Friday, 16 December 2022

SECOND VICE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER OF EAST AFRICA

 


 

SECOND VICE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER OF EAST AFRICA

DECEMBER 2022

DAY 1



Highlight Nr.01


Thursday, December 15th, 2022.

The stage is set.

The Vice-Provincial Chapter has just started this evening in Nairobi at the Rosa Mystica Spiritual Centre, Riara Road Nairobi. Capitulants come from Uganda and Tanzania to join those from Kenya in Nairobi. The Lay of the Alliance are also invited. The chapter will go from December 15th to 21st, 2022. The theme of the Vice Provincial chapter is:


Rekindling our Passion for the Kingdom of God: United to embrace the signs of hope in our time.

This evening, from 8 p.m. local time, the delegates to the chapter have just followed an orientation lesson facilitated by Reverend Father Emmanuel Kihugho, former assistant general invited by the Preparatory commission of the Vice Province as expert. The introductory lesson consisted of a general explanation of the progress of the provincial and/or vice-provincial chapter according to the rule of life of the Augustinians of the Assumption.

Father Emmanuel placed a particular emphasis on the attitudes to be observed during the unfolding of the vice-provincial chapter, in particular:

• The spirit of faith and listening to the spirit because the chapter is also a moment of prayer and meditation, he added.

• Freedom and open-mindedness and sense of belonging. The work of the chapter concerns in all and for all the health of the vice-province of East Africa

• The secret to be kept “secret”

• The good disposition to work in order to deliver the fruits of reflection from different groups in due time

• The spirit of sacrifice


The work will be starting each morning at 8.45 am according to a timetable which will be voted on tomorrow by the capitulants. The opening mass will take place tomorrow Friday at 11:30 a.m. to entrust to God the progress and the happy outcome of the work of the vice-provincial chapter.

The session ended with the individual presentation of participants and a blessing made by the Vice-Provincial Superior followed by the “Salve Regina” before dispersing for the restful sleep of the night.


 
Highligts done by Father François NZANZU, AA.


SECOND VICE-PROVINCIAL CHAPTER

DAY 2 

Friday, December 15th, 2022




Highlights Nr. 02

 

The climate is generous this Friday, the second day of the Vice-Provincial Chapter of East Africa. The agenda is very abundant.

Father Dominic Kamau, an ex officio member of the Vice-Provincial Chapter, introduced the day and invited Father Kizito, Vice-Provincial of East Africa, to open the agenda of the day with a prayer session. After the prayer, the Vice-Provincial Superior addresses the word of welcome to Father Miguel DIAZ, Assistant General in charge of the Vice-Province of East Africa who has just arrived from Rome for the chapter. He also took the opportunity to welcome all the delegates and those invited to the Vice-Provincial Chapter.

After the official opening speech of the chapter, the capitulants piously head into the chapel to participate in the Mass presided over by Fr. Miguel DIAZ and animated by the student theologians of the Emmanuel House community. During the Mass, Fr. Miguel invites all participants to be "friends" of the Vice-Province as Christ becomes friends and close to everyone.

Today, time is not generous for the capitulants. Immediately, after Mass, it was time to elect the promoter, two moderators and two secretaries of the chapter. It was after these elections that the capitulants went to the refectory for dinner in order to rebuild their strength for the rest of the day.

The resumption is scheduled for 3 p.m. It is the Vice-Provincial who opens a series of reports to give the assessment of the state of the Vice-Province since the last Vice-Provincial Chapter held in Arusha, Tanzania in 2019.  The evaluation text covered all aspects of the life of the Vice-Province and its current state of health with its ups and downs.

After a break of a few minutes, the assembly returned to the room for a question-and-answer session to enlighten the lanterns on some of the salient points raised in the Vice-Provincial Superior's evaluation speech.

After this stage of the state of the vice-province the capitulants were entitled to an overview according to the various reports. The first was that of the Lay of the Alliance who deplore a very small number of lay men and a low participation in the community activities of the alliance. After the report of the Laity of the alliance was the report of Uganda, that of Kenya, Tanzania divided into two zones: Lake Zone containing the parish communities of Murutunguru and Mwanza and Arusha zone representing the other Assumptionist communities of Tanzania. The assembly was pleased to see how the Holy Spirit unfolds for the extension of the Kingdom of God through the diverse apostolates of the Assumptionists despite the challenges faced on the field. After this overview, the floor was given to Father Miguel to give his appreciation before the Assembly prepared for Vespers and Supper. As the saying states: Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow is another day.


 Highligts done by Father François NZANZU, AA.









Saturday December 17, 2022

Third day of the Vice-Provincial Chapter

Highlights No 03


This Saturday, December 17, in the church we start the privileged ferial of Advent. The work of the Vice-Provincial Chapter continues its merry way. The agenda becomes more and more intense and abundant. This weekend is not a relaxing one. There is a lot to do.

After the opening prayer done by Reverend Father Zacharie Wasukundi and the summary of the yesterday report, the Vice-Provincial Superior welcomes Reverend Father Yves Kaghoma, Provincial of Africa who has just joined the capitulants from Butembo via Goma in the DRC.

