European Provinces are present at the Conference of Africa and Madagascar Networking Meeting in Nairobi

The third Networking for Africa and Madagascar Networking Meeting took place on 29th and 30th July at the Roussel House Donum Dei Centre in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya. Eleven Major Superiors of Mother Provinces – six of them from Europe (from the provinces of Naples, London, Dublin, Lisbon, St. Clemens and France) – and twenty-three representatives from Africa-Madagascar units were present along with Fr. Michael Brehl, the Superior General and Fr. Nicolas Ayouba, the General Consultor, and the Coordinators from Africa and Madagascar and Europe. Mrs. Judith Ngozi Agu was also a participant, representing Lay partnership.

Some speakers referred with a smile to “mother and grandmother provinces” – and it´s true. Some of the provinces are grandmothers because of the age of the confreres. This means that they are not able to continue in the same way the contact and support. But nobody of the representatives at the meeting expressed the will to stop cooperation. The meeting took place in a fraternal spirit of solidarity and cooperation. At the end of the meeting it was acknowledged that the representatives of the units in Africa and Madagascar and of the mother provinces had advanced in sharing ideas and developing a common vision for the Redemptorists in Africa and Madagascar. The Apostolic and Restructuring Plan concretizes this vision. The work of implementation will start with the approval of the document by the general government.

The two days of the meeting passed by very quickly and the next meeting will be probably in 2021. Fr General’s parting message was that the commitment on everyone’s part was to continue to dialogue in the one and a half years till the next meeting. With these words, he closed the Nairobi 2019 networking meeting.

Fr. Paul Pazhangattu C.Ss.R. / Fr. Johannes Römelt C.Ss.R.