AFRICA/LIBERIA - Building communities of faith also means providing them with a place of worship

Foya (Agenzia Fides) - To make a church-family you need cement and closeness of heart. This was said by Father Walter Maccalli, a missionary involved in building churches and communities in northern Liberia.
The priest, of the Society for African Missions, after years of missionary work in Ivory Coast and Angola, is responsible for an area of first evangelization in the parish of St John Vianney, in Foya, on the border with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
"Prayer, dust and closeness of heart. Every day I visit the villages and grassroots communities of Foya to share the Gospel and discuss neighborhood life with the people who always welcome me with a big smile", explains Father Walter. Last year, I was asked to pastorally follow the parish of Saint Agnes of Kolahun, located about 25 kilometers from Foya, and the nearby village of Ngehima, which is a Christian community still in an embryonic state". "With concrete works and a lot of human proximity, our communities are growing", he explains, commenting on the great solidarity and willingness of the entire population for the construction of churches. "In Ngehima we have completed the construction of the church and painted the interior and exterior, but our most difficult and ambitious project is to build the church in Kolahun. Creating communities of faith also involves providing them with a place of worship. With the help of benefactors, we have bought cement and iron and built, for the time being, the foundations. The Christian community has made itself available to draw daily water from the stream and prepare food for the masons. This is how in Nguesso-Lor, a drinking water well was built for the benefit of the whole village. Our medical center in Foya provides care and support to the most deprived, and the St. John Vianney secondary school was equipped with a library, a workshop and a new meeting room". The missionary concludes his testimony by thanking everyone for the spiritual and material support that makes it possible to build a church-family together. (WM/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 23/6/2023)

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