ASIA/MONGOLIA - With the first native priest, "the Catholic Church is no longer foreign"

Friday, 26 August 2016 local churches   priests   evangelization   year of mercy   missionaries  

P.M.

Ulaanbaatar (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church in Mongolia is ready to welcome its first native priest: Joseph Enkh will be ordained to priesthood by His Exc. Mgr. Wenceslao Padilla, CICM, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar, at 10,30am on Sunday, August 28. As Fides learns, the new priest has chosen for his ordination the motto: "Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9, 23). "More than 1,500 people have confirmed that they will participate in the celebration, which will be a very special moment for the Catholic Church in Mongolia and for the whole society", says to Fides Fr. Prosper Mbumba, CICM a Congolese missionary in the Asian country. "The Catholic community in Mongolia, re-founded in 1992 and today has just over a thousand baptized. The ordination of a native priest will stimulate the enthusiasm and sense of belonging among the Mongolians, towards a church that has long been seen as foreign, with a faith brought by missionaries", explains Fr. Mbumba
The Apostolic Nuncio in South Korea and Mongolia, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, and Mgr. Lazarus You, Bishop of Daejeon, South Korea, diocese in which Joseph Enkh spent his formation and study years at the seminary, are among the guests of honor.
Don Joseph Enkh was ordained a deacon on 11 December 2014 in Daejeong (South Korea), where he received his initial formation, and returned to Mongolia in January. Since then he has been carrying out his pastoral experience, serving in various parishes of Mongolia, where currently there are, altogether about 20 missionaries and 50 nuns from 12 congregations, working in six parishes. On Monday evening, August 29 Joseph Enkh will celebrate his first Mass in the same Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 26/08/2016)


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