Three La Salettes Ministering in Mozambique

Three La Salette Missionaries accepted the responsibility for a new missionary project.: Father Joao Holek of Brazil. Father Helio of Angola and Father Edegard of Brazil, who will arrive next February. This community of three, under the General Council, are taking charge of Sacred Heart Parish in Nangolo, in the North of the Diocese.

Cabo Delgado – Pemba

The State of Cabo Delgado and the city of Pemba are in the Northern part of the country. In 1957 the Diocese, separated from the Diocese of Nampula, was created. The Diocese of Pemba has 82, 625 square kilometers, meaning that it is approximately the size of Portugal. In 2013 Pope Francis appointed Father Luis Fernando Lisboa, a Brazilian Passionist, as bishop of Pemba.

Bishop Luiz came to the General Council and extended an invitation to open a mission in his diocese. The invitation was presented first to the Council of the Congregation in Luanda, Angola in 2015, and taken up again at the Council of the Congregation in Bangalore, India in 2017.And the final decision was taken by the General Council during the celebration of the 121st anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette. The new mission is being formed as a joint effort of the provinces of Brazil and Angola.

Mission and Evangelization

Faced with difficulties in his mission of evangelization, Bishop Luis invited a number of religious congregations. He also appealed to the Bishops' Conference of Mozambique for help in his Diocese. Bishop Luiz mentioned some of the challenges facing the three missionaries:

"The diocese has approximately 2 million people and there are 22 parishes. There are not enough schools; students study while sitting on the ground. Health services are inadequate. As Missionaries, the primary work is evangelization; but within that there is the human person who needs health, schooling and dignity. Mozambique also has the second highest rate of leprosy in Africa. Facing that, religious personnel embrace social work. Mozambique is also one of the African countries where girls marry very young and are mothers at 12 to 14 years of age. Children and youth need help."

The Diocese of Pemba is very poor

Cabo Delgado in Northern Mozambique is one of the poorest regions in the country. In Mozambique, 69.5% are considered poor, and 38% live with extreme privation, such as a serious lack of food. Among the most affected regions are the Northern provinces of Zambezia and Cabo Delgado, with 87 out of every 100 persons living in poverty. The need to fight this is always extremely urgent. Poverty continues to grow in Mozambique and its rural population is the one that has the most dire conditions.

Our Congregation

Our Congregation finds itself in that Northern region of the diocese, near the border of Tanzania. There Mozambique has a new gold mine. There are also coal mines and gas, petroleum as well as precious stones, and there exists a shadowy race towards wealth.

The mission is a challenge and not a gift from the African Continent. On each continent the Church has to face its own issues. We as La Salette Missionaries have no desire to take on the mission because of its multiple challenges. Rather, we want to bring the element that is the "joy of the Gospel", in line with Pope Francis' call to live in a "Church that goes forward".

The joy of serving the people will be our greatest witness in this mission. We are certain that a vast missionary field awaits us. Jesus uses the image of a field filled with precious stones to help us understand the meaning of the Kingdom of God. The beauty of a smile, of a glance, of a song, and of dances, which are all present in the African culture; this will be the field of precious stones.

Embracing a mission is responding with a fullness of love and generosity as well as living what it means to be Christian. The Church is missionary. It is Mission.

From a pedagogical perspective, we are not bringing in prefabricated programs or projects. We are placing ourselves into the local reality in order to understand and serve. We are in Mozambique and now is the moment to understand its history and culture. Of course, this can be done through reading and courses, but especially it is accomplished by having our feet on the ground and living with the people. We want to be here with three important attitudes: "removing our sandals, entering the others' garden, and living the experience of being a guest".

The three missionaries are there in the name of the Congregation. Their mission is to bring hope, to live and witness to brotherhood, to be a reconciling presence: They need our prayers, our support and the solidarity of all our religious brothers and sisters, of seminarians and lay La Salettes within our Congregation.

This mission is ours, it belongs to the entire Congregation.