Training session of Development Committees (DCs) of Anglophone Provinces in Africa.

By Jos Kuppens, M.Afr

I was asked to try and record in the form of an article what we have been going through here in Kampala, close to the place where young Kizito, Charles Lwanga and  companions and  Mapera were walking, praying, suffering and gave their life.

So, what to start with? The reality that we as a group of missionaries are slowly living on our reserves to survive? A bit like sheep in winter, having eaten all summer and having built up reserves the sheep will, to a large extent, live on these reserves in winter. Or that in quite a few communities we are able to take care of ourselves using the income produced by our various ministries? Or the initiative of raising rabbits in the community where I live (they do multiply as rabbits!! following a now famous quote). Or the last Chapter where our confrere capitulants raised the alarm on the fact that we need to ensure that we can continue our mission well into the future by becoming proactive in looking for resources and start Income Generating Projects (IPGs).

Our last Chapter charged the General Council to look into Income Generating Initiatives / Projects for the society. Not that nothing was ever done in this regard. We have had initiatives that were mainly centred in the Northern Hemisphere. More recently we have had some initiatives in Africa that operated on a trial and error basis, while some were quite successful. But more often than not the enthusiasm about starting such projects was high but was not matched by corresponding success rates. Hence the need for a more professional approach. Thus the calling into being of a team of confreres (mainly treasurers) who worked with experts in the field of Project Management for Income Generation Projects. They produced a book of guidelines to steer our Income Generation Projects on a more professional course. Using this resource book (Guidelines for ), about 20 of us coming from various Anglophone Provinces in Africa were ‘workshopped’ into the rather complex matter of the Income Generation Projects cycle, using the concrete example of construction of hostel.

The Three phased approach

We were taken through three different phases. They seem very logical and simple. Planning, Implementing of plans and operating the result of our effort: the planned building. In the diocese where I am now the Christians have decided to start a project to build a cathedral. They have decided to do it professionally. The workshop in Kampala has helped me to understand a bit better what it means to work professionally to construct a building as it did for all the participants.

Phase one

What is it that we are supposed to do? All together as missionaries of Africa we need to wake up to the fact that things are not the same as they used to be. At all times there seemed to be enough funding to do our work, to train our candidates, to venture into new missionary challenges. Well, that time is definitely finished.  So all of us are asked to do the needful, like: budget, implement budgets, raise funds to meet the shortfalls, generally to live more according to our means.

So this common effort will underlie all of the other efforts for which the society has now put in place Development Committees, at the level of the Sectors and the Province, with, in the future, a coordinating office in Rome.

The Sector Council will appoint two members to the Sector Development Committee (SDC) to work with the confrere who is part of the provincial development committee and participated in the training. In order to help all of us in our Sectors to be part and parcel of this process, some mini seminars will be organized at the occasion of Sector Assemblies. This will assist in understanding the basics of managing IGPs and in finding some of the opportunities and potential ideas for IGPs. This will help the SDCs to identify some projects in their Sector. These should be developed up to a point where it will be clear that the eventual income is worth the investment. These committees will work on the following points:

• Is the idea sound, has it been tried elsewhere; how does it fit in with our lifestyle?
• What are the competitive advantages, its potential and uniqueness?
• What are the project goals?
• Who are the beneficiaries?
• Map out the stakeholders/ competitors/ operators.
• Point out the potential risks/ success factors.
• Included a rough draft of what it will cost.

 The end result of this will be cast in the form of a Draft Concept Paper in which already some analysis is done and the project classification of the IGP is also determined. The Sector council will look at this concept, have its input and approve it to be sent to the Provincial Development Committee (PDC). There it will be examined and worked on further in order to send it to the Provincial Treasurer and Provincial Council.  They in turn will examine the draft concept and after deliberation (with some possible modifications) approve it to be sent to the General Treasurer and the Financial Council in Rome. Once reviewed, it will go to the General Council. The General Council will be the one to either approve the concept or shelve/ archive it.

