Pastoral Agents in Sierra Leone’s Makeni Diocese Urged to Avail Church Resources to Facilitate Lenten Observance

The Catholic Church leader emphasized the need to guide the people of God in Sierra Leone in the right direction, especially as they navigate difficulties of life.

In Sierra Leone, Bishop Koroma observed, a rise in the challenges that the people are grappling. The family unit, he said, is also under threat.

“This season of Lent finds our nation still grappling with entrenched corruption, bribery, ethnicity, lawlessness, injustice, violence, disrespect for and abuse of the environment, as evidenced by the wanton filth in many of our cities and towns,” the Bishop said.

He added, “Even the traditional moral values related to marriage, family life, and human sexuality are being challenged and undermined every day with impunity.”

He bemoaned the steady rise of drug abuse and crime in some of the West African country including towns and villages, and said, “The youth continue to lose hope in our structures as they face a very bleak future.”

“Our people are on edge, desperately struggling to make ends meet due to the challenging economic hardship in our land,” he said, and continued, “While surveying this depressing litany of societal and communal woes, I cannot help but think that God must be very disappointed with us, his beloved children.”

According to Bishop Koroma, the ultimate struggle for grace and peace takes place in one’s heart and soul.

“While we are pessimistic about the bleak landscape that engulfs us, we also need to look within ourselves and honestly recognize our own personal sins, temptations, addictions and excesses,” the Sierra Leonean Bishop said.

He added, “The neglect of God, the anger, arrogance, apathy, selfishness, dishonesty, the nursing of grudges, the use of foul/vulgar language, engaging in examination malpractices, the lethargic attitude towards work and studies, irresponsibility, drug and alcohol abuse, envy, gossip, immorality and prejudice that we find in the darkest recesses of our souls are also gravely sinful.”

He said that if left unchecked, such sins “grow like weeds and destroy the life within us.”

The Catholic Bishop urged Sierra Leoneans to observe Lent through purification, restoration, and renewal by the cleansing power of God’s grace, both as a community and individually.

The Local Ordinary of Makeni highlighted the importance of the Lenten season, saying, “The Season of Lent gives us all the necessary tools to be better persons individually, in our families, and in our communities.”

“Prayer, fasting, and charitable works as pillars of Lent help us confront temptation, repent of our sins, be reconciled to God and others, and begin again,” he explained, urging them to utilize the spiritual benefits of Lent. 

He continued calling the faithful to live out to God’s grace, “It is for this reason that I summon you all, God’s People in the Diocese of Makeni, to embrace the season of Lent like never before.” 

The Catholic Bishop also urged the Lay Faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Makeni to show focus and determination during the Lent season by praying often, reading the word of God, and attending masses on Sundays and weekdays.

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“I urge the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Makeni to enter the Season of Lent with real determination and with a sense of focus,” he said.

“Attend Holy Mass every Sunday, and during the week, if possible. Read the Word of God. Pray often in church, in school and at home,” he said, and called on the people of God in Makeni to take seriously the call of the Church to fast and abstain, not just from food and drink, “but from unholy attachments as well.”

He further urged the people to attend Penitential Services, Lenten Retreats and Recollections, and to to Confession. 

The Bishop also reminded the faithful in the Diocese to support the charitable work of the Church, and to engage in good deeds of charity, kindness and forgiveness.

The Local Ordinary of Makeni assured the faithful of the goodness and light of Christ, provided they observe Lent with true devotion.

“In these forty days’ pilgrimage, let us walk with Christ through his suffering and death and then rise to the new life, the peaceful and hopeful life of Easter Day,” Bishop Koroma said.