ratio missionis nairobi

SUMMARY OF THE WORKSHOPS ON SPIRITUALITY, IDENTITY/CHARISM, MISSION/EVANGELISATION
1. SPIRITUALITY a)

Core: The spirituality of the Comboni Missionaries is centred in Jesus the Good Shepherd as source of his life and mission.
SEEING: In the first stage we saw that our spirituality lacks clarity and is poor. This means that our life and our mission do not rely enough on Jesus Christ.

1 – According to your experience which are the causes that have led us to this situation?

COMBONI MISSIONARIES are depositaries of a deep, rich and meaningful spirituality and as such each Comboni Missionary should feel proud of it and be encouraged to put it into practice in his daily life.
However the pervasive sense of crisis experienced in religious life, leads many to denounce the prevalence of a “weak spirituality” among us.

“Weak spirituality” is a result of various causes that cannot be reduced to a single root. It arises from (a) the world in which we live, (b) the lack of a properly defined spirituality by our Founder St. Daniel Comboni, c) the development of Local Churches and Mission, d) the basic formation we have received, (e) our personal failures, omissions and limitations.

a) THE WORLD
We live in a rapidly changing and developing globalised world. Neither the Church nor the Comboni Family seem able to cope, to keep pace with this fragmentary, multicultural, pluralist, secularised and confusing reality. Furthermore, we face a strong revival of antagonistic religions, while we have not fully received the spirit of Vatican II regarding World Religions and keep nursing a confrontational attitude towards the Muslim.

b) ST. DANIEL COMBONI
St. Daniel Comboni has not left us a well formulated and developed strong spirituality.
He just let it emerge from the example of his own life. We have still to perceive the riches of his legacy and to make it relevant to the new situations of today

c) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOCAL CHURCHES AND OF MISSION
In few years we missionaries have been brought from being the protagonists to being the subsidiaries of the Local Church. A new approach and a new spirituality, attuned to the new reality are required. We have to find our position, redefining our role in the Local Church, and to clarify our idea of mission. “What is mission? What kind of missionaries are we asked to be in the new panorama of the Church and in the pluralistic world of today?” Till an answer is found, we remain undecided and unqualified in our role and in our spirituality.

d) BASIC FORMATION
Our “weak spirituality” has its roots also in the limits and failures of our basic formation in the Institute.
- Gap between the ideal presented to the candidates and the reality in which they are to live and work.
- Dichotomy between “being” and “doing”, theory and practice in the daily life. We have to offer stronger spiritual foundations to the young confreres and prepare them for the reality of today’s mission. In the novitiate everything contributes to spiritual growth; in later stages, little support, uncertain models.
- Values enforced during formation but not interiorised for missionary life.

- Insufficient presence of Comboni spiritual directors in the Scholasticates and of spiritual role models in formation houses.
- The “formators” to be prepared in spirituality and in human sciences as well, to enable them to form candidates able to cope with the present structures of the socio-political, pluralist society.
- Our Comboni “culture” seems to stresses more the aspect of work than the need of reflection. “The Comboni missionaries are hard workers, but poor thinkers”. No wonder we are poor in spirituality.

e) PERSONAL FAILURES
- On top of the list of our personal failures, omissions and limitations there is the unbalanced attitude and practice between prayer and work, with action taking priority over contemplation.
- No serious attempt has been made recently to define a theology of the Local Church and to develop our stand in it.
- Serious repercussions on our spirituality arise from our failure to develop a proper Christology, Ecclesiology and Mission.
- The charism of the Founder is not seriously taken as a reference point. We need to recover the Christological aspects of Comboni’s spirituality.
- Confused understanding of Mission: human development more than evangelization. - The proclaimed need of the personal encounter with Christ, the Word of God, is not actualised and fulfilled in our daily life.
- Spirituality seen as a personal, private affair - lack of communal dimension of it.- Difficulties in finding confreres prepared and willing to offer spiritual direction and guidance.
- Contrary to our tradition, most of us have a limited knowledge of local culture and languages; it makes communication difficult and identification with the people almost impossible.
- Little methodical prayer life, trust in God’s Providence and prayer for one another.
- Inability to endure difficult situations: changes as alternatives to our “way of the cross”.

