Everywhere: An Intercultural Community in Belgium (ICB)

Our story began a number of years ago when the Provincial sought to establish an Intercultural Community in Belgium. Four individuals were invited to join the endeavour: Martin Eloundou Eloundou from Cameroon, Sathish Anthony Swamy (known as Clement by everyone) from India, Epeli Lutua Soqe from Fiji, and Mark Van Beeumen from Belgium.

The first three completed a course to master the language, which is easier for one than for another. After learning Flemish and a thorough preparation period, during which the four decided what to do and where to live, we found a house in a more disadvantaged neighbourhood called Kiel, on the edge of Antwerp, which we rent from Caritas Catholica. We chose to live in a regular house rather than a monastery or presbytery to be closer to the community. The focus of the project was on community building; this includes our own religious MSC community as well as the wider community. The approach for this was through a Ministry of Presence.

The four members work in very different ministries. Martin serves as the parish priest at the Walburgis Church in the city and is responsible for the French-speaking African community across the entire Antwerp Diocese. He has a full church every week, especially on feast days, with attendees from Cameroon, the DRC, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Senegal, Togo, and Benin. Occasionally, confreres and other priests join in the celebrations.

Apart from his sacramental work, he also supports couples, families, young people, refugees, and asylum seekers, and he engages in many other activities related to the devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. In addition, he celebrates Mass at the local Carmelite convent and at the cathedral once a week. Martin also serves as the current community superior, a role known as ‘Bridge builder.’

The other three community members chose not to take on full-time parish ministry but rather assist the parishes by celebrating masses when requested. Clement and Epeli work in the neighbourhood. Clement engages with the local youth, who come from diverse nationalities. Being an excellent sportsman, he can often be found at the parks playing basketball or football with the youngsters and kids, trying to build good rapport with them. He also volunteers at the food bank run by people from the local parish and is a member of the Belgian Provincial Council, as well as serving as the community bursar.

Epeli works with elderly people in the area and visits those who are lonely and those in care homes. Together with some locals, they set up an organisation that cares for the sick and elderly. Mark serves as Chaplain in the prison in Antwerp. The bishop also asked him to work in the ‘drugs world.’ Every week, Epeli and he go to a drop-in centre for the homeless and people with drug-related issues. Mark also works with the so-called “Open Heart Movement,” the association of the Belgian MSC-Lay associates.

Clement, Epeli, and Mark are also involved in local projects, such as participating in a communal garden where people from the neighbourhood cultivate crops together. They volunteer with some community-serving charities, most of which are secular organisations. Epeli and Clement are gifted musicians and singers. Accompanied by Mark’s beautiful voice, we sometimes play and sing at events and when we’re asked to celebrate Mass in a church.

Since we handle all the house chores ourselves—cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, and so on—along with our ministries, life can get very busy. And, of course, there’s time for prayer and celebrating the Eucharist, which we begin our day with.

The ICB House in Kiel is always open to anyone who wants to visit, whether they are confreres, family, friends, colleagues, or individuals in need of assistance. It is always encouraging to hear people’s appreciation when we meet them or when they invite us.

Of course, not everything goes smoothly all the time. We all come from different cultures and have very different personalities. For effective community building, honest communication is essential. Therefore, we started having monthly community meetings. The biggest challenge was the existence of two different visions about what community is. One vision is “community building inwards and from there pastoral outwards.” This approach begins with caring for each other within the MSC community, and from there, we care for people in the broader community. The other vision starts directly from “pastoral outreach.” Here, the emphasis is on the community being the people we work with. It is challenging to reconcile these two visions, and this sometimes leads to tensions.

But as we read in our Constitutions (33): “True community does not come all about at once. It grows by God’s grace and the constant effort of each member. It needs to be built up each day into a community of faith and love, by prayer and the Eucharist, by listening to and sharing the Word of God. At the same time, it needs to be built up as a human community, knit together by fraternal relationships, where each member brings in his talents and knows that he is recognised, accepted, heard, encouraged and challenged.”

Martin Eloundou Eloundou msc (Cameroon)
Sathish Anthony Swamy msc (India)
Epeli Lutua Soqe msc (Fiji)
Mark Van Beeumen msc (Belgium)