40 years later.. This item is unavailable.40 years later.

40 years later… is a unique bulletin on history, our history.
Forty years have gone since the 1983 General Assembly that made the historical decision, “The SMA admits applicants from local Churches in Africa to membership”[1] as a fruit of a long discernment process especially in the post Vatican II context. Argentina and Poland had an earlier SMA history and the GA1983 made two motions[2] to support the continuation of the efforts in both countries. I got really curious to know what the Assembly had to say about India and the Philippines, and I discovered that the Assembly said nothing about these two. Asian implantation was an inspiration not during the 1983 Assembly but in between the Assemblies of 1983 and 1989!
Despite the differences in the historical roots of the SMA Units in Africa, Argentina, India, the Philippines, and Poland, we can safely state that the spirit of the 1983 General Assembly created a new momentum for expansion and that affected all these places.
Forty years later, we have seven new SMA Provinces and seven new Districts today.[3]
Are they young? Not anymore.
Are they old? Not yet.
How are they? Mature, as the cover page shows!
Most of our missionaries on the ground are from these Units. So are most of the leaders and formators in the Society. We understand from this that 1983 paved the way for a rebirth of the SMA.
This bulletin helps us to understand the historical and ecclesiastical context before the 1983 decision and the various steps the SMA took after the GA1983 to develop all the so-called new Units. That in turn will help us to understand the social and ecclesiastical context of today and plan our mission.
The bulletin has sixteen articles arranged under three sections: Roots, Vision, and Spotlight. Six SMA Superior Generals have contributed to this bulletin.

Roots

Centenary of the SMA Dutch Province

• Wilfried Kouijzer SMA

Gaston Desribes, founder of the SMA formation houses in Europe

• Michel Bonemaison SMA

Mission Diaries in SMA Archives

• Roberta Grossi

Vision

Mission from Africa? Let's talk about it!

• Antonio Porcellato SMA

Spotlight: Towards a rebirth of the SMA

Africans in the Society of African Missions

• Joseph Hardy SMA

Explorations and expansion

• Patrick Harrington SMA

The early years of the African Foundation

• Daniel Cardot SMA

My engagement with the African Foundation

• John Dunne SMA

Organising Formation in Africa

• Jean-Marie Guillaume SMA

Beginning of SMA Nigerian Province 1983 – 1995

• Des Corrigan SMA

SMA beginnings in India

• Pat Kelly SMA

Six years at the Indian Foundation in the footsteps of our Founder…

• Guy Ioux SMA

History of the SMA Philippines District

• Raulyn Estalane SMA

The first foundation in Poland

• Marian Szatkowski SMA

Looking at Africa from Latin America: the SMA in Argentina

• Mauro Armanino SMA

Mission and self-sufficiency

• Fachtna O’Driscoll SMA

[1] Target 4, General Assembly 1983, p 7.

[2] Motions 1 and 2, General Assembly 1983, p 10.

[3] Provinces: Benin/Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Poland, and Togo; Districts: Central African Republic, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Philippines, Tanzania, and Zambia.