- Could you tell us a little bit about your history with the Assumptionists?

- I come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where I was born in December 1965 in the small village of Beni-Paida, in the province of North Kivu. My adventure with the Assumptionists began in 1984 when I met Fr. Christian Blanc, of happy memory, who was visiting the Orant Sisters of the Assumption in Beni. Six months later, I was already a postulant, and two years later, on September 16, 1986, a young Assumptionist.

Since then, I have come to know, to love, and to transmit to others my love for the Assumption, which has really become my new family.

Fr. Marcel Neusch, philosopher and theologian, has read St. Augustine a lot. He has studied him a lot, reflected on him a lot, and also taught about him a lot. He has done so as a professor in theological schools and seminaries, as a retreat master, and as a conference speaker --- before the most varied audiences and at every level. He has also written a lot on the bishop of Hippo, in erudite tomes as well as humble magazines. Without being a ‘specialist’ of St. Augustine in the strict sense of the word, let us say that Marcel Neusch knows his subject. And he knows how to make him known and loved thanks to his recognized ability as teacher and as one who knows how to make complex information accessible.

- Brother Antoine, could you introduce yourself briefly?

- Brother Antoine (BA): I am an Assumptionist, born in Alsatia (France), from a peasant family that was deeply Catholic. I made my first vows in 1955. As a young religious I pursued a dream of becoming a missionary --- first in Ivory Coast and then in Madagascar.

-  You were a missionary in Madagascar for 30 years and here you are again a missionary, this time in Burkina Faso. What keeps you going?

For the past year, I have had the privilege of serving on the editorial board for Lumen et Vita, a student-initiated and facilitated academic journal at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. This often requires a lot of so-called 'grunt work'; this includes planning events, drafting flyers, the long process of selecting and editing submitted articles and finally producing a finished product which appears online. What motivates me and the others on the editorial board is the purpose of our efforts: to provide a space for students at our school to share their ideas about theology and ministry within the community of the school itself, but also with the larger community of those interested in these topics.