Category: Pastoral Letters & Bishop Statements

• we would not have the peace greeting
• communion would be given only on the hand
• we would say a prayer at every Mass for those that are sick, those who care for the sick and those working towards finding a cure

Continue reading “Coronavirus: praying and caring for each other” →

by Pope Francis

“We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This year the Lord grants us, once again, a favourable time to prepare to celebrate with renewed hearts the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of our personal and communal Christian life. We must continually return to this mystery in mind and heart, for it will continue to grow within us in the measure that we are open to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and generosity.

1. The paschal mystery as the basis of conversion

Christian joy flows from listening to, and accepting, the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This kerygma sums up the mystery of a love “so real, so true, so concrete, that it invites us to a relationship of openness and fruitful dialogue” (Christus Vivit, 117). Whoever believes this message rejects the lie that our life is ours to do with as we will. Rather, life is born of the love of God our Father, from his desire to grant us life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). If we listen instead to the tempting voice of the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), we risk sinking into the abyss of absurdity, and experiencing hell here on earth, as all too many tragic events in the personal and collective human experience sadly bear witness.
Continue reading “Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent 2020” →

by Bishop José Luis IMC

“Working for peace seems to be a common goal of many but the challenge is to agree on what the foundations for peace are. Having a look at the Popes’ messages for peace makes it easier to understand what we are talking about.”

Closing the diocesan week of prayer for peace I reflected during the homily on the challenges of working for peace and the way we understand peace.

On that Sunday’s gospel we read about John telling Jesus they had stopped someone casting out devils in His name because he was not following them. I believe Jesus’ reply (“You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me”) goes beyond not stopping someone from doing good but is also an invitation to work with others with whom we share the same goals and the same ways to achieve them. 

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Peace!

We are all aware of the unprecedented devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is considered that, just in Mozambique, about one million people have been affected.

For many years, Sr Florence Tsabedze, born in Eswatini (Good Shepherd Parish) and a member of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception has been serving in Mozambique. In the last few days she shared with me: “Concerning the needs, basically we need food, clothes, medical care… The bishop’s house in Beira, the Cathedral, mission, convent, outstations and many more shelters have been badly damaged, apart from the simple homesteads. Here the situation is worse because people are still dying of cholera and malaria caused by the cyclone. Dead bodies are still found in the seashore…”. Continue reading “In solidarity with Mozambique” →

by Rev. Dabulamanzi Ntshangase

As it appears on the Diocesan Year Plan, 10th February 2019 is the Trafficking in Persons day. The new desk in the Diocese (Trafficking in Persons), therefore, urges all the Parish Priests to make sure that the Prayer to Saint Josephine Bakhita is said in their parishes on the
aforementioned date.

As of 12th December 2018, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons gives the following definition of Trafficking in Persons:
Continue reading “Trafficking in Persons Day” →

21 September 2018
St Matthew, apostle

To:
Priests, religious and lay people

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

“peace is a gift of God entrusted to us”

This was the theme chosen by St John Paul II for the World Day of prayer in 1982. Peace is indeed God’s gift but also a task. In fact, he adds: “God’s gift of peace is therefore also at all times a human conquest and achievement”.

There is, in each one of us, a deep desire for peace: inner peace, peace in our families, in our country and in the whole world.

Fifty years’ ago, launching the day of prayer for peace, Blessed Paul VI wrote: “Peace cannot be based on a false rhetoric of words… Nor can one rightly speak of peace where no recognition or respect is given to its solid foundations: namely, sincerity, justice and love…” Continue reading “Call for a week of prayer for Peace in the country” →

Pope Francis has responded to new reports of clerical sexual abuse and the ecclesial cover-up of abuse. In an impassioned letter addressed to the whole People of God, he calls on the Church to be close to victims in solidarity, and to join in acts of prayer and fasting in penance for such “atrocities”.

Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis
To the People of God

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26).  These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons.  Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike.  Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient.  Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.  The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults. Continue reading “Pope Francis: Letter to the People of God (full text)” →