MALAWI: Sacred Heart Parish Zomba Marks 100 Years with Call to Restore Lapsed Catholics
Fr. Steve Likhucha
The Catholic Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Zomba, Rt. Rev. Alfred Mateyo Chaima has led Christians and people of goodwill in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Parish at Zomba Cathedral last Saturday.
Joined by the Metropolitan Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of Blantyre Archdiocese and Rt. Rev. Peter Musikuwa of the Chikwawa Diocese, together with many Clergy, Religious, Political Leaders, Local Authorities, and Government Officials, thanked Bishop Chaima for journeying with the people of Sacred Heart Parish from 1924 to the present.
“This is a celebration for everybody, and we need to be very grateful to God who has been very faithful in all these years for us to be where we are today. We celebrate this Jubilee within the Jubilee of Hope, which adds greater meaning to our work, as God is always with his people in all situations of life. Hope does not disappoint as God continues to reveal himself through so many things that have taken place over the years,” said Bishop Chaima.
“God sees, hears and comes to intervene in human history to save them (human beings) just as he did by redeeming the Israelites from the tyranny of the Pharaohs by approaching Moses to be the lead person (cf. Ex. 3: 7-8) and also by bringing back his flock, the Israelites, from bad and destructive shepherds as He told Prophet Ezekiel that He would seek, care, pasture, bandage and gather together his flock (cf. Ez. 34:11-16) Added Bishop Chaima.
“Surely this celebration should be connected to the Jubilee that God has been so merciful to us, hence all the achievements over the years have been done by God through different agents sent by God together with all the Clergy, Religious, Catechists, and Committed people, dead and alive, who have been very instrumental in the growth of the Parish. Therefore, spiritual aspects should not be detached from the celebration.”
The Local Ordinary called upon the lay faithful to learn from the Good Shepherd, looking for the lost sheep out of 100 and who even celebrated with many people when he found it (cf. Lk. 15: 3-7).
“Within the 100 years, there were some lost sheep, and through the Clergy and Religious, they were brought back. Today, as we begin a new era of another century and as we continue with our spiritual journey or jubilee, we find many people who need sacraments, the lapsing Christians, those who no longer believe because of the challenges of our times, sickness, death, famine, or other calamities, all these should be gathered and be brought back to God.” Bishop Chaima stressed.
The Bishop also called upon the gathering to read and reflect more on the Pope Encyclical and Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexit Nos (Oct 2024) and Dilexi Te (Oct 2025) by Popes Francis and Leo XIV respectively that call upon us all to reflect upon the intense love of the Most Sacred heart of Jesus Christ to all of us by connecting us to the Divine Love and that we need, after experiencing the love of God, to radiate it to others so that, through us, others should experience the same love and mercy of God.
In his address to the congregation, the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Parish, Rev. Fr. Raphael Mbendera, stressed that the Centenary Celebration did not mean the end of all the efforts being done to have the parish developed, but was catalyst for the Christians to continue the spiritual journey in their support to the growth and development of the Church in various ways.
The Canon also called upon his flock to put a halt to everything that derails the development of the Parish by remembering that through the Centenary Celebration, they have been restored by God, as renewed people in their spiritual lives, to do more for God as such; all traits of bad behaviour should be extinguished.
A Centenary Memorial Podium is under construction at the Parish, and people of goodwill are being asked to support it so that, by midyear 2026, it is liturgically in use. The Parish Priest can be contacted on +265992694043.
In 1912, under the Nyasa Vicariate, Bishop Louis Auneau established a mission at Nankhunda, some 20 km from Zomba City. It was later dedicated to the Sacred Heart when it was moved to Zomba City, adjacent to Zomba Maximum Prison along Zomba-Limbe Road in 1924. In 1948, a new Church, the third largest in Africa by then, was constructed after the Likangala River within Zomba Urban, under the administration of the Montfort Missionaries until 1993, when the Diocesan Clergy took over. Since then, two new parishes from Sacred Heart Parish have emerged: Nankhunda and Katamba.
