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Missions

As part of the Congregation's charism to go wherever the need is greatest, the Marians have a long history of missionary work. Most provinces have missionaries working in foreign lands -- whether it be in the African nations of Cameroon and Rwanda, former Soviet Republics of Eastern Europe, or the northern reaches of Alaska. The primary missions of the Congregation are in Brazil, Cameroon, and Rwanda. Please continue to keep the Marian missionaries in your prayers.

Also see: Generalate, Brazil, Cameroon, Rwanda

Brief history of the Marians’ African missions

1984 -- The arrival of the first three Marian missionaries in Rwanda (Fr. Francis Filipiec, MIC, Fr. Zdzislaw Zywica, MIC, and Fr. Thadeus Wyszomierski, MIC).

1986 -- The foundation of the Mwange parish in the northern part of Rwanda in the Ruhengeri diocese.

1987 -- The Mwange House was erected in Rwanda.

1989-1990 -- The arrival of the new missionaries (Fr. Marek Ciebien, MIC, Fr. Julian Sztuczka, MIC, Fr. Leszek Czelusniak, MIC, Fr. Ryszard Gorowski, MIC). The beginning of construction of three churches.

1993 -- Begin planning for a Marian spiritual training center in Kiebeho, in southern Rwanda, the place of the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Africa. Fr. Andrew Tokarczyk, MIC, arrived.

1994 -- The opening of the Boulogne-Billancourt Mission House in France with Fr. Marius Janiszewski, MIC, as Director.

1997 -- The creation of an African vicariate of Our Lady of the Confidence and the beginning of the formation of the first three Rwandans for the Congregation.

1997 -- The temporary closing of the Mission House occurred as a stronger commitment to the formation. The construction of the formation house in Nyakinama in the northern part of the country. The arrival of Fr. Ryszard Kusy, MIC, and Fr. Marius Janiszewski, MIC, in Rwanda.

1998 -- The six-month suspension of the mission in Rwanda, provoked by the war. The reopening of the Mission House in France occurred.

1999 -- The return to Rwanda. It was impossible to return to the Mwange parish, so the Marians re-established their house and parish at Nyakinama in Rwanda. The bishop of Nanterre, France, entrusts the parish of St. Benedict in Issy-les-Moulineaux. The Mission House is re-established there. A new mission in the diocese of Doume Abong Mbang in the southeast of Cameroon was created.

2001 -- The religious formation in Rwanda was restarted, the postulate in Nyakinama was opened, and Fr. L. Czelusniak, MIC, returned to Rwanda. The African Vicariate was terminated and two independent houses were established under the direct supervision of the Superior General and his council in Rome.

2002 -- The agreement with Bishop Misago regarding Marian service in Kibeho was renewed.