Sent by God, the Father, we “The Missionaries of Africa”, want to reveal his Love, deeply-rooted in Christ, in small international and intercontinental communities, to the heart of the local Churches as brothers or priests in dialogue with other cultures, and especially with the Africans, other religions and particularly Islam. For the promotion of all humanity, we commit ourselves for and with the poor, as initiators and agents of unity and reconciliation.

Our Commitment to Justice and Peace

Missionaries of Africa are committed to Justice and Peace because we believe that we are created in the “image of a Just and Peace-Full God”, and therefore justice and peace are part and parcel of our human identity and vocation. We want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in proclaiming and working for the Kingdom of God founded on reconciliation, justice and peace. We put into practice the Social Teaching of the Church, aiming at establishing a just and peaceful society. It is a legacy and responsibility inherited from our founder, Cardinal Lavigerie, well stipulated in our “Constitutions and Laws”, and repeatedly confirmed by our General Chapters. The people we are sent to, especially the Africans, hunger and thirst for ‘justice and peace’. It is naturally linked to our commitment to promote encounter and dialogue between people of different cultures and religions.

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.

(Constitutions and Laws, Chapter I, Article 7)

Encounter and Dialogue

All people are created by one and the same God, and therefore form one family, the human family, irrespective of colour, race, culture or religion. The Holy Spirit is in dialogue with each and every person, and in their respective cultures and religions, and therefore our encounter and dialogue with others is encounter and dialogue with the Holy Spirit working in them. There can be no peace without peaceful encounters and dialogue between people of different cultures and religions.

As Missionaries we follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose life and instructions remain for us the “way” and ‘model’ of our encounters and dialogue. We put into practice the Church’s teaching which has dialogue (interreligious – Intercultural) as an integral part of its Evangelising Mission. It is a legacy and responsibility inherited from our founder, Cardinal Lavigerie, well stipulated in our “Constitutions and Laws”; especially encounter and dialogue with Muslims and repeatedly confirmed by our General Chapters.

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.

(Constitutions and Laws, chapter I article 5)