Prominent Lawyer Gustavo Kaliwo who is a parent and member of the Catholic Church at Saint Anthony, Thondwe Parish in the diocese of Zomba has challenged fellow parents in the country to care for children, spiritually and materially so that they become productive Church and country leaders when they grow up.
Kaliwo was delivering an inspirational speech last week Sunday to hundreds of children drawn from all the parishes in Zomba diocese as Malawi Catholic faithful joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Mission Day also known as the Sunday of Epiphany of the Lord whose theme for this year is ‘You too go into my vineyard’ as taken from Matthew 20;7b.
“Children are our future leaders hence need to be taken care of. The problem is that we don’t incorporate children themselves in issues or matters affecting them, be it in the Church, political parties or even in government. What is important is that children should be in the fore front in matters that affect them,” he said.
National Director of Pontifical Mission Societies in Malawi (PMS), Fr. Vincent Mwakