Fr. Louis Birabaluge
Mongo Bendugu is one of the remotest parishes we serve as Xaverian Missionaries in Sierra Leone. It is a small Christian Christian community scattered among Muslims. Two Xaverian missionaries serve the community, Fr. Joeven Matugas, the parish priest, from the Philippines and Fr. Guy-Adolph from DR Congo. This past Sunday (24th February) was their parish feast day. But a few days before, on the previous Friday, a newly constructed building for the St George’s Agricultural Secondary School was blessed and handed over to the community stakeholders. Speaking on behalf of the community, the District Councillor chairman, Mr. Alhaji Sajoh Bah, said: “Thanks to the Catholic mission, people of Mongo Bendugu have had access to education in decent buildings. Though we are Muslims, the Catholic mission has always kept the school doors open for us. Today, our children in Mongo, mostly Muslims, enjoy education in a catholic school where they feel at home.
Thank you! You have taught us that we belong to one family. We are all children of God.” Indeed, in this area where Islam is the prevalent religion practiced by most families, Catholic schools are filled with Muslim children. For instance, in the St George’s Agricultural Secondary school, the biggest Catholic school in Falaba district, out of 360 students, only 7 are registered for catechumen classes this year. Hopefully, some of them will become Christians at Easter. But this is already a great achievement. In some of our Catholic primary schools, we do not have candidates for baptism. Nevertheless, the Fathers who care for the parish continue to visit all the schools and the communities where they are located. In fact, on Saturday morning, with Fr. Adolph, we went to visit Karawani, a village where a Spanish humanitarian volunteer, Mr. Koko is building a primary school. There we had time to meet the elders, all Muslims. One of them said: “I am a Muslim. But I have been fortunate to study in a catholic school. Now the catholic mission has invited their friend to build a primary school for our village. Thank you because you serve everybody regardless of his religion”. This school is built mainly for Muslim children. In doing so, you teach us that those who believe in God have a heart which is open to everybody and anybody, he concluded. How encouraging these words in a place where Christianity is seen as a foreign religion! One may wonder how can catholic schools become means of evangelization in a context where people do not easily embrace Christianity. Surely, for those who think that to evangelize through schools means to baptize and to push people to confess the Christian faith, the Xaverian presence in Mongo Bendugu will appear as a waste of time. In reality, it is not. The testimony of Muslim parents whose children are the first beneficiaries of the services provided in Catholic schools, prove that catholic schools are true means of evangelization. Simply because they are places where every child is welcomed and educated regardless of his religion. As Mr. Bah, a Muslim believer, reminded us during the blessing of the new school building: to bring children of different religions together and to help them to grow as one family through education is really to be witness to the goodness of God for all. It is to testify that the God whom Christians worship, has no favourites (Ac 10: 34-35) for he is the God of all. Catholic schools become, therefore, true means of evangelization. Through them, people realize that they belong to one family, the family of God. We still have some schools in Mongo Bendugu that need repair. Parents in villages dream to offer to their children a future, through education, in decent and suitable schools. In Mongo Bendugu, the community is happy and grateful to the people of good will from the UK, Italy and the diocese of Makeni, who sponsored the construction of the new school building. In helping the Xaverian Missionaries to evangelize through schools, they have become themselves evangelizers. They have brought their stone for the construction of a reconciled human family, a true sign of God’s kingdom on earth.
Mongo Bendugu is one of the remotest parishes we serve as Xaverian Missionaries in Sierra Leone. It is a small Christian Christian community scattered among Muslims. Two Xaverian missionaries serve the community, Fr. Joeven Matugas, the parish priest, from the Philippines and Fr. Guy-Adolph from DR Congo. This past Sunday (24th February) was their parish feast day. But a few days before, on the previous Friday, a newly constructed building for the St George’s Agricultural Secondary School was blessed and handed over to the community stakeholders. Speaking on behalf of the community, the District Councillor chairman, Mr. Alhaji Sajoh Bah, said: “Thanks to the Catholic mission, people of Mongo Bendugu have had access to education in decent buildings. Though we are Muslims, the Catholic mission has always kept the school doors open for us. Today, our children in Mongo, mostly Muslims, enjoy education in a catholic school where they feel at home.
Thank you! You have taught us that we belong to one family. We are all children of God.” Indeed, in this area where Islam is the prevalent religion practiced by most families, Catholic schools are filled with Muslim children. For instance, in the St George’s Agricultural Secondary school, the biggest Catholic school in Falaba district, out of 360 students, only 7 are registered for catechumen classes this year. Hopefully, some of them will become Christians at Easter. But this is already a great achievement. In some of our Catholic primary schools, we do not have candidates for baptism. Nevertheless, the Fathers who care for the parish continue to visit all the schools and the communities where they are located. In fact, on Saturday morning, with Fr. Adolph, we went to visit Karawani, a village where a Spanish humanitarian volunteer, Mr. Koko is building a primary school. There we had time to meet the elders, all Muslims. One of them said: “I am a Muslim. But I have been fortunate to study in a catholic school. Now the catholic mission has invited their friend to build a primary school for our village. Thank you because you serve everybody regardless of his religion”. This school is built mainly for Muslim children. In doing so, you teach us that those who believe in God have a heart which is open to everybody and anybody, he concluded. How encouraging these words in a place where Christianity is seen as a foreign religion! One may wonder how can catholic schools become means of evangelization in a context where people do not easily embrace Christianity. Surely, for those who think that to evangelize through schools means to baptize and to push people to confess the Christian faith, the Xaverian presence in Mongo Bendugu will appear as a waste of time. In reality, it is not. The testimony of Muslim parents whose children are the first beneficiaries of the services provided in Catholic schools, prove that catholic schools are true means of evangelization. Simply because they are places where every child is welcomed and educated regardless of his religion. As Mr. Bah, a Muslim believer, reminded us during the blessing of the new school building: to bring children of different religions together and to help them to grow as one family through education is really to be witness to the goodness of God for all. It is to testify that the God whom Christians worship, has no favourites (Ac 10: 34-35) for he is the God of all. Catholic schools become, therefore, true means of evangelization. Through them, people realize that they belong to one family, the family of God. We still have some schools in Mongo Bendugu that need repair. Parents in villages dream to offer to their children a future, through education, in decent and suitable schools. In Mongo Bendugu, the community is happy and grateful to the people of good will from the UK, Italy and the diocese of Makeni, who sponsored the construction of the new school building. In helping the Xaverian Missionaries to evangelize through schools, they have become themselves evangelizers. They have brought their stone for the construction of a reconciled human family, a true sign of God’s kingdom on earth.