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Partners with Pope Francis in bringing young people to Christ.

 

Christ is Alive  – Christus Vivit!

By Chanda Mulenga, Youth Animator, Diocese of Monze, Zambia

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Posted June 21st 2019

 

Chanda with Pope Francis     Sr Mercy Ani with the youth animators

To attend the pre-Synodal meeting in Roma, to share experiences with young people from round the world, to contribute our ideas to the Bishops’ Synod on youth, to be listened to: this is an awesome experience in any young person’s life. And then, to receive back from Pope Francis his response to all we had to say, to read his inspiring message to youth of the world, now  in 2019, and hear him say to us, Christ is Alive, my dear young people, go out and spread the news, and  know that he is with you always, right to the end of the world.

Pope Francis’ exhortation to young people:

“Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!”

Given on the 25^th of March, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the exhortation has nine chapters, which are outlined as follows:

Introduction:         Christ is alive!
Chapter One:         What does the word of God have to say to young people?
Chapter Two:         Jesus, ever young
Chapter Three:      You are the “now” of God
Chapter Four:        A great message for all young people
Chapter Five:         Paths of Youth
Chapter Six:          Young people with roots
Chapter Seven:      Youth Ministry
Chapter Eight:       Vocation
Chapter Nine:        Discernment

The exhortation ends with the Pope’s wish for young people:

“Dear young people, my joyful hope is to see you keep running the race before you, outstripping all those who are slow or fearful. Keep running, “attracted by the face of Christ, whom we love so much, whom we adore in the Holy Eucharist and acknowledge in the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters. May the Holy Spirit urge you on as you run this race. The Church needs your momentum, your intuitions, your faith. We need them! And when you arrive where we have not yet reached, have the patience to wait for us”.

 

Nakambala parish youth group.      Nakambala female youth         Small group feed-back session

Here in Monze we, the youth animators, wasted no time.  We came together to study the “Christus Vivit,” we took it to heart and planned how we would bring it to our young people throughout the Diocese.The 299 points of the nine chapter book are all very useful but after series of preparations, we decided to prioritize them according to our realities. At the invitation from the parishes we visit to give the inputs and workshops.    We concentrated on Chapters one, four and five.
You are infinitely loved,
God who is love,
God who saves us and
God who is alive
In the power of the Holy Spirit, we become committed youth and courageous missionaries/ witnesses of Jesus Christ to everyone and at all places, especially to other young people. The reality of the Digital environment holds a strong attraction for many youth in the urban parishes but we must open their eyes to a wider world. I feel passionate about this.  We must do justice to both its positive and negative aspects.

Chivuna parish feedback session          Singing in Chivuna!

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The implementation of the Post Synod Document on the Youth is a lifelong one. We will continue to use it for the faith formation of the young people in our Diocese. To God be the glory.

By Chanda Mulenga. Monze Diocesan Youth Animator Secretary.

“Jesus has kept his promises. Trust him with unlimited trust and let there be no love like unto yours for him.  Christ will ever keep you near to his heart, his arm in yours!
“Don’t fear.  Whatever befalls you, He is ever with you.” Bishop Shanahan

African Chaplaincy  Archdiocese of Philadelphia USA

By Arlene Edmonds                                                       Posted October 29th 2019

The Philadelphia Archdiocese’s largest gathering of African Catholics drew hundreds dressed in African attire, including some who donned black and white photographs of their cherished saint, for the African Family Heritage Mass on Sunday, Oct. 6 at St. Raymond of Penafort Church in Northwest Philadelphia.

“This is an event that the African Catholic congregations look forward to every year,” said Emmanuel Okoro, coordinator for the Igbo Catholic Community at St. Cyprian Parish in West Philadelphia.

“Many of us are wearing a patron saint,” Okoro said. “I chose to wear the outfit with St. John Paul II. I have a special devotion to him. Many of those here are from throughout the Philadelphia Archdiocese and Camden. You will see that many of us are wearing different saints.”

For lifelong Catholic Tracey Pugh, who is African American, attending the heritage Mass was a chance to explore her heritage in a religious environment.

“I was invited by a parishioner,” she said. “I wanted to come to explore how the African churches worship. This is my first time coming to this event.”

Sister Florence Enechukwu, a Missionary Sister of the Holy Rosary, was the coordinator of Sunday’s African Mass. In her remarks afterward, she said St. Raymond’s was selected for this year’s Mass because of its commitment to helping refugees.

