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Chad’s Catholic Dioceses Launch 2025 Jubilee Year, Local Ordinaries Urge Fostering of Faith, Hope

Various Catholic Dioceses in Chad, on Sunday, December 29, launched celebrations to start off the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year with emphasis on faith and hope.

In the Catholic Archdiocese of N’Djamena, the Local Ordinary, Archbishop Edmond Djitangar presided over the Eucharistic celebration, which coincided with the conclusion of the Diocesan youth forum.

At the event that was held at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral of N’Djamena Archdiocese, Archbishop Djitangar encouraged youths to embrace the 2025 Jubilee Year as an opportunity to overcome life’s anxieties and challenges. 

“Dear young people, many speeches and promises are made to you, but few concrete and positive actions are undertaken to ease your worries, fears, and discouragements. Let us walk together on the path of faith,” the Chadian Archbishop said.

He added, “May this Jubilee Year give us the opportunity to make efforts to show the sincerity of our hearts and adopt responsible behaviors. Let us not miss out on the graces God is prepared to bestow upon us throughout this Jubilee Year.”

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He urged the people of God to peacefully seek solutions to societal challenges, including unemployment, and challenged youths to take seriously the virtue of responsibility.

“May the Holy Family of Nazareth, whom we honor today, teach us to live wisely in our families, to jointly seek solutions to unemployment, to be diligent in work when given the opportunity, and to manage the small resources we earn to meet our basic needs,” Archbishop Djitangar said.

In his homily on December 29, the Feast of the Holy Family, the Chadian Catholic Archbishop also emphasized the need to walk together on the path of faith in the example of the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as a model for improving family life, social cohesion, and economic stability.

“May we conclude this year with improvements in our family, social, and economic lives as signs of the spiritual gifts we have received,” the Local Ordinary of N’Djamena implored.

In the Catholic Diocese of Pala, the Local Ordinary, Bishop Dominique Tinoudji, who presided over the Eucharist celebration at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral of his Episcopal See described the 2025 Jubilee Year as a moment for self-evaluation, gratitude, and spiritual renewal.

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Bishop Tinoudji emphasized the importance of living the present with prayer and thanksgiving while planning for a hopeful future.

“After a given period, we pause to examine ourselves, evaluate our lives, convert, live the present moment in prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. We live the present and project ourselves into the future.,” he said.

Meanwhile, presiding over the celebration at St. Therese Cathedral of his Episcopal See,  Bishop Waïngué Bani Martin of Chad’s Catholic Diocese of Doba urged parents to nurture their children with love, instilling Christian values, and guiding them toward becoming responsible and fulfilled individuals.

“You become a father or mother to a child when you are capable of taking care of them, feeding them, tending to their needs, and educating them in respect for values, freedom, and love so they can be useful to society and realize the vocation God has called them to,” he said.

In the Catholic Diocese of Sarh, Bishop Miguel Ángel Sebastián Martínez called for the sharing of graces received during the 2025 Jubilee Year to inspire hope in local communities. 

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In his homily at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of his Episcopal See, the Spanish-born member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) emphasized that the foundation of this hope lies in Christ’s love, exemplified through His sacrifice on the Cross.

“This Holy Year will be, for us Chadian Christians, an opportunity to grow in hope and to help others regain hope in their lives,” he said.

Justin Assalé contributed to the writing of this story

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