2 – What do you plan to do in your life (personal, communitarian, missionary) to change this situation?

At Personal level
We are aware that we need personal renewal, with the help of the community and of the provincial structures, without imposing a common cliché on all. The steps to be taken are already marked in the Rule of Life:

- Harmonise work and prayer, with the support of the community.
- Find our true role in this confusing global world- recover our spirituality and the sense of our life.-
- Be faithful to basic spiritual practices: breviary (with Comboni’s Writings in the Office of the Readings), meditation, retreats, reconciliation, spiritual guidance, renewal courses, sharing, spiritual readings with preference for books related to our Comboni spirituality.- Keep our timetable, with time for prayer, monthly community councils, initiatives of on-going formation, recollection days and one day a week of rest for physical, mental and spiritual recuperation.
- Be attuned to the life of the Local Church and the parish in which we live.
prepare a personal life project for each year: witness of life appeals to people, more than reasons of our activities

At Community level
- Prayer in community, reviving our traditional forms of prayer proper to the Institute (adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to the Sacred Heart and other Patron Saints of the Institute, Stations of the Cross, Rosary).
- Community on-going formation initiatives, the monthly day of recollection, focused on mission spirituality, preferably led by a confrere, community councils organised, at least twice a year, to evaluate community life and activities of its members.
- Community planning and evaluating of work and life of the community done in an atmosphere of prayer
- The annual provincial retreat and the provincial assembly remain useful tools of renewal, fostering the unity and sense of belonging.
- Interplay among the personnel of the various zones of the Province with more communication, encounters and prayers.
- Better use of Provincial News letter, MCCJ Bulletin and other means of communication to improve the knowledge and appreciation of each other, of the situations and of the world in which we live and minister.

In Missionary Life
- Find balance between “being” and “doing”.
- Empower people we work with, overcoming our temptation to be the protagonists.
- Internationality as a witness of the unity of the human race and of the Church.
- Sense of belonging to the Local Church, serving her at the best of our abilities, accepting her pastoral plans and inspiring her with missionary spirit.
- Gaining a better knowledge of the sciences of human growth, administration and evaluation to enable us to cope with the present structures of the socio-political, pluralistic society.

3 – What do you suggest at the level of Institute?

Finding an answer to the fundamental questions:
- What is spirituality? How do we define the concept of the Comboni spirituality? How is our spirituality animating our work of the evangelisation of the poor and most abandoned?
- How to make Comboni spirituality more meaningful for us in today’s changing world, without reducing it to an intellectual or psychological exercise?
- Rediscover the Charism in the new cultural context and recover it with the culture and the environment.
- Locate the “Comboni Year” (CYOF) in Rome, alternatively run in English and in Spanish. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Limone to be included.
-Attention to newly assigned confreres, who are asked to learn new languages before starting their ministry.
– Selection and formation of Vocation Promoters, of Formators and of Candidates to be prepared for difficult missions and difficult places. Many Formators do not come from pastoral work.

4. Specific provincial elements and proposals
We are aware that we need personal renewal with the help of the community and of the provincial structures, without imposing a common cliché on all.
- The steps to be taken are already marked in the Rule of Life.
- Better use of the Provincial Newsletter, MCCJ Bulletin and of other means of communication to improve the appreciation of each other, to learn from each other, to know more about the situation and of the world in which we live and minister.
- Serious screening of the candidates. Comboni spiritual directors in the scholasticates.
- Charism of the Founder to be the reference point in formation and in missionary life.

Main causes:
- Human nature, redeemed but not yet fully converted, baptised but not yet completely renewed, consecrated but not yet fully set apart for the Lord and the brothers and sisters.
- Personal background (family, social, religious, education, culture) and practical aspects of personal susceptibilities).
- Activism, strong will to succeed, competition and multiplicity of initiatives that lead to a weak link with the community.
- Over spiritualizing attitudes at the expense of the practicalities of real life.
- Our formation emphasises community life, but fails to prepare confreres able to stand alone and grow even when there is no consistent community environment.
-The traditional understanding of community life no longer holds. The superior is not seen as a relevant point of reference.
-Our relationships are more work oriented than community oriented
-We are not firm in keeping our spirituality resisting the influence of secular trends.
- The Eucharist and the Breviary are no longer given the importance they deserve.
-The meaning of being a Cenacle of Apostles is not clear, since our idea of mission is not clear.
- A praying community is one that has as a common understanding of its mission
- Wrong and frustrated perceptions and expectations of mission
- Lack of a common discernment, of communication and of understanding. The community unable to reach common decisions.

