500 km, 20 hours of driving, and monkeys and guinea fowls galore!

 

 

 

500 km, 20 hours of driving, and monkeys and guinea fowls galore!

I returned yesterday from Obo, a parish more than 500 km from Bangassou.

We had planned to go by plane, but on Thursday the 13th, when we showed up, the Blue Helmets (who had promised passage and delivered the ticket the day before) tell us there is no room!

We go back to the Mission, and I decide to take a chance and leave by car: Confirmations are scheduled for Sunday, and I am sorry to disappoint the priests and Christians of Obo!

It has been a few years since anyone has driven all the way to Obo, because of the road conditions, the distance, and, above all, the insecurity.

We leave, me and a mechanic, at 1:30 p.m. from Bangassou. And after 20 km the first puncture (which fortunately is also the last!). The road is not too bad, and at 6:30 p.m. we arrive in Rafai, 150 km away. Here we spend the night with the Franciscan brothers, and on Friday at 5:15 we leave for the rest: it is 350 km of bad road, but we advance determinedly. At 10:20 we are in Zemio, 150 km away, where we stop for a moment to rest and say goodbye to the priests of the parish, and continue on. In Kitessa, a village 50 km away, we find a small group of armed rebels, but they just stop and greet us... And apart from them, no cars, very few motorcycles and rare bicycles, but many guinea fowls and many monkeys! And some beautiful strange flowers!

At 7:30 p.m. we finally arrive in Obo, amid the almost incredulous stares of the people still circulating in a town practically in darkness.

The parish priest, Abbé Gervais, and his vicar, Abbé Lucien, welcome us warmly. There would also be dinner ... but I am too tired and go to sleep, after a shower with which I try to remove some of the red dust with which I am covered.

Saturday morning is dedicated to the 70 who will receive Confirmation the next day: catechesis, meeting with godparents, rehearsals...

On the other hand, the afternoon is consecrated to confessions, because, together with Confirmation, we celebrate in solemn form the grace of the Jubilee of Hope.

Sunday morning Mass is held outdoors, because the church is small for so many people. I think there are more than 2,000 in attendance!

We begin with the Jubilee moment: after the examination of conscience and asking God for forgiveness, slowly the faithful come to the front, mark themselves with holy water (remembrance of baptism) and slowly make their way to the church. Here at the entrance are me and Abbé Lucien, blessing each person who comes: it is the sign of the Mercy that God always and again gives to each person who entrusts himself to Him.

After this beautiful moment, we continue with Mass and Confirmation.

The liturgy is always well attended: songs, dances, prayer, silence. It is a real feast!

After Mass there are members of the Legion of Mary, mostly women, who come with gifts and presents for the bishop.

In the following days I meet with priests and the faithful. And on Wednesday I leave again. I stop in Mboki, the parish closed 2 years ago (the pastor had been wounded by rebels). The military who occupied the church and chancel are moving elsewhere, and I hope to be able to come here Mboki at Easter to celebrate. There will be a lot of work to do, but we want to confirm in Hope the people here who have suffered too much.

And they continue to suffer! These days there is tension, because a few weeks ago there were new massacres (10 people were killed!).

The elementary school is working, and the teachers, seeing me, are happy and grateful for the little monthly help we manage to send them!

After a stop in Mboki, I depart for Zemio, where I arrive in the afternoon. Here, too, I meet the priests, and the next morning I celebrate Mass at 5:45 a.m. (normal time in Central Africa!). And at 7:15 we leave.

There are a few fallen trees with the wind and rain from the day before, but we manage to get to Rafai, 150 km away, around 1:20 pm. A bite to eat, and off for the last part, despite the hitch of the bac (ferry) that makes us lose 1 hour. But at 3 p.m. we manage to leave, and at 7:30 p.m. I am finally in Bangassou.

It was a considerable effort, but worth it!

 

Il traghetto è diventato un semplice ponte---
Le bac est devenu un simple pont...

 

 

Le tipiche case dell'Est
Les maisons typiques de l'Est

 

 

 

Mboki: la cappella è diventata dormitorio dei militari...
Mboki: la chapelle est devenu le dortoir des militaires...

Obo

La processione con il vangelo
La procéssion avec l'Evangile

La benedizione del Giubileo
La bénédiction jubilaire

 

Rome, Cuneo, Bangassou

 

Cuneo

Rome, Cuneo, Bangassou

I left Rome on Wednesday, January 29th, after having participated in 3 days of training and meetings for the world of communication, organized by the Vatican Communication Dicastery.

I was able to say goodbye to friends, brothers and family over a few days. It was nice and encouraging to always find so much affection and warmth. as well as the desire to do something for Bangassou.

I was also able to meet the seminarian from Bangassou, Bonaventure, who was studying in the seminary of the diocese of Cuneo.

I left for Central Africa on Tuesday, February 4th from Milan: a flight of just over 6 hours to Addis Ababa, and another 3 hours to Bangui, where I arrived on Wednesday around 12.

The following day I left by plane for Bangassou. Alessio Vada, a friend who is also a bricklayer came with me to discover this new mission of mine.

It was very hot: we are in the middle of the dry season, and the difference between Europe and Africa is notable.

I was happy to meet Bishop Aguirre, the bishop, and the people of the Mission.

Friday morning I participated in the inauguration of the cutting and sewing course, which the diocese organizes for around fifty women. It is the fourth course organized in recent years, and will last 8 months: invaluable training that allows many women to gain some autonomy and independence, and helps them take care of their family.