Without wasting a single second, the promoter of the chapter gives the floor to the various speakers for a series of presentations:

- Deacon Dominic Mutinda, recently appointed in the new mission of Mombasa (Voi) presents his exposé on the Mombasa Mission which has a double vocation: The sector of Kamtonga which is to be animated in order to make it a parish in the days to come. The second vocation is that of a shrine where the annual pilgrimages of Christians from the Diocese of Mombasa in Kenya take place. The animation of the shrine is entrusted to the Assumptionists. This new mission in Mombasa, like the other new foundations, calls us all to listen to the Spirit and needs everyone's support...

- Father Maticha Cayus presents his brief exposé on the question of "Justice and Peace" and Ecology in order to live in harmony with mother nature.

- Father Benard Yala presents his exposé on Assumption High School in Katua which began to operate in 2017. Note that the Vice-Province of East Africa has made this secondary school its "mobilizing work».

The Father invoked the joys and sorrows to carry out this institution whose number of students is still very low (About 80 students). It faces the difficulties of functioning and paying the salaries of the teaching staff despite the goodwill and the sacrifice of the teachers and the administrative staff.

He invited each one to talk about this school in the church during announcement during mass, on the radio, on television and through social networks in order to increase the number of students who will come to take inscription in our school. Despite all these difficulties, the father concluded his presentation by inviting us to never lose hope because little by little the bird makes its nest.

- Father Ignatius Matongwa presented his exposé on the overview of the “Safari zone” comprising the parishes of Loliondo, Digodigo and the new parish in the Diocese of Eldoret. It is worth noted that at Loliondo one of the Assumptionist religious is in charge of the Catechetical Center of the Archdiocese of Arusha to train catechists. In Digodigo, apart from the parish pastoral, there is also school pastoral and the work in the shamba. The new parish of Eldoret began to operate from last November 20th 2022. It is dedicated to Christ, King of the Universe. It does not yet have structures and presents itself as "Jesus in the manger" who asks for help from men and women goodwill...

The harvest is abundant. Let us pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers in his vineyard.

After a short break, the capitulants come back to listen to the presentation done by Father Waweru Wilson, in charge of formation within the Vice-Province of East Africa. He underlines the insufficient number of formators and calls for mutual collaboration especially with the other Provinces which send young people in formation in the Vice-Province.

He also invoked the issue of continuing formation and so-called “specialized” studies to face the challenges of modern society and the study of the languages ​​of the Congregation. In his presentation, Father Wilson invoked the vocation of religious "brothers" which has to be promoted and encouraged.

After a question-and-answer period to clarify certain points raised in the presentation concerning the formation, the assembly was invited for lunch to recharge the energies for the rest of the day.

At 3 p.m., the capitulants returned to the chapter room for the rest of the presentations:

- Father Morris Macharia, Vice-Provincial Bursar presents his exposé on the economic health of the Vice-Province. The economic life of our communities depends on the economic health of the countries where the vice-province has communities: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The economic imbalance of one country or another has an impact on the daily life of our religious communities.

Thus, to carry out economic activities successfully, each religious has to pay his annual contribution, he underlined, recalling that the formation houses depend on the interprovincial solidarity fund. This does not exclude the pooling of goods in order to contribute even a little to the daily life of the community.

Many challenges have been met, including a solidarity fund for elderly and sick religious, lack of portfolio, ignorance of financial realities among many religious, poor monitoring of income-generating projects, lack of land that can serve as a cemetery for religious, etc.

The bursar ended his presentation by inviting everyone to develop a “network” for benefactors of the Assumption and bring them into our daily prayers.


After a debate on the economic life of the Vice-Province, the floor was given to Reverend Father Yves, Provincial Superior of Africa. In his presentation Father Yves gave an overview of the entire Province of Africa and the Vice-Province of East Africa. With a reassuring tone and proud of the religious working for the Kingdom, the Provincial Superior presented the statistics of religious working in the province of Africa and outside the Province.

He also invoked the place of the Lay of the Alliance which constitutes an “opportunity” to be seized to accompany us in the realization of certain works and/or to create others. There is a mutual collaboration and esteem between Assumptionist religious and lay people who do not hesitate to ask for collaboration in the extension of the Reign of God within a framework of partnership in the school sector...

However, in any human work, there are always challenges. Father Yves invoked a weak knowledge of our spiritual fathers, in particular Emmanuel d'Alzon and Saint Augustin. Many Assumptionist religious do not speak spontaneously about them. Also, there is a kind of contempt for lay people by certain religious, a poor management of human resources, lack of motivation for missions, lack of long-term planning and other shortcomings. The issue of war and insecurity especially in the eastern part of DR Congo was also invoked.

Speaking of the Vice-Province of East Africa, the Provincial Superior concluded his presentation in a “provocative” tone by asking: Do you want to move from the status of Vice-Province to that of Province?

Another question was to think of a work that would involve collaboration between the Vice-Province of East Africa and the Province of Africa. After having piously listened to the presentation of the Provincial Superior of Africa, an exchange of questions and answers followed.



