Advertisement

At 40th Anniversary, Catholic Nuns in Angola Urged to “prepare foundations for future”

Members of the Daughters of St. Mary of Guadalupe (FSMG) in Angola during their 40th anniversary celebration. Credit: Radio Ecclesia

Members of the Daughters of St. Mary of Guadalupe (FSMG) in Angola have been urged to look into the future with vision and strategy as they mark four decades of service in the Southern African nation. 

Speaking during Thanksgiving Mass for the Ruby Anniversary of FSMG members in Angola, Bishop Firmino David of Sumbe Diocese encouraged the Catholic Sisters to continue their service to the country’s peripheries.

“As you celebrate this Jubilee, these are years of great joy, but also of great commitment,” Bishop Firmino said during the January 21 Eucharistic celebration at Christ the King Parish of Sumbe Diocese.

“On the one hand, the page of memory of the past is growing, on the other hand, the page of the present and the commitment for the future are opening up,” the Angolan Catholic Bishop, leader who started his Episcopal Ministry last July added, and urged the FSMG members to use their experience in Angola to “prepare the foundations for the future.”

During the January 21 event, Sr. Isaura António Lino and Sr. Aurélia Cafeca made their perpetual profession and Novices Ufina Ventura and Jureuma Francisco took their temporary vows.

Advertisement

In his homily, the Auxiliary Bishop of Luanda Archdiocese urged the newly professed FSMG members to remain faithful to the Lord's call and be agents of transformation in the communities they are commissioned.  

“These Sisters of ours have been called out of their context to be part of this new family, the restored family,” Bishop Fernando Francisco said, and added, “Wherever these Sisters arrive, they are to bring or carry the Good News of Peace.”

On her part, FSMG Superior General, Sr. Juana Altagracia Xique Bello, said that the 40 years of their presence in Angola had been challenging for the members of the Congregation. 

“These were remarkable moments for all the Sisters who have been here, because they left the Word of God, like a light shining, in those hearts that were suffering the anguish of war,” Sr. Bello said.

She added that in their service, “the sisters knew the dignity of those most forgotten.”

More in Africa

“The sisters knew how to raise the dignity of those most forgotten, who lived on the outskirts, getting rid of the embankments, going over the broken bridges, walking on foot because the car no longer went over the broken bridge,” the FSMG Superior General said.

At Christ the King Parish of Sumbe Diocese, FSMG members serve in the community of Pedra 1, where they have two schools.

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.