2. What do you plan to do in your life (personal, communitarian, missionary) to change this situation?

Personal:
Rediscover Christ as the centre of our personal and communitarian life.
Give the Word of God and the Eucharist their proper place.
Querying myself whether my faith in God, my prayer, my patience with myself and within the community fit in with a Comboni Missionary life.

Communitarian:
- A clear vision of community and mission, born of common planning and unity of action, as decided in the community chart and community councils.
- Rediscover the place of the Word of God and develop an attitude of listening to the Holy Spirit who speaks also through the brothers.
- Accept the others as a gift of God, as brothers and co-workers with talents to be put to use for the community and the missionary work.
- Let the brothers develop and use their particular talents in the context of the community vision.
- Give time to the community, be community with the brothers.
- Make room for the cultural differences recognised, acknowledged and respected, of the confreres.

Missionary
- A deeper understanding of mission and of the role of the community in mission.
- Sense of belonging to the Local Church, working for first evangelisation and for training local pastoral agents to be the evangelisers of their own people, while retaining a supporting and auxiliary role.

Formation:
Updating the “Ratio Studiorum” clarifying the type of missionaries we need for the mission of today.
Clarify our theology of mission and our pastoral approach to it, to give an adequate formation to the Comboni missionary.
Favour the process of integral human and spiritual formation
Be firm in pursuing a realistic approach to the evaluation of the candidates

Community
Communitarian assessment of the commitments to be taken or handed over.
Being well in touch with the situations and the new trends of the society, to be the prophetic voice in the Church.

Mission:
Commitments according to our charism.
On going efforts to gain knowledge of the reality, trends and problems of the present society, to help the community to detect the seeds of the Word that favour the presentation and acceptance of the Gospel values.

Prepare the Provincial Plan, the Zone and Community Charters as guidelines for work and its evaluation, for assessing the situation and needs, for spiritual renewal.

Work to “de-tribalise” the Church: our Christian communities are to be truly catholic, universal, where bishops and priests, religious and lay people are welcome, regardless of their ethnic origin.

Mediate God’s presence in our Christian communities by being present, especially in times of crisis, listening, giving hope and courage, accompanying the people to respond rather than react to the situation, bringing them back to the Bible and offering the basic elements of the social teaching of the church.

Encourage cross-cultural communication to favour Christian value to take roots.
As ministers we are challenged to sacrifice our own stand (political and ethnic) for the sake of providing guidance to people.

Core: Mission, Comboni and the Heart of Jesus are elements of the charism that cannot be given up (MCCJ).
SEEING: In the first stage we saw that the assimilation of the elements of our charism is not very deep. The interpretation of the charism is more an individual business than a communitarian one.

1. What does it mean for you “Mission-Comboni-Heart of Jesus”? Have you assimilated these elements in your concrete life?

- The elements “Mission-Comboni-Heart of Jesus” are part of our Comboni identity. They are a source of inspiration and give us a sense of belonging. They help us in our spiritual and vocational growth. Yet, it seems we have not assimilated the Heart of Jesus in the true context of Christology, and in the intense living experience of Comboni.
- Mission is the driving force to commit ourselves to God and to the people, a love story with the people, welcoming them in our lives and communities, sharing their lot, making their struggle our own (common cause), following St. Daniel Comboni who embodied “mission” in his own life. There is no mission without a personal encounter with Christ, with Comboni and with the poor.
- Comboni: an inspiring example of total dedication to God and his people, an example of commitment and obedience, of going to places where others do not want to go, to people who are the poorest, and most abandoned.
- Heart of Jesus: concern for the people, born of the experience of God’s love and of Christ’s total self-giving. The Sacred Heart is seen more as a personal devotion than a fundamental element of the Comboni spirituality. What does the Sacred Heart mean to the Africans, the Latin Americans, the Asians and the post modern westerners? We have to revisit the Heart of Jesus as the person of Christ, the Incarnated Son of God.

