In Bobo-Dioulasso, partners-in-mission share responsibility for the Good Shepherd mission through prayer, formation, service, governance, and discernment. On July 31, 2026, seven of them made a formal commitment to live and share the charism that already shapes their lives and work.
On July 31, 2026, as Good Shepherd communities around the world marked the 230º anniversary of the birth of Saint Mary Euphrasia, the chapel of the Good Shepherd community in Bobo-Dioulasso was filled with sisters, partners-in-mission, families, friends and colleagues. During the Eucharistic celebration, Marie Cécile Traoré, Angèle Sanou, Blanche Bambara, Michel Fayama, Gilbert Zerbo, Antoine Sanou, and Jean Ouattara (main picture) publicly committed themselves to walking with Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and helping carry out its mission. It was the first formal commitment of its kind since our sisters established a presence in the Archdiocese of Bobo-Dioulasso in 2012.
Their commitment gave visible expression to a reality that has long been growing in Burkina Faso. Across the Congregation, partners-in-mission are people who freely accept co-responsibility and work collaboratively to advance the Good Shepherd mission. Their participation is rooted in a shared vocation for mission, lived through distinct roles, gifts, and experience.
The July celebration was the culmination of a year of formation and shared activity. At an annual planning meeting on October 18, 2025, the group set out a common path toward formal commitment. Monthly sessions explored the lives and legacy of Saint John Eudes and Saint Mary Euphrasia; the Congregation’s charism and history; its mission in Burkina Faso and around the world; the meaning of baptism in the spirituality of Saint John Eudes; and the Congregation’s regionalization and Chapter processes. A Lenten retreat, a special formation session on July 25, and an evening of prayer and adoration on July 30 helped the partners deepen both their knowledge and their spiritual grounding.
That formation led to concrete service. In April, partners-in-mission and sisters visited girls at the (Havre du Bon Pasteur), offering support and materials with which to make soap for a solidarity initiative at Bobo-Dioulasso’s prison. On May 31, the partners visited the prison and delivered the soap the girls produced. The initiative connected two Good Shepherd ministries and allowed one group experiencing vulnerability to extend care and solidarity to another.
Partners-in-mission also contribute to reflection and governance. At two general assemblies of the community’s board, held in January and June of this year, they joined sisters and other resource people to review the achievements, difficulties, challenges, and future of the local apostolates, as well as changes to Burkina Faso’s legal framework for national and international organizations. Jean Ouattara has represented the country’s partners-in-mission in work connected with formation and the regionalization process, while other partners joined sisters in the Region of Africa Pre-Chapter gathering. Their presence shows co-responsibility taking shape not only in direct service, but also in discernment and decision-making.
This shared responsibility matters across the Good Shepherd mission in Bobo-Dioulasso. The community accompanies women in prison, equips young women for employment through the Centro de Formación Profesional Rose Virginie, supports children’s learning and well-being at Centro Infantil Corderos del Buen Pastor ( Les Agneaux du Bon Pasteur), accompanies women and girls at the Havre du Bon Pasteur, and works alongside internally displaced women. Sisters, partners-in-mission, staff, pastoral workers, and local community members bring different capacities to this work, strengthening paths toward dignity, independence, and social reintegration.
Father Arthur Boka, a Eudist priest and parish priest of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, presided over the July 31 celebration. In his homily, he recalled Saint Mary Euphrasia’s legacy: “Go to those who suffer, lift up those who have fallen, and believe in the possibility for every person to begin again.”
The seven partners freely committed themselves to living the Good Shepherd charism and its values of mercy, reconciliation, and respect for human dignity, and to supporting the mission’s work of welcome, education, the advancement of women, and the social reintegration of people experiencing vulnerability.
On behalf of the community, Sister Yvonne Bambara welcomed them as full members of the Good Shepherd family and encouraged other partners to continue discerning their own path toward commitment. Time together and dancing brought the celebration to a close, but the commitment itself marked a beginning. These seven partners will now continue to embody the charism in their families, workplaces, society, communities, and Good Shepherd ministries, supported by the prayer and companionship of the wider community. In Burkina Faso, one mission is increasingly being carried through many lives—together.
