Catholic youths in the country have been urged to consider priesthood seriously as they discern and choose a vocation in their lives in order for the Church to address the problem of inadequate or lack of priests in some parishes in the country which leaves some Christians without access to a priests for a long time
This was said by Archbishop George Desmond Tambala of Lilongwe Archdiocese during the National launch of Preparations for Vocations celebrations, which encourages the youths to pray, discern and choose any vocation they want to become and be faithful to in their lives.
“The gap between the number of Priests and Christians they have to attend to is very scary, for example, The Archdiocese of Lilongwe has two million Catholics who some of them do not go for mass because there is no Priest around, every year we are opening parishes, last year we opened five and this year we are opening three more. So the pace at which the Church is growing versus number of Priests is like a drop in the ocean. In as far as I appreciate that we have various vocations, we need to cover this gap and that’s why we encourage the youths to consider and pray about becoming priests more”. Said Archbishop Tambala
Speaking on the same, the National Pontifical Mission Societies, Rev Fr. Vincent Mwakhwawa said there is always a great need for presence of Priests in various activities of the faithful hence the Church’s reaching out to the youths and parents in order for them to consider Priesthood.
“The Church has huge numbers of Christians including young people who need the presence of priests and the religious to guide them in their daily activities. But the problem is that the vocation of Priesthood is not fully understood by some young people and parents, so for the Church to have adequate priests in the near future, we are focusing on creating awareness to youths and parents on the vocation of priesthood so that they understand it and consider joining and encouraging more youths to join.” Said Fr. Mwakhwawa
Fr. Mwakhwawa also asked Catholics in the country to generously contribute money towards vocations this year which he said is used to train Priests in seminaries of the universal Church.
Representing the Youths, Chisomo Nkhoma the Archdiocesan youth Chairperson said most youths in the country face a number of challenges which hinder them from joining Priesthood or religious life, for example lack of school fees. He therefore asked the Church to consider giving deserving youths scholarships in order for them to attain the education needed for one to become a priest.
“Most of us youths in country do not finish Secondary school due to lack of school fees. This makes those willing to become priests not able to join this vocation. We therefore ask the Church to consider giving youths scholarships for them to attain the needed education for priesthood and religious life.” He said
He continued by encouraging his fellow youths to avoid being badly influenced by social media where they get negative ideas towards Christianity which he said makes most youths not to follow the Church’s guidance on choosing a right vocation for themselves.
This year’s National Vocations celebrations will be on the 30th of April, 2023 at Madisi parish in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.