The example of Comboni who embodied the mission in a very concrete way of living.
The charism of Comboni who leads me to look at the realities in the light of faith, to offer my life in complete obedience to the Father, serving Him in my brothers and sisters “for whom Christ died”, to walk and work with them in respect, understanding and love.
The life of Comboni that instructs us to be “person-oriented”, more than “task oriented” missionaries.
Comboni’s Spirituality creates our identity.

3. How do we live and propose day by day these elements of our Comboni identity?

We propose the figure of St. Daniel Comboni as a model of faith and commitment to mission and to the people we work with by following his example:
Leaving our families, countries and cultures in order to share our experience of God with other people.
Making our communities a concrete witness to the unity of human race, to the universality of the Church, to Jesus’ grace and to Comboni’s charism by living and working together even though we come from different countries and cultures.
Remaining in or going to difficult places even when other pastoral agents leave or do not accept to go (passion for Mission).
Acquiring the sense of belonging to the particular Church to which we are sent.
Making common cause with the local community: the situation of the poor our focal point in ministry.
Humanitarian and Christian approach to people, promoting human person and alleviating their situation of poverty.
Forming Christian Communities whose members are good and active citizens who have the development and wellbeing of their people at heart (Social Teaching of the Church).
Making room for individuality to enrich the life of the community.
Rewriting Comboni’s Plan to bring it up to date and applying it to the specific environment of our time and place.
Being in constant contact with Comboni’s writings, fostering our identification with him, his spirit and his vocation.

Testimony to the contrary is given by:
discrepancy between the ascetical devotion and daily life,
looking for inspiration and sense of identity from other charisms than Comboni’s.

Mediate God’s presence in our Christian communities by being present, especially in times of crisis, listening, giving hope and courage, accompanying them to respond rather than react to the situation, bringing them back to the Bible and offering the basic elements of the social teaching of the church.

Favour the growth in political awareness among the people, backing the government that tries to address political crisis more through participation than though military resolutions.

Core: We are religious missionary ad gentes, ad extra, ad pauperes, ad vitam.
SEEING: In the stage of “seeing” we have also assessed the decrease of vocations and, in some, of the sense of belonging.

Ad gentes: Sent to those who have not yet received the Gospel (First evangelisation). Under special circumstances, sent to a Christian community still straining in its journey of faith and ministry.

Ad extra: Love of mission that commits me to go beyond the boundaries of my culture, my personal way of thinking, my Christian community, sharing with others my personal encounter and experience of Christ.

Ad vitam: A life long commitment of love to the proclamation of the Gospel to the brothers and sisters who are still searching for Christ, the Word of God..

2. According to your personal experience, in what measure is the consecration to Christ for the mission present in these three elements, and how?

The three elements are components of the mission of Jesus and, consequently, of our Comboni identity. The Gospel has to be announced (ad gentes); the announcing is to be attuned to the listeners (ad extra); my consecration – my being set apart – is for life (ad vitam).

The “Ad” refers to dynamism and movement; a life lived for others, manifested in a concrete movement towards their culture and way of life. This calls for a positive, and knowledgeable disposition of the missionary towards other peoples and cultures.

We are “A NEVER SETTLED PEOPLE”, always in search or on the move, even within the same mission set up, but counterbalanced by an INNER SETTLED spiritual and psychological maturity.

Internationality and intercultural mental set up are a challenge to and a requirement of the personal attitudes, human and spiritual maturity of the confreres, part of our missionary identity right from the time of Comboni who wanted his work to be CATHOLIC.

Scholasticates to be organised according to “mission option”, not to the “place of origin”, to foster the formation of the attitudes and maturity required by our choice of work in a globalised world.
N.B. Doubts are expressed about the validity of mission “experience” before final commitment.

Take a clear stand against ethnic discrimination and violence, expressing concern, to the Bishops, the politicians and public opinion when problems related to these crimes are detected.