She drew thunderous applause from the packed church crowd when she noted that the church housed and assisted 10 African refugees. They were from Sierra Leone, the Congo and Tanzania, she said.

“We have those from 21 African countries who live and worship in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” Sister Florence said. “This Mass celebrates the sharing of the joy that God gives. This Mass is made possible by many people who work behind the scenes for months.”

Sister Florence, who is coordinator for the archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, then singled out the many groups involved in the annual Mass. She included the young altar servers, the many choirs and musicians, deacons and priests, including St. Raymond’s pastor, Father Christopher M. Walsh, who served as celebrant and homilist.

Before the Mass the Liberian Choir sang “Let Us Come to Jesus My Friend.” The welcome remarks were offered by Eusebio Coelho from Mozambique. Then the readings for the liturgy were proclaimed in Swahili and English. The Prayer of the Faithful was read by people from Malawi, Eritrea, Tanzania and the Congo. Most read in their native tongues.

The Kenyan Choir sang songs for the offertory precession in Swahili as the Ivorian community presented the gifts. The Francophone and Nigerian Igbo choirs also sang during the Mass as well as the recessional hymns.

The Mass was followed by a buffet dinner reception that featured a sampling of dishes from several African countries. Separate tables displayed the food with large signs denoting the name of each country as people lined up for a taste of the cuisine.

On the menu was everything from stewed and fried chicken to crispy rice balls, fried plantains and steamed mixed vegetables.

Among those pleased with the turnout and the reception’s communal spirit was Samuel Abu, coordinator for the archdiocese’s Refugee Resettlement Program, an agency of Catholic Social Services.

“Having this type of reception is the African way,” Abu said. “It is part of the culture to make sure everyone comes together. Many of these groups worship together as a group. We have the Liberians who meet at the Southwest Philadelphia church, St. Charles Borromeo; the Nigerians who celebrate Mass at St. Cyprian’s; and others are at other archdiocese parishes.

Five years ago there were only 10 African communities represented at the African Mass. They were Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Ivory Coast. Eleven more African communities have been added to the Mass since 2014.

 

Holy Rosary Sister Florence Enechukwu reports on the mentoring seminar sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for the African Catholic Apostolate and the Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees.

“The United States is now and always has been a nation of immigrants,” said speaker Dr. Chioma Ugochkwu, provost and dean of academic affairs at Cabrini University, stressing the importance of college education for African youth.
“Whether one chooses to believe it or not, America was built on the courage, sweat and resourcefulness of men and women willing to leave their country of birth and start anew, and pass those attributes on to their descendants.
“In the past most of that immigration came from Europe, and new arrivals were mentored by societies or church groups representing their ethnicity, which was mostly somewhere in Europe.  Now that invigorating new blood is more likely coming from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia or Africa and the need for mentoring continues.”
It is in this spirit that a free encounter program titled “Connecting African Youth and Young Adults with African Professionals” was held at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center on Saturday, June 8.    The event was organized by Sister Florence Enechukwu, a Missionary Sister of the Holy Rosary, formerly from Nigeria in West Africa and now at the archdiocesan Office for the African Catholic Apostolate and the Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees.    Her task is not easy because in Philadelphia there are immigrants from 20 different African nations served by the African Catholic Apostolate.

Among the mentoring presenters was Nigerian-born Dr. Chioma Ugochkwu, the provost and dean of academic affairs at Cabrini University. In her talk she stressed the importance of college education for youth, especially African youth, and outlined several key strategies for ensuring a quality educational experience.

Addressing parents in the group, she said, “If your child says to you, ‘Well, Beyoncé and Jay-Z didn’t go to college, and they’ve succeeded’ – that’s one percent of those who succeed. And many of those who succeed (through nontraditional paths to success) don’t know how to manage the money.”
College education, she said, provides “greater chances for upward mobility” as well as “better health and a longer lifespan.”  On choosing a school and a career, she advised, “let your child do what they are great at. Nothing will help them succeed more than following their passion.”

In her wide-ranging discussion, Ugochkwu touched upon the importance of preparation, the value of prep classes for the standardized tests, campus visits, teacher recommendations and also the financial aspects of college.

She urged avoiding student loans if possible, perhaps by attending a two-year college first or commuting rather than residing at the college, and taking advantage of the tuition assistance offered by many colleges.

David Simons, a first-generation Ghanaian-American and founder and CEO of Kingdom Social Media, spoke on the “Power of Networking.”

