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New Pastoral Year Launched in CAR Archdiocese, Cardinal Urges Faithful to “get involved”

Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga during the launch of the new pastoral year in the Archdiocese of Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR). Credit: LANOCA

The Cardinal in the Central African Republic (CAR) has urged the people of God under his pastoral care to “get involved” in the Church’s pastoral mission of evangelization as he presided over the launching of the Pastoral Year in his Metropolitan See.

In his Sunday, September 24 homily during the launching of the New Pastoral Year of Bangui Archdiocese, Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga said, “God calls us all, through our baptism, to work for the salvation of the world.”

God, Cardinal Nzapalainga added, “does not only call Bishops, Priests and Men and Women religious. Today he is calling you, the Christian of the Archdiocese of Bangui! Get involved, respond to his call as a faithful worker.”

“If the mission entrusted to the Church is to be credible, let us guard against the demon of exclusion and jealousy; let us ask the Lord for the grace of conversion in the way we look at others who, like us, are workers for the Gospel,” he said during the Eucharistic celebration at Our Lady of Fatima Parish of Bangui Archdiocese.

The member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CSSp.) also known as the Spiritans or Holy Ghost Fathers continued, “Let us rejoice in being together, each in his or her own place. May each of us devote all our energies to living out the special grace we have received from the Lord.”

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“In order to collaborate in the work of salvation in Jesus Christ,” the Cardinal said that there is need for the people of God to take courage to reach out to each other.

“It must therefore be in a position of care to reach men and women where they live, with their joys and their sorrows, their fears and their expectations, their tears and their hope,” the 56-year-old Cardinal who started his Episcopal Ministry in July 2012 as Archbishop of Bangui said.

The Spiritan Cardinal further said, “We are all missionary disciples, following Christ. Living and carrying out the mission of proclaiming the Gospel imposes on us the duty not to desert the paths of those who share our daily lives, and with whom we share the same destiny.”

“The mission is lived out in connection with the concrete reality of the world as it is, with its joys and its challenges, in particular the challenges of peace and justice, the challenge of love and human solidarity, the challenge of building a more fraternal society, the challenge of living together in harmony for the good of all,” he said.

The Archbishop of Bangui continued, “It is by taking on these challenges as part of her specific mission that the Church works to bring about the reign of God. In this pastoral work, it is therefore necessary to regularly reassess the progress made.”

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“Let us give thanks for the beautiful gift of renewed missionary impetus that the Lord is giving us today,” he further said during the official launching of the New Pastoral Year of Bangui Archdiocese.

Cardinal Nzapalainga added, “Filled with the joy and strength of his Spirit, let us set out on the roads of mission with new determination.”

“May the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Our Lady of Ubangi, walk with us, and may she help us to share the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ,” the Local Ordinary of Bangui said during the September 24 event.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.