MALAWI: Bishop Praises Ad Gentes Lay Missionaries for Door-to-door Evangelization As Diocese Continues to Celebrate The Maxium Illud
Bishop of Karonga Diocese, Rt. Rev. Martin Mtumbuka, says the Church needs to revert to the traditional way of evangelization, the door-to-door method, to ensure the Gospel reaches out to all the corners of the world.
His Lordship Mtumbuka stresses that time is gone when priests, nuns (Sisters), catechists and the laity waited for those who want to know Jesus Christ to come to their offices and rectories to quench their spiritual thirst.
This is contained in a letter the bishop has addressed to pastoral workers in his diocese (the clergy, Religious, catechists and the laity) on the dissemination of the consolidated report on the first missionary journey of the Ad Gentes Missionaries sent out on the launch of the Extraordinary Missionary Month on 9 February 2019.
Bishop Mtumbuka said much to the dismay of those who were sent as missionaries, there are extremely marginalized communities in all aspects of life in the Diocese of Karonga.
“These communities feel so disconnected from the rest of the country that it makes no difference in their view who becomes the next president. In spite of the Catholic Church having been in this area for about 70 years, there are still so many people who have not been reached by the Church,” he says in the letter.
The bishop adds that even today, the Holy Spirit opens the hearts of men and women to receive the Good News of Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour.
He also says the report has shown that the door-to-door method of evangelization is has proved to be very effective in reaching out to the souls that are hungering for the Gospel.
“The fact that all our eleven Ad Gentes Missionaries are lay people shows that given sufficient orientation and support, lay people can do much more for the Church than we expect. Even today, the message of Jesus Christ is a stumbling block to some,” he says.
Bishop Mumbuka also reports that the team of lay missionaries has reported some challenges they faced in this missionary journey. For instance, the Jehovah Witnesses did not show interest to receive them – at times they turned violent.
“They chased Ignatius (one of our Ad Gentes missionaries who was this time accompanied by one of our aspiring seminarians accusing them of representing the antichrist mentioned in the Scriptures as No. 666. They had to run for their lives.”
“On Sunday, they organized a prayer service during which they also distributed some items to children donated by the Coppel family from Mexico. One angry mother came to where the congregation was and grabbed her child and broke the cup and forks her child was given while shouting that the said cups contained Satan! Our founding fathers, the Missionaries of Africa would have been very much accustomed to such incidents,” the Bishop explains.
The bishop says in almost all these extremely remote areas, the Church’s access to people has been through the Diocesan radio, adding that Tuntufye FM has proven to be a very effective means of reaching out to even the remotest parts of the Diocese with the Good News.
Bishop Mtumbuka declared this year (1 December 2018 – 30 November 2019) to be the Diocesan Year of Missio Ad Gentes through proclaiming the Good News, works of charity and promoting integral justice. The Diocese is celebrating the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019 for the 100th years anniversary of the missionary encyclical Maxium Illud of Pope Benedict XV of 1919.
