I visited the SMA confreres in Morocco from January 9th to 18th, 2016.

I wish to share with you some impressions from my visit.

Morocco is a beautiful country. The landscape from Fès to Agadir is at times breathtaking. However, I was stunned by how cold it felt in Fès during the month of January, even in the mission house itself. I did not expect Africa to be so cold. In any case, the cold climate was more than compensated for by the warmth of the welcome I received from my own confreres and all those I encountered during my stay. Travel on the roads was smooth and calm; travelling by train and bus was a very pleasant experience. It was a pleasure also to learn something of the history of this very ancient and proud culture. 

Our three confreres live quite some distance from each other. For that reason community living is not an option. The Bishop of Rabat, Msgr Vincent Landel s.c.j, appreciates the variety of pastoral outreach coming from each of the confreres. He recognises that each has his unique talents and these must be recognised and appreciated.

At Fès, Fr Matteo Revelli is doing extraordinarily good work with immigrants, students from sub-Saharan Africa and Christian prisoners. I joined him on a visit to the immigrant camps (undoubtedly the worst that I have seen throughout my travels) and was impressed by his easy relationships and the obvious esteem in which he is held. This is a wonderful example of literally taking on the smell of the sheep. His efforts to be a conduit between prisoners and their families as well as providing spiritual support is also highly commendable. We spent a morning at a large supermarket buying all sorts of utensils for these prisoners; this was a dimension of mission that I had not experienced before.

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At Agadir I met a thriving parish. Fr Gilbert Bonouvrie has dedicate the last 27 years of his life to this community. He is ably assisted by Latifa and many volunteer parish assistants. The community is comprised of a decent number of Christian residents of the city, over one hundred students from sub-Saharan Africa and tourists (some of these come for longer periods of up to three months per year). There can be more than two hundred tourists at Sunday Mass. I was fortunate to visit on the Sunday when the choir was led by the African students and a large group of German tourists were present. The choir was marvellous. Fr Gilbert is gifted as a linguist and so includes as many participants as possible by celebrating the Mass in a variety of languages. Many visitors expressed to me their esteem for this sense of inclusivity. My impression had been that a ‘longer’ Mass due to multiple languages might be off-putting for European tourists; to my great surprise I found that the vast majority not only remained till the end of Mass but waited on to share some more in the harmonious music of the students. The chat and celebratory meal with the students after Mass indicated to me the resource such a parish is for the students and the respect and appreciation they feel for what the parish and parish priest provides for them.

El Jadida is a beautiful costal town/city roughly half ways between Fès and Agadir. Here, Fr Ladislas Penkala ministers to a small community of Christian residents of the city and some sixty students from sub-Saharan Africa. Bishop Landel spoke of his esteem for Ladislas in raising the number of student participants from ten to sixty. This is not an easy mission: local resources are scarce, given that Europeans are few and tourists are far less numerous than in Agadir, and the students have to travel quite a distance by taxi to reach the church from their university accommodation centres. As in Fès, a diminution in Christian students from sub-Saharan African over the past years has been noted. Ladislas devotes most of his time to catechetical and other outreach to the students. I was able to share a meal with a group of some sixteen of them (the number was small due to exam pressure at this time of year) and was once more impressed by the easy relationships and obvious appreciation for all that is offered.

It was a great visit. I was impressed by the quality of work done by each of our confreres, each according to his own gifts. My thanks again to all for the warmth of the welcome. May this unique mission in Morocco continue to flourish.

Fachtna O’Driscoll SMA
Superior General