The Superior General of the C.M. and the Daughters of Charity, Father G. Gregory Gay, narrates his recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to Congo Brazzaville, where he met with the missionaries of the C.M., the Daughters of Charity, and diverse groups of the Vincentian Family.I made this trip with the International President of the Vincentian Marian Youth, Miss Yasmine Cajuste. JMV gave us a presentation on Saint Catherine and the Miraculous Medal in the Vincentian Parish of Saint Adrian. It was a very beautiful, well prepared, and well carried out presentation, in which scenes from Saint Catherine Labouré’s life were recited by heart. Then we traveled to Mbandaka and Bikoro, in the country’s interior, where the first missions of the C.M. and the Daughters of Charity are. Bikoro was the first foundation of the C.M. in the Congo. There we had a meeting with the Vincentian Family and met also with members of the C.M. and the Daughters of Charity.
Afterwards, we continued toward the country’s interior, to Itipo, where we also met with the missionaries, the Daughters of Charity, and other members of the Vincentian Family. The Vincentian Family’s strongest group in this interior part of the country is the AIC. We went on further into the interior to a village called Iboko, from which the Daughters of the Charity had to leave nine years ago for political reasons. The confreres are still there with other members of the Vincentian Family, especially the AIC and the AMM. The people want the Daughters of Charity to return, because their presence is sorely lacking, especially in a clinic, where they had been doing good work.
From there, we went to Mbandaka where the provincial house of the Daughters of Charity is located. Once again, we had a meeting with the whole Vincentian Family present in the Congo. We met especially with the AIC, the SSVP, JMV, and also the AMM, as well as with the Daughters of Charity and the confreres. With the Daughters of Charity and the confreres I could share different aspects of our life, encouraging Miss Yasmine to speak to the Sisters and the Priests too on the importance of accompaniment from a laywoman’s point of view. Then, on Sunday, we had Mass with the entire Vincentian Family and the following day we made the difficult trip to Brazzaville. It is not far, but the lack of organization at the border made it very complicated. There is a lot of corruption and the lack of respect that the Congolese themselves show toward their people, especially the poorest, and the awful way they treat foreigners, left me with a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, however, we reached Brazzaville and met with the AIC and a group of more than 200 gentlemen in a parish run by a diocesan priest. We had the Eucharist and later a meeting with the AIC, with a small group of the SSVP, and with three Daughters of Charity, who compose the Community in this village. In all, there are four communities of Daughters of Charity in Congo Brazzaville of which three are in the city.
The following day, the day before my return to Europe, we went back to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. With the Visitor and Miss Yasmine we visited two more communities of the confreres and the Vincentian Family. It was a trip of more than eight hours in motorboats.
