White Fathers: Difference between revisions

The '''White Fathers''' ({{lang-fr|Pères Blancs}}), officially known as the '''Missionaries of Africa''' ({{lang-la|Missionarii Africae}}) and abbreviated '''MAfr'''),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Missionaries of Africa (M. Afr.)|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/orders/030.htm|access-date=2021-12-12|website=GCatholic}}</ref> are a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[society of apostolic life]] of Pontifical Right (for Men) founded in 1868 by then [[Archbishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Algiers|Algiers]] [[Charles Lavigerie|Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie]].<ref>{{cite web|work=Gcatholic|title= Missionaries of Africa (M.AFR) White Fathers |year=2021|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/orders/030.htm|accessdate=15 November 2021}}</ref>

The society focuses on [[evangelism]] and [[education]], mostly in [[Africa]]. In 2021, there were 14281,428 members of the Missionaries of Africa of 36 nationalities, working in 42 countries, in 217 communities.<ref name="blanc" />

At present, in 2021, the Society is repartedconstituted as follows:  

BecomingPresently, athe Whiteprocess Fatherto inbecome thea presentWhite Father is much longer than before. To complete the process of preparation, the candidates must first spend one year in a preparatory centre. Then comes the study of [[Philosophy]] for 3 or 4 years. The next step is the Spiritual Year which takes place in one of 3 centres in Africa. Two are English-speaking, one is French-speaking. The final period of study of 4 years takes place in [[Africa]] or [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="Preparation"/>

| 1922-1936 || Fr. [[Paul Ulrich Villard|Paul Voillard]]