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Pastoral Leaders in Need of
Training
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By Fr. Celestino
Chishimba, OMI
Participants of a pastoral
training workshop, which was held in Mongu diocese recently,
have called on the church to provide more training for pastoral
leaders.
The training took place at
St. Lawrence in Limulunga where the Participants dedicated
themselves to create the Church that is self-sustainable. The
main aim of the workshop was to train pastoral leaders on
Pastoral responsibilities.
The workshop, whose theme
was "The New Leaders of the new Parish ”,
attracted 70 pastoral leaders from the Parishes of St. Lawrence
in Limulunga, and St. Francis Malengwa, which are served by
Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Capuchin Franciscan
respectively.
As the Parish Priest of St. Lawrence, I was called in to see the
zeal of the leaders during the training. I noted that the
training had exposed their hunger for more training in the
Parish in order to equip the people of God for ministry in the
Parish.
During the workshop, the main challenge to the participating
parishes was to own the Church by integrating the Gospel in the
Silozi Culture.
Fr. Cletus Mwiila, the Executive Director of Radio Mosi-oa-tunya
in Livingstone facilitated the training. He challenged the
participants to lead the parish life towards a local Church
realisation.
He called on the Priests of the two parishes to animate the
birth of a self-supporting, self-ministering and
self-propagating Church.
It came to light during the workshop that the Bishops of Zambia
have called all Parishes and Dioceses of Zambia to become
self-supporting in order for the Christians to own the Church.
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Congo Oblate province
Celebrates 75 years of Missionary presence
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“Our Jubilee is an
Ecclesiastical Event. It is then with gratitude to God that I ask
you to join us in this Eucharistic celebration. Reflecting on this
event, I have identified four words which may lead us into
meditation and reflection: jubilation, commemoration, renewal and
constancy in our mission to preach the good news”.
These were the words of
Father Mane Macaire, the Congo Provincial as he addressed
thousands of Christians gathered to celebrate the Jubilee.
For the Provincial, the
Jubilee was a time to rejoice, a time to commemorate thepast, a
time to create a new future and a time to remain faithful to the
Charism of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
The Oblate province of Congo
was started by the Belgian province Oblates in 1931.
The first Missionary to
arrive was Father Eudore Hubert a Belgian Missionary who was
ministering in Lesotho. He arrived in Congo on July, 12 1931. He
was later joined by Fathers Edmond Renson and Jean Baptiste Adam,
also Missionaries from Belgium.
Presently, the Province of
Congo numbers 141 Oblates in first and perpetual vows as well as 1
Bishop who are working in five Dioceses within the Congo and two
dioceses in the Angola Mission.
More than 20 Congolese born
Oblates are ministering in foreign countries. The Province seems
to be dynamic, mature and full of life and the future looks
promising.
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Beatitudes of Politicians
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(Adapted from Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan,
President of the Pontifical Council for Justice
and Peace)
Blessed is the
politician who:
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Well
understands their role in the world.
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Personally
exemplifies credibility.
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Works for
the common good and not for their own interests.
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Is true to
themselves, their faith and their electoral promises.
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Works for
unity and makes Jesus the centre of its defense.
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Works for
radical change, refusing to call good that which is evil
and using the gospel as a guide.
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Listens to
the people before, during and after the elections, and who
listens to god in prayer.
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Has no fear
of the truth or the mass media because at the time of
judgement, they will answer only to God not the media.
And blessed indeed
is the politician who look into the eyes of the poor and act on
the anguish they see in them. For them and for those to come, the
kingdom of God will be given to them.
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Congratulations
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Congratulations to our
brother Oblates, Fernando Velasquez, Porfirio Garcia, Quilin Bouzi,
Juan Ayala and Francisco Javier Gomez, who made their final
professions on September 2, 2006 in San Antonio, United States of
America Province.
Fernando, Porfirio & Paco come from
Mexico in Mexicalli, Veracruz & Tijuana respectively. Quilin
is from New York (he did his internship in Lukulu, Zambia for one
year) whilst Juan cames from Pacoima.
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