“One of the biggest challenges,” he said, “is that youth coming over here don’t have guidance; they don’t have direction. So they’re left to figure things out for themselves. Their parents are just like, ‘Go get an education,’ but that’s not it. That’s not enough. You need people who have been there.”

Culturally, he said, “there’s an adaption, they have to adjust. They don’t know the ways and the nuances of how things are done in America. You can’t do things the way you did them back home.”

John Kinuthian, a Catholic motivational speaker and member of St. John Chrysostom Parish, Wallingford, is originally from Kenya.

“It is important to bring people together because they can talk to each other and help each other,” he said, “so you don’t go through the same problems. Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know.

“When I came to America my biggest problem was, I did not have a network. You have to have a vision and those who will help you achieve it.”

Father Rene Againglo, who is chaplain for the Francophone (French-speaking) African community at St. Cyprian Parish in West Philadelphia, agreed it was important to bring the young people together with successful professionals who can help them as they plan their futures.

In all, there were well over 100 potential mentors and young people at the conference. Based on comments after the fact, it was a resounding success, according to Sister Florence.

As a matter of fact nine of the adults and 16 of the young people have already signed up for future sessions, she said.

Nation-building immigrants from Africa find mentors here.

Divina Maloum (Cameroon) and Greta Thunberg (Sweden) both received the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2019.  Greta’s cause is well known; Divina recruits children in the cause of peace in her country to say No to war.  See our Blog

Posted January 8th 2020

What do we need to do?

It is a big question to ask in difficult times.

Sister Noel Mary tells of a journey she made with a group of women in Zambia. 

Read more.                                                                                                                                                    Posted August 7th 2019

In 2005, a group of women came to me looking for help. They seemed to be women in great need, as the Parish Priest confirmed later. What kind of help do you want, I asked. We want to make sisal baskets like we see women doing in Mazabuka where you came from.

I arranged for a woman called Beauty to come from the Mazabuka group to show them how to weave the baskets. I didn’t think they could gain much from the baskets but you begin with people where they are.

 

Beauty came to teach them.

It takes time to learn.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT:

Meanwhile, we began to do needs assessment with them. What do you need? To feed our families. To send the children to school. Good health. Our daughters walk 11 kilometers in the morning to fetch water for the family and then they are late for school. Because of being late they don’t do well; they drop out; some become pregnant because this is a higher social status than being a school dropout.
Water is necessary for health. The government has provided bore holes but they dry up as soon as the rains stop.   So, water is not the problem. As long as it is raining there is plenty of water. The problem comes when the rains stop. Yes.
What you need is to put metal roofs on your houses so that you can harvest clean water from them; then you need underground tanks to store the water for use during the dry season.
The reaction was immediate.
 SISTER! Women do not own houses here. It is not possible!
There were about 13 women in the group at the time, each woman representing a family. So, what can we do?
After this meeting, one of the women came to me and said, you know, it is hard to get women to work together in this part of the country, unlike the people from the Eastern and Northern parts. They won’t work with you for this, unless they see. What you need to do is to get a woman who would believe in what you are saying, and would work with you to roof her house with metal sheets and build an underground tank so that the others can see. I think that after that, they will all come along. So, we did that.

Roofing the house
    We put down certain conditions for participation. The benefiting family would have to provide: The plot, with documentation to show that it is their plot from the appropriate authority, building sand and river sand, burnt bricks and crushed stones. The family would receive a loan from the club in the form of building materials: roofing sheets, cement, door and window frames, doors and windows, roofing nails, metal bars for decking the tank, iron sheets for guttering the water from the roof into the tank. The house will have two bedrooms and a sitting room. It must be of good standard and must be finished within a period of 12 months. No small thing!
The proposed house was estimated to cost Fifteen million of the local currency, in those days, about six thousand United States Dollars. As soon as it was finished, the family had five years to repay their loan in installments. They will only repay fifty per cent of the loan. The other fifty per cent would be for Family empowerment.
Josephine, the person eventually identified, was not a member of the club but I had been observing the women in the parish, and noted that she was more hardworking than most of them. Her husband had died less than one year before this. The house she was living in with the husband had also collapsed under the heavy rains that year. She was living with one of her granddaughters who was in her last grade of junior secondary schooling at the time. Josephine was reluctant at first. As she said, she did not even know how to make the rope used for the sisal baskets. But she was willing to learn. As soon as she ageed, we embarked on the building. We got the building department of the Zimba Rural and Youth Development Center to do the building. But still I had to be pushing.  I would come to look at the progress twice a week and close my face: you have to try harder, much harder! What have you been doing, that there is not enough water for the builders? Truly, they could not have worked any harder! And we finished within 12 months, and the transformation in the community was contagious.  As Josephine said at the blessing of the house and tank “I never believed I could be a home owner. I still don’t believe it!” All the other members who had been watching from the sides came for the blessing. Each wanted her own “family survival unit” as we named it.

