AFRICA/LIBERIA - African catechists, teachers of the Catholic faith

Foya (Agenzia Fides) - "I feel the responsibility of evangelization and I like to consider myself a 'teacher of the Catholic faith'. In all my action, I feel sent for this mission". Buster Bockarie Junior is a young catechist from the Parish of Foya, in north-western Liberia. The parish priest of Foya, Fr. Lorenzo Snider, priest of the Society for African Missions.
Buster greatly admires Pope Francis, who speaks of an outgoing Church - notes Fr. Lorenzo. The seminarian tries to favor visits, outings to the small communities in villages, where he devotes himself to listening. "Listening is important, especially for those who live without hope, who carry too heavy a burden in their lives, people who lost everything during the civil war or during the Ebola crisis".
In Foya, many people live in a culture of silence, people who have no voice and cannot speak due to their weaknesses. In particular, this is the case of widows and orphans who are marginalized and have no right to speak. They are forced to suffer everything: theft, expropriation, violence of all kinds.
Buster explains: "A woman who remains a widow is abandoned to herself, like this woman from my village who became a widow with ten children. The family of her late husband took away everything she had on the pretext that it was not hers but her husband".
"African catechists are precious pastoral operators in the context of the mission of evangelization. They are Africans who evangelized other Africans", concludes Fr. Snider recalling the words of Pope Benedict XVI. (LS/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 15/2/2021)

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