Cor Unum et Anima Una
One Heart and One Soul
Mission is the whole reason for Spiritan religious life. The Rule of Life describes it as our way of sharing, as Fr Claude Poullart des Places and Venerable Francis Libermann did before us, in Christ’s own mission of proclaiming the Good News and building up a Church that truly belongs to the poor. Present in Africa since 1779 and across every SCCAI circumscription today, that same sending — lived one heart and one soul — continues.
Understanding Mission
What the Rule of Life Teaches
The Spiritan Rule of Life (Chapter 2) treats mission not as one activity among others, but as the very meaning of our consecration. It is, all at once, a numerical and geographical extension of the Gospel to places and peoples not yet reached, a particular service offered to local Churches, an evangelization of cultures, and patient work for the transformation of society. Because “the Spirit of the Lord has been sent upon us” (Rule of Life, No. 8), mission begins as a movement of the Holy Spirit before it is ever a plan of our own.
A Mission with Many Faces
Five Dimensions, One Calling
Following the Rule of Life, Spiritans understand mission as several movements held together: reaching further afield to peoples who have not yet heard the Gospel; putting our particular gifts at the service of local Churches; engaging cultures so that the Gospel can truly take root within them; and working for the transformation of society, especially where injustice keeps people from living in dignity. No single form stands alone — each completes the others (Rule of Life, No. 11 and following).
Formation and Exchange
Student Exchange
We facilitate the exchange of students and staff between circumscriptions and coordinate the Centres for Ongoing Formation, so confreres keep growing throughout their Spiritan vocation.
A Preference for the Poor
Available Wherever We Are Needed
The Rule of Life calls every Spiritan to give practical priority to the poorest and to peoples who have had the least opportunity to hear the Gospel. It asks for a particular kind of readiness: to be available, to go where the need is greatest, and to accept demanding or unforeseen assignments in a spirit of faith. This availability, more than any single project, has always marked Spiritan life.
Living Out Mission Today
Dialogue, Culture and Communion
Dialogue and Inculturation
Meeting Cultures and Faiths
The Rule of Life calls Spiritans to genuine dialogue — with other Christians, with believers of other religions, and with the cultures in which we live and work. Evangelizing a culture does not mean imposing on it from outside, but helping the Gospel be received, understood and lived within each people’s own language, symbols and traditions, so that faith and culture can enrich one another.
A Mission We Share Together
Never a Private Undertaking
Mission, the Rule of Life insists, is never a private undertaking. It belongs to the whole Spiritan community and, through it, to the whole Church. We prepare for it, discern it and carry it out together — praying, deciding and sending one another as one body — so that the communities we serve encounter not an isolated individual, but a Congregation genuinely present with them.
Walk Alongside Our Missionaries
Photos and stories from our circumscriptions’ mission work will be added here soon. In the meantime, to learn more about SCCAI’s mission or to support our missionaries across Africa and the Islands, please get in touch with the Executive Secretariat.