South Africa: Celebration of the renewal of religious vows in Pietermaritzburg

Here are their names and the countries of origin: Karabo April Ts’oona (South Africa), Thomas Eugenio Duku Lumago (South Sudan), Emmanuel Oliha Paskwali (South Sudan), Joseph Mukasa Musiime (Uganda), Osward Atwijukye (Uganda), Cleophas Rutaremwa (Uganda), Frank Bakalu (Uganda), Anaclet Bongele (Uganda), Steven Phiri (Malawi/Zambia), Jacob Msanjama Mwachande (Malawi/Zambia), Gerald Paul Hieronimo ( Malawi/Zambia), Pascal Kpekpe Kossi (Togo), Emile Yawo Tomety (Togo), Luis Omar Tasson Rodriguez (Peru), Alberto Ramos (Mozambique).

Emmanuel, Frank, Steven and Jacob were also installed to the Ministry of Lector and Cleophas, Pascal and Paul to the Ministry of Acolyte.

It was indeed a colourful celebration during which the Comboni community in Pietermaritzburg was joined by some parishioners, friends and religious from neighbouring communities. All this contributed to the visibility of the Comboni missionaries in this southern tip of the African Continent.

This ceremony was the climax of a very busy week in Pietermaritzburg, which saw the canonical and working visits of two Provincial Superiors: of Malawi/Zambia, Father Andrew Bwalya, and of South Africa. Fr. John Baptist facilitated a day of spiritual recollection on the theme: Our Consecrated Life Today – Challenges and Opportunities, and insisted on the beauty and the significance of the consecrated life and our identification with it as, per se, a full call to missionary discipleship. He also warned against “clericalism” in some scholastics who think that religious profession is only transitory and not important, as they await the “real deal” – the priestly ordination.

In his homily, he focused on what he described as “the divine boldness of the missionary mandate” – “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” – a mission entrusted with confidence to a few fragile disciples and, today, to us as well. He also encouraged all the participants to strive to be men of prayer with a deep love for the Word of God and the Eucharist.

The week also saw the scholasticate community involved in academic conferences at the St. Joseph’s Theological Institute–Cedara, on interesting topics such as Faith in Action: the Church’s Response to Social Crises in Africa; The Church as a Beacon of Hope – Faith Responses to Violence and Inequality in African Townships; Witchcraft in Africa: a theological imagination of its liberation, and Artificial Intelligence and Faith in Action.

The week has indeed been a fruitful celebration of our Comboni charism, consecration to God for the mission and ministeriality in the Church, as well as a profound theological formation.

Father John Baptist Keraryo Opargiw, mccj, Provincial Superior – RSA