The floor was finally entrusted to Father Miguel, Assistant General in charge of the Vice-Province of East Africa. Father Miguel asked some questions in view of preparing the minds of the capitulants to work in groups discussion. He calls for listening to the Spirit in order to build a “new assumption.”

 Some questions:

- What “proposals” should be implemented in order to deepen the charism of the Assumption wherever we are?

- How to participate in the mission of the Congregation?

- How to think of a new assumption through our missionary projects?

These questions and many others must be dealt with taking into account the needs of the Church and of society as a whole in mutual collaboration with the other provinces of the congregation.

It is in these words that the assembly divided into various discussion groups in committees.

The work continues in commissions. Let us pray for our commissioners that the Holy Spirit may guide their discussions.

 Fr. François Nzanzu, a.a. 

 


Fourth Day 4 of the Vice-Provincial Chapter

Sunday, December 18th, 2022

Highlights Nr.04

Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent. It is the last Sunday of this privileged time of the Church before celebrating Christmas. It is also today that the final of the World Cup is played between Argentina and France.

In Nairobi, it is the 4th day of the Vice-Provincial Chapter. The capitulants followed the different presentations from the five commissions. Discussions around the report from the “Education and Development” commission took the lion's share in the debates. After the presentations, it was time for the various discussions to formulate certain recommendations where necessary.

Father Miguel, meanwhile, gave the profile of the delegate to the next General Chapter. It was then that the capitulants proceeded to the elections of Delegates to the General Chapter of next June 2023.


Tuesday, 14 January 2020


Opening of the jubilee year of the Augustinians of the Assumption in Kenya

Fr. Luc giving the Lay
Assumptionist
Cross

In this year 2020, the Augustinians of the Assumption celebrate the 175th anniversary of their foundation. In Kenya, this jubilee year was opened on Sunday 5 January 2020 at the Assumptionist parish of Saint Monica parish in Nairobi. It was an enjoyable day which gathered most of the members of the great family of the Assumption including the lays A
ssumptionists.

Lay Assumptionist
 who Received the Cross
The jubilee year was launched in the whole parish by the Assumptionists of Nairobi scattered in all the outstations of the parish. Masses were celebrated as usual but, at the end of each mass, an Assumptionist introduced the founder of the congregation, Fr Emmanuel d’Alzon, and the Congregation to the Christians community inviting them to participate fully in this year of Jubilee. In the afternoon, before sharing the festive meal, there was a brief program where Fr Luc introduced the jubilee year and each of the lay Assumptionists received a new Assumptionist cross with the insignia “LA (Lay Assumptionist)” as sign of their commitment to work closely with the religious for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Such were the two principal moments constituting the opening of this jubilee year for the Assumptionists in Kenya. Let’s pray that God grant us the grace to seize this year to renew our consecration as      religious Assumptionist and to listen to the calls of His spirit.

Br Jovic KOUEPOU, a.a


Thursday, 28 November 2019

A SESSION YOUNG PRIESTS (PIONEERS' SESSION) PROVINCE OF EAST AFRICA


Young priests of the Vice-Province of East Africa at Austin House in a mentoring session dubbed “Pioneers’ Session.” This is part of the ongoing formation sessions in the Vice Province.
The session focuses on forming effective and efficient priests who have a real sense of being Assumptionist, true shepherds of the Lord’s sheep and real laborers for the Kingdom.









JOURNEYING TOWARDS THE END OF FIVE YEAR OF PRIESTHOOD

FR. JACOB BARASA 




Fr. Jacob Bara is am Assumptionist priest from Kenya. He was ordained on 19/03/2015.
As he moves towards the end of his 5th year of Priesthood, he says: "I wanted to do something in life and I thank God because I have realized part of it when I'm still strong."
 








Thursday, 18 July 2019

13th July 2019 - ARUSHA-TANZANIA
FIRST RELIGIOUS PROFESSION OF OUR EIGHT BROTHERS

The celebration was marked by the brothers making their first Yes in our congregation.
During the Homily, Fr, Kizito Henri (Vice provincial) insisted to them that they should be good religious. A religious who lives his religious commitment and living the vows of Poverty, chastity and obedience faithfully.  Fr. Kizito also remarked that community life should be at the heart of each of the them; for Assumptionists live in apostolic communities.
During the celebration, some parents made their speech and they remarked that they believe that their children are not in the right place. They promised them support through prayers.




Saturday, 1 June 2019

THE FUTURE NOVICES DURING THEIR RETREAT WITH FR. ARNOLD LUKOMBOLA a.a



The community of Austin House


During the retreat of the
Novice to be



The New Chapel of Austin House
     
               
            Novices to be During their
           session of the retreat




Saturday, 25 May 2019

                    SOME PHOTOS DURING THE CLOSING MASS AND AFTER MASS


Member of the Vice-Provincial Council
with Fr. Miguel




Fr. Miguel making his final remarks
during the Closing mass
Frs. Kisangani, Miguel, Micheal and Jacob


Fr. Merchoir with some novices
Fr. Jacob and some Oblates and Orante Sister
after the closing Mass
Fr. Kizito Leading the Closing mass of the Chapter






Provincial Superior with some Novice
after the closing mass