- Would you share a bit about your background: family, childhood, early education etc.?
My name is Pacifique Kambale Tsongo. I was born in Oicha, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on February 7, 1990. My parents are Joseph Kambale (father) and Astrid Kyakimwa (mother). I have one younger sister whose name is Louange Kahindo.
In my family, I learned to care for my sister and cousins, to clean the house and the dishes, and look for food for the guinea pigs. On holidays, we traveled to relax and meet other family members. I also learned to pray and to participate in activities held by catholic groups such as the group of altar servers and the group of youth who aspire to religious life. When I started school, my mother was courageous in training me to read children’s books. I was good at reading, but I preferred playing with friends.
I spent my first seventeen years with my family. During this period, I received my early education in our village called Mabuku. After the elementary school, I studied pedagogy in high school. At the end of this school, I left my family to work as a teacher. I taught in an elementary school called Mudoole. Even if I didn’t earn enough money, even if the distance was so long, I really enjoyed this experience.
I’m sincerely grateful to my family, especially to my mother Astrid, who worked a lot for my life. Her daily efforts were – and are still – for me an incarnation of love, heroism, and sanctity.
- Where/how did your Assumptionist roots begin? Did anyone in particular have a significant impact on your life?
I first heard about the Assumptionists during a meeting of young people who aspire to religious life. The seminarian who told us about them was called Pacifique (today a diocesan priest). It was in 2006. Three elements of his presentation of the Assumptionists family caught my attention: the ART, fraternal life, and ways of working for the Kingdom of God, especially education. That seminarian encouraged me in learning much about the Assumptionist and helped me send letters to the Assumptionist vocational promotor. I finally met the first Assumptionists at the end of my secondary school, the same year I was teaching. They accompanied me very well. I asked to become a pre-postulant and was accepted. That was a great joy for me. It was also my first step in Assumption.
- Would you share some of your later education and formation memories?
At the end of the pre-postulancy period, I started formation as postulant. This was my first experience of living in a community. It was the first time I experienced the fraternal life I had heard about, and the first time of sharing the charism of the Assumption. During this year, I worked much as a vice-treasure. This was a lot of work! Thanks to God and my brothers, everything went well.
As a novice, I continued the same work before I worked as a sacristan. During the novitiate, main activities were praying, discernment, classes, and manual work. I made my first vows August 14, 2011: I finally became an Assumptionist.
Then, I studied philosophy for three years. Reflections on the human condition and hermeneutics were my favorite fields.
July 22, 2018, I pronounced my final vows at the Montmartre Canadian. It was an occasion of thanksgiving.
In 2020, I got a Master’s degree in theology from Laval University / Quebec City. My dissertation was on filiation. Afterward, I was ordained to diaconate and to priesthood.
I am now preparing to attend a PhD program in theology at Laval University in fall 2023.
- Do you have any favorite scripture passages?
Lk 4, 18 about the proclamation of the good news to the poor, is one of my favorite passages. From it, I hear a call to do all that is possible so that everybody receives the word and the salvation of God. As an Assumptionist, I believe that this passage can be understood as an orientation: I’m an Assumptionist for announcing the word of God. In addition to this passage, I like to read and meditate biblical texts about filiation.
- How have you experienced growth in the living out of your Assumptionist charism?
Our charism is to work for the Kingdom of God, in us and around us. The first way I experience it is by living in unity with my brothers, sharing joys and other matters. The grace of fraternal life, the effort, understanding, and harmony are, for me, the basics we need to live our charism.
Fidelity to community and personal prayer, meditation, readings are also ways of incarnating our charism.
There are other ways to incarnate our charism in our daily life. Some of them are the openness to love and relationships with God and human beings, acceptance to share what we have, commitment to work with audacity and initiative, availability for mission, and service.
There are also apostolic works, especially those privileged by our congregation. Participating in them is also a way for me to experience our charism in a concrete way.
- Would you share any happy memories/stories?
Hmmm. Maybe not.
- What hobbies or other interests do you have?
Playing tennis, bicycling, and listening to music.
- What is your vision and or hope for the future of the congregation and/or the Church?
I believe that the Word of God can be understood by everyone despite all kinds of labels that somebody might have. I also believe that people can build humanizing relationships among them at different levels. Therefore, I consider that it would be important for us as members of the same family to remain hopeful and to work joyfully for the Kingdom as well as we can, remembering that we are apostles and not the masters – our master is Jesus. Audacity and initiative (E. d’Alzon) are qualities that would help us to always move forward despite different kinds of challenges.
- Is there anything about you that you would like to share or that would surprise others?
Yes. I have an upcoming book. It will come out on April 20, 2023. It’s entitled Parcours de la filiation. Essai sur les constantes et les differences de la vie filiale. It’s a book about our status and life as sons and daughters. Those who are not French speaking people can offer it as a gift to their loved ones.