“Set apart to announce the Gospel in Africa, with Africa, and from Africa”
The 22nd General Assembly of the Society of African Missions was held from 18th May to 8th June 2025, at the Spiritual Centre of the Sisters Apostles of the Sacred Heart in Rocca di Papa, Rome.
This Assembly was held shortly after the launch in April-May 2025 of the triple Jubilee celebrations of the bicentenary of the birth of Fr. Augustin Planque, the 170th anniversary of the founding of the SMA, and the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of the OLA Sisters in the Republic of Benin: a sign of the growth and vibrancy of our missionary charism. With 55 participants in this General Assembly, including 28 delegated members from 21 Units and 27 ex-officio members, with Fr. Didier Lawson, General bursar, as an invitee, as requested by the 2023 Plenary Council. This is the first General Assembly where the majority of members were members from Africa.
The facilitators, Brother Emili and Sister Tiziana, proposed the story of the disciples of Emmaus, with its three phases (encounter, discernment and missioning) as the methodological framework for our Assembly. This methodology invited us all to embrace a contemplative mode encouraging us to listen and keep our focus on what is best for the whole Society and not just our own particular Unit or Mission.
Encounter was the invitation of the first week. It enables us to have better knowledge and to listen to each other, as well as listening to the voice of all the members as expressed through the responses to the questionnaire from the preparatory commission.
We then moved to the process of discernment where we identified ‘the areas of priority’ to work on. Seven small groups were formed to have a Conversation in the Spirit around the priorities.
These conversations among ourselves allowed us not just to establish a detailed action plan for the next six years, but also to identify and highlight key issues that will guide the decisions of leaders in the future. Following this work, the Assembly focused on redefining the identity, the mission, and the strategic priorities of the SMA under the following direction statement:
“Missionaries of Hope, rooted in Christ and inspired by our SMA Charism, we journey together to build the Kingdom of God with the local Church, through renewed models of evangelization.”
Missionaries of Hope: Rooted in Christ and faithful to our identity, we remain effective signs of hope in this period of growing international tensions and significant changes in geopolitical and ecclesial realities.
The root of all action comes from the contemplation of the mystery of Christ, in our union with Him. Through Him, we gain understanding and draw inspiration from our charism, encompassing both our Founder’s vision and the contributions of each member.
We journey together: it is the rediscovery and valorisation of the synodal dimension, a fruit of the teaching and work of Pope Francis. It is also the awareness, strongly felt during the Assembly, of the need to grow in the attention and care for members, especially those with particular needs. Our missionary work aims to build the Kingdom of God. We achieve this through prayer, proclamation, service, community building, dialogue, and the pursuit of justice and peace.
We are all invited to discern new methods with renewed zeal, always working in the Church in communion with our bishops.
From this orientation, seven priorities for the SMA for the coming years emerged:
- Care and Well-being of members
- Evolving Realities of SMA Units
- Financial Sustainability and Solidarity
- Good Governance and Synodality
- Integral Formation
- Rekindling Missionary Zeal Today
- Witnessing Intercultural Communion
As we continued deepening our discernment, we arrived at decisions and recommendations leading us on to a missioning which would encourage and empower us all as SMA missionaries to work for the growth of the Society and the good of God’s mission.
The theme of this 22nd General Assembly, “Set apart to announce the Gospel in Africa, with Africa, and from Africa” prompted us, during the preparatory phase, to reflect on the relevance of our missionary priorities. This reflection is only just beginning: the work of renewing our Constitutions and Laws, which requires greater participation from all members, would be a favourable time to continue our discernment as missionaries of Hope, rooted in Christ and inspired by our SMA Charism, who journey together to build the Kingdom of God with the local Church, through renewed models of evangelization.
This General Assembly took place just as Pope Leo XIV was inaugurating his Pontificate. In his audience with the participants at this General Assembly, he reminded us that “the Society of African Missions […] is a sign of the missionary spirit which is at the very heart of the life of the Church”.
He then reminded us of what Bishop Joseph Marie Melchior de Marion Brésillac, our Founder emphasized in the kind of missionary lifestyle that should be ours: “in your proclamation, be faithful to the simplicity of apostolic preaching and always be ready to embrace the ‘folly of the Cross’ (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) with sincerity and peace, even in the face of the world’s incomprehension and derision. Be free from all conditioning as men ‘filled’ with Christ, and thus able to bring your brothers and sisters to meet him, since you are animated by a single aspiration: to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world”.
We hope that all SMA members, associates, collaborators in mission and all our seminarians will recognise a word for themselves to encourage a renewed and rekindled passion for the mission where they find themselves today and that all may experience a sense of unity amid diversities so as to experience difference as gift. The challenge for all of us, now, is to implement the decisions of General Assembly 2025 in the spirit of Pentecost, as it breathes new life into all that we are and do as SMA missionaries in Africa, for Africa and from Africa.
May Venerable Joseph Marie Melchior de Marion Brésillac watch over us, and may Mary, Our Lady of Africa, intercede for us.