From one celebration to another

 

Il giubileo delle donne
Le Jubilè des femmes

 

From one celebration to another.

On Sunday we celebrated the Diocesan Jubilee of Women: an opportunity to pray, but also to pay homage to what women do, especially in Central Africa.

The church of Tokoyo (here in Bangassou) was full of girls, women and young women, and very few men! An orchestra of colors, music, dance and prayer!

In the first reading, from the book of Exodus, when Moses wants to approach the burning bush, God tells him: "Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground".

I chose this word to address the women and the entire community: "take off your sandals, because the dignity of women is sacred ground".

Here, women's lives are still very hard. The abuses and violence, the wounds and humiliations are many. But in general, women still have their space, and know how to assert themselves.

On Monday we began 4 days of meetings, training, prayer and conviviality with the youngest priests of the diocese. There are seven of them, coming from several parishes, and we addressed several very interesting topics (liturgy, sacraments, confessions, homily, affectivity, community life, economic administration).

On Tuesday morning we took a short break. It was the feast of the Annunciation, and we moved a couple of kilometers away, in the Maliko neighborhood. Here we have just finished building a beautiful little church, dedicated to Our Lady of Hope, and today we inaugurated and blessed, together with the community, this new sacred space.

 

To illustrate Our Lady of Hope, we chose the Jubilee logo, which we used in the various furnishings, while the large painting on the back wall that presents Mary, together with her people of Bangassou.

L'incontro con i sacerdoti più giovani
la session avec les pretres plus jeunes

Maliko

 

A new parish priest, a new deacon, and the very strong faith of the Christians of Nzacko

 

 

A new parish priest, a new deacon, and the very strong faith of the Christians of Nzacko

I returned to Bangassou on Thursday, March 13th, together with two friends, Luis and Fanny, from "Aid to the Church in Need", an organization that helps (spiritually and economically) churches in difficulty and with persecuted Christians.

On Sunday, March 16th, I arrived in Niakari, a parish 15 km from Bangassou, for the Mass and the official installation of the new parish priest, Fr. Jean Paul Goma.

On Tuesday, I set off for the Mission of Bakouma, 140 km away. The road was good, and I got there in less than 4 hours.

I was there with some priests of the diocese, and with the family of Patient Betoloum, whom I will ordain deacon on March 19th.

It was a beautiful moment of fraternity with the priests and the people of Bakouma.

Wednesday was the feast of St. Joseph, and we celebrated Mass outdoors. It was a moment of celebration and prayer for this young man who had spent the last 3 years of formation in the Urbanian seminary in Rome, and who today became a deacon, to put himself completely at the service of God and the brothers and sisters who will be entrusted to him.

After the Mass there was a lunch for over 300 people, and then dancing and singing until it got dark: the joy was great, for this community tested by the war and the rebels, not far away.

Thursday, March 21st, I left at 5:30 for Nzacko, 60 km north of Bakouma. It took 3 hours by car, because the road was terrible. Also, because it is not uncommon to meet armed men along the track. In fact… we found them in a village. They stopped us, made us get out, but fortunately they did not do anything to us and let us go, after a few exchanges between us, upon which I did not hold back from pointing out how wrong their arrogance and their continuous looting was. Anyway, we set off again, without incident. A couple of kilometers away we met a man on a bicycle, and we warned him that there were bandits up ahead: he immediately turned his bicycle around and started again from where he left off.

At 8:30 we finally arrived in Nzacko, the only parish that I have not yet been able to visit.

For the people it was a great celebration, because this parish was one of the most beautiful in the diocese: a beautiful church, with a stone bell tower, a large rectory, a hospital with a beautiful operating room, a nursery school and other rooms.

Until everything was destroyed in 2017 by the rebels. Literally destroyed!

But the people of Nzacko were not discouraged! First they began to gather under two large trees, then under a straw roof, and last year they rebuilt a temporary church, with baked bricks and cement, and a sheet metal floor and roof.

Going in there is a pilgrimage of faith, which moves me deeply. We are a few meters from the destroyed church, but the faith of these sisters and brothers has risen stronger than before!

 Here I celebrated Mass. Where at the beginning the mayor also entered, a Muslim woman, whom I then visited with in the afternoon, before leaving. It was a strong time of prayer, but also a recognition, by the diocese and the bishop, of the treasure that is in the hearts of these Christians.

After Mass I meet the parish council, and we talked about today and the future, because destruction is the past, which we do not want to let live in resentment or desperation.

I left in the early afternoon. The rebels were gone, and we were not sad about it!

We returned to Bakouma, for a last evening with Father Amos, Father Modeste and Father Patient, before leaving, this Friday, March 21, for Bangassou.

Patient è diacono
Le diacre Patient

Quello che resta della chiesa
Les ruines de l'église

La canonica distrutta
Le presbytère détruit

 

A thousand and more

 

Famiglia e volontari al lavoro per preparare la Comida
Famille et bénévoles au travail pour préparer la Comida

A thousand and more

Today is my last day in Spain.

I arrived here on Wednesday, after a long flight (Bangui - Addis Ababa - Frankfurt - Madrid) and the train from Madrid to Córdoba.

I had been here last year, in May, and it was wonderful to find myself welcomed with so much affection by Bishop Aguirre, his large family, and hundreds of people who help and support the diocese of Bangassou.

On Friday morning my sister Marisa and family also arrived, and it is great to be able to hug them again.

I am here in Córdoba because Fundacion Bangassou is organizing, as it has every year for the past 25 years, a grand Comida a large charity luncheon to support the works and projects of the diocese.

The Comida takes place on Saturday, March 8, in a beautiful venue, the "Circulo de l'Amistad," a facility that accommodates the more than 1,000 guests!

I arrive a couple of hours early, along with Mons Aguirre. There are more than 200 very young volunteers busily putting on the finishing touches as slowly the guests enter.

There are some authorities, Fundacion volunteers, and so many people who love and work for Bangassou.

This year the Comida serves to fund the construction of a soap-making workshop for the women of Bakouma, a very fragile area 150 km from Bangassou.

These are days of meetings, and also of discovering some of the beauty of the city, which over the centuries has been a crossroads and a meeting place between Christians, Muslims and Jews.

The meetings are warm and interesting. And we often find ourselves sharing the excellent local cuisine.

Today, Tuesday, March 11, I am preparing to leave for Madrid by train, and will continue on to Bangui in the evening. Tomorrow I should arrive in Bangui, and on Thursday I hope to leave for Bangassou.

Muchas gracias!

Foto di famiglia
Ma famille

Tutto pronto
Tout est pret

I volontari
Les bénévoles