ZAMBIA: All I ever wanted was to became a Catholic Priest, says Bishop Phiri
Rt. Rev. Benjamin Phiri, Auxiliary Bishop of Chipata
Part one of the serialization of Rt. Rev. Benjamin Phiri Auxiliary Bishop of Chipata
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
His peers in high school nicknamed him the Preacher Man owing to the exemplary lifestyle he was leading, a life of prayer and sharing the word of God. While his peers hooked up with girlfriends and later on brag about their conquests, a normal phenomenon with boys their age, young Benjamin shunned any behaviour that was otherwise contrary to the values of an aspiring priest.
Born to the Late Gervazio and Elizabeth on 14th June 1959, Bishop Phiri is the firstborn child in a family of eleven children, six girls and five boys. He is currently survived by his mother, two sisters and four brothers, having lost one of his brothers to kidney failure just recently at the end of June 2018.
“My family comes from Petauke, the Nsenga part of the Eastern Province. In Eastern Province we have six districts and more or less six tribes so I am Nsenga although I never really grew up there because my father used to work at that time for the Department of Water Affairs and so he was transferred from district to district and we moved along with him,” Bishop Phiri explained.
Born to a Catholic family, he was baptised two weeks after birth on the 30th June 1959. After his primary education, young Phiri qualified to go to a Government Mixed Secondary School; what they called at that time in Zambia, Co-education. Since he had showed interest in becoming a priest, the diocesan vocation promotor recommended him for junior seminary upon completion of Junior secondary level which was Form III.
“I joined Mukasa Junior Seminary in Nchoma which is in Monze Diocese in the Southern Province for my senior secondary education, Form IV and V and upon completion, I went for the compulsory Military Training under the National Service program.”
The duration for the basic military training before one could be allowed to either join a college or university is six months. The young Benjamin got his clearance from the National Service to go to the seminary after eight months. When he got home he found an acceptance form from the University of Zambia in addition to the seminary admission letter.
“In those days we didn’t pay for school, everything was free and so I was invited to the School of Humanity and Social Sciences at the University of Zambia and my course was supposed to take four years.” This kind of threw him in a disarray because the prospect was tempting.
“I went to my Bishop, the Late Cardinal Medardo Joseph Mazombwe who was then the Bishop of Chipata before he was transferred to Lusaka as an Archbishop and explained the situation to him. He advised me to go to the seminary first and upon ordination to priesthood, I would be given a chance to further my education at the university.”
Young Benjamin therefore joined St. Augustine Major Seminary in Kabwe for his Philosophy and St. Dominic Major Seminary in Lusaka for his Theology under the rectorship of the Late Fr. Peter Lwaminda who later became Secretary General for AMECEA and then SECAM.
Bishop Phiri was ordained a priest in 1986 making his long term dream come true. This he says is a service he continues to cherish even as he serves as an Auxiliary Bishop of Chipata. His obligations as a pastor in Priestly Ministry gives him utmost fulfilment; a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
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Part Two of the Serialization will continue in the next AMECEA Online News Bulletin
