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Untitled 1Map of Northern Tanzania

the La Salette Congregation has finally accepted the invitation of the Bishop of Bukoba Catholic Diocese in Tanzania to start the La Salette presence in Tanzania. The decision to open the mission in Tanzania was a response to the call of the Blessed Mother to "make her message known to all her people". The mission in Tanzania is the fourth country on the African continent where the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are present…

The diocese has entrusted to the Congregation the administration of a Parish-elect station (Parokia-teule in Kiswahili) located in the Village of Rutete in Rural Bukoba Tanzania, around 50 kilometers from Bukoba town, within the Kagera Region. The station is one of the highly-Catholic populated places in the diocese.

The mission in Tanzania has a different character.

  • First, the diocese is not lacking priest to minister to the faithful because they still have the capacity to send priests for studies abroad and to assist other dioceses which are in need of their service.
  • Second, the majority of the population in the territory of the diocese is Catholic; and in fact, the region (Kagera) was already Christianized more than a hundred years ago.
  • Third, the opening of the mission was initiated by the diocese through an invitation to the Congregation with the request that an international community shall be established.
  • Fourth, the place has already its own church building and rectory built by the faithful themselves. The church building is a stone church built more than 60 years ago and the new rectory was built in view of the arrival of the missionaries.

La Salettes are Called to Witness

Untitled 2Diocesan Newspaper officially welcoming the La Salettes to Tanzania

The primary purpose of mission is to give the diocese the witness of religious life. Although Christianity was brought by missionaries (White Fathers), for so many years there was no presence of a male religious community, with international character, in the diocese. At present, there are religious communities of sisters and a community of brothers founded in Africa in the diocese. At present, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette is the only religious congregation administering a parish in the diocese.

The missionaries are tasked to be witnesses of religious life, a La Salette way of life in particular, not only in the parish but in the whole diocese. As part of their mission, they are also expected to spread the message of Our Lady of La Salette and to promote devotion to her. As a Marian congregation, the missionaries are challenged to strengthen Marian spirituality in the evangelization of the people.

The opening of this new mission coincides with the 170th Anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette. It was, at the same time, an unexpected grace for the Congregation that the Bishop, with the faithful, decided to put the Parish under the patronage of Our Lady of La Salette.

The Parish has another two sub-stations within its jurisdiction. It has 15 villages on which 43 Small Christian Communities (Jumuiya Ndogo Ndogo ya Kikristu – JNNK) are established. These Small Christian Communities are playing a big role for the faith of the people in the parish. One cannot find any Christian who does not belong to any small Christian community. Membership to any small Christian community means that one must be an active member not in name only.

Rutete is a land of mission. But this new mission in the African land gives a new face in the missionary activity of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.

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