Pay attention to the youth, developing strong movements (even to counterbalance the lure of the militias and of political motivated association contrary to the values of the Gospel).

Speak out, bringing social doctrine of the Church in our homilies and catechesis, taking a stand on the side of the poor and of social justice.

Core: We witness and proclaim Jesus Christ and his mission by being missionaries with generosity and courage.
SEEING: In general, according to what we have seen in the first stage, we live a mission based on doing projects that need a lot of money and personnel in order to carry on.

1. Do you think that this style of “doing” corresponds to the vision that Jesus and Comboni had?

Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel, to lead people to a personal encounter with Christ, who, in his love, “makes us out of many one”, his body, his people, his Church.
Not everything we do is “mission”. At times we show lack of coherence between what we say and do, lack of clarity of vision and purpose in the use of terms such as “for the poor and most abandoned”, “simple and poor means”, and lack of centrality of Christ: too often the activities are centred on the missionaries, not on Christ.

To some confreres the general observation "that our mission is based on 'doing projects'” is overstated and the general picture is too negative and annoying; it does not reflect correctly our missionary experience and work of evangelization. As Comboni missionaries we open up mission stations, develop them, then hand them over to the dioceses, and move to another place to start up a new one.

Starting up mission stations in most cases means new projects, money and personnel. Many of our projects too have to do with the places in which we are called to work and the people we are called to evangelize. We choose the most difficult places and the poorest and most abandoned people. Evangelizing poor people means to promote their human status as well; it requires projects, money and personnel.

We try to apply in our own life what Jesus and Comboni did. Jesus preached the reign, taught, cured the sick, fed the hungry, consoled the lonely. Comboni dedicated all his life serving the poor and the needy. He preached the reign of God to them, but also went all over Europe looking for money to promote their human status, worked to abolish slavery, planned to make them the evangelisers and the agents of development of their own people.

Other confreres answer in a more critical way.
The style of doing does not correspond to the vision. “Doing” is prevalently focused on material activities, structures, money, success and personal projects. It breeds protagonists and loners who shun cooperation and co- responsibility.

What we “are” is the main tool we have to communicate our faith. We are people in a continuous process of becoming. Our struggle to be better (capable and holy) is an unending task that lasts our whole life.

What we “do” comes from what we “are”. Our activity as missionaries is our first way of communication to the people. Our activity and style of presence are shaped by the needs, conditions and expectations of the people we have been sent to.

It is hard to balance the “doing” and the “being”; yet they indeed complement each other.
We came to evangelize, yet cannot close our eyes to the needs of the people. Our projects are ways to adapt ourselves to the emerging circumstances and needs of the people. In situations where people need water, food, medical care and education we cannot be indifferent. What is crucial, however, is that we should set up priorities. We should always be inspired and motivated by the Gospel, with no projects to the detriment of the evangelisation.

The aim of our presence is evangelisation., announcing, following the example of Christ, caringfor the physical and spiritual betterment of theperson till the full realisation of God’s plan of creation (AG 7). The “how” for its implementation has been shaped by the conditions of the people, by the love we missionaries have for them and by the characteristics of individual missionaries. We hope that the people, benefiting from our work, would acknowledge the aim and the love that animate us and accept Christ as their Saviour (AG 12, 41).

The structures in our missions are there to transmit values: schools should spot light on the importance of education; chapels and halls should be gathering grounds for catechumens, for social activities and for courses of all kinds… Pastoralists are missing that kind of stable facilities.

Yet our structures have been something foreign to the people: done by us, very efficiently, but not seen as belonging to them. Now, time has come to empower the people so that they try to carry out the projects they feel they need.

Truly people come to us because of our efficiency and assistance in their material needs. We ought to use that closeness to open their hearts to spiritual values. As they are in a stage of transition in their cultures, our presence and message should help them to find the synthesis they need for their new environment, with initiatives of civic education, empowerment and honesty. Yet, we need to be patient and prudent, not to risk too much. As people become more and more partakers in our projects and pastoral activities they will learn from the values that motivate us, and hopefully try to do the same. Soon or later our projects are to be run by them.

