Jubilees and coffee

Jubilees and coffee

At this time we wanted to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope in two very different places: the parish of Lanome, 37 km from Bangassou, and in the prison.

On Friday, March 28, I go to Lanome, where many faithful have gathered, from the center and the surrounding villages. In the early afternoon I meet them, and explain to them the meaning of the Jubilee.

Then, under a cloudy sky that threatens rain, we move to a neighborhood, and begin the Stations of the Cross, a time of prayer very much felt by the people.

In the evening I return to Bangassou, because I have a commitment on Saturday morning.

I return to Lanome, and arrive around 11:30. The other 2 priests have been confessing since 9 a.m., and I help them, and we confess continuously until 5 p.m.!

Sunday morning we start Mass around 7:30 a.m. with the blessing of water, a sign and reminder of Baptism. Quietly people pass by, mark themselves, as a sign of asking God for forgiveness, and we enter the space of the celebration. Today's beautiful Gospel is that of the Prodigal Son. And Truly we feel the need for God's Mercy, that God who stands watching from afar, waiting, and then runs to embrace that son of His who was gone -- and has returned!

During the Mass we also do the laying of the foundation stone of the new church, the foundations of which are completed.

The construction of the school is advancing faster, and by now the walls are already 1 meter everywhere.

This week I make a discovery: coffee from Bangassou!

In recent months I had been able to see numerous small coffee plantations. Unfortunately, the war and the state of the roads have discouraged many, who no longer tend the plantations.

And I found out that there was a Coffee Producers' Cooperative right here in town. I go to visit what's left (it was vandalized and looted during the war). There are still concrete silos there: 9 silos of 90 tons each! Until a dozen years ago, the Cooperative collected coffee, stored it, and then did initial processing (hulling). By 2001 it was exporting over 300 tons of coffee to France, while the rest was sold to Sudan, Congo, and the local market. Some years they processed up to 15,000 tons of coffee.

One of my dreams is to revive this reality, which would give respite to thousands of families....

Today, Saturday, April 5, I went to Bangassou Prison: there are more than 100 inmates here, almost all awaiting trial. We also celebrate with them the Good News of God's forgiveness and Jubilee. There is a lot of participation, and a lot of attention, when I talk to them about the parable of the Prodigal Son.

People from various movements also came, bringing food for the prisoners. During the offertory procession, I see with surprise and emotion that some prisoners get up, and they also bring something. We will then leave it with the prisoners, along with lunch.

Jubilees and coffee

 Jubilees and coffee

At this time we wanted to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope in two very different places: the parish of Lanome, 37 km from Bangassou, and in the prison.

On Friday, March 28, I go to Lanome, where many faithful have gathered, from the center and the surrounding villages. In the early afternoon I meet them, and explain to them the meaning of the Jubilee.

Then, under a cloudy sky that threatens rain, we move to a neighborhood, and begin the Stations of the Cross, a time of prayer very much felt by the people.

In the evening I return to Bangassou, because I have a commitment on Saturday morning.

I return to Lanome, and arrive around 11:30. The other 2 priests have been confessing since 9 a.m., and I help them, and we confess continuously until 5 p.m.!

Sunday morning we start Mass around 7:30 a.m. with the blessing of water, a sign and reminder of Baptism. Quietly people pass by, mark themselves, as a sign of asking God for forgiveness, and we enter the space of the celebration. Today's beautiful Gospel is that of the Prodigal Son. And Truly we feel the need for God's Mercy, that God who stands watching from afar, waiting, and then runs to embrace that son of His who was gone -- and has returned!

During the Mass we also do the laying of the foundation stone of the new church, the foundations of which are completed.

The construction of the school is advancing faster, and by now the walls are already 1 meter everywhere.

This week I make a discovery: coffee from Bangassou!

In recent months I had been able to see numerous small coffee plantations. Unfortunately, the war and the state of the roads have discouraged many, who no longer tend the plantations.

And I found out that there was a Coffee Producers' Cooperative right here in town. I go to visit what's left (it was vandalized and looted during the war). There are still concrete silos there: 9 silos of 90 tons each! Until a dozen years ago, the Cooperative collected coffee, stored it, and then did initial processing (hulling). By 2001 it was exporting over 300 tons of coffee to France, while the rest was sold to Sudan, Congo, and the local market. Some years they processed up to 15,000 tons of coffee.

One of my dreams is to revive this reality, which would give respite to thousands of families....

Today, Saturday, April 5, I went to Bangassou Prison: there are more than 100 inmates here, almost all awaiting trial. We also celebrate with them the Good News of God's forgiveness and Jubilee. There is a lot of participation, and a lot of attention, when I talk to them about the parable of the Prodigal Son.

People from various movements also came, bringing food for the prisoners. During the offertory procession, I see with surprise and emotion that some prisoners get up, and they also bring something. We will then leave it with the prisoners, along with lunch.

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