On Founder’s Day, 321-year-old Order with Dominant African Membership Launches Phase II of “Animation Plan” for Mission

In his video recording, Fr. Mayama recalls the theme of Spiritan General Chapter and outlines the objectives of the “second phase of animation plan on Spiritan spirituality for mission”.

“Bagamoyo II, as you know, asked us to do something new. And to do something new, it is essential that we return to our sources, that is to the example and the writings of our founders, Claude François Poullart des Places and François Marie Paul Libermann, to get new energies for our mission today,” he says.

Superior General of the Spiritans, Fr. Alain Mayama (left) and the Provincial Superior of Kenya and South Sudan, Fr. Frederick Elima Wafula (Right). Credit: ACI Africa

The native of Congo Brazzaville says that the Spiritan animation plan has three objectives. “The first is a spiritual renewal of the entire Congregation, both personal and the community. The second objective is the rediscovering of our spiritual roots. And the third objective is the promotion of the causes of our founders,” he says. 

Fr. Mayama continues, “Over the next two years, the General Council is going to propose to you a variety of resources and tools to help us in this journey of renewal.”

“May the Holy Spirit on this Feast of Claude Poullart des Places help us to walk together with courage and enthusiasm along the path of this renewal,” he further says, and invoking the motto of the Spiritans, adds, “Cor unum et anima una” (one heart and one mind).

Spiritans during the Chapter of the Province of Kenya and South Sudan at St. Magdalene Retreat House, Resurrection Garden, Archdiocese of Nairobi in November 2023. Credit: ACI Africa

The Superior General of the Spiritans has also explained the second phase of the Spiritan animation mission, the “Spiritan Spirituality for Mission”, in a two-page statement shared with Spiritans and LSA.

In the statement, the Rome-based Spiritan Superior General explains the third objective of the Animation Plan entering the second phase.

“If our founders were able to successfully carry out their activities and their projects, it is thanks to their spiritual life, putting God at the heart of their activities and works,” Fr. Mayama says.

The General Council of the Spiritans, he says, “will provide a variety of resources/tools to assist us in this process of renewal” over the next two years. 

Fr. Mayama, flanked by members his Council. From left to right: Fr. Marc Botzung (France), Fr. Jean-Marc Sierro (Switzerland), Fr. Philip Massawe (Tanzania), Fr. Jude Nnorom (Nigeria), Fr. Alain Mayama (Congo Brazzaville), Fr. Jeff Duaime (USA), Fr. Albert Ndongo Assamba (Cameroon), Fr. Kieran Alaribe (secretary general, Nigeria), and Fr. Tony Neves (Portugal). Credit: Fr. Dominic Gathurithu, CSSp.

The resources are to include Novenas with a focus on Poullart des Places and Libermann and “their spiritual legacy”; weekly messages; and “a monthly Lectio Divina with a Spiritan focus”, among others.

“We encourage all circumscriptions to plan at least one of the annual retreats these next two years on a Spiritan theme,” Fr. Mayama says, and adds, “We will send a list of resources and potential Spiritan retreat directors who you can consider requesting to lead your reflection and renewal.”

He recommends the recalling and celebration of “the beginnings of the Spiritan mission in your place by organizing pilgrimages to historical places in your area and telling the story for all to celebrate” as a way of “recovering and celebrating our Spiritan roots.”

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“If our collective journey of renewal is truly to be effective, it is important that our sharing and reflection go beyond the level of ideas and that it finds concrete expression in our lives and in our ministry,” the Superior General of the Spiritans says in his statement issued ahead of the October 2 launch.

He implores, “May our celebration of the feast day of Claude François Poullart des Places, whose life was so shaped and inspired by the Spirit of the Lord, help us to journey together in a synodal way on this Second stage of our Animation Plan with enthusiasm and commitment.”

Spiritans during the Chapter of the Province of Kenya and South Sudan at St. Magdalene Retreat House, Resurrection Garden, Archdiocese of Nairobi in November 2023

“As we walk together along this path of renewal and recommitment, let us invoke the intercession of Mary, that she may help us to allow ourselves to be surprised by the Holy Spirit without putting up any resistance, so that he may do something new in each of us,” Fr. Mayama further implores.

Poullart des Places, a native of France, who gave up the practice of law to study for the Priesthood founded a community for youthful men with the wish to become Priests in 1703. He dedicated the community to the Holy Spirit, calling it the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. 

Some 150 years later, Libermann, a converted Jew, established another religious family also in France, bearing the name, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

The two Congregations were fused, thus the official name of the Spiritans, the “Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”.

Through the years, the Congregation that marks its annual Feast Day on Pentecost Sunday has had 25 Superiors General, including Fr. Mayama, the only African native on the list.

In his Pentecost 2024 message, Fr. Mayama shared the latest statistics of the Congregation, saying they illustrate a “significant demographic shift” from the Northern hemisphere that he recalls the 1998 General Chapter in Maynooth, Ireland, “had already recognized”.

Present in all continents, there were 2,714 Spiritans across the globe as at 30 April 2024. These included 532 Spiritans, who were continuing with their initial formation, drawn from 62 circumscriptions.

Participants in the Spiritan Chapter at Stella Maris Hotel, Bagamoyo in Tanzania's Morogoro Diocese 3-24 October 2021.

For every 10 Spiritans, seven “come from 25 circumscriptions in Africa”, comprising 1,906 members (70.23%), Fr. Mayama said in his Pentecost 2024 message, adding that Europe that has 12 circumscriptions, had 536 Spiritans, representing 19.75% of the Spiritans across the globe. 

For every 10 Spiritans in initial formation program, nine are from Africa, the Superior General said.

“Perhaps more striking is the fact that of the 532 professed scholastics, 480 come from Africa (90.23%); 1 from Europe (0.19%), 10 from the Indian Ocean (1.88%); 1 from North America (0.38%); 9 from South America (1.69%); 8 from the Caribbean (1.50%); 22 from Asia (4.14%)” and none from Oceania, Fr. Mayama said in his Pentecost 2024 message.

“A new phase in the Spiritan mission has begun. Approximately 235 confreres, working in the Northern Hemisphere, come from Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and South America,” he further said, adding, “We welcome this novelty, which is a gift from God, with faith and hope.”

ACI Africa’s Editor-in-Chief, Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, is a member of the Spiritans.