One hundred and ten priests from twenty African nations met in Nairobi from 27 July to 4 August for a “Panafrican Conference of Focolare Priests”. The meeting was entitled: “In God’s Family the Church: A Way for Priests Today”. Through discussions in workshops and plenary sessions, they explored some of the challenges facing the Church on the African continent. What united these priests from so many ethnic backgrounds at a small Focolare town near to Nairobi in Kenya? They wished to contribute to the rediscovery and actualisation of God’s design for this continent, in the light of the evangelical lifestyle proposed by the Focolare Movement, which has been present in Africa for nearly forty years. The president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce, welcomed the priests in a written message at the opening of the conference: “I heartily wish that the presence of the Risen Lord in your midst may be the Light for understanding how Jesus desires priests to be in this day and age, and how they can serve the Church in our most beloved Africa, which has so much to offer to the whole world.” The conference gave living expression to the potential of the African clergy today. It also underscored the average age of the attendants – thirty-five – many of whom are already in positions of responsibility. In an Africa which some of the participants described as the “Africa of crises”, the idea of the family, which is so central to African social and ecclesial culture, took on new intensity and light when viewed from the perspective of mutual love and evangelical unity. The discovery of Jesus Crucified and Forsaken as the key to reconciliation and peace, led them not to feel that the challenge was a utopia, but to enter into the wounds and to become protagonists on the road of renewal and of communion which have the measureless love of Christ as their standard. The meeting was based on listening and sharing, with moments for reflecting and examining in study groups. And there were plenary meetings for sharing and discovering ways to incarnate their vision in a culturally liveable proposal for the Church in Africa. The meeting was interspersed with real life experiences that were “offered,” as one attendant wrote, “not in the form of scientific accounts, but in a family style which was nevertheless not disorganized, and had much to offer for meditation.” This renewed in them their calling to rediscover themselves as men of God who are called to evangelize Africa with the weapons of the spirit, of love and of unity. Also through their ability to go against the current, as the Nunzio Apostolico of Kenya, Paul Alain Lebeaupin stated during his presentation. The Archbishop of Mombasa, Boniface Lele, invited the participants to a great openness and mutual assistance among priests so that they may be coherent servants among the Family of God.” The nations represented at the conference stretched from the Atlantic to Indian Oceans and embraced the austral and central regions of Africa: Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Madagascar. Compiled by the Secretariat for Priests of the Focolare Movement