Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception to each of you: confreres, members of our spiritual family, collaborators and friends!
I wish you all the best on this 169th Anniversary of the Society of African Missions, wherever you are: in our retirement communities, in other communities across the world, somewhere in the bush, in a city parish or in a house of formation… 

Each of us is and has a sacred story; today we all look to Fourvière, in Lyon, where the SMA was born. We all know the story: Bishop de Marion Brésillac and six new confreres went up to the hill of Fourvière to present the new congregation to Mary, asking for her protection. On the 4thAugust last, Fr. Damian Bresnahan, Vicar General, and myself went there and after spending some time in prayer, we lit 28 candles, one for each of the SMA Units and another for the Generalate. We wanted to entrust each of our SMA Units to Mary and her Son, Our Lord Jesus.

The small group around Bishop de Brésillac, despite many difficulties, has grown to become a large family. It has carried the seed of the Gospel to various places in Africa. I hope that each of our SMA Units grow similarly and deepen its missionary commitment. Each of your Units has held its Provincial or District Assembly or is about to hold it. New teams have taken over the leadership of our provinces, districts and delegations. I want to express my sincere thanks to all our confreres who have accepted a leadership role.  

In these days, with the whole Church, we are living this ‘Jubilee Year of Hope’. We, in the Society of African Missions and the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, are celebrating together another Triple Jubilee that will continue throughout 2026: 200 years since the birth of Fr. Planque, 170 years of the SMA and 150 years of the OLA Sisters. Without Fr. Planque, Bishop de Marion Brésillac would, at most, only occupy a line in the books on the history of Mission… May this Year of Celebration be a time of grace in which we will express to the Lord our immense gratitude for all that has been achieved and for the fruits being reaped in and through the work and life of mission. 

I want to emphasize two qualities of Fr. Planque: perseverance and service to the Church.

Thanks to Fr. Planque’s perseverance, some may call it “stubbornness”, we are here today. Let us keep this same spirit, being tenacious and united around a common mission. May this perseverance be manifested in the various positions we hold. The General Assembly 2025 stressed the importance of “staying” longer in a place, for the good of the Mission, as our confreres used to do in the earlier days. 

Fr. Planque also ensured the sustainability of the SMA, thanks to his deep ecclesial sense, manifested by his fidelity to Rome. Today, in a more decentralized Church, we live this commitment with a humble, creative and respectful presence at the service of the local Churches. We, SMA family, are a member of a larger body that tries to convert itself while serving others. Let us live this service creating fraternity and bringing hope to all peoples.

The Jubilee Year, in Israel, was a time when interpersonal and economic relations were put in order. May it also be a time of reconciliation for us to overcome all our old stories of rivalry or jealousy and walk together with Christ. 

In a few months time, after our SMA Plenary Council, we will have a meeting with members of the congregations who were born from the OLA Sisters or the SMA. May this meeting make us more aware of how the seed has really become a tree. May the spirit of self-sacrifice that reigned among our ancestors continue to breathe on the younger generations. 

On this feast day, let us have a special thought for all our confreres who find themselves in a difficult situation, either because of the situation in their country, their health challenges or for more personal problems. 

May Mary’s maternal attention and care help us to move forward as a family. 

Happy Birthday to you all, family members and friends.

Rev. Fr. François Du Penhoat, Superior General