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| The New Church Building |
After eleven years of intensive fundraising for the construction of the new parish church, the parishioners breathed a sigh of relief on 31 August, when a multi-million dollar Parish Church structure was officially inaugurated by His Grace, Archbishop Tarsicio Ziyaye, who was recently transferred to Lilongwe Archdiocese as Archbishop.
The inauguration ceremony coincided with the centenary anniversary celebration of the Parish of St. Louis Montfort, also known as Catholic Institute (C.I), of Blantyre Archdiocese whereby Archbishop Ziyaye congratulated the Priests and Parishioners for the good work which was largely from their own contributions.
The superior delegate of the Montfort Missionaries, Father Nkukumira said C.I parish is indeed a model to other churches in Malawi on self-reliance. He reminded them of three Montfort missionaries who plant the seed of Catholicism at CI in 2013. These three missionaries and twenty-seven local workers constructed the old parish church in 1913.
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| The old Church Building |
“Today, on behalf of all Montfort Missionaries and Daughters of Wisdom who did the first evangelization, I want to thank you for the Catholics from C.I for what you have done to come up with this marvelous church building. However, the missionaries showed us how to use our financial resources and talents for the benefit of the church. Above all, may our hearts also be renewed and as beautiful as this church,”he said.
Speaking during the same function, the current parish priest of C.I, Fr. Kuziona, said late Archbishop James Chiona inspired the development of building the church.“From the very beginning, Christians worked together with Archbishop Chiona towards the building of the new church. We thank God for giving us Archbishop Chiona who inspired us to build this church, may his soul rest in peace,” he said.
Archbishop Ziyaye who succeeded Archbishop Chionacontinued to work together with parishioners on the project.
The ceremony was also attended by Malawi President Mrs. Joyce Banda, the former head of State, MrBakiliMuluzi and Pope’s envoy, Monsignor Hubertus Van Mergen.
Source: Malawi Communications Office
