{"id":5753,"date":"2026-05-17T13:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/?p=5753"},"modified":"2026-05-17T13:27:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:27:42","slug":"carrying-the-institute-in-our-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/carrying-the-institute-in-our-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrying the Institute in Our Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Missionaries in St. Peter\u2019s Square for the audience with Pope Leo. Photo: IMC Archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We, Consolata missionaries, celebrating 50 years of priesthood (G50), lived through our second week of our formation course in Rome, focused on the Institute and on ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Reality of the IMC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Monday, May 11, our General Council spoke to us about the “Reality of the IMC.” The Superior General, unable even to join by video because he was deep in the Brazilian Amazon forest on a Canonical Visitation, shared with us a dense text in which he offered us an “overall picture” of the situation. Then Father Mathew Odhiamo and Father Juan Pablo De Los Rios, general councillors and animators of our course, completed the overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sharing the Institute\u2019s current situation. Photo: Jaime C. Patias<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On one hand, we appreciated the reality of a living and dynamic Institute, where mission still makes us dream. On the other, they did not hide from us the existing problems, which lie not only in the world we live in, but also among ourselves. The Institute has certainly changed greatly since we G50 began our journey, over 50 years ago. Back then it was almost entirely composed of Italians; today Italians are disappearing and the majority are African. Europe has now become a mission territory with a high rate of de-Christianization, while the Churches of Africa show a surprising vitality. Back then, for us, saying “mission” meant saying Africa. Today the specific horizon of the ad gentes<\/em> mission is something to be entirely rediscovered, going well beyond geographical boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also: G50 Course: An Invitation to Look Within Ourselves<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanent Formation Course Begins in Rome<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, our Institute cannot carry on as if nothing had happened. Certainly, for us, Consecrated Life as a path to holiness and the ad gentes<\/em> commitment are qualifying and foundational elements \u2014 but even among us there is the plague of individualism and the temptation to seek a comfortable placement in wealthy areas, in already well-established communities, avoiding the frontier, the poorest and most marginal areas, and those where internet is scarce and social media are not guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The general councilors, Father Mathew Odhiamo and Father Juan Pablo De Los Rios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Faced with these realities \u2014 both joyful and painful \u2014 it is wonderful to see how the Institute is a living body seeking concrete answers, one that has seized the opportunity of our Founder’s canonization, Saint Giuseppe Allamano, as a beautiful and important moment for renewal and for deepening its calling to holiness and mission. It is also clear that renewal is not merely a top-down initiative, but involves all of us \u2014 not only the young in formation, but also us “grandparents,” challenged to live not only on memories but to draw from our experiences the energy to keep renewing ourselves, to become available and creative in offering new and meaningful responses to the challenges of mission today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting Again from Christ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On this theme, Father Stefano Camerlengo from Dianr\u00e0 in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire gave a wonderful talk on May 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Ivory Coast, via videoconference, Father Stefano addresses the missionaries of the course in Rome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After reminding us that the Institute’s purpose is to show the true face of Christ to the world, he challenged us to place Christ Jesus back at the centre of our lives in order to renew the quality of our community life and mission. This is a challenge that requires conversion on our part, since we have often become too worldly. We must not water down the Spirit, and we must help one another – each in his own role – to maintain the original love without yielding to worldliness. Returning to the original spirit – iconically represented by the little Rule book in the old photographs of Saint Giuseppe Allamano – is not a going backward, but a refounding on solid ground so as to look forward in mutual love and in a life built on Christ Jesus alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is possible only if we are truly a community. Without a genuine community life, we as missionaries are nothing. We therefore need to work on ourselves – knowing we have never fully “arrived” – to care for our brother, to believe in community, and to let ourselves be cared for by our confreres. It requires truly placing Jesus at the centre of personal and communal life, asking ourselves who is really at the centre: myself or Jesus, myself or the Institute, myself or the mission? From the answers to these questions, evangelization is reborn as a passion for the Kingdom, for the poor, for the proclamation of the Gospel. True evangelization then leads us to rediscover the sense of community. To evangelize creates community, family, celebration. And if one is truly in love with Christ, one cannot help but be a living part of the community that is the Body of Christ – rediscovering one’s true nature as part of a whole, as a humble servant who rejoices in the good and growth of others, and who knows he needs others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this also gives rise to a challenge for those called to the service of being a community superior – a service often not easy in the face of the snare of individualism, yet essential if a community is truly to be a family, a church, and a place where every missionary rekindles his passion for the Gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audience in St. Peter’s Square<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Pope Leo greets the faithful in St. Peter\u2019s Square after the audience. Photo: Gigi Anataloni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On May 13 we went to St. Peter’s Square for the Audience with Pope Leo. We arrived very early and were placed in a privileged little corner right in front of the Pope. We were mentioned first when the list of all those present from every part of the world was announced. We listened to his words and followed him as he then greeted the immense crowd from all over the world. Personally, I was not very enthusiastic about spending all those hours in sun and rain to hear what I could have listened to and seen better in front of the television. But one thing struck me and filled me with joy, reminding me of the beauty of Pentecost: all those announcements, greetings, messages, and prayers proclaimed in so many different languages. Beautiful and deeply moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning to Manage Oneself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

May 14 was instead a day dedicated to ourselves, to help us with the “management of our physical and mental health and the development of new skills.” Our guide was Dr. and Professor Don Gian Franco Poli, a diocesan priest and our contemporary. It was an interesting and intense dialogue, taking into account that at our age ailments are normal and that each of us travels with a fine supply of medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The session – very dialogical and with ample space for sharing – helped us to reread our situation positively and gave us concrete suggestions on how to manage our health, improving our commitment to mutual care and stimulating us toward a new creativity in service of mission. “Put yourselves in question,” he told us. A clear invitation to react against the resignation and passivity that are the risk of our age, especially when health conditions are not optimal. Hence the need for a deep spirituality, for “loving oneself” and even more for “loving others,” without closing in on ourselves, but living a true spirit of community and family, and “guarding our body and our mind as the locus of mission.” He also reminded us how important it is to keep learning, to acquire new skills, so as to live fully, to be capable of embracing the new challenges of mission, and to continue transmitting and sharing what is the passion and love of our lives: Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also beautiful to share our weaknesses and fragilities – but above all the passion that still burns in the heart of every one of us. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Father Gigi Anataloni, IMC, editor-in-chief of the magazine<\/em> Missioni Consolata.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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