From Church Leaders
[Source: Revd Juliao Mutemba, February 2011]
Fr. Germano Mandlate, is priest in charge of St. George, Beira, since August 15, 2010. I want us to read what he is telling us concerning his pastoral, and assume as a challenge to the whole church. The pastoral zone of Beira is made up of 22 congregations, and served by two priests. Answering to the question how is the work going? Fr. Germano says that, it is the initial moment of knowing his pastoral zone and congregations around, planning visits and work.
The assignment he has is to visit congregations, though they have news from the catechists. There are zones which are not of Beira jurisdiction, such as Maringue and Marromeu which belong to Cena, but we give our support, says Germano. On the other hand, he said that, we are fortunate because we have transport, and we have support of the partner parish, St John Friern Barnet …, and our car has the problem of the gearbox, and at the moment, there is one which was found in Zimbabwe. Fr. Germano, when asked to share the challenges he has ahead him, he said that there is a need secure the production of liturgical books to our catechists. At the moment, we do not have any hymn book in the local language, the only hymn book which sometimes can be found, is Portuguese, but the elders, most of them cannot understand the language. Fr. Isaias had worked with the translation team, which produced the liturgy in Cena, and they had made certain copies, but they finished long ago, and we need to print more. Concerning training, Fr. Germano, explained of the need to train and retrain catechists. For those who come from distant areas, we need to create the necessary logistics. We need to promote an exchange between catechists, because the priests are few cover the entire area. We also need to organize the catechists meeting, where they will have opportunity to share their challenges, learn from one another and address their concerns to God in prayers.
Reflecting on the floods, Germano, said, it is the situation of our country. This year, not all zones were affected, and it seems that the farms will have good results. The only case we can report is of a church building in Lamego, which was completely destroyed because of windstorm, and there is a need of rebuilding, using the bricks. There is a hope of having a partnership between the All Saints Church in Nhamatanda with a parish in London, and information from our side was already sent to London. Then I asked Fr. Germano to tell stories about the good things, where he said that, St. George in Beira is a small congregation, comprising 150 active members, very dedicated in the Lord’s service. We have congregations which, for long time, do not have the visit of a priest, but they are still alive and strong, supported by catechists, as long as they have liturgical books.