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Warmth of Chadian Welcome: Highlights of Fr. Superior General’s Visit to the TCD Mission
After completing visa formalities that afternoon, we drove some 450 km to the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Moundou the next morning, where a good number of confreres and parishioners—including the local county chief, Dominican Sisters, and leaders of the SVD Friends—received him warmly and cheerfully. Traditional welcome ceremonies befitting a Big Chief were solemnly performed amidst singing and dancing to the royal rhythms of the tam-tam. With a smiling demeanor, Anselmo gratefully embraced all those cultural expressions of a hearty welcome.
After lunch with the confreres, Fr. Anselmo proceeded to the rural Laramanaye St. Arnold Janssen Parish, where the pioneer SVD team had pitched their tents in 2004. The local parish community also welcomed him there with elegance. Being March 19th, the local community of the St. Joseph Sisters of Turin joyfully prepared the evening meal for Fr. General and the accompanying confreres. At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, he joined the parish community for Mass, celebrated in the local N’Gambay language. After breakfast, the SVDs visited the recently established Divine Word middle school on the village outskirts, where Fr. Anselmo appreciated the invaluable contribution our Society is making to the well-being and development of the local community, especially noting that education has been considerably neglected at the national level in recent decades.
All 15 confreres gathered around Fr. Anselmo at the Moundou parish hall for a 3-hour community meeting (Mini-Assembly) at 10 o’clock. During the meeting, a previously prepared programme briefly highlighted the important historical moments of this young mission, while also considering the present challenges and future aspirations of the confreres. The key message “Our Name is our Mission” rang especially true as confreres freely shared their joys, struggles, and challenges in the context of this still largely primary evangelization terrain at the heart of Africa. Our initial formation program; pastoral and catechetical ministries; specialized apostolate projects (both present and future); local versions of the four characteristic dimensions; and collaborative efforts with local church leaders and Friends of the SVD were all reviewed.
Looking at the mostly young and eager faces of the confreres, Fr. Anselmo repeatedly emphasized that Chad is no longer the ‘difficult mission’ of our Society. Instead, it is a fruitful vineyard of the Lord, where the Divine Word is joyfully proclaimed and, hopefully, warmly received—evidenced by the number of catechumens in our four parishes alone. Interestingly, the three rural parishes we currently run each have over 30 outstations. Moundou Parish also has six outstations—several of which could have been erected as full-fledged parishes by the local bishop, were it not for the lack of priests.
“Take any of the four SVD-run parishes in this southern part of Chad—it’s no longer what it was ten years or even five years ago,” said Albert Koumdé, the spokesperson at the luncheon following the assembly, addressing the Superior General. “Truly, the international teams of SVDs have given a real facelift to our parishes. There is new life everywhere; local communities are vibrant and actively participating in their own development.” That was a sincere tribute to our men here—thank you.
If only a few more confreres could join us in the coming years—that was the wish expressed by the small assembly. Despite occasional malaria or harsh climatic conditions for some weeks each year, confreres remain courageous, willing to make small sacrifices with smiles in their hearts, eager to be part of this deeply satisfying missionary journey with the local Church, which is preparing to celebrate in 2029 the centenary of the arrival of Catholic missionaries at Ku-Ndoloh, near Moundou town, in the neighboring diocese of Goré. Indeed, our hope is bold.
It was to Boro-Makassa—the second SVD parish in the Goré Diocese, after Laramanaye—that Fr. Anselmo traveled next for the night. Fr. Thierry Koula, the Mission Superior, accompanied him to both of these interior parish houses for the overnight stay. Once again, a very warm welcome awaited Anselmo during and after the early morning Mass at Boro’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church the next day. It is worth recalling that it was thanks to the tireless and persistent visits to the SVD Generalate by the Bishop of Goré, Capuchin Msgr. Rosario Ramolo, that the first team of SVDs arrived in Laramanaye in 2004.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Fr. Anselmo was unable to visit Sarh—another historically significant city, some 300 km east of Moundou—where we have our postulancy-philosophy program (with 12 students this school year) and the fourth parish of Mayibo, under the patronage of St. John Bosco. Therefore, the confreres from Sarh came to Moundou to share their joys and hopes with him.
Our formation program has also begun to bear fruit: the first two young Chadian confreres are currently studying theology in Kinshasa, following their novitiate in Congo Province. A second batch—two more brave young men—is about to complete their novitiate in N’Kwatia, after studying English for a full year last year in Ghana Province.
Finally, on the morning of the 21st, the return trip to N’Djamena was organized by two confreres. They enjoyed the journey, with a lunch stop at the Bongor pastoral center. This allowed Fr. Anselmo to visit Bongor town, where the local bishop of Pala has offered us the administration of a new parish—yet to be established—pending the availability of human and financial resources. This once again highlights the pressing need in Chad: to embrace the Missio Dei of the Incarnate Word. Truth be told, invitations from local bishops abound—awaiting God’s good time.
We thank you for coming to visit each of us here in the TCD Mission. Thank you for telling us openly that you are proud of us, that you care for us, and that you appreciate our life and mission here in Chad at the heart of Africa. Muito obrigado, Padre…
On Saturday, 22 March, another scheduled Ethiopian flight departed from N’Djamena—this time taking Fr. Anselmo back to Roma.
Fr. Joseph Kallanchira, SVD
