Build...

 

I bambini del Centro Maman Tongolo in gita!
Les enfants du Centre Maman Tongolo en sortie!

 

 

 

Build...

 

Work on the new church in Lanome is progressing well. Alessio, with the fine team of local masons, is progressing well, despite difficulties due to rain and lack of materials and tools.

16 side pillars have been cast. This week he will continue with the façade pillars.

Building a church!

 

On Friday afternoon, I leave with him for Ouango, a parish 75 km from Bangassou.

The road is beautiful, and we are in good company: with us are the children from the diocese's "Maman Tongolo" Orphan Centre. About thirty of them, all overjoyed to be going on a trip! Dressed well, with a Santa hat, they make a good impression. And during the trip they sing, talk, sleep, laugh and joke!

We arrive around 4.30 p.m. in Ouango, where we will celebrate the Jubilee of Hope.

On Saturday morning I meet the Christians of the parish and neighbouring villages, for a catechesis on the meaning of the Jubilee. Then we go to confession until noon, me and two other priests: the Jubilee is a time of grace and reconciliation!

In the afternoon, Alessio and I go to Bema, some thirty kilometres away. We get there after an hour's drive, and here we meet the two priests who work there, Eugène and Placide.

A few chats, a ride by the river, which forms the border with Congo, and then we return to Ouango, around 6pm.

On Sunday morning, before Mass, I meet the leaders of the Mission school, and then the catechists.

And at 8.30 we begin a short pilgrimage, which opens the Jubilee in this parish. Arriving in front of the church, the faithful mark themselves with holy water, a sign and reminder of baptism, and then enter in procession, to pass later into the open space in front of the Mission, where we celebrate Mass in the open air.

During the Mass, Estella and Bienvenu celebrate their marriage.

The parish of Ouango has gone through some difficult times, with accusations and many rifts. With patience, prayer and work, the parish is slowly being reborn.

Building the Church. This is also a big building site!

 

Around 11.40 the Mass ends, and after a quick bite to eat, we load the cars. The children from the Maman Tongolo Centre are ready: the little ones lend a hand, the slightly older girls act as mothers...

On the way we stop at a small village, where the father of a baby girl a few months old, whom we took in a few months ago, lives. The mother had died, and the baby was dying. After a couple of months, she is now fine. When we stop by they come to see her and say hello... and fill our car with corn, peanuts and what they can!

Building humanity...

 

Ouango

Sul fiume a Bema
Le fleuve à Bema

Lanome