He went on to highlight the complementary lifestyle of St. Paul and St. Peter, who he said are considered “pillars of our faith”.
“Dear brothers and sisters, these two brothers ... had parts of their livelihood and mission disrupted, but Almighty God continued to support them, and they continued to trust Him in their lives,” Bishop Ndizeye said referring to the persecutions St. Peter and St. Paul experienced.
He went on to explain how young people can draw inspiration from the two Apostles. He said, “St. Peter represents many of us who, in ordinary circumstances, may not have received special education but have been humble, accepted Christ, and accepted our faith and still have the strength and ability to continue defending and protecting the faith, like Saint Peter who was just a fisherman.”
To complement the limitations of St. Peter, the Catholic Bishop said, “perhaps this is why Christ chose St. Paul, this scholar.”
During his life, he said, St. Paul “was the one who went to argue with those who were scholars, especially the Greeks. We find the Apostle Paul employing almost the same strength, even more, that he used to defend the Jewish religion, now to proclaim and defend Christianity. He was skilled in teaching everything he understood and believed.”
“Therefore, these two apostles, these two pillars of our faith complement each other, that one with this humble faith, without very high education, can still have faith and defend Christ,” the Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in September 2022 following his appointment in June 2022 said.
Scholars, he went on to say, are also called upon to live their Christian faith in their pursuit for deeper understanding of phenomena.
Bishop Ndizeye emphasized the need for professional preparation on the part of young people, saying, “All those appointed to be teachers of the Catholic religion do not just appear on the streets and declare, ‘I am a Priest, I am a Bishop, I am this and that’; they must go through a certain education that enables them to discern worldly matters and spiritual matters, to be able to distinguish and fight against forces that can oppose our faith.”
“That is why the church invites us to continue learning, to continue reading, and to continue reflecting even on ordinary life matters, to see how they relate to our faith and still be able to proclaim our faith, to help integrate science and ongoing discoveries and technology, to see how we can still use them to spread faith,” he further said.
The 52-year-old Tanzanian Catholic Bishop called upon the young people in Tabora Metropolitan See to seek God’s grace to “find correct answers” to apply to their life experiences in the example of St. Peter, who was able to reveal the identity of Jesus by the grace of God.