Our spiritual life cannot be determined by rules; but our life style has to show the spirituality that moves us

2. Which could be the “plan of regeneration” of our Institute in order to regain, in our concrete life, the vision that Jesus and Comboni had?

Comboni’s plan is part and parcel of our “primigenia inspiratio”. Comboni wrote it in the light of the situations of his time. We have to re-write it, bringing it up-to-date, in the light of faith, of the events, of the situations and of the realities of our time, rediscovering the Charism in the new cultural context of work an in the new communities (geography of vocations), while getting a better understanding of Mission in the currently African situation, (are we sure we mean the same thing when we speak of mission?)
Our Institute is both "sin and grace”, needs reformation, sense of purpose, individuality and specific aim. Individual members too need conversion. What kind of missionaries do we want to be? Regeneration means we have to be focused and make choices based on our priorities; this is true for projects, types of commitments, and of places. What kind of mission do we intend to do?
The Local Church is already established almost everywhere, gradually becoming self sufficient and the evangeliser of her own people, just as Comboni envisaged. There is no more need of us in places and commitments for which the Local Church has now her own personnel.
Our priority with the Local Church is where she is not sufficiently established, in need of evangelisers for places and peoples she is unable to reach with her own ministers, and for services she cannot offer for lack of local personnel. Our option is for Local Churches still in need of trainers of pastoral agents, and of substitutes for personnel not yet prepared and qualified for specific jobs. We work to make ourselves redundant, ready to move out, when local personnel is ready to take over from us, remaining in an auxiliary and supporting role.
What is our place and role in the new Areopagi?

The “re-writing” of Comboni’s “plan” affects our process of formation (new vision of mission, new role for the Comboni missionaries).

Mission should be both “mission Dei” and “mission mea”, served with passion and creativity, discarding petty issues, limiting the structures to the essential, setting them up in cooperation with the people, walking and working with the people, at their pace, to guarantee continuity: abandon the attitudes of being always the protagonists (missionary imperialism), and make room for the local people.

With regards to projects, we should try our best to involve the local people. We should train them to identify the needs, teach them to raise funds and how to solve their own problems.
In case of projects of our own initiatives, we should teach local people to own and run them; it will ensure continuity.
The tendency to "give" rather than "do" is our disease. Giving kills local initiatives. We should know that people have the capacity to contribute financially to develop their communities. We kill this capacity by our uncontrolled desire to "give".
We need to continue to learn from the great masters: Jesus and Comboni.

Living as “a cenacle of apostles” opens us to accept fraternal correction, supports us in carrying on with our assigned task, and in keeping the balance in the various aspects of our missionary life. Feeling at home in our community, we share our lives in a family spirit, we are concerned and take care of each other, ready to accept sacrifices for the good of the community.

We need on-going formation, challenging ourselves regularly on important issues.

Basic Formation needs an overall reshaping: We have perhaps looked more at the number than at the quality of candidates. Yet the Mission of today requires missionaries of high moral and intellectual standard, mature and balanced in their personalities.
Voices have been heard in favour of a temporary “moratorium of recruiting and formation” in regions devastated by wars and unsettled by civil unrest.

The urge for further studies among the confreres needs to be regulated by the needs of the mission.

The current policy of rotation needs to be re-shaped; though we recognise that it helps individuals in their renewal, it hinders the identification with the people, a deep knowledge of the language, customs and thought patterns, and it foster the mentality of short time commitments.

Our structures of provinces and circumscriptions need a lot of personnel for the maintenance of the structures. The Institute needs to be “de-institutionalised” in order to become more person-centred and more geared toward the accomplishment of its missionary mandate.

Nowadays, people may physically leave their homes, but, thanks to technology, may remain psychologically attached to their culture, to the detriment of the mission.

People are looking for short time commitments. Perhaps our mission could benefit from people who volunteer for temporary commitments.

The lay people have proved themselves handsomely in doing a good job in evangelisation.
We need to trust and empower them, delegating responsibilities, leadership and management.

