South Africa: Last day of the pastoral visit of the general Superior in the District of Charles Lwanga

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

This Wednesday was the last day of the general Superior’s visit in South Africa. His day started with a telephone conversation at 7.30 am… It was an interview with the Catholic Radio Veritas, more precisely with its director and founder, a Dominican Father. The questions asked were of a general nature: who he is, what his congregation is, the vocations in the Institute…

The Brothers from De La Salle Holy Cross Community, as well as Br Joseph who came from Phokeng, joined the De La Salle Discovery Community for a meeting with the general Superior at 10.30 am. After a short prayer, the Sector coordinator, Br Thomas, presented the meeting as an informal meeting without specific agenda. To open discussions, the general Superior shared with the community a few reflections on the structuring of Lwanga District in particular and on the Institute in general. He thanked Brother Thomas for the program not too tight and the Community for the hospitality offered. He stressed the importance of formation to invite and to get from the collaborators more commitment. The formation is finally never an investment of lost funds because the trained person will always be able to be useful to the Church or simply to the society. He said his great satisfaction with regard to what he has seen and the commitment observed among Lasallians. He also appreciated much the young students with whom he had some interesting discussions…

The Councillor who was given the floor brought forth the question of the pastoral of vocations. Some discussions followed with the Brothers. Br Patrick, responsible for the pastoral of vocations noted some difficulties encountered. The teaching profession is not attractive and there are many desertions. The young people, from single-parent families, have problems with authority. Some of the young people who are candidates are in fact social cases.  The vocation of Brother is least appreciated in the Church…  Beyond all these difficulties mentioned, it was stressed that the quality of our pastoral of vocations lies on our spirit of faith and creativity in the pastoral.

The Brothers went away after sharing together lunch. At 3.00 pm, the general Superior took the road to the airport.

Brother Pierre OUATTARA, general Councillor