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.

Sam Kalimba

12th February, 2022: Archbishop George Desmond Tambala of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe has called upon the clergy and the religious in the Archdiocese to work towards ending the challenges youth are facing. He said this on the occasion of celebrating the world day of the consecrated on 12 February, 2022 at the Our Lady of Africa – Maula Cathedral.

“Drug abuse is apparently becoming a common challenge for our youth mainly in Lilongwe. If we don’t deal with this now we are pitching a future without the Church. The future Church is being built on these youths and hence I urge all the congregations to take this issue as a matter of life and death. The Church needs the youth more than anything else,” said Archbishop Tambala.

Archbishop Tambala went further to ask for unity among the consecrated arguing that it is only in unity that all what he expects from them could be done.

“I don’t expect individuals but the whole congregation. I don’t expect a single congregation but the union of the Association for Men Religious Institutes in Malawi (AMRIM), that of the Association of Women in Religious Institutes of Malawi (AWRIM), and indeed the union of the Association of Diocesan Catholic Clergy of Lilongwe (ADCCOL) to work together to achieve our goal. I know that it is the contribution of individual members but let the results be focused on unity and not an individual,” said Archbishop.

For the first time in the history of the Archdiocese, the local ordinary also announced the establishment of the office of the Vicar for Religious. He said that the move is Canonical and it comes in the spirit of building the much needed unity among the Religious.

“I wish to announce a new office that will be a bridge between and among the associations that we have as well as between you and the Church through my Office. I thank Rev. Fr. Bill Turnbull, M Afr. for accepting to be the Archdiocesan Vicar for the Religious.  I also thank Rev. Fr. David Niwagaba, SMM for accepting to be the Vice Archdiocesan Vicar for the Religious. You will see them coming to your communities and associations. They will only be doing their prerequisite function of bringing us together,” Archbishop George Tambala told the parked Cathedral.

Similar sentiments on unity among the clergy and religious of different congregations in the Archdiocese were made during the 2021 Chrism Mass by the care taker Archbishop Thoma Luke Msusa of the Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre.

The Archdiocese has several lay youth groups including Parish Youth Movements, Young Christian Students/Workers, Community of Sant’Egidio and the Holy Childhood of the Pontifical Mission Society.

Members of the various congregations of priests, brothers and sisters of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe on 12 February, converged at the Monastery of the Poor Clares and Maula Cathedral to celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life. Traditionally, the event is celebrated on 2nd February, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Particular churches have the liberty to shift the day to suit their programmes.

The Archdiocese of Lilongwe celebrated this Day on 12th February. The function started with a talk by Rev. Fr. Henry Chinkanda from the Episcopal Conference of Malawi. Fr. Chinkanda took members through the Synod document, reminding the gathering the content of the document. He summarised the document for the people in that it invites all the faithful to walk together, to journey together. And as servants of God, we share the threefold mission of Christ, and that is: teaching mission, prophetic or priestly mission and kingly mission. Fr. Chinkanda emphasised the themes of the Synod, which include, participation, dialogue and mission among other.

Finally, he outlined the calendar of activities during the two years of the Synod:

• In December 2022, all Small Christian Communities should summit the Synod document responses to the Arch/dioceses
• In May 2023, the responses should be compiled and submitted to the Episcopal Conference of Malawi
• In July, 2023, Episcopal Conference of Malawi should submit all the responses from all the Arch/dioceses to the AMECEA office.

The event was concluded by the Holy Mass presided over by his Grace Archbishop George Tambala. He talked on communion, and suggested another day of meeting other than one day in a year.

The Salima District Executive Committee (DEC) has approved a project for Securing Livelihoods of 2000 smallholder farmers and subsistence fishermen. This means that CADECOM Lilongwe will be working in the district for the next three years. Apart from improving the livelihoods of the target groups, the project will also focus on conservation of the commons(fisheries, forest, soil)