“I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus).”  (Philippians 3:12)

A new year has begun and already the team has changed.

Our life is thus made up of departures and arrivals to respond to the Lord’s call for mission.

Departures…

Our group of brothers has decreased with two departures. Despite all that we have managed to build together during these two years, Brother Marie Van responded generously to the necessity of a priory to have a superior. For his part, our young Ethiopian brother Antonios left also to continue his training in Cameroon (Country which he already knows well and appreciates). We pray for both of them.

… and a return!

As for us, we rejoice at the return of Brother Lazarus of the Mother of God. He was on pastoral experience in Addis from 2019 to 2021. We will benefit from his experience in Ethiopia but also from all the training and experience he has received since then. He left us as a trainee, he came back as a priest!

New momentum

With this new team of 5, we bravely start the year by rolling up our sleeves for the challenges that await us. I’ll let you discover them in the following article.

Brother Benoît David.

“Christ […] fully manifests man to himself and enables him to discover the sublimity of his vocation hidden in the heart of the Eternal” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, no. 22)

Dear friends,

The vocation does not belong to us: it is a free gift of Christ, offered to each one of us in order to respond freely, to flourish and to build the Kingdom of God with his talents as well as with his limitations.

We are grateful to share with you two immense joys:

– The ordination of Brother Yakob, the first Ethiopian brother in our community. Currently assigned to the Priory of London, he will be ordained a priest on November 22, 2025 in Meki, his diocese of origin, 200 km south of Addis Ababa.

–The arrival of new vocations: since October 1^st, we have been welcoming several young vocations to Addis Ababa: four Kenyans for our community and two Ethiopian candidates who are being trained for another community. They desire to discern God’s call, especially attracted by our religious life.

These young people, full of hope, are entrusted to the responsibility of the five brothers of our priory: a task that is demanding from a human point of view and requires us to be both available and witnesses of Christ in our religious life for their formation. It is also a material challenge: welcoming them free of charge for a year is only possible with the help of Providence.

Following the example of Saint John the Baptist, we believe that it is by bearing witness to the living and risen Christ in our midst that we will be able to guide those whom God places on our path.

In this Jubilee Year, with the arrival of these young vocations, we feel called more than ever to be witnesses of “the hope that does not disappoint“. (Romans 5:5).

We thank you already for your support, spiritual and material, through your prayers and your donations, which allow our mission to bear fruit.

Be assured of our faithful prayers for each one of you.

Brother Philippe François