​

The water tank!

Sister Noel, left, encourages the Women,s Club.

Buka u Mweke: Rise and Shine!   (Isaiah 60: 1-3)

More stories about the Women’s Club next post!

Sister Noel Mary Ajaero is a Nigerian Holy Rosary Sister working in Zambia for youth and family development.

Young men and women look forward to careers as they celebrate their graduation day in Holy Rosary Skills Training  school in Zambia.
Joyce Meyer tells the story.

Global Sisters Report                                                                                                                        Read more

Holy Rosary Sisters’ social entrepreneurship thrives in rural Zambia

Posted:  Jan 18,  2020

by Joyce Meyer

In Zambia in October, I attended a convening sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation where sisters from East and West Africa learned more about the strategy of the Catholic Sisters Initiative and the new opportunities they have to build their development skills.

Two sections of the program were of great interest to me. One was on the importance of data collection that can help sisters build a body of knowledge and experience about internal and external developments in their congregations.

Another section was a panel of sisters speaking about their experience of a new program at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University in California. Participating sisters are learning how to become more businesslike in their ministries and that being businesslike does not take away from their spiritual motivation of working with God’s people, but rather enhances what they can do.

Social Entrepreneurship
As I listened, I recalled a perfect example of social entrepreneurship that I witnessed in November 2018 in a visit to Chipapa, Zambia. Chipapa is a rural area about 20 miles outside of Lusaka, the capital. Two projects I witnessed excited my imagination about the potential of sisters as entrepreneurs. One was a dairy collection center and the other a skills training center. Both of these evolved from a vision of Holy Rosary Sisters from Nigeria who wanted to help remote communities of Zambia discover their potential for development. Chipapa was a neglected region, so it fit their mission perfectly.

 

Below:Students at the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary’s training school in Chipapa, Zambia, take their national exams in catering in November 2018. (GSR photo / Joyce Meyer)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary is an international congregation founded in Ireland in 1924, and the sisters’ influence has reached into African countries and Latin and North America. Entrepreneurship seems to be in their DNA, as I have witnessed a number of their other creative projects in Zambia. They model outside-the-box thinking!

The dairy collection center they started allows local farmers to bring their milk to a dairy from the nearby town. The milk is then processed and sold in local markets. The farmers are paid a percentage of the income.

The sisters did not stop with this dairy project. They moved on to finding other development projects to help people become economically sustainable. Developing the youth was a priority because both young women and young men needed skills that could help them sustain themselves and their families.

Chipapa now boasts a famous training school that each year graduates female and male students who can confidently enter the job market. The school opened about 10 years ago after extensive homework of the sisters visiting the communities of the region. The sisters wanted families to identify and articulate their priority needs. Families described high poverty rates, unemployment (especially among the youth), intense deforestation and dramatic food insecurity as most significant.
Food insecurity was not a surprise, as it affects many parts of Zambia as climate patterns continue to change. The primary food of the country is maize, a crop particularly vulnerable to drought. In recent years, rainfall has become more erratic than ever, inhibiting adequate food for even subsistence existence and contributing to a decreasing source of income.

In 2010, with this information in hand, four sisters were missioned to Chipapa from Lusaka to take up the challenges to provide students with skills that could address this disadvantaged environment. The sisters began searching for grants to build classrooms and dormitories, as Chipapa is far from accessible lodging. They also needed equipment and materials for the courses. A number of international foundations, excited by the project, supported the venture.

The curriculum
While the buildings were going up, the sisters designed a curriculum that included food production and tailoring. Young women applied for these initial courses, but it was not long before men also became interested.  All students must meet two qualifications before they can enter the program: They must have completed grades seven through 12 and must be between the ages of 16 and 30. Students came from the immediate area and from far away, giving evidence of need, popularity and excellence.

