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Message from the General Superior on the occasion of the 165th anniversary of the SMA on December 8, 2021
Dear brothers,
Tomorrow we gather to celebrate the 165th anniversary of the founding of the Society of African Missions. I am sure that on this day, which falls on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we will all do our best to meet and spend time together—in our parishes, our communities, our formation centers or retirement homes, and in our families.
With the other members of the General Council, I wish to express our gratitude to God and share with all of you our gratitude for the gift of the missionary vocation in the SMA and also for the renewed commitment to give the best of our energy to proclaiming the Good News throughout the world, especially to the most abandoned peoples of Africa.
This year, we celebrate December 8th with the theme of synodality. In fact, the path of synodality began last October in Rome and in every local church, under the title: "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission." The celebration of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023 will be both a point of arrival and a point of departure. It will be followed by the implementation phase, in which the local churches will once again be involved. The preparatory document quotes a fundamental statement by Pope Francis: "The path of synodality is precisely the path that God expects of the Church in the third millennium."
Synodality is not simply a pastoral goal. It is rather a call to the Church to rediscover her deepest identity: the people of God walking together, a community of disciples united by the new commandment, a people where the word of God grows and spreads with energy and joy, as the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles testify.
I am confident that each of you and every community at the local level will actively participate in the process. The General Council has been asked to prepare a synthesis that answers a fundamental question: "In a synodal Church that proclaims the Gospel, everyone walks together. How is this "walking together" realized today in the Society of African Mission? What further steps does the Spirit invite us to take to grow in our "walking together"?"
Let us first briefly review some statistics regarding our Society. It consists of approximately 765 permanent members, serving in its 27 units. In the last six years, 123 new priests have been ordained. During the same period, 132 of our members have died. Last year, the year of the pandemic, the number of confreres who died was higher than usual: 33 members, compared to an average of about 20 members per year.
For several decades now, we have been experiencing a remarkable division between our units in the interests of the mission: a division of financial resources and a division of personnel.
Next year, the Interim Plenary Council will be held in Poland in early June.
For the first time, all units will contribute to the common budget, as requested by the last General Assembly.
At the same time, nearly 70 members of the new units officially serve as incorporated members of the "old" Provinces. In all of this, we already see the concept of synodality operating within our structures.
In our Association, we have structures and traditions that call us to the shared responsibility and participation of everyone at all levels: in parishes among confreres and between priests and faithful, in the leadership team of each country; with a coordinating role, strengthened by the General Council of 2019, in our Assemblies and Plenary Councils. The need for listening, participation, dialogue, and community spirit is great. Generous, loyal, and orderly cooperation among all is the path to true synodality.
We have a remarkable number of students in formation. From the first year of philosophy to the end of theology, there are 334, in 12 Houses of Formation, guided by 33 formation workers. How do they live and prepare for a synodal Church? How do they envision being priests and missionaries in a synodal Church? With what vision of faith community, of participation of the people of God, of mission to the most abandoned peoples? Soon, in January, there will be an important meeting in Abidjan to discuss the state of affairs and the prospects for our formation.
For us, synodality means openness and collaboration with all who share our missionary tradition. I would like to recall here the journey "Towards 2026" that we are undertaking together with the OLA Sisters. The SMA-OLA Commission has received over 600 responses to the questionnaire, and the work continues.
This collaboration also allows us to make a synodal discernment in our efforts to carry out today the missionary vocation that the Spirit confirmed in the heart of our Venerable Founder 165 years ago.
Merry Christmas and celebration to you all.
Father Antonio Porcellato SMA
