Father Claude Nkwe Lugiri talks to us about the challenges he has to face in the new parish entrusted to him.
After four years of work in my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was assigned to the Central African Republic, where I had done a two-year period of missionary service a few years earlier. I was assigned to the parish of Saint Anne in Dekoa, in the diocese of Kaga-Bandoro, with a Comboni bishop, Mons. Victor Hugo Castillo Matarrita.
Dekoa is located 254 km north of Bangui, the capital of the country. Saint Anne’s is the only Catholic parish in the city and from here I try to carry out faithfully the task entrusted to me by the Church to enlighten, sanctify and govern. One of our priorities is to regularly visit the 22 Christian communities in the interior, although I also try to maintain a regular presence in Dekoa, where our Comboni community is located.
I consider it very important to take care of my preaching, not only the homilies but also the catechesis and other formative meetings. We are revitalizing the parish Caritas to involve all the faithful and we are also stimulating the work of the Justice and Peace Commission involving teachers and young people. I regularly celebrate the sacraments and invite others to love them.
I joyfully administer baptism to children, young people and adults and visit the sick to bring them communion. Marriage does not attract young people and, in practice, only the older couples take the step to marry religiously. I am the youngest parish priest since the creation of the parish and also the first African, even though I am a foreigner.
I have had difficulty being accepted and even if I have had moments of discouragement, I understand that we must accept criticism as part of missionary life. Many Christians still have the idea that the Church is only the priest, so I perceive a lack of spirit of communion in the common Mission. On the part of the missionaries, perhaps we have not adequately prepared the faithful to take on some parish services. This means that there are not many responsible lay people, capable of reflecting and taking the initiative.
The population in general, but especially the youth, have been abandoned to their sad fate after the unfortunate events that the country has experienced in recent years. The violence has left deep scars that will have to be healed in the short and medium term.
Consequently, there is a huge decline in the level of education with a lack of social cohesion, poor participation in public affairs and little sense of the common good and mutual aid. The government is trying to get the country out of the crisis, but there is still a long way to go. We have understood that, based on faith, we must start from the challenges and difficulties we encounter and transform them into opportunities for growth in the service of God and his people.
