ZAMBIA: Mansa Diocese to Celebrate Year-long Jubilee of Mission for Peace
Zambia's Mansa diocese
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The Catholic diocese of Mansa in Zambia is set to have a year-long jubilee celebration of Mission for Peace to proclaim in response to the changing signs of time and in the light of the Social Teaching of the Church, Bishop Patrick Chilekwa Chisanga OFM. Conv. has said.
“With this Advent message and announcement of the new liturgical year and in view of celebrating 60 years since the creation of Mansa Diocese, I am delighted to also announce the Diocesan Jubilee Year of Mission for Peace to be celebrated under the theme ‘Peace be with you’, Bishop Chisanga disclosed in a statement issued Sunday, November 29.
“Our commitment to the mission of peace will accordingly be the context in which our pastoral programs shall be carried out throughout this new liturgical year as we also review the life and mission of the Catholic Church in the Luapula region since its establishment as a diocese in 1961,” the Local Ordinary of Mansa Diocese explained further how the jubilee year is to be carried out.
According to Rt. Rev. Chisanga, peace is a “very rich and central concept” which denotes harmony in being and in relationships of love and loyalty with God and between human beings.
“Peace cannot simply be the absence of war. It is rather a positive notion indicating the presence of all the conditions that promote social justice,” The Bishop stated in the statement adding that “There is peace where human dignity is respected, where there is promotion and defence of human rights, the rule of law, equal access to economic opportunities and full participation of the people in the public affairs of their land.”
The Jubilee Year of the diocese will be launched Sunday, December 12, during the solemn Eucharistic celebration in the Cathedral and will be concluded on the Solemnity of Christ the King in 2021.
Highlighting the significance of commemorating the Mission of Peace in the Church, the Zambian Prelate stated various aspects in which Peace is proclaimed in Scriptures and during Mass.
“The life and mission of Jesus, as narrated by the Gospels, is permeated with the message of peace. His birth was announced to the world through the acclamation of the angels: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will,” reads part of the Bishop’s statement and continues, “In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares the “peacemakers” to be the “children of God.”
The Bishop adds, “In his farewell discourse to his disciples, Jesus bequeathed Peace as his parting gift to them, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you’; after resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples and salutes them three times with the words, ‘Peace be with you’; and “the typical Pauline salutation in his epistles to various communities is that of “grace and peace”.
The Local Ordinary of Mansa further appreciated the collaboration during the just conclude Diocesan Year of the Lay Apostolate and asked for continued cooperation of the lay faithful during the Jubilee of Mission for Peace.
“I recognize with gratitude the response and goodwill shown during the recently concluded Diocesan Year of the Lay Apostolate. Indeed, the faith of many was clearly manifested through their actions (lciumino mu Milimo), especially in response to the critical sign of our time, namely the outbreak of the COVID-19 together with the disruption it has caused to the sacred and secular activities alike for almost the whole year,” Bishop Chisanga narrated.
He asks Christians to remember the pioneer shepherd of Mansa Diocese the late Bishop Emeritus René-Georges Pailloux who contributed to the mission of peace building through “incarnating the proclamation of the Gospel into concrete lives of people in education, healthcare and life skills for economic survival.”
Consequently, the diocesan Jubilee Year of Mission for Peace is coinciding with the much-anticipated year of general elections in Zambia scheduled for August 2021.
“This makes our mission for peace all the more urgent and focused. I therefore call upon every member of our diocesan community to participate fully in this mission of announcing peace upon this nation. In this regard, Mansa Diocese denounces all forms of violence, especially political violence, because it disrupts the democratic process and freedom of the citizens.”
Mansa Diocese which was earlier called the Prefecture Apostolic of Fort Rosebery, then elevated to Diocese of Fort Rosebery, was created in 1961. The name changed to Diocese of Mansa in 1967 following the post-independence renaming of the Provincial Headquarters of Luapula.