On Saturday we were in a meeting all day with the "College of Consultors": a group of priests chosen by the bishop who help and advise him in making the most important decisions. With them we verified the accounts of the diocese, the situations of the various parishes, and plan the bulk of the pastoral activities.

Sunday morning, at 6, I left with Alessio for Lanome, a parish 37 km from Bangassou.

Here I celebrated Mass, and here we will build a school and a new church. The current church was built in the 1970s by Don Fedele Villa, a priest from Turin, and is small and currently unsafe.

It will be a beautiful church, measuring 12 by 27 metres, built with the help of the Pontifical Mission Societies (mostly with the offerings collected on World Mission Day in October).

The school, a beautiful building will measure 28 by 6.5 metres, and will consist of three classrooms and an office. It is financed by a family from Bologna, Italy.

In the morning we laid the foundations, and the excavation work will begin in the next few days. The dream is to work with a local team for the school, and with some good Italian volunteer bricklayers for the church.

Dream, always dream!

Scuola di taglio e cucito
Ecole de coupe et couture

Lanome

 

 

 

On the road, among priests, Pope and Jubilee

  

On the road, among priests, Pope and Jubilee

 

I am in Rome, in the midst of a long and challenging journey.

I left Tuesday, January 14, from Bangui. After a stopover in Ethiopia, on Wednesday morning I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. Here I met with friends from the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation, which supports various projects in Central Africa and all dioceses around the world. It is a Foundation born from the intuition of a Dutch priest, who after World War II wanted to help churches in Germany (destroyed by the war) and Eastern countries, involving Christians, including and especially those who had suffered damage and violence from the Nazi occupation, thus creating a path of reconciliation and hope.

In the evening I continue on to Prague, where I spend 2 days visiting the brethren, Carmelite nuns and friends of the NGO SIRIRI.ORG, which has been working in Central Africa for years, supporting excellent educational projects in particular.

On the 18th, Saturday morning, I land in Paris. It is very cold ... but there is one fact (indeed many) that warms my heart: at 12 noon I celebrate Mass at Notre Dame, the Paris cathedral recently reopened after the fire that had threatened to destroy it. While tourists circulate in the basilica, the nave is full of people, participating intensely in the liturgy: as I distribute communion, I see faces full of joy!

I am in France until Friday to meet with priests from the Diocese of Bangassou who study and work in France. I meet them all, in Paris, Versailles, Rennes. These are intense days, and I am happy to meet them, and see how they work and how much they are appreciated by the people and the bishops who welcome them.

It is a new world that I discover, where the Church is more and more a family, where we meet and can help each other, and this happens in the two directions: for the Church that welcomes and for the Church that sends.

On Friday morning I leave for Rome, which is the other main purpose of my trip: I am here for the Jubilee of the World of Communication.

There are many of us, including journalists, heads of Media Commissions from dioceses and from 138 countries around the world. There are moments of prayer, the pilgrimage and the passing of the Holy Door, meetings among us, with very interesting personalities (Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, Colum McCann, journalist Mario Calabresi, Fr. Paolo Benanti and many others...). And we meet Pope Francis several times and celebrate with him the Mass on Sunday the 26th, in which we celebrate the Sunday of the Word. And he says these fantastic words, "evil's days are numbered, because the future belongs to God".

This morning at 8 o'clock we met with him, and he gave us the gift of a very beautiful speech: and I leave a piece of it here

These are days when we want to let Hope fill our hearts, and especially to fill our lives as communicators, making the world a little more beautiful and a little more peaceful.

 

Speech by Pope Francis

Let us ask ourselves: what do we do to sow hope in the midst of all the despair that surrounds and challenges us? What do we do to overcome the virus of division that undermines our communities? Is our communication inspired by prayer? Or do we limit ourselves to communicating about the Church by merely following the rules laid down by corporate marketing?

Are we witnessing to the fact that human history is not tied to an inexorable destiny? What are we doing to encourage others to look forward to a future that is not predetermined? I like the expression “writing the future”. It is up to us to write the future. Are we capable of communicating that hope is not an illusion? Hope never disappoints. But are we communicating that? Are we capable of communicating that it is possible to improve the lives of those around us, and that we can play a part? Can I, for my part, bring beauty to the lives of others? Are we able to communicate and convince others that it is possible to forgive? This is very hard to do!

Christian communication is about showing that the kingdom of God is near. It is present here and now, like a miracle that can be experienced by every person and by every culture. A miracle that must be narrated by offering the hermeneutic necessary to look beyond the mundane, beyond evil, beyond prejudices, beyond stereotypes, beyond oneself. The kingdom of God is beyond us. The kingdom of God even comes through our imperfections and this is beautiful. The kingdom of God comes when we show attention to others and carefully analyse the world around us. It comes in the ability to recognize and spread the hope that goodness exists, overcoming a desperate fanaticism.

This may be an institutional service for you, but it is also the vocation of every Christian, of every baptised person. Every Christian is called to recognize and pass on the stories of good that bad journalism tries to erase by only focusing on evil. Evil exists. It must not be hidden, but it should stir us and lead us to produce questions and answers. This is why your task is so important: it demands that you step out of yourself, to dedicate yourself to a “symphonic” work that involves everyone, that values old and young, women and men and takes into account every language, through the use of words, art, music, painting and images. We are all asked to examine how and what we are communicating. Communicate, we must always communicate.