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Catholic Priest in Ethiopia appeals to Young Women, Girls to Assist in Evangelization

Credit: Agenzia Fides

A Catholic Priest in Ethiopia has called upon young girls and women to assist in evangelizing in Gode, a city in the Somali region of Ethiopia, located in the Shebelle zone in the Horn of Africa country.

In a report by the information service of Propaganda Fide, Agenzia Fides, the Apostolic Prefect of Robe in Ethiopia, Fr. Angelo Antolini, said that Gode is served by a Catholic Nun who commits herself in “paying attention to the ladies in difficulty and their children.”

“Many are sick and afflicted by many economic, moral, often dramatic relational problems, but she is alone. We are looking for some girls or mature women with a good missionary spirit, who can accompany her, but it is not easy,” Fr. Antolini has been quoted as saying in a Thursday, June 2 Agenzia Fides report.

In the report, the Catholic Priest says that the Nun who helps the needy women and children in the region needs to be helped to carry out the service towards the people.

He says that the mission to evangelize to the Somalis in the area began in December 2020 when Bishop Angelo Pagano of Harar Diocese and Archbishop Antoine Camilleri, the Apostolic Nuncio in Ethiopia, signed the mission.

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The Italian-born Priest told Agenzia Fides that the mission towards Gode was decided after a series of meetings with missionaries and the Laity involved in the prefecture.

Fr. Antolini said that alongside two other people, they managed to work on an irrigation system that is aimed at helping the community with food through creation of a vegetable garden in the desert.

In the June 2 report, the Apostolic Prefect says that the love between members of the Clergy and the Laity should not be “taken for granted” but should rather help to build the church in her mission of evangelization and attending to the needy.

“What is needed is a synergy of love between clerics and laity which should not be taken for granted, but rather built. We are seriously committed to this path of constructive cooperation,” Fr. Antolini has been quoted as saying. 

He adds that since the church exists in the world "without belonging to the world", her evangelization role becomes challenging.

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“The Church is not yet an angelic community. She lives in the world without being of the world, totally and seriously in the world,” he is quoted as saying in the June 2 report.

He explains in reference to the challenge the church is facing in evangelization, “Living the reality of the world as an evangelizing presence is not always that simple. It takes discernment, intelligence, courage, transparency and significant economic means.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.