ZAMBIA: ZCCB Pastoral Support Continues as Archbishop Phiri Visits Catholic Students
Sandra Kunda
The Catholic Students’ Community (CASC) at The Copperbelt University (CBU), Riverside Campus, welcomed Archbishop Benjamin Phiri of the Archdiocese of Ndola, who celebrated Mass with Catholic students at the institution.
The visit marked the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (ZCCB) growing pastoral engagement with Catholic students nationwide.
Speaking on behalf of the National Movement of Catholic Students (NMCS)–Zambia, National President Samuel Mushapa expressed gratitude for the bishops’ continued support and called for similar pastoral outreach in other dioceses.
He recalled Pope Francis’s message of July 22, 2022, during the centenary celebrations of the international Catholic students’ movement, in which the Holy Father emphasized that Catholic students were “an integral body of the Church” as they lived their mission as students.
The statement also reflected on the Mass celebrated on March 27, 1999, by the late Cardinal Medardo Joseph Mazombwe at the University of Zambia (UNZA) Chapel, which institutionalized the Catholic Students Movement in Zambia and encouraged students to “stand together for what they believed.”
NMCS–Zambia reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with ZCCB to strengthen a Catholic student movement rooted in the true teachings of the Catholic faith.
In recent years, Catholic students have also hosted Bishop Clement Mulenga of Kabwe, Archbishop Dr. Alick Banda of Lusaka, and now Archbishop Dr. Benjamin Phiri, reflecting increased episcopal closeness to young people in higher learning institutions.
END
