The first centenary of the Catholic Church in Lubumbashi was celebrated this Sunday, August 15, 2010 Building on June 30 The Mass lasted nearly seven hours was chaired by the Archbishop, Monsignor Floribert Songasonga Mwitwa. Around him, several other bishops from Europe or Dioceses of Katanga and one hundred priests concelebrated Mass in front of this big over 50,000 faithful. All in the same fervor prayed and sung to give thanks to God for His countless blessings granted to the Archdiocese for a century. The preaching of the Archbishop, based on the readings for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has shown that the victory of Mary our Mother the sky before the forces of evil is that of the Church in her struggle against the various book forms of sin and against the darkness. As the Blessed Virgin, the first missionaries fought against adversity, braving all kinds of obstacles: hunger, disease, fatigue or discouragement. The fight against the forces of evil must continue today. If we rely on Christ, our Church will triumph. To do this, Christians are invited to spend a "folk belief" to a faith commitment concrete, a faith that produces works and resists any form of idolatry. In 100 years, concluded the Archbishop, the Church Lubumbashi is growing. He urged the Assembly to entrust the future of the Diocese and the DR Congo in the hands of the Virgin Mary.
Mass has continued in the same joy. And timing of offerings showed serious preparation of the faithful for this event in the Centenary Mass: Apart from the various in-kind donations, 9 motorcycles, dozens of bicycles, freezers, a plastic tank with a capacity of 1000 liters, a cow slaughtered were presented ... at the altar.
At the end of the Mass, Christians oppressed by the sun, but no less attentive, and decided to go through, listened to keynote rivers: The Reverend Father Abbot Representative the European Commission Delegation to the Abbey of St. Andrew was the first to speak. He traced the history of moving the foundation of the Diocese of Lubumbashi by the Benedictines, when there were only bush on the current site is built where the city of Lubumbashi. Lions the woodland of this area had landed another lion came from Europe, this one: Don Jean-Felix De Hemptine, nicknamed "The Lion of Katanga." He arrived in this country with four companions. He was consecrated bishop in 1932. Then an Abbot read the message of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It has essentially paid tribute to missionaries, to the Archbishop and the Bishop Coadjutor, Priests and catechists for the work of evangelization completed. He called the Church of Lubumbashi in the "evangelization of culture." This was followed by the message of CENCO, the Episcopal Conference of Congo, read by the Presidential Envoy of CENCO who desired among other things, a new purchase from the Archdiocese of Lubumbashi for second century. Taking his turn to speak, the governor of Katanga, Moise Katumbi Mr. Chapwe expressed pride for the work done by the Catholic Church in Lubumbashi. He did not fail to note that the work done by Bishop De Hemptine is immortalized, recently, by the renaming of Avenue Tabora become, "Bishop Avenue De Hemptine. 1 st Vice Minister and Minister of Interior, Representative of the President of the Republic has extended the policy of the President and delivered three messages from him: message of peace, message of the Reconstruction DRC around 5 yards and message of consolidation of democracy in the DRC. He announced that a Prado Jeep is hosted by the President of the Republic to the Archbishop Lubumbashi. Finally, it is the Archbishop himself who should close the series of speeches: he delivered a message of thanksgiving to God, missionaries and other agents of evangelization, to all men and all women who supported the work begun by the Benedictines. He recognized the beneficial and multifaceted cooperation shown by the contribution of traditional leaders, politicians, business leaders, industrialists, etc.. In turn, he related history of the evangelization of the Archdiocese Lubumbashi. He then enumerated the challenges facing the Church during the second century: the challenge of training for church personnel, a challenge for the laity, the challenge of inculturation, the challenge of hardware support, the challenge establishment of new parishes, Challenge of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation, the challenge of collaboration between different congregation, challenge of collaboration between religious and secular, new movements challenge of ecumenism, full development challenge rights. Given all that the Archbishop has announced in the coming years, a second Diocesan Synod of the Archdiocese in order to define the main directions in pastoral centennial starts today.
A Brief History of the Archdiocese of Lubumbashi.
The decree of August 6, 1910 erected the Apostolic Prefecture of Katanga. She was entrusted to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Andrew. On 29 September 1910, the first delegation of Benedictine trampled the ground of Katanga and began camping in Elisabethville (Lubumbashi). It consisted of Don Jean De Hemptine and his companions Brother Joachim, a Swiss; Hidesbald, a Belgian Marc de Montpellier. They made their entrance by the city of Cape Town in South Africa. Two key objectives animating the Benedictines, namely: to establish an abbey in Africa and evangelize the native population. On the Benedictines Elisabethville will attempt a deep penetration in Katanga and create a post Nguba to 220 km from Lubumbashi, "a wonderful place," wrote Bishop From Hemptine. Then they dived into Kansenia and it created a mission. The grace of God helping, several other missions will be born: Mwadingusha La Moera, Kapiri, Likasi Fungurume, Tenke, Kapolowe. A Elisabetville the foundation stone for the construction of the Cathedral was laid June 6, 1921. It was opened to Kapolowe where the first monastery in 1930 (the Priory of St. Gerard). He moved first to Kansénia before implementing it permanently in 1965 on the site Kiswishi. Bishop was consecrated Bishop Of Hemptine in 1932, this pioneer of the Church of Lubumbashi will devote all his energies to the evangelization of the Archdiocese and the founding of missions in the country entrusted to him by Rome.
On February 10, 1958 Monsignor died unexpectedly in Elisabethville. Faith and bravery marked man, "he had a faith to move mountains, and he moved a lot, noted in his speech with humor, The Reverend Father Abbot Representative of the European Delegation Abbey of Saint Andre. " Father Cornelius succeeded De Hemptine and will be the first Archbishop of Lubumbashi. In 1967, Cornelius resigned and the pastor of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Rev. Eugene Kabanga Songasonga son of this region, was consecrated bishop and appointed Archbishop. The author of "I am a man" was a mighty apostle of Jesus: his writings and his preaching countless percussion will lead the Church of Lubumbashi in the path of inculturation. After his resignation, Archbishop Floribert Songasonga was appointed Archbishop in 1998. Two years later, in 2000, Monsignor Eugene Kabanga dies. Monsignor Floribert Songasonga will experience a few years later, the need to help with this apostolic task of leading the Church in Lubumbashi. Thus, Tafunga Monsignor Jean-Pierre was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Lubumbashi, in 2009. Centennial celebration marks a new beginning for the Church of Lubumbashi. Much is still to be done, the currency Centennial calls us: "Ite in and your Vineam meam," "Go, you also into my vineyard. "
; ; Abbé Alain KET Kalenda
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