About us
Our Founder
Our Leaders
Our history
WHO ARE WE?
Proclaiming the Gospel to the peoples of the African World since 1868
Our Society was founded in 1868 by Cardinal Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers and Vicar Apostolic of the Sahara and Sudan. It is a Missionary Institute of priests and Brothers living in community. Its aim is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the peoples of the African world. Since its origins the Society has always had a mission among the Muslims. It has chosen as its name “the Society of Missionaries of Africa”.
Identity
The Society of Missionaries of Africa is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right which comes under the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It possesses public juridical personality in ecclesiastical law.
The White Fathers
In certain countries, because of the traditional habit of its members, the Society is better known as the “White Fathers”.
Vision
It is among the peoples of the African world that we continue today to live out our vocation and our apostolic project: to be witnesses of the Kingdom and to share with those willing to receive it, the grace of the Good News. All our commitments in all their diversity are directed towards this end.
Mission: dialogue with other religions
The proclamation of the Gospel and the service of others require that we feel a solidarity with the people among whom we live. This may open the way to dialogue with other religions and other cultures in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Our missionary methods
The incarnation of Christ is the model of our mission. It expresses God’s own respect for people and His concern for their freedom and for their development as individuals and as communities. Hence in our mission we are mindful of the cultural riches of people and we try to penetrate those cultures with the light of the Gospel.
Mission: a commitment to justice and peace
Sharing the sufferings of others and making their aspirations our own demands of us a particular care for the poor, a commitment to justice and peace, a concern that people’s lives be fuller and richer, more truly human. In this way will the dignity of each and everyone as children of God be more truly acknowledged.
An ecclesial mission
By granting our Society official recognition, and by urging us to be faithful to the Charism of our Founder, the Church calls us to share in a special way in her responsibility for the evangelization of peoples.
Signs and agents of communion between Churches
We receive our mission from the Pope, head of the Episcopal College and Pastor of the Universal Church. We are both signs and agents of communion between Churches. We live out this mission by becoming part of the Churches that welcome us while maintaining a link with our home Churches.
Mission: Founders of Christian communities
In places where the church’s presence is still minimal we have to begin or continue the dialogue of Salvation which leads each individual to search his heart more thoroughly with a view to answering God’s call in Jesus Christ. When it is possible, the proclaiming of the Good News will aim at founding Christian communities.
Mission: building Christian communities
Where the Church is already present and asks for our services we co-operate with it, acknowledging its authority and responsibility. It is with our own distinctive character that we accept to serve in the local Churches and to work with them, with the constant aim of preparing for the future by building living, self-reliant communities that are really concerned for unity among Christians and the proclamation of the Gospel.
Mission: missionary promotion
We are also present as missionaries in our Churches of origin and there too we fulfil the common apostolic project of the Society. We help them to become more open to Churches in the rest of the world, to become more aware of the riches and the needs of other peoples and to face up to their missionary responsibilities.
One large family
Though we belong to many different communities, we together form one large family. Each of us contributes to the common task by fulfilling the function assigned to him. Those who suffer from inactivity because of age or illness genuinely contribute to the missionary effort by the offering of their prayer and lives in union with Christ.