The Catholic Church on Saturday ordained 23 deacons from its eight dioceses across Malawi and they will be serving as priests in various parts of Malawi.
The ordination mass was for 23 deacons from Blantyre and Lilongwe Archdioceses plus Zomba, Chikwawa, Dedza, Mangochi, Mzuzu, Karonga Dioceses.
Speaking during the ordination at Zomba Cathedral, Bishop of Dedza Diocese, Right Rev. Peter Adrian Chifukwa hailed the deacons for responding to God’s call to serve the church.
He, however, called on Catholics faithful in all the dioceses to help seminarians with financial resources to ensure they complete their studies in various seminaries.
He said the Catholic Church in Malawi used to receive external support from overseas but the external support stopped.
Chifukwa therefore appealed to all the catholic faithful to support the seminarians to advance their studies to become priests.
“As we all know, the Catholic Church in Malawi used to receive financial support from overseas but this stopped long time ago as such l appeal to all catholic faithful to provide scholarship to those that are in the seminaries,” the Dedza Bishop said, adding that it takes a lot of financial resources for a seminarian to complete his education to become a priest.
Bishop Chifukwa also appealed to families and all catholic faithful to encourage young men in their respective parishes and stations to respond to God’s calling to priesthood.
He added that it is the responsibility of faithful to help the Catholic Church in Malawi to train and ordain deacons who serve as priests in the Catholic Church which continues growing.
“On behalf of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, l am happy to receive 23 deacons from different dioceses because this shows that number of priests will increase,” he added.
The Bishop of Dedza Diocese also observed that number of Catholic faithful is growing such that there is need for increased number of priests who should adequately serve the faithful in their respective dioceses.
Speaking on behalf of fellow Deacons, Tobias Mkweu from Mzuzu Diocese said he was happy to be amongst the deacons that are heading towards priesthood.
He therefore asked catholic faithful to pray for him and fellow deacons to go through all what it takes to become priests.
Speaking on behalf of parents of the ordained deacons, Anastanzia Theu said she was joyful to witness the ordination of the young men and she asked God to keep on guiding them till they become priests.
