How promising is the future of the Church in Africa?Peace and hope, the main threads of the Pope's trip to Mozambique, Madagascar and MauritiusFlorence OlooOnly Africans can provide effective solutions to their own problems".The presentation of the Native Vocations Day took place today at the headquarters of the Pontifical Mission Societies. José María Calderón, director of OMP Spain, pointed out the close relationship that exists between this day and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, since as a universal Church we must pray for the emergence of vocations on a national and universal level. In the same way, he indicated that there is a temptation to pray that "there be missionaries", but that, even if there were thousands, it would be necessary to continue praying for vocations in the evangelized territory. The presentation was also attended by Jesús Torres, a missionary in Africa.
Importance of native vocations
"A missionary is still a foreigner," the director pointed out. "We must have our own vocations to take over from the missionaries so that the Church can be strong (...) To feel with the Church means that the reality of Christians in other parts of the world also concerns me (...). It is a day to grow in the Catholic sense of the Church, of concern for one another".
Jesús Torres, missionary in Africa
The presentation was attended by Father Jesús Torres, diocesan priest and missionary of the Spanish Institute of Foreign Missions (IEME). Jesus has lived in Mozambique for 26 years, and he told briefly that from a very young age he knew that his vocation was to be a missionary, but without ceasing to be a diocesan priest.
After 14 years as a rural priest in the diocese of Segovia, he went as a missionary to Mozambique. "I found a Church that fascinated me. That intuition that I had of what it should be to live the Gospel I found in Africa". He adds: "Africa evangelized me (...) It revealed to me that Church in which we had to walk together".
Torres arrived in Mozambique in 1985. At that time, Mozambique had some 500 years of evangelization, and it was a living church at the level of Christian communities. However, there were no native vocations. He understood that this Church had to grow. The diocese of Beira, when he arrived, had only four Mozambican priests, including the bishop. It was a town already evangelized, a church of Mozambicans, but without Mozambican priests.
According to this missionary, this situation derives from the time when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, since the evangelizers at that time considered that, being Mozambique Portuguese territory, they could always send the priests that were needed. Later, St. Paul VI had an intuition: "Africa must be evangelized by Africans". This was of great importance for Africa in general and produced a renaissance in the Mozambican Church, which began to have native bishops.
"We missionaries have to know how to retire."
Jesús Torres pointed out that "the first evangelization is to implant the Church, and that is what we missionaries are for". But, once implanted, there was a lack of native vocations. The first seminaries were founded, but the revolution in Mozambique cut short the momentum. Just when he arrived in the country, the bishop at the time had made the decision to open seminaries, since they were the only way for the local church to grow. The bishop asked him to help him as a teacher in the seminary of the diocese of Beira.
In addition to his pedagogical work, he also visited the most remote villages, where he found lively Christian communities, but, again, without priests of his own. As a result of this work, native vocations began to emerge. "We missionaries have to know how to withdraw and how to implant the local church," he said.
Since 1993, Jesus was rector of the seminary, a position he held for thirteen years. He indicated to the bishop that as soon as the first students were ordained, the position of rector had to be filled by a Mozambican.
"We missionaries have a hard time trusting"
In 2011 he returned to Spain to serve as a priest in his diocese, although he has maintained contact with his former students in Mozambique. This year he has visited those communities where he was a missionary, and where Mozambican priests who were his students are now practicing.
In the three dioceses in Mozambique there are about 100 priests, and the majority of the parishes are directed by native priests. There has been, without a doubt, a growth, but he affirms, however, that at present there is a slight setback, because "it is difficult for the missionaries to trust that they will be able to carry out this growth".
He comments that white bishops have recently been reappointed and that two seminaries are led by Mozambicans, but one is once again led by foreigners.
The missionary made an appeal to trust: "The way is not for the missionaries to return (...) That is the importance of this Day of Native Vocations. It is the only way of growth, and that growth requires trust".
He also pointed out the importance of the Work of St. Peter the Apostle and of donations for the missions to be able to move forward.
