Archbishop Tambala At Kaggwa on 27 March

Sam Kalimba

Archbishop George Desmond Tambala of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe engaged the youth in his speech to a multitude of Christians who gathered at St. Andrew Kaggwa Parish in his Archdiocese during a Confirmation Mass on Sunday 27 March, 2022.

He preached Jesus’ temptation in Mathew 4:1 ff where He was tempted to do something spectacular by throwing Himself off the temple and having His angels rescue Him, as what the youth are always undergoing.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This is why I understand our youths. Just looking at the second temptation we appreciate that our youths struggle to resist temptations of earthly life. I have a word for you dear youths, especially you who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Angels will not rescue you. You will through yourself down from the top and nobody will rescue you. You will remain with the pain, shame, scars, and mad. So, to avoid this predicament to befall you, stay focused, resist the temptations of smoking, drinking and drug abuse. I repeat, the Angels will not rescue you,” preached His Grace.

The Archbishop further referred to Mark 8:36, “For how is a man benefited if he should gain the whole world and he should lose his soul?”

On this he advised the newly confirmed 428 Christians to consider depriving their lives of material and what is called ‘good life’ in other circles so that they receive what God has for them.

“Your body is a temple of God. God lives in you and expects you to offer him his due respect by leaving only him to dwell in you,” he said.

St. Andrew Kaggwa Parish of Area 49 in Lilongwe organized the Confirmation Mass for ages 15 and above only after 2 years due to covid19 curfews.

On the 25th of March, the Year of the Lord, 2022 at 6 pm, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe with the clergy and the faithful joined the Holy Father, Pope Francis in the prayers to consecrate to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Russia and Ukraine who are at war. The prayers took place in Maula Cathedral.

The prayer session of consecration commenced with the prayers of the Rosary led by the Catholic Women Organisation, followed by the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the prayers of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the celebration of the Holy Mass followed. The Holy Mass was presided over by His Grace, George Desmond Tambala, the Local Ordinary of the Archdiocese.

The participation in the prayers was very positive. A good number of the faithful turned up to participate despite the short notice. His Grace sent information to all the clergy and the faithful in the Archdiocese to join him in his Cathedral as requested by Pope Francis to pray to God through the Blessed Virgin Mary for peace in the war-torn regions of Ukraine and Russia.

In his homily, during the Mass of the consecration of Russia and Ukraine, His Grace, George Tambala expressed deep concern about what is happening in Ukraine, thousands of men and women and children being displaced. This has caused misery and despair amongst many, especially in Ukraine. He said the tension between Russia and Ukraine has a great potential to escalate to other countries in the world, and Malawi could be greatly affected.

Prayers through our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary can work wonders. The Virgin Mary, with her Son, Jesus Christ never fails.

The Archbishop also expressed some joy at how the neighbouring countries are welcoming with love and open hands the displaced victims. He encouraged the participating congregation and everyone to learn lessons from the countries that are doing charitable work with regard to the thousands who are being displaced.

The prayer session for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine was broadcast on the Archdiocesan Radio Station, Radio Alinafe, and Luntha TV.

Fr. Louis Chikanya
(Communications Coordinator, Archdiocese of Lilongwe)

By Levi Chirwa

Archbishop George Tambala challenged Catholic graduates of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe to form a movement that will help influence the Church and society.

He said this on Saturday 19^th February 2022 during an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Chancellor College Catholic Alumni Association – Lilongwe Chapter. The AGM which was preceded by the Eucharistic celebration that took place at Our Lady of Africa – Maula Cathedral in Lilongwe.

He challenged the association to add another mission to bring together Catholic graduates from other universities into a social movement to influence policy and society.

“Such a movement would be welcome to help the Episcopal Conference on social economic issues affecting our society in addition to being advisors to the bishops.”

“As the Archdiocese will be launching the Synod 2021-2023 entitled ‘For a Synodical Church: Communion, Participation and Mission’ sometime this year, we the clergy want to work with you as you have a role play so as to make the kind of church we want to see in future,” he added.

In his homily, Archbishop Tambala said that much as there are different avenues and forums where people express their opinions on different topics or disciplines, it is wise to be careful in what we say and how we say it.

“Don’t be like the teachers condemned in the first reading from St. James’ Epistle. We must tame and control our tongues by controlling what we say and how we say it, as a sign of our humility, maturity and how cultured we are because what we speak can either build or destroy” said the Archbishop.

He further said, “Just learning from Peter’s reaction during the Transfiguration of the Lord where he said a lot of things in awe, we should be prudent in speech so as not to distract others from the main issue or experience.”

The Archbishop also said, “I advise you that not every truth can be said at a time. Don’t be like Peter who wanted to say it all. Sometimes learn to keep quite as there are some professional secrets for our homes, our professions, our work places and our businesses that must be kept as such and not be uttered at all.”

He went on to give an example of the confidentiality of issues in confession box where he said that not even at gun point can the issues in confession to be revealed.

After the Eucharistic celebration, members of the association were joined by the Archbishop and Rev. Fr. Frank Phiri, Patron of the Association and Ms. Patricia Kunyumbu an animator from Pontifical Mission Societies as observers at the Annual General Meeting where one of the agenda items was election of new office bearers. At that point, Mr. Francis Matita, the outgoing Chairperson and Mr. Martin Chiotcha, the outgoing Treasurer presented the activity and financial performance reports for the association, respectively. They also went to make recommendations on how the association would move forward with the new leadership.

Speaking during the AGM, Archbishop George Tambala told the gathering that as Archbishop of Lilongwe, he needed the association to work with him and his office in various roles.

“Based on the recent statistics at the Vatican, the Church is growing in numbers mostly in Africa. Therefore the future of the church is in our hands. This therefore means that the laity’s role is important as we priests alone, cannot handle everything” he said.

He also assured the association that he follows the grouping from the various activities such as the Chancellor College Catholic Alumni Choir, to the evangelization and outreach activities at Chipoka.

“I am grateful that through your activities, it is a clear testimony that you have remained in the Church practicing what Simon Peter answered the Lord, ‘to whom shall we go?’ In John 6:68-69,” He said.

“Since your mission is immense and strong, I would like to invite you to aid the church in communicating our faith, for example through radio or TV programmes.” Archbishop said.

Talking of the music/songs by the choir, the Archbishop said that the doctrine is sound, and there has to be a way to document some of the songs for use by various choirs and groupings and indeed teaching church choirs’ Catholic music.

“Can we not get a music school where you can teach other choirs singing for the Lord and also allow people to learn the traditional Catholic music?” said the Archbishop.

Towards the end of the day’s program, the gathering sampled some songs to be released by the Chanco Catholic Alumni Choir and made pledged support towards the finalization of the project. A total of K2.7 million was pledged in support of the album project.

One of the participants at the AGM, Ms. Tione Chilambe expressed gratitude noting that the Archbishop was clear in his perception on the direction of the Church, the role of the laity in particular the role of the Catholic graduates in shaping society and the Church.

The Eucharistic celebration and the AGM were attended by over 65 members from the association. Mass readings were taken from James 3:1-10 and Mark 9:2-13.