Who we are. Missionaries of Africa links. Safeguarding Policy. Chapter News. Xaveri Movement. Integrity of Creation. African Traditional Religion. Afrika Centre Berlin. Centre Afrique. Intergrity in Ministry. Missionary Vocation. Join Us. Martyr Mafr. Mafr who preceeded us. Two further temporary commitments followed before I took my permanent Missionary Oath on Holy Thursday, in my native parish of Chaville.
However, I was already in contact with the Missionaries of Africa in Paris. Africa was calling me! I was encouraged to train for the priesthood but I preferred to begin my missionary life as a Brother in order to give myself some time to think about it. I had no experience of seminary life and I felt that I needed to learn more about what was involved.
I also wanted to have an African immersion and know if I could live there as my health was never very strong. It was a change of scenery in more ways than one; the place itself was completely different from any other place where I had lived and then there was the almost monastic atmosphere of the novitiate itself.
I stayed there for two years and it was a real spiritual experience. However military service loomed, so I opted to do it as an overseas volunteer and planned to go to Mali for two years to work as a primary school teacher in the Diocese of San. In fact, it was proposed that I continue my studies in Strasbourg instead. It was during this time in Mali that, in consultation with my Spiritual Director, I decided to resume my studies with a view to becoming a priest.
I felt ready. It was also a delicate time for the Church in France, as, after Vatican II, many priests were leaving the ordained ministry. This centre was one of the first missionary consortia which came into being as a result of the Council. I was the first White Father to prepare for the priesthood in this Institute. He proposed that I receive a double incardination on this occasion to show that it was my home Church that was sending me on mission. A year later, in the Church where I was baptized, confirmed and took my Missionary Oath, I was ordained priest on the 28th May I learnt Bomu and got acquainted with pastoral work.
