Thousands of people including the government leaders have attended Requiem Mass for the repose of the souls of the victims of Olasiti Bomb blast that happened on May 6, 2013 during the opening of St Joseph the Worker Parish in Arusha.
During Mass, the Archbishop of Arusha, Most Rev Josephat Lebulu, who was the main celebrant asked the faithful to pray for the deceased while also asking them to avoid hatred among themselves.
The Archbishop called on the faithful to cultivate the virtue of forgiveness because revenge is not among the values of a baptized Christian. “The important thing is forgiveness, hatred and revenge is not helping not have space for us Christians baptized”, he said.
Referring to the bomb blast of 2013, Archbishop Lebulu said that the culprits wanted to instigate religious conflict among the people in the country but through God’s power they have not succeeded.
He has asked all the Christians and people of good will to respect each other irrespective of![]()
tribe, political affiliation, religion or color. “These killings would not have happened if people valued human life, human life and have a mutual respect,” he said.
The Parish Priest of the St Joseph the Worker Parish, Fr Peter Chibale, said that the incident made some of their parishioners handicapped. “One person had his hand amputated and another completely blind because of the bomb blast,” he said.
He said that the government’s pledge of 100 Million Shillings (about USD 60,000) to the victim was not honored until now despite of the all efforts made to follow up the matter. “We have followed up the matter with the Prime Minister, His Excellency Mizengo Pinda but all our efforts were futile,” he said.
During the commemoration event, Archbishop Lebulu dedicated the Church to be specifically a place for pilgrimages and also erecting a tower at the site of the explosion in memory of the victims.
By Doreen Aloyce, Arusha –Kiongozi Newspaper TEC