If approved

They will give it the “Go for Plan” signal. We are speaking about potential projects between 150 and 500 thousand Euro.

In depth planning

It will now be the task of the PDC to go deeper into the planning stage. The GC will release a small budget to assist in the planning because it will involve hiring the expertise needed to do a professional plan.

In the ‘Go for Plan’ stage the already gathered information will be further worked out and new documents will be added. One of the main ones is a Business Plan, which includes a market survey and financial projection. Ownership, administration, organization are mapped out. Risks are analysed.   A detailed explanation of all this can be found in the new guidelines. All these preparations are done to give the PC, Treasurer General and his Financial Council and the GC all the tools they need to actually give the final go ahead or shelve it. As one can see little or nothing is left to chance.

The ‘Go / or No Go’

First of all the decision will be published. If the project is approved a project team is setup. Accounts are created. A project structure is elaborated. A project manager may be appointed. (Sub)-Contractors will be found. Contracts will be negotiated. All this is then submitted to a thorough scrutiny which in the planning lingo is called a ‘quality gate’. If it passes here the project is now ready for Phase 2: the implementation stage.

If the decision is ‘no go’ all results are archived, all activities and accounts are closed. Documentation submitted to GC.

Phase two: the implementation stage

Most likely the Project Committee will now become the Management Committee. They are responsible to see to it that the Project Manager has all he needs. Legal experts may need to be involved. Risks need to be shared equally between contractors and MAFrs. Sub-contractors will agree to delivery dates, work out more concrete plans. Efforts are made to create a good understanding between all those involved so they communicate properly and at regular intervals.

It is now important to control the project. The actual versus planned status of the project is regularly worked out. This includes use of resources, use of budget. In all this the Project Manager, (Financial Manager, Quality and Risk Manager, if needed for the project) and the Project Management Committee divide the work.

Reporting up to the Treasurer General is required when the variance of actual expenditure with the budget exceeds 10 %. When the project has been finalised all accounts are closed.

The last ‘quality gate’ is the handover of the finished project (building, hostel, etc.) to the operator who has been identified already even in Phase 1.

 This leads us to the Third Phase which is the operation of the project.

Phase Three: successful operation of the project

The final points that need attention are shared with the Operational Team. All documentation is also shared with them as well as technical know-how such as maintenance schedules and warranties. The Management Committee and the Operational Committee visit the site together and finally the handover can be done with some sort of celebration.

The Provincial Treasurer will now be in charge of supervising the operations but may delegate the Provincial Delegate or the Treasurer Delegate. Now on a yearly basis the operational profit will for 80% go to the province, while 20% will be saved for maintenance and repairs.

Conclusion

The project journey has been painstakingly prepared, implemented and the success rate should be high. In other words our IGP guidelines are of a quality that should guarantee a good success rate. The future of our mission will in that way be better guaranteed than it is now. At the end of the workshop the participants in the workshop were still apprehensive about the complexity of the whole cycle, but did give their wholehearted approval to the process and started already to plan how to implement it in each Province.

In the place, which is steeped in history and tradition of the best kind, the place of martyrdom of the martyrs of Uganda, the same Society of Missionaries of Africa that brought father ‘Mapera’ to Uganda, started charting a new course to support the very same Mission that was crowned by the faith of the martyrs.

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Project Cycle Meeting in Kampala

Diary of a journey to Egypt from September 28 to October 10, 2017.

By Archbishop George Daniel and Fr Christophe Boyer, M.Afr

In 1992, Bishop Anthonios Markos started the Coptic Orthodox Church in Johannesburg. Archbishop George Daniel met him in 1993 and since became his friend. A reason is that there are many struggling independent churches in South Africa but the Coptic Church is truly African since the beginning. They could learn from it. The Egyptian government organised a Forum of Heavenly Religions in Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai on September 28-30, 2017. They asked Bishop Markos to send somebody from South Africa and he selected Archbishop Daniel. He accepted to visit Egypt but it was said that he needs a companion to deal with the challenges of such a journey. I accepted with joy to accompany him.

