Category Archives: News

Our brother Mathieu SAWADOGO

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mathieu-sawadogoRev. Fr. Mathieu Sawadogo, member of the Priestly Fraternity of Iesus Caritas of Burkina Faso died on Friday, May 1st, 2015. His funeral will be held Monday 4th May at Ouahigouya. He died in a street accident on his way to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the nuns of the Monastery of St. Clare of Saye (7 km from Ouahigouya).

Fr. Mathew was born in 1958, ordained priest on 9th July 1988 and died at the 57. He has exercised his priestly ministry in various parishes and institutions of the diocese of Ouahigouya (Ouahigouya, the Episcopal Secretariat, Kongoussi, the Youth Chaplaincy, Titao, Bam). After a stay of study and missionary cooperation in Mexico from 2008 to 2012 he returned to Ouahigouya and was the spiritual director of the minor seminarians and confessor of the nuns of St. Clare at Saye.

Father Mathieu is a diligent member of the Priestly Fraternity of Iesus Caritas of Burkina Faso. We remember him as a very humble and meet brother. He is always attentive to the joys and sufferings of others. His death is a great sorrow for his diocese and for the spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld in Burkina Faso. Let us pray for him that the Lord may welcome him into his eternal life.

Celebration of Centenary in Madagascar

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In order to prepare for the Centenary of the Pasch of Blessed Brother Charles de Foucauld and the next Continental Assembly of the lay fraternities of Africa, in regard to which Madagascar figures as one of the proposed countries to host it, the six members of the of the national team from six groups of the Spiritual Family in Madagascar (three laity: two men and one woman, a religious sister and two priests) met in an extraordinary meeting over three days, the 25, 26 and 27 February 2015.

At the end of the meeting, the laity were charged with transmitting the results of our exchanges and reflections at their next assembly as rapidly as possible to the continental Responsible, in the form of proposals,. I, for my part, would simply like to share our projects for the celebration of the centenary of the death of Brother Charles. We hope that these projects do not deviate from the line advocated by the message of the International Team of the Priestly Fraternity: ‘Everything, by sharing with the most humble, must be a celebration in the style of Nazareth, far from any expression of triumph or grandeur’ (Courrier des Fraternités, Edition nationale, N° 221 – Janvier 2015, p. 4).

The actual celebration will practically cover the whole 2016 centennial year and will include for us two specific, complementary and inseparable, objectives: firstly, to reinvigorate existing fraternities, because they are fledgling fraternities, still fragile fraternities, searching for ways for their testimony of life; and secondly, to create awareness of Brother Charles de Foucauld now beatified, as well as of his message, his charism, to show his relevance in full daylight. It will begin on Sunday 15 November 2015, the anniversary of his beatification, and will close on Sunday 4 December 2016. For the opening celebration, each base fraternity is encouraged to arrange, with the agreement of the parish priests, a celebration of the Eucharist that they will endeavour to prepare, in the spirit and spirituality of Nazareth, as well as possible. For the closing celebration, we will organise for the priests a week’s retreat from Saturday 26 November until Sunday 4 December 2016, in the spirit of Nazareth. We propose holding in this final week the continental meeting of the African Lay fraternities in our country, so as to lend a more universal dimension to the closing Mass of Sunday 4 December. It will be celebrated in one of the capital’s parishes and it will see the presence of all the fraternities of Madagascar that can come. It will be followed by a fraternal agape which we will have the joy of sharing with the delegates of the fraternities of the other countries of our continent.

During the year 2016, we foresee having some activities from the perspective of the two objectives that we have set ourselves. For the existing fraternities, we aim to send them four sets of questions for them to address each quarter, not only to keep them awake during the centenary year, but also to help them to launch very simple local activities, activities specific to their level, without ever losing sight of their link to other fraternities. On a national level, we aim to organise a radio broadcast per month on Radio Don Bosco (RDB) which covers the whole of the country by relay with the numerous diocesan radio stations. Through these programmes we aim to raise awareness of Brother Charles’ life and the relevance of his message. We plan to record these programmes during the month of July 2015, in order to have sufficient time to copy them and distribute them by CD to the different base fraternities. Songs composed by major seminarians of ours on Brother Charles will be broadcast at the same time as the programmes and provide quality musical support, with a singing of the prayer of abandonment already widely known in our fraternities.

Our desire to make Brother Charles known does not stop there. A play about his life and the relevance of his message is at present being drafted by one of us and will be staged during the centenary year: indeed, performances constitute for the simple people amongst us, a privileged means of transmitting a message. Along the same lines, reports will be given of today’s Malagasy fraternities, in order to show, by means of their regular meetings and different commitments, how the message of Brother Charles is beginning to be gradually received on the great island.

As the majority of the Malagasy people, especially the most humble, listen, watch and admire much more readily what they read, we have decided to prioritise the audio-visual aspect of communication. However, we also are publishing some articles in newspapers or in specialist magazines, to make Brother Charles and his spirituality in intellectual circles or in certain particular strata of the Malagasy population better known.

We entrust all these projects and all these activities to one another’s prayers, so that with the grace of God and the support of Brother Charles himself, they may bear abundant fruit for the fraternities and the whole Church in Madagascar!

Have a good road to Easter!

brother felix RAJAONARIVELO

Reminder for the VIVIERS meeting (July 2015)

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“Priestly ministry at the service of encounter with Muslims in the light of the spiritual message of Charles de Foucauld”

More than ever this theme takes on a great relevance in a social and political context marked by fears and withdrawal in regard to defensive identity.

This meeting is open to all diocesan priests who wish to promote and develop the encounter between Christians and Muslims in the context of their ordinary pastoral ministry. There are still 20 places available.

It will bring together priests from different European countries and priests exercising their Ministry in different countries of the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa.

It will take place in Viviers between 18.00 (6.00 pm) on July 13 and 9.00 am on July 19.

The talks will take place in the following manner :

On Tuesday morning: “The Situation of Islam in Europe” by Fr. Christophe ROUCOU Director of SRI (National Secretariat for Relations with Islam)

Wednesday morning: “Reflection on a diocesan pastoral inspired by the spiritual message of Brother Charles de Foucauld” by Monsignor Claude Rault, Bishop of Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Thursday morning: “Priestly Ministry and the service of universal brotherhood” by Fr. Jean-François Berjonneau (Assistant General of the Priestly Fraternity Jesus Caritas)

Friday morning: ”Testimonies of priests in the Maghreb and in the Sahel” Fr. Bernard Janicot for Algeria, Fr. Esaü Odjiram from Chad, and Fr. Denis Koyedama from The Central African Republic (members of the Fraternity)

Afternoons will be devoted to sharing different experiences of encounter and dialogue between Muslims and Christians in the different countries represented.

  • Various initiatives of dialogue and common action
  • Dialogue and encounters between young Muslims and young Christians in neighbourhoods
  • Heightening awareness and training of Christians in dioceses

Those who wish to inscribe for and partake in this meeting must do so as soon as possible using the form, on the iesuscaritas.org web-site or that in the Courrier des Fraternités n.º 221, Janvier 2015

Jean François BERJONNEAU, Assistant General of the Fraternity