Listening to the needs of the country, the sisters soon learned that the tourism industry was seeking people trained in hospitality skills. They enthusiastically took on the task, enhancing the catering curriculum and introducing hospitality management education. These attracted even more students. After some time, the school achieved national accreditation and now offers courses in tailoring, dairy and vegetable farming, farm rehabilitation, bakery and Eucharist-making.

 

The programs are holistic and include theory and practice, stressing values of self-reliance, creativity, entrepreneurship and hard work. Most students are residential and pay a reasonable amount for tuition and lodging. They cook and clean for themselves and maintain the lovely campus with trees and flowers planted here and there.

In the years the school has been operating, the majority of students find jobs throughout all regions of Zambia in restaurants, lodges or hotels. Employment has not only given the graduates personal advantages, but has raised the standard of living for their families. Their siblings can now pay their school fees. Some students have gone on to further their education, particularly in management. Following the example of the sisters, some of them have become entrepreneurs, starting their own catering businesses.
The day I arrived for my visit, the students were taking national exams in catering, so I witnessed the creative ways they had learned to prepare and present food. I had no doubt they would all pass with flying colors, as my mouth was watering to taste the things I could only look at.

Sr. Catherine Ogunonu, director of the program, and her sisters are proud of the work they do. Ogunonu came as an entrepreneur to be the leader of this beautiful school out in the middle of nowhere. She was educated in home economics, finance and development, all skills that have proved invaluable to developing this project. She has also become an expert in team-building as she added lay teachers to her team and managed dormitories where students learn to live and work together. She and the sisters have raised up many lives of many families through their efforts.

[Joyce Meyer is a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is GSR’s liaison to women religious outside of the United States.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Testimony  

In 2014 students from St Gerard’s Secondary School, Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland, visited Zambia as part of their R.E. and Social Outreach Programme. They visited projects in Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe, Sables and others, run by various missions and NGO’s. Katie Murphy, their scribe with the sparkling pen, describes their visit to Chipapa: “Our next trip was to the Holy Rosary Sisters Project, we were greeted by the nuns who run the project who were the most hospitable people I have ever met! They gave us a tour of the project which includes a cotton farm, livestock farm, bee-keeping, and a school. The moment when we made a donation to the head nun is one I will never forget. She made the most empowering inspirational speech overflowing with gratitude and raw compassion which moved us all.”

Holy Rosary Sisters’ entrepreneurship thrives in rural Zambia.  Joyce Meyer, visiting Chipapa, finds the training in this school meets the needs of young people, of their families, and of the nation.  See Blog

Farmers face the planting season with confidence, using yam-seeds they themselves have produced.

The yam-set technique ensures that they have quality seeds, using the best of new and traditional varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who cares about Climate Change in Africa?

Vanessa Nakate from Uganda is one!

In December 2019, Nakate was one of a handful of youth activists to speak at the COP25 gathering in Spain.

 

In early January 2020, she joined around 20 other youth climate activists from around the world to publish a letter to participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling on companies, banks and governments to immediately stop subsidizing fossil fuels.^[8] She was one of five international delegates invited by Arctic Basecamp to camp with them in Davos during the World Economic Forum; the delegates later joined a climate march on the last day of the Forum. She posed for a picture with four other young women, but when it was published the News Agency picture was cropped!  A climate activist from Africa is not important, not newsworthy!

Vanessa grew up in Kampala, and got involved in activism in December 2018 after being bothered by the unusually high temperatures in her country. “I asked my uncle to tell me how hot it was 20 years earlier. He told me he thought it was much hotter now.
“So I read more, and decided to go on strike in January 2019. It took me some days to build up the courage because I never went on strike for anything before No other students would join me because many were too afraid, so I asked my siblings. We made signs and striked together.”  Vanessa thinks that we all have a responsibility to help our planet, and fight for our future.
“The Earth is our home and our responsibility. The way you take care of your home is the same way you should take care of our planet. Our future is at stake. Climate change has no limits, and it will affect all of us. No matter who you are, where you live. Everyone is in danger.
“My main challenge has been convincing others to join me in striking. Often I am alone. Most people are afraid and others need to be educated more about the climate crisis. It has been hard getting the message out across Africa, but I will keep working.”
“I have been striking every Friday since February 2019,” said Leah. “I led three national climate strikes in Uganda in March, May and September this year, and since then have been elected as the team leader for Fridays for Future in Uganda.
“But just talking about change is not enough. I decided to take more action by doing plastic pickups around Kampala, my hometown.”

Visit mshr.org Facebook to see other prominent African Climate Change Activists!