The eleven vicariates of the congregation (10)

Its roots

After the Chapter of the Italian Province of 1984-85 had called for the opening of a mission ad gentes which would depend directly on the Province, the Chapter of 1986 decided to, “consider favourably the Bishop of Bouar’s request that we should found a community in his Diocese.” On 23 December of the same year, Father Arialdo Urbani et Father Antonio Canavesi duly arrived in Niem and set up the first Betharram community in Central Africa.

Over the course of the following years, the community grew in number with the arrrival of two young members of the order, Fr Beniamino Gusmeroli and Fr. Tiziano Pozzi. The first parish buildings took shape: the construction of the clinic, the new church at Niem and the first bush chapels began after the construction work of a small house for the community. Challenged by the situation of illiteracy which affected almost the entire local population, the “village schools” project was launched with the support of “distance adoptions” which attracted the support of a lot of new friends in Italy.

In the Autumn of 1996, the decision was taken to assume a new pastoral responsibility in the parish of Our Lady of Fatima in the town at Bouar with Fr. Beniamino, followed by Fr. Mario Zappa. The idea was to form a new community to host the first young people wanting to undertake the path of consecrated life.

A few years later, in fact on 1 November 2008, Fr Narcisse Zaolo made his final vows and on 21 June 2009 after his priestly ordination, he became the first Betharram priest in Central Africa.

Creating a community home for the first Central African priests posed not only problems of space but also created the need for a house which was our own property, for land to cultivate and for definite plans for pastoral commitments. It was therefore suggested that a house should be bought in the suburbs of Bouar, near to the main secondary school in the town, thinking of the youth ministry and of working to help the many poor people.

In 2004 a French archaeologist, M. Vidal offered to sell us his land which included a house in ruins in the Martineau district of Bouar. During the years 2006 -2010, Fr. Beniamino watched over the restoration work of the old dilapidated house, the construction of the “St. Michael Centre” and over the new community home which would also become the house of formation.

On 30 January 2010 Fr Mario Zappa, Fr Angelo Sala and Fr. Marital Mongba finally moved in to the new “St. Michael” Betharram residence and on 19 June in the same year the inauguration took place of the “Care Centre for patients with AIDS or infectious diseases.”

In 2009 the Vicariate of the Central African Republic was founded as part of the Region of St Michael Garicoits. The three sites which formed it were Niem, Bouar/ Our Lady of Fatima and Bouar/ St Michael which became legally founded communities in 2013.

Piero Trameri scj

Its Present and its Future... with Father Tiziano Pozzi scj, regional vicar

I would like to present our vicariate by saying that it has just been enriched by the presence of two brothers arriving from the Ivory Coast. We are truly international: 5 Italian brothers, 4 brothers from the Ivory Coast, a brother from Cameroon as well as some young Central Africans in training.

Naturally the start was characterised by a strong obligation in primary evangelisation. You only have to think that in Niem, before our arrival, the parish did not even exist but there were only two little missionary posts there, visited occasionally by two Capuchin monks. Today Niem counts, besides our headquarters, another 15 chapels which are visited regularly by our brothers.

Progressively, standing by our obligation to proclaim the gospel, the vicariate is ever more committed, welcoming the call of the Central African Church in the fields of Education and Health (Bush Schools in the parishes of Niem and Fatima, St Michael’s Treatment Centre for Aids, Niem Dispensary which will soon become a proper hospital with the construction of an operating theatre). On this subject, please allow me to thank all the lay people who came to give a hand to achieve this work on behalf of the Central African population. A point of strength and opening of our vicariate has been, and remains, the welcoming of these volunteers and the sharing of our lives with them. Their presence among us only does us good because they enable us to keep our feet on the ground. Therefore, dear brothers, the door is always open for you too.

All these works, sustained by the Providence manifested through so many people who continue to put their trust in us, are certainly important but today we are called to go further, to a great challenge: to invite and welcome other young Central Africans to be part of our religious family. We are all becoming more and more aware of this day by day.

The task and the duty of vocational encouragement and of the initial training are truly fundamental. Thanks to the presence of Brother Gilbert and Father Marius, we report to St Michael’s, our community in Boua, where weekly meetings are held, which recently have been a little disturbed by the current political sitation in the country. With some young people in search of a vocation, there are also vocational weekends and, at the end of each year, also on the basis of a French language test, some young people are admitted to our course for aspiring brothers, which starting from this year will have a duration of three years.

In fact, the scolastic level of the young people that knock at our door really is insufficient. To reach the end of high school without ever having read or owned a book is normal here. For at least ten years, the public school system has not been working. If we want to have young people who are really aware of the direction their lives should take, our first task must be to give them an adequate scolastic knowledge; for this reason our aspiring young people attend a minor Diocesan Seminary for the last three years.

The training course continues with philosophical studies and theology in the Ivory Coast. This is an opportunity for us because it lets our young people experience the international dimension of our congregation and gives suitable preparation. Currently, two young Central Africans are there, not forgetting Father Narcisse, the first Central African priest to serve in Dabakala.

In the latest General Chapter, much emphasis was placed on the joint need to economise. One of the strengths of our vicariate has been to set up a common fund. This has allowed us, even up to today, to support the various development projects we have been undertaking for a long time now. For several years, that is since the vicariate was set up, we have put in place a clear distinction between the project accounts and the community accounts. In order to streamline projects and support them, for some years these have been discussed together and then approved by the Board of the Vicariate. For the time being it is impossible for the different communities of the Vicariate to be self-sufficient from an economic point of view, given the few entries in place. It is therefore necessary to turn towards the common fund. I believe, however, that the commitment each of us must make above all is to live in a simple and moderate way. We must never forget the current socio-economic realities of Central Africa. And this is our first witness.

Conclusion: If we think of the history of the vicariate over these last few years, there can be some disappointments about the failed rise in numbers of Central African religious brothers; there can be some fear about maintaining and continuing our development projects. Nevertheless, if we think about the history of our Congregation, we have always been a little precarious and on the edge at every level... and yet the Lord has never abandoned us.