At Novotel, we met an Austrian professor, a German journalist for Germany and an Algerian journalist for Russia, a priest and an imam from South Sudan, an imam from Mali, another imam Pakistani residing in Ireland. We went directly to the Conference Palace. Soldiers surrounded it. They were meant especially for the government officials: most of them left with them. It is a big conference centre. Participants might have been around 2,000 people. Personalities started speaking only in Arabic. There was a simultaneous translation on earphones. The one of the Archbishop did not work… The theme was tourism and religion.

In a context of terrorism there are fewer tourists in Egypt. So tourism needs promotion.  Sinai is beautiful for its mountains and the Red Sea. It offers climbing, diving and therapeutic facilities. Especially it’s the place of the burning bush and of the 10 commandments revelation to Moses. Statistics show that religious tourism is more regular than others especially in front of terrorism. There is need to improve the roads and communications… South Sinai Governor came with Antiquities Minister and other officials. An evangelical bishop praised the government for authorising the building of a church… Muslim scholars of Al Azhar University were there beside churches’ leaders but no Jews, all in religious clothes. During tea time we could speak with a few bishops especially the Coptic Catholic Bishop and the local Catholic Coptic parish priest (ex Comboni student in Zambia), an evangelical bishop, the nuncio and his secretary… A Christian tour operator proposed her services for pilgrimages… We finished by a magnificent lunch around 15:00 which is normal time in the Middle East. We inaugurated a beautiful mosque in the evening. We had dinner with conference people on the flank of a mountain above the town centre, there was an orchestra…

On Friday morning we took a plane to St Catherine Monastery. We got a bedroom at Morgen Land hotel, the only one of the small town. Again military presence was heavy. The monastery was small for the big crowd of the conference. It needs restoration: paintings are dark and many things are worn out. We were told they are working on it. The oldest manuscripts of the bible are there but in the crowd we lost track of the Texan monk who was ready to show us the library. It is the oldest continuously occupied monastery and library… The name St Catherine of Alexandria was given by some Crusaders. A living thorn bush represents the burning bush… We stopped at the foot of the mountain thought to be of the Ten Commandments revelation but had no time to climb it…

In the evening, in front of the illuminated mountains, there was a beautiful UNESCO rather religious singing concert with singers from 15 countries… some Christians other Muslims… It was about peace and love…The introductory speech sounded a bit too nationalistic and pompous. It is understandable in the context of terrorism: Egypt is stronger than Islamism. An English-speaking Bedouin spoke with us critically of the government.

We believe that the aim should be a reconciliation between different religions. Tourism in the Middle East can be a tool.

I thank Bishop Markos and the Coptic Church in Egypt for allowing this wonderful trip to Egypt with the visit of key positions in vibrant mid-east Churches, parishes, famous shrines and monasteries and even of Alexandria, Giza and National Museum with good guides. The warmth of the people, their conversation and the good food compensated largely the honking and chaotic traffic, heavy schedule and airport lack of communication and utilities.

Let us pray for the late Coptic priest Fr Samaan Shehte murdered on October 12, 2017, that his death may contribute for peace and justice in this divided world.

Sedos Residential Seminar May 2 to 6, 2016 – Arricia, Rome.

I took part last May in a seminar organised by SEDOS (Centre of Documentation and Study) in Rome.  We were 120 participants made up of priests, religious men and women from all five continents.  Four Missionaries of Africa participated in the seminar: Denis Pam from Rwanda, Filiyanus Ekka from India, Frank Rossmann from Germany, and Boris Yabre from Mozambique. Two Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa were as well among us.

The world is in constant pain, torn by divisions, violence, wars and mutual rejection, cultural and religious tensions. This has brought about the theme of the seminar: Interculturality: Living and Mission.

Inspired and helped by some erudite guess speakers from Italy, Japan, Cameroon, India, United States and Peru, we have come to better understand that interculturality, rather than an issue, is an opportunity.  It is a golden chance to go beyond oneself in order to learn, share, love and grow.

