Mwenya Mukuka
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| Very Rev. Fr. Justin Matepa, Diocesan Administrator of Mpika Diocese |
The Catholic Secretariat has bidden farewell to National Pastoral Coordinator Very Rev. Fr. Justin Matepa who has since taken position as Diocesan Administrator after the demise of the bishop of Mpika Diocese Rt. Rev. Justine Mulenga in March this year.
Bidding farewell to Catholic Secretariat community on Thursday 15th May, 2020, Fr Matepa thanked the bishops for the privilege given him to head the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) Pastoral Department for the past 10 years.
“I would like to sincerely thank the Bishops Conference that accorded me this chance. Actually, it was a privilege which I never expected to work here in the Catholic Secretariat, and before that to teach in the seminary for one year. Am so grateful even to the Secretary General, it has been a wonderful journey. I came here in my 40s and am departing in my 50s with some white hair on my head,” he said.
He further noted that while at the Secretariat he had leant to be hopeful and resilient even when things were difficult.
Fr. Justin Matepa has been working at the Catholic Secretariat in Lusaka as National Pastoral Coordinator for the past 10 years.
He was ordained priest in 1996 by Lusaka Emeritus Archbishop, His Grace Telesphore Mpundu in Mpika Diocese.
Speaking at the event, the ZCCB Secretary General Fr. Cleophas Lungu paid tribute to Fr. Matepa and thanked him for his contribution towards the work of the Church in Zambia.
At the same event other staff members also bade farewell to the Catholic Secretariat including the outgoing ZCCB Education Secretary Br. Charles Kabeta, some staff in the Women in Governance Program, Finance and Administration and Kapingila house.
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