A child’s prayer
From Sister Clémentine Mukampabuka in Oran, Algeria In my catechism class, there are around twenty children, aged 6 to 12. For the most part, these are children born in Algeria to parents in an irregular migration situation. For catechism, the most advanced join the youngest to form a single class. During a session, I offer them the opportunity to pray out loud. One of the prayers caught my attention: Lord, I ask you to release my dad from prison and give him a lot of money to come home to us!” A concrete prayer: I recognized this child. He is only 7 years old. He was born in Algeria to a Nigerian and a Cameroonian. I ask myself Where is home for him?” I visited his father in prison. I can list many things that I recognize; whatever, the Lord knows him. He answers our prayers, especially those…
News from Morocco
Sr. Rehema Toiwoki Kimesera (left) and Sr. Maria Carmen Ocón Moreno next to her with their classmates in Rabat, Morocco. At the centre Mrs Amina A letter from our sisters Rehema Toiwoki Kimesera and Maria Carmen Ocón Moreno in Morocco Dear sisters, We finally found a bit of time to share with you some news since our arrival in Rabat. Rehema arrived on 21st January coming from Tanzania. It was a stressful trip as she had to wait until the last minute at Dar-es-Salaam’s airport before they allowed her to board, wondering why she was to go to Morocco. Her arrival in Rabat was good, only that due to a misunderstanding of the hour of her arrival she was stranded for three hours before the sister picked her up. Maria Carmen arrived on 22nd coming from Spain. She took a ship from Tarifa to Tanger and the train…
Silver Jubilee at the Delwende Center
From our sister Vickness Muleya in the community in St Julien Ouagadougou Cathedral One day, I went to the African Press to ask for information. At reception, I asked to see the priest, responsible for the African Press. Arriving at the office, when he saw me, he said: This is how good God is! It was you I was looking for, but now you found me!” This is how a beautiful Thanksgiving experience began for the silver jubilee of Father Mathurin Ouangrawa at the Delwende Center! Father Mathurin Ouangrawa, director of the African Press, chose the Delwende Center to celebrate his Silver Jubilee of Priesthood. His motivation being: “to bring joy to the residents of the Delwende Center by sharing my joy with them.” He also insisted that, “it was also to bring many other people to discover the Center and to put their hands in the reality…
World Youth Days in Senegal
From sisters Elyse and Olive of the community in Nouakchott, Mauritania From January 26 to 28, 2024, World Youth Days in Senegal were held around the theme Those who hope in the Lord walk without tiring.” Isaiah 40.31. Thousands of young Catholics from the various dioceses of Senegal and other countries in the sub-region participated in this event. Our diocese of Nouakchott was officially invited to participate in this very important event. Thirty people from our diocese responded to this invitation. Our sisters Elyse and Olive left with the parishioners. They share with us their joys experienced during this meeting: What a joy to participate in this meeting of young people in Senegal! Meeting others is one of the values of our congregation. Openness, interculturality, dialogue are values that we experienced, first with the group of people coming from Nouakchott and then with the young people coming from…
There is desert and desert!
From our sister Clementine Mukampabuka There is the desert I visited for the first time in 2004 in Ghardaïa and El Golea and where I sang the hymn of creation; where I met Blessed Charles de Foucauld; where I met Jesus of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Galilee through the presence of our sisters and brothers on mission there! There is another desert, the one where I meet my brothers and sisters detained in the different places of incarceration here in Algeria. They are truly in a desert which deprives them of certain freedoms including that of going where they want, of seeing who they want. In this desert, the angels who feed them are the authorities of the penitentiary establishments and we who share the Word of God with them. We print it and leave it with them as an appointment for the week. These moments of prayer in prison…
Accompanying the Youth: Our Future and Our Hope
Sharing from Sr. Carol Garcia Murillo, Madrid, Spain I keep thinking how essential prayer is in our lives. And I have seen in the parish that the families of the children and young people who are part of my community, are not used to this important moment of the day. I found a small image of the Holy Family: Joseph, Mary and Jesus, in a tender representation. I proposed that a child take this figure home for a week. I asked him, with his parents and siblings, to get together to ask or give thanks to God, all together, for something they wanted. Then, during the Sunday Eucharist, after all the people who wish to have received Holy Communion, this child shares in front of the whole parish community what he prayed or thanked God for with his family. Then, when he finishes, he hands the image of the Holy…
End of year session 2023 in Nouakchott, Mauritania
From our Community in Nouakchott Every year, between Christmas and New Year, the pastoral agents of the diocese of Nouakchott come together for a time of training, meeting and relaxation. The theme of this year’s session was “Discovering current Mauritania through its religion, cultures and traditions” because of the importance of the number of pastoral agents newly assigned to the diocese, and because of the complexity of Mauritanian society. We were 48 pastoral agents of 23 nationalities. Among us 11 new people who participated in the session for the first time. We had two speakers. Mr Gabriel Hatti is one of the faithful Christians, former official of the Mauritanian administration, and currently president of Caritas-Mauritania. He spoke about his life in Mauritanian society where he held important responsibilities which led him to a unique experience of Christian life in this land of Islam where the Lord sends us to…
Episcopal Ordination in Algeria
From our community of Ghardaïa On January 26, 2024, at the cathedral of Oran, Mgr Davide Carraro, PIME Italian of origin, was consecrated bishop. It was also his birthday to the day. He was previously vicar general of Mgr Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of the diocese of Algiers. A choice that surprised some and not others. Since the announcement of his appointment as bishop, a shower of laudatory testimonies has been heard non-stop. Davide is a handsome man, a beautiful soul, a good choice, a face always happy. He is simple, sensitive, generous, very human, accessible, he has acquired experience alongside Mgr Vesco. Why was the appointment delayed when the right man was there? “God is Love” This is the motto of Mgr Davide Carraro “God is Love”, a motto which explains the goodness of God, painted on the face of Mgr Davide. He was consecrated bishop by…
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2024
Go and invite everyone to the banquet (cf. Mt 22:9) MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2024 20 October 2024 Dear brothers and sisters! The theme I have chosen for this year’s World Mission Day is taken from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). After the guests refused his invitation, the king, the main character in the story, tells his servants: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find” (v. 9). Reflecting on this key passage in the context of the parable and of Jesus’ own life, we can discern several important aspects of evangelization. These appear particularly timely for all of us, as missionary disciples of Christ, during this final stage of the synodal journey that, in the words of its motto, “Communion, Participation, Mission”, seeks to refocus the Church on her primary task, which is…
16th Diocesan Youth Days in Bukavu
From our sister Lucile NZIGIRE, in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo I was overjoyed when I arrived for holiday in my family and heard from the Abbot Chaplain to the young people in my home parish that the 16th Diocesan Youth Days (JDJ) for all 42 parishes in Bukavu Archdiocese would be held from 26 to 30 July in Murhessa. I quickly offered to accompany the young people from my parish and I don’t regret taking part in it at all. These diocesan days helped me to get closer to young people, to listen to them, to re-discover some of the challenges facing young people in my country and to share my missionary experience with some young people and some religious sisters and priests from our Archdiocese, especially those who didn’t know me at all. I was staying with the Daughters of Mary Sisters, who had given me the…