Fr. General in Council named Fr. Kalondo Kabila Protais Provincial of the Province of Africa this past Saturday, March 3, 2012.

Fr. Protais is currently the regional superior of the Assumptionists in East Africa and a member of the outgoing provincial council. So he understands the Province of Africa well. He is particularly known as an outstanding pastor, a man passionate about the causes of God and of man.

Since his ordination as a priest, he has worked mostly in parishes as pastor but has also served as a vocation recruiter --- of young religious but also lay associates. He didn’t wait for the official recognition of the Lay-religious Alliance to promote it within his own province, especially in East Africa.

Today the Province of Africa counts more than 270 religious, the largest part of whom are still in formation. The province covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and soon Uganda. More than thirty religious from this province are serving as missionaries throughout the Congregation from Chile to the Philippines, from Canada to Turkey, from Mexico to Burkina Faso.

Fr. Protais will take office on June 1, 2012. We assure him of our support and warm wishes as well as our prayers, because the task before him is not easy and the challenges he will face, he and his Council, are enormous.