Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of the Catholic Diocese of Caxito in Angola. Credit: ACI Africa
On the strategies he has put in place to grow Christian faith in his Episcopal See, Bishop Camuto, who has been at the helm of Caxito Diocese since he started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2020 explained, “I personally call on the Clergy to be more authentic in the work of evangelization through the means of catechism. From childhood, the children should be well catechized.”
He also highlighted Parish movements as an important strategy to sustain Christian faith practice in his Diocese. “We have the apostolic movements so that there is also space to learn better, to have a more enlightened faith,” the Spiritan Bishop said referring to his directive to Clergy and women and men Religious to foster the Catholic youth movement, young Catholic adults, Catholic Women Association (CWA), Catholic Men Association (CMA), and the choir, among others.
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“We try to form real parish communities, so that the Christian is aware of his belonging to the parish community and participate in the activities of the parish, participate in the activities of his movement,” he said.
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The Local Ordinary of Caxito said he emphasizes active participation in church activities. “We try to avoid anonymous Christians ... Since childhood, with the little ones, with the young ones, with the people who are in the movement, we try to put in their consciousness this sense of belonging, to identify with a particular Catholic community and to grow with and in it, giving all it the community needs for it to grow and thrive,” he told ACI Africa.
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In the January 26 interview, Bishop Camuto also lauded Pope Francis for initiating the 2025 Jubilee Year under the theme of hope.
Pope Francis announced the start of a Year of Prayer on January 21 in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the second in his Pontificate after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.
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The Holy Father said the 2025 Jubilee Year will be “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.”
In line with the 2025 Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, Bishop Camuto told ACI Africa, “each Christian must make sacrifices for the good of the world, for the health of the world; we must put ourselves at the service of others; by our activities, by our works, we must give hope to others.”
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As Pilgrims of Hope, we have to say to other that “God will always have, despite all that we live in the world, the last word,” the Spiritan Bishop said Rome.
The 2025 Jubilee Year, he also said, “is the path of life; it pushes us to love, it pushes us to forgiveness, it pushes us, finally, to all the values that help us to be more human. This is what we need today, to be more and more human, to be people who love each other, who forgive each other, who are in solidarity with each other, who try to sow fraternity.”
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“All these are values that today, unfortunately, we see trampled upon or undermined,” he adding that during the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year, “we must recover them and try to call people to take this into account in their lives.”
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