I was born on July 18, 1988 in "the land of integrity," that is to say, Burkina Faso. I can trace my vocation back to the various organizations I joined at my home parish of Barsalogo: altar servers, vocation awareness group, Christian scouts know as CV-AV… After finishing grammar school, I entered St. Cyprian's minor seminary in the diocese of Kaya in 2001 and later, in 2006, transferred to St. Augustine Seminary in Koupéla. Afterward, as I was doing my humanities at St. Irenaeus Seminary, I discovered the Assumption, which attracted me by the simplicity of life of the religious, their ministry, especially their collaboration with lay people. So it was that I began my postulancy in October 2010 and was accepted to this year's novitiate. I have tried to make my own the prayer of the Dominican priest, Louis-Joseph Lebret, "O God, send us madmen who do more than just speak; who are authentic and are so for a lifetime. We need madmen of today, taken up with a simple life, lovers of peace, untouched by deceit, committed never to betray; mild and strong. O God, send us madmen." I want to be one of these!
Round and round we go in our search, Looking for God here and there, In places we know he is not Through the experience, Of desperate lives Here below.
Round and round we go in our search Through many trials and errors Forgetting the true place Ofhis real presence, In our center: Our heart.
The carousel of search finally stops, With no more whirling rounds, To entrap us in motion. Our life can be still: For he is found In our heart.
It was on December 17, 1991, that Fathers Frans Desmet (South Belgium) and Thierry Cocquerez (France), having taken off from Logan Airport in Boston (USA), arrived at Seoul International Airport where they were welcomed by the local superior of the Missionary Fathers of St. Columban. The following day they were joined by Fr. Leo Brassard (USA) whose plane had been delayed in Los Angeles with technical difficulties. And so it was that the Assumptionists were to set foot once again in the Far East. For, in fact, they were forced to leave Manchuria in 1954 under pressure from the Communists. Christmas would be celebrated with the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption in Kwangju, a city in the southwest part of the country. It would be there that the community would establish its first community after two years of language study in Seoul.
- 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.
The Triduum of prayer and reflection that preceded the Commemoration prepared us well for the solemn celebration on Sunday presided by our Bishop, Mgr. Christo Prolkov. This year, the parishioners from Kuklen joined those from Plovdiv. This helped to create a true spirit of family and unity.
The Divine Liturgy is an event characterized by a place and rites whose purpose is to bring us to encounter God so as to be transfigured by Him. The chants, the icons, the incense, the candles, the Word from the Holy Scriptures, are all meant to open our hearts so that God can touch them and make them more “holy” by the gift of his grace.
In honor of the 200th birthday of Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon, Assumption College released a festschrift titled, Teaching after d’Alzon: Essays on Education Today, about the power of the Assumptionist founder and educator’s ever-present influence on today’s classroom. In the publication, Assumption community members reflect on how their own teaching lives have been formed in the tradition of d’Alzon.
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