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TCD Under-5 Missionary Exposure Program
To respond warmly to such courageous souls, we welcome them wholeheartedly and propose to them, year after year, quite an interesting Introduction to New Missionaries programme, to make them feel at home in the first place, and then to introduce them gradually to the intercultural mission and living here.
« It’s the last season of Under-FIVE for me personally”, says Agnel Rebello at the end of this year’s on-going formation session, “but it’s been a very unique experience this time. What’s impressed me deeply is the persevering courage of most of these missionaries living in such interior missions, far from the comfort-zones of modern life, so very well close to the people and their life situations. It’s true, in our mission context too, there are several difficulties to face and live with, but it’s reassuring to see that our Society takes care of us, by this kind of regular mission-exploration-outings, preparing us to be joyful missionaries, in spite of the challenges”.
Accompanying significantly what is known figuratively as UNDER-FIVE confreres (young missionaries up until five years after their final profession in the Society) by a missionary-exposure programme for four days has become an annual feature here. Happy indeed to tell you that we just celebrated the 5th edition of this programme with five young confreres this year: Agnel Rebello, Camille Yetinam, Dany Chirackal, Fransiskus Pa Ngita and Lukas Hanusek were accompanied by Joseph Kallanchira to the neighbouring diocese of Laï, some 200km away from Moundou, February 17-20.
Personal sharing of joys and sorrows, practical lessons in (French) language learning, listening to the Vicar General on the missionary context and challenges of the diocese and to the diocesan treasurer on the importance of transparent financial administration, sharing meals with and listening to stories of other expatriate missionaries – men and women religious doing mission for the last several years in rural parishes of the diocese, visiting around the small township of Laï and the high-school seminary facility, celebrating the Eucharist as a group in appreciation for the religious-missionary-intercultural vocation in the Society, visiting a farm to collect new ideas in self-help entrepreneurial local projects et al were all activities during this brief missionary sojourn outside our regular communities.
Lukas has this to say: “I was particularly happy to see and share with some of those expatriate missionaries, living in that neighbouring diocese for several years. Besides, it gave me an opportunity to be with young confreres of mine, travel with them, re-living the intercultural experience: a welcome change of physical environment for me after several months now in an interior SVD parish myself”. François quickly added: “I too am quite impressed with these four days being together… I noticed while on the move, the harsh realities of daily life of the people, in those villages by the side of the sandy, and red-soil in-roads… I also appreciated the content of our programme – it’s a good way of introducing us to the actual missionary life that’s awaiting us in our SVD context here”.
We parted from Laï enriched by these various experiences. Agnel will leave this group this year graduating thus from the Under-FIVE school! One thing he said stayed with me: “What I learn from this community exercice is to live my life with a great sense of gratitude, with less and less complaining to do on a daily basis on the so-called challenges – be it on language learning, on malaria, on the heat and dust resulting from the Sahara during half of any year. I am simply proud to be an SVD missionary in Chad”.
We are likely to receive two more recently-appointed confreres on their arrival in Chad during this pastoral year. We are thus looking forward to another missionary expedition in early 2026 to another part of the country, to discover new people, places and ideas. Our hope is bold, as Pope Francis would teach us in Fratelli Tutti (cf. #69).
Joseph Kallanchira, SVD
