From 13 to 18 November 2023, the Father General of the Order of Pious Schools, Fr Pedro Aguado, made a sectoral visit to the Piarist Vicariate in Congo. He was accompanied by the Assistant General for Africa, Fr Félicien Mouendji. The focus of the visit was on formation, leadership and young adults piarists. During his five-day trip, Fr General first visited Kikonka (diocese of Kisantu) before concluding his visit in Kinshasa.
In Kikonka, Fr Pedro Aguado met with the two formation teams for the novitiate and pre-novitiate. He spoke to each religious and each novice individually and gave the opportunity to any pre-novice who wished to speak to him personally. In addition to these personal meetings, there were further group meetings with the formators, novices and pre-novices. There was also a meeting with the Vicariate Congregation.
At the request of the Calasanctian Sisters, Fr General presided at the Eucharistic celebration for the entry into the prenovitiate of three young Congolese women who had generously accepted to follow in the footsteps of Mother Celestine Donati. This was a very important moment and a great joy. Another moment of joy was the visit to the Saint Joseph Calasanz Primary and nursery school in Kikonka. This is a wonderful school for 153 children.
In Kinshasa, Fr Pedro Aguado visited Scholasticate I. He spoke individually and in community with all the religious of our two houses in Kinshasa. During retreats, he spoke with the young adults of the vicariate in an atmosphere of accompaniment and listening. There was also an exchange with the parish council of St Jude and the coordination group for the Kinshasa college project. He concluded his visit with a tour of the construction sites of the college, the community house and the parish church.
After the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fr Pedro Aguado took up his pilgrimage baton again to visit our house of formation in Bengerville, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The visit took place from 3 to 6 December 2023. Here he spoke individually with each of the formators and scholastics of this house who supervise our theology students. He also organised a joint meeting with the entire formation team.
After Abidjan, Father General visited Senegal from 6 to 13 December 2023. He visited in turn the prenovitiate in Mbour, the novitiate in Sokone and the scholasticate in Dakar. In each formation community, he spoke individually with each formator and each young person in formation. Meetings were also held with all the members of each community and with the Provincial Congregation of West Africa (EPAO).
Pedro Aguado led the opening session of the meeting of the parish priests of our Piarist communities in Africa. This took place in the Pouponnière in Dakar, under the direction of Fathers Javier Alonso and Enivaldo.
