Accompaniment: R. D. of Congo

The first accompaniment trip for the entire General Leadership Team (GLT) is scheduled to Union African-Franco Phone (UAF) from February 10 to March 4, 2025. All members of the GLT are to travel to Africa, except for one who is indisposed due to health reasons. I was paired with Bram Tulusan, MSC, to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We arrived in Kinshasa on the afternoon of February 11, 2025. We immediately prepared ourselves for a trip the following day to two far-flung places, Tshuapa and Mbandaka. We were divided into two teams. Bram was with the District Superior Antoine, and I was with Dieder, one of the District Council members. Bram and his team will go to Tshuapa, and my team will go to Mbandaka. Both of our flights were scheduled to depart at 8:30 in the morning; however, due to the storm that hit the city for most of the morning, our team was able to board the plane and take off at exactly 2:30 p.m. It was unfortunate for Bram’s team because they waited and waited until late afternoon, only to be told that their flight had been cancelled and rescheduled for the following day. We were not surprised by the experience because we had been informed in advance that such experiences were not uncommon.

As soon as our team arrived in Mbandaka, we settled in Bamanya, and the following day, I met with the 4 MSC Aspirants. The encounter involved sharing their background, how they came to know the MSCs, and their motivation for joining the MSC. Dieder served as my interpreter since I could not speak French. It is inspiring to meet the young candidates and see the future of the MSCs in them.

Then we travelled to Mbandaka proper to St. Joseph Parish, where I had the chance to meet our three confreres who are working as a team. I also met the confreres who were living in a community house in a place they called the Beach. It is a riverbank of the gigantic Congo River where boats from neighbouring places would dock. The individual meeting was an opportunity to listen to their stories, their experiences, hopes, and aspirations as members of the MSC community, as well as their dreams for the future. This time I did not have an interpreter, except for one, since all of them can speak English very well. I stayed in Mbandaka from February 13 to 18, 2025, and had the opportunity to listen to all six confreres who are stationed there, as well as one who was on vacation from his studies in Belgium.

We flew back to Kinshasa on February 19, 2025, but not without glitches. There were some tense moments during the pre-departure process, including being barred from entering despite having all the valid documents, and people approaching aggressively to ask for money. The final incident was that we had already boarded the plane and were preparing to take off, only to be told to disembark for unclear reasons. We were able to procure an alternative ticket for the plane, which would depart two hours after our original flight. We arrived in Kinshasa on the same date, safe and sound.

I don’t have firsthand experience of what Bram Tulosan, MSC, went through, except for the occasional updates he sent to our WhatsApp chat group. He said that he was able to meet individually the MSCs in the places of Boende, Bokungu, and Mondombe. He said he had to endure riding the motorbike for a total of fourteen hours before reaching his destinations, wading or crossing rivers on small boats. All he could say was that it was worth the long trip to have the opportunity to encounter our confreres in their respective mission areas.

Both Bram and I arrived back in Kinshasa on February 19, 2025. In the District House, where we met Abzalon, who arrived the day before and was preparing for his trip to Mbandaka the following day. Abzalon will travel to Mbandaka to visit the communities that I visited over the last five days. February 20 was a rest day for us.

The following day, we travelled to Kimwenza to be with the students in the Pre-Novitiate. Twenty-one students are studying Philosophy and are preparing for their Novitiate formation. We spent time with the students in different batches, and Bram facilitated the sharing, which ranged from their views on religious life to answering questions about the Congregation. It was an inspiring experience to see that, on this side of the world, where the MSCs are located, a good number of candidates are joining our Congregation. We also spent time with the two Formators who were responsible for the students’ formation.

In Kinshasa, we visited four MSC Communities and spoke individually with fifteen MSCs working in various apostolates in Kinshasa and its neighbouring areas. Three MSCs from Brazzaville, Congo, visited, and we had the opportunity to speak with them individually. There were two who came and preferred to talk with Abzalon personally.

In general, our conversation with the MSCs is centred around their experiences as MSCs, their joys and struggles, hopes and dreams for their community, the District, and the Union as a whole. We observed the immense commitment of our confreres to work in their respective mission areas, despite the limited resources. There is a deep-seated longing for growth and improvement, particularly in the various aspects of religious life, including governance and leadership. We also made consultations for the new Union Superior by giving them a piece of paper on which they wrote their first and second priority choices.

I also had the chance to meet two groups of the Chevalier Lay Associates (Confraternity of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), one in Mbandaka and the other in Kinshasa. They have been organised for a long time and have been involved in various activities in the MSC Parishes. I was amazed by their collective commitment. They expressed their desire to establish a line of communication with the Lay Leadership as a whole, as well as with the various Chevalier lay groups worldwide.

We visited five FDNSC Communities, three in Mbandaka, and two in Kinshasa. The family spirit between the Congregations is awe-inspiring. We were received warmly and had some informal sharing.

On behalf of the General Leadership Team, I would like to thank the confreres in the Congo district and the district leadership team for facilitating our visit to the various communities and attending to our needs. We experienced the MSC hospitality that is very inherent in our charism as a Congregation. Thank you very much!

Gene Pejo, MSC (Philippines)