upon?
- What do we need to transform our personal mentalities, community attitudes, and pastoral practices to respond better to the People of God whom we serve?
After the sharing, Fr. Henry introduced and explained the objective of the first process of transformation – “To put ourselves on the path of conversion that transforms our missionary life and pastoral service in the Church and in the world and challenges the new generation in a vocational way” – explaining especially some words: “conversion”, “transformation of our life and pastoral service”, “new generation”.
He then explained the specific objectives in apostolate:
- “To walk forward, to open up new frontiers of all kinds – including ways of thinking -, to seek out new pathways to proclaim and live the Gospel of compassion and mercy in new places and peripheries (MS 67)”, giving emphasis on: “walk forward”, “new frontiers”, “new pathways”, “proclaim and live the Gospel”.
- “To evangelize the younger generation and prepare them to respond to the call of the Lord, by going forth to meet and walk with them (MS 68)” – emphasizing on the phrases: “To evangelize the younger generation”, “respond to the call of the Lord”, “going forth”, “meet and walk with them”.
Then the three of them individually presented some specific proposals of the General Government for the members of ACLA Conference. Fr. Arthur presented the Pastoral Plan; the ministry of education (evangelizing through education, education as evangelization, training for it); solidarity and mission (to foster awareness and action in solidarity and mission). Fr. Henry, on the other hand, presented the biblical ministry (listeners and servants of the Word of God) and at this point, Fr. Jude Thaddeus LangehBasebang of the Delegation of Cameroun, exposed the history and current moment of the Biblical Mission in the Claretian communities and in the missionary and pastoral service of Cameroon. Then, Brother Carlos presented the formation program for those responsible for the pastoral ministry of young people and vocations, and other related topics (World Youth Day and the Claretian Family, missionary volunteer experience for youth, congregational meeting of those in-charge of this ministry + Claretian Family).
The afternoon was dedicated to group discussion and reflection by Organism on the following:
- How has the vision of this 1st process been implemented in your Organism?
- Are these concrete proposals feasible for your Organism? How / Why (if not)?
- About each proposal: suggestions to improve it and to implement it in your Organism
- As Claretians in Africa, what makes our evangelization unique?
A sharing in plenary was made before the evening prayer to gather all the inputs from the group sharing.
After dinner, a social moment was held, and the General Government met with the Government of the Delegation of St. Charles Lwanga and the representatives of the Missions of Mozambique and Zimbabwe.