Vincentian Africa: A Voice Awakening.
The Vincentian Family of Africa in the progressive construction of its identity within the Charism:
Recent Experience in Cameroon

In recent days, I have had the privilege of meeting the Vincentian Family in Cameroon. It has been a profoundly enriching experience, filled with hope, challenges, and signs of the Spirit that both encourage and question.

In this vibrant and complex country, where multiple languages, traditions, and social realities coexist, a Vincentian Family flourishes, made up of nine active branches, three of which were born right here, in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa. This fruitful and collaborative coexistence is, in itself, a prophetic seed: AIC (International Association of Charities), Daughters of Charity, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentian Marian Youth, Congregation of the Mission, Association of the Miraculous Medal, Missionary Sisters of Hope (Cameroonian foundation), Louise de Marillac Association (Cameroonian foundation), Circle of Friends of St. Vincent de Paul (Cameroonian foundation).

In my meeting with the National Council, composed of the leaders of these branches, and in my visits to some of their works, I was able to witness the dynamism, commitment, and human-spiritual richness that the Vincentian Family brings to this context.

Leaders of all branches present in Cameroon.

A mission that incarnates and transforms

The Vincentian charism is, by nature, missionary, incarnational, and itinerant. From its origins, it has been capable of inculturating and transforming according to the needs of time and place. Today, more than ever, we are called to reread, reinterpret, and embody the charism of Vincent de Paul from the concrete realities that surround us. And Africa — with its cultural, spiritual, social, and human wealth — has much to say and contribute to this process.

In the various dialogues held with young people, consecrated persons, lay members, and community leaders, a shared concern emerged spontaneously: the urgency of initiating a deep, formal, and structured dialogue on two key dimensions of our present and future as a Family:

• Interculturality, as a path of communion among traditions, expressions of faith, languages, and diverse ways of living the Gospel and the charism.
• Intergenerationality, as a space of encounter between memory and prophecy, between the wisdom of the elders and the transformative energy of the young within our great Vincentian Family in all its contexts.

Both dimensions are essential for the Vincentian charism not to be simply repeated or adapted, but truly lived, embodied, and recreated in new contexts, with creative fidelity and missionary boldness.

Africa: A voice that needs to be heard

One of the cries that resonated most clearly in this experience in Cameroon was the call for Africa to find its own voice within the global Vincentian Family. It is not a voice that competes, but one that enriches; not an identity that imposes, but one that dialogues from its authenticity and originality. Africa has a heritage of faith deeply marked by resilience, joy, community, music, dance, celebration, shared life… and also by deep wounds caused by various forms of devastating colonialism, even in the religious sphere.

Overcoming these wounds requires a conscious and progressive process of decolonization also in theological and spiritual thought, to give way to an African interpretation of the charism: more inculturated, more communal, more organic, more life-centered. We need to build together a vision of “Vincentian Pan-Africanism,” where the countries of the continent can meet, dialogue, support one another, and discover common paths to live the charism as a transformative force in the service of the poor.

Riches and challenges: lights along the way

As in many other contexts, FAMVIN in Cameroon shares some structural challenges:

• The scarcity of material resources.
• The need for comprehensive, deep, and contextualized formation.
• Difficulties in establishing sustainable processes of collaboration and commitment among the branches.

However, what this country and its people contribute cannot be measured only in terms of scarcity. Here there is a spiritual and human abundance that challenges and nourishes:

• The youth, full of passion, dreams, and the desire to serve.
• A strong sense of community and solidarity, which emerges spontaneously.
• The cultural and natural richness visible in the abundant greenery and the multiplicity of colors that adorn it.
• A joy of faith expressed in liturgy, in song, in daily life.
• A growing awareness of shared mission, where laity, consecrated persons, and clergy walk together in a synodal way.

The future: communion, participation, and mission

We are called to take a further step. To move from good intentions to real structures of communion. To create spaces where the word circulates, where discernment is communal, where the mission is truly shared. We cannot continue reproducing colonial models or hierarchical structures that do not respond to the local reality. The Vincentian Family in Africa — and especially in Cameroon — is mature enough to create its own models of leadership, formation, and spirituality, inspired by Vincent de Paul, but with an African face, with an African soul, with an African body.

A promise in motion

What I saw and lived in Cameroon was not only a spiritual or institutional experience. It was an encounter with a living promise, with a seed that has already germinated and that needs to be cared for, strengthened, and celebrated. The voice of Africa is not asleep: it is awakening. And when it speaks with strength and with love, it will also transform the way all of us understand and live the Vincentian charism. May we know how to listen to it.

Fr. Memo Campuzano, CM

Members of the AMM in Cameroon.

Children and teachers of the Bilingual School of St. Vincent de Paul in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Seminarians of the Congregation of the Mission in Cameroon.

Work with the leaders of FAMVIN Cameroon.