We need to move away from our egocentrism tendencies and learn to appreciate “cultural relativism”. Thus, it should be admitted that no culture is superior or inferior to another. “Rather, we could say that every culture is unique and none of them can be identified with another one. Every identity presupposes diversity which remains the starting point for intercultural dialogue and communication between cultures.” Indeed, every culture is a gift from God not only to a specific group but to be cherished by the whole humanity. Each culture is unique and should not be undermined. Put together, cultures in their diversities make up a common richness to be enjoyed by the whole world.

Interculturality is an evangelical necessity whereby conversion of the heart, the mind and the will are needed as experience shows how conflictual can be our intercultural religious communities. That implies widening continuously our horizons and making steps toward the other with the unique intention of knowing and giving a space that is due to that person.

Personality and interculturality are to be reconciled and balanced in the practice of community living. We may belong to the same cultural background and yet we have different personalities. The danger appears when someone judges an entire culture from one’s subjective experience from an individual belonging to this particular culture.

The SEDOS seminar was excellent. It was a moment to experience our unity within the diversity inside the Church and in the world. The leaders of our little missionary Society thought well of sending four of us to take part in it. We are happy and grateful. We shall try our best to put into practice what our ears have heard.

Someone once sang, “different colours, one people”. I want to add, “different cultures, one people”.

Boris Yabre, M.Afr, Mozambique

A Public Lecture, June 30, 2016 – the Amended Constitution and Referendum for the Bill of Rights, Zambia

Two Guest speakers visiting Zambia in May 2016

In collaboration with the Presentation Sisters, the Zambia Association of Sisterhood (ZAS) and the Association of Men Religious in Zambia (ARMS) are inviting you to attend two prestigious conferences.

Religious Life in an evolving Universe.

Sr. Gail Warcelo, SGM, Green Mountain Monastery, USA.

Date: Saturday 21^st May 2016 from 08.30 till 15.30 hrs. Venue: International Spirituality Centre at the Christian Brothers opposite the roundabout leading to the airport. Please, bring your packed lunch. Morning and afternoon teas will be provided.

Gail Worcelo is a Catholic sister and co-founder of Green Mountain Monastery in Greensboro, Vermont USA, along with Bernadette Bostwick and the late Passionist priest, cultural historian and Teilhardian scholar Thomas Berry.  

Green Mountain Monastery is a new emergence in the Catholic tradition that seeks to give expression to a theology rooted in the evolutionary dynamism of an unfolding universe.

Gail holds degrees in Clinical Psychology and Christian Spirituality and divides her time between life at the monastery and teaching and leading retreats around the world.

She is passionate about contributing to the evolution of the Catholic tradition in this new “Moment of Grace” and has presented at gatherings such as: LCWR- The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Catholic Theological Union, International Congregational Chapters of Men and Women, Catholic Theological Union, as well as to groups, seminaries and formation houses in India, Indonesia, Ireland, Australia and Latin America.

Gail finds inspiration in the great role Catholic sisters have played in the evolution of consciousness and culture throughout the ages and is interested in contributing to the revival of women’s religious life by encouraging women to take on this vital dimension of the tradition.

Trends in Religious Life. 

Sr. Pat Murray IBVM, Executive Director of UISG, former Executive Director of Solidarity with South Sudan.

Date: Saturday, 28^th May 2016 from 08.30 till 15.30 hrs. Venue: International Spirituality Centre at the Christian Brothers opposite the roundabout leading to the airport. Please, bring your packed lunch. Morning and afternoon teas will be provided.

Executive Secretary of UISG

UISG – On April 1^st 2014, Sr. Patricia Murray (Dublin, 1947) assumed the position of Executive Secretary of the International Union of the Superiors General. Sr. Pat, a religious of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters), has a Master’s degree in both Education and Theology and a Doctorate in Practical Theology. She has been a member of the General Council of her congregation and was the former Executive Director of Solidarity with South Sudan.