Look at the situation of division as a pastoral priority.
Networking with organisations at national level already committed in the fields of reconciliation and communion.
Discover neutral figures for leadership, members of the community with no stake in the problem.
Revitalize or promote traditional ways of reconciliation and conflict resolution.
Promote professional ethics among the Christians.
Work with the MEDIA promoting a message of peace and unity against the general wave of violence and of discriminating tribal loyalty, with the aim of forming Christians who are good citizens involved in socio-political=cultural life, inspired by the Gospel Values (seed and yeast).

Commitment to NPMC in the spirit of service to the English speaking Christians of Africa, producing formative and informative material and training people in the use of the media.
Collaboration offered to Catholic Institutions of formation (Tangaza) according to the Comboni charism.
Pastoralists and slum dwellers remain our preferential choice for pastoral work.

Core: The mission, which characterizes us, is that of favouring the protagonism of people in the various fields (“Save Africa by means of Africa”, as expression of their being image and likeness of God.
SEEING: We found out that our style of doing mission looks more for personal protagonism than for involving the people and we distance ourselves from the rhythm of the people. By doing this, our charism is emptied.

1. What does it me for you, in your experience, to favour the protagonism of people?

- The novelty of the Message we bring makes it impossible to consult people about it. Christ was the Master and Shepherd. He taught, led, walked and worked with his people.
- Following Christ, we have to walk and work according to the people’s pace, preparing them to take over from us, empowering them to identify the needs and to work for the answers.
- Let the people take a leading role in all the aspects of the mission, providing them with the necessary instruments of preparation through formation.
- Walking with the people is the only way of building the Church as a true community of believers. Otherwise we are busy building our own kingdoms!
- Favouring the protagonism of people means to listen to and be with the people. “Forums” are to be provided where the people (women included) meet, discuss and decide. It means to distribute “duties”, tasks and responsibilities. People respond to them if they are motivated.
- Balance the desire of the people to enjoy the quick results of our efficiency with their wish of our working with them at their own pace and of taking over from us regardless of their ability to cope.
- Foster “civic education”, forming “community minded people”, good Christian citizens able and willing to build a peaceful and just society.
- Flexibile/collaborative ministry with the local clergy, challenging them to take over and to become more and more the evangelisers of their own people.
- Assuming the roles the Local Church has no personnel for.
- Coming to terms with the reality of the AGING and the DIMINISHING in personnel in our Institute.

2. In which way do our projects, pastoral plans and the various works in which we are involved favour the protagonism of people?

- Decision making is a process that has to involve people. We could forward our opinions but we are to restrain for taking quick personal decisions.
- We are in a period of transition between the times when all the decisions were taken by us and the new times when a rising class of faithful is reclaiming their right to be listen to and to take a driving role. We are to facilitate and encourage this transition.
- Invest in qualifying people, as required by Comboni’s Plan. Formation is a vital element in giving people a leading role in the mission. At times we are ready to spend millions in putting up physical structures but very little in forming our people
- Authority and leadership is a problem among many pastoralist peoples.

3. According to you, what has to be done so that all missionary activities may favour the protagonism of people and lead them to self-reliance?

- Less intrusive missionaries push people to be more focused on being self-reliant.
- Pass from the attitude of being the providers of all solutions who know all, to the conviction that solutions are within the people.
- People involved in the decision making feel more responsible, industrious and cooperative.
- Offer alternatives to questionable initiatives that spoil individuals and community life, (such as brewing local alcoholic drinks), helping them to be self-reliant in a healthy way.
- Favour the opening of market opportunities for the local products to help the people to be more self-reliant.

In a situation marred by violence, hatred, division and war, the missionary work in Kenya has to be geared towards reconciliation. This has to be the priority of our pastoral work.
In our communities, work more on relationship.
To respect each other cultural identity: rediscover plurality within our communities, which is a powerful witness to the outside world.
We are still imperfect: cultivate a self-critical identity, focusing on reconciliation within the community and the broader society.
Challenge the cultural background underlying violence and division, as well as the very understanding of culture itself.
Producing and distributing literature that can help people pray and for their mind on peace, reconciliation and justice.
Work for a more positive promotion and understanding of leaders and leadership, particularly among the poorest (slums and pastoralists). There is too much division between political life/leadership and Christian life.