Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Fides Service)- The Sacred Heart Missionaries who this year celebrate ther150th anniversary of their foundation are working hard to resume their activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo where they first arrived 80 years ago. The local Catholic news agency DIA, reported that the anniversary was marked with a concelebration of Mass in the parish of St Mary Magdalene in west Kinshasa, the capital.
Besides the Jubilee Mass there was also a Seminar during which Father Paul Verbruggen, novice master, reflected in the history of the congregation’s service in Congo. The Sacred Heart missionaries were called here in 1924, to replace a community of Trappist Monks.
The Missionary Congregation suffered during the civil war which has ravaged the country for the last five years. Many of its missions were sacked and closed and today there are only15 Sacred Heart missionaries in Congo. Only five missions Boende, Bokungu, Mbandaka, Yemo, Bamanya and Iyonda have been reopened after disastrous sacking by the various foreign troops flanking the government army in the war.
The Missionaries, present in the dioceses Bokungu-Ikela and Mbandaka-Bikoro, in the northern province of Equatore, are engaged in pastoral work, resident and itinerant, teaching, and basic medical service.
In Mbandaka-Bikoro, one of the missionaries, Father Gustave Hulstaert, who died in 1990, undertook a detailed study of the local Mongo culture. The results of his work can be seen on the Internet at the Aequatoria web site www.aequatoria.be opened by the Catholic mission at Bamanya.
The Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was founded in 1854, at Issoudum (France) to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, its charisma is the priestly ministry, the missions and the Christian formation of youth. Today there are 2,041 missionaries in 53 African nations Africa Congo, Senegal (since 1953), in Cameroon (since 1983), and South Africa. (L.M.) (Fides Service 9/1/2004, lines 36 words 400)
