“Every time there's a new leader, it means that new energy is being injected into the whole Congregation; at the same time, there is also continuity, especially since he's the one who was my deputy for the last six years,” said Bishop Mbuyisa.
The former immediate CMM Superior General told ACI Africa that he would like to see the new leadership “strengthening the bonds; that there’s unity among the members themselves, because without that, then it is very difficult to claim that you're witnessing to the Gospel.”
“The other one obviously is also to see what kind of role we are going to play as a Congregation within the Church itself. A Church that is in line with Synodality as called by Pope Francis to be a Church of encounter. A Church that walks together, that listens not only to itself, but especially also to those in the margins and those outside the Church itself,” he added.
The South African Bishop who is participating in the ongoing CMM 17th General Chapter in Rome taking place under the theme, “Solidarity - Called to be of one mind and one purpose’, as an observer further said that among some of the topics addressed so far is “formation, the sharing of human and material resources”.
“(We discussed) issues like formation, that is the training of those who become Priests and Religious, and what is it that we need to perhaps change in those programs to better respond to the needs of our time,” Bishop Mbuyisa said about the CMM’s General Chapter that is expected to conclude on October 23.
He added, “We are also looking at our own involvement in terms of our mission. What sort of impact do we want to have in the different areas of the world where we are present.”
The other issue that has emerged during the CMM General Chapter is the diminishing “vocations” particularly in “North America,” the 49-year-old Bishop said during the October 10 interview.
“In terms of demographics, we are noticing a shift in the Northern hemisphere; in Europe and North America we're certainly diminishing. We have in some other countries a conference or members with an average age of 80, and yet in many of the African countries and in Colombia and South America, this is where we're experiencing growth,” he said.
The South African Bishop explained, “So, there is now this shift of sending missionaries from Africa to Europe and North America, in order to evangelize because now those have now become mission countries. And they came out from those countries to our own countries because back then those were missionary territories.”
“Now it's the other way around and to this also we need to respond with the same enthusiasm that they had over 100 years ago when they first arrived on our shores,” Bishop Mbuyisa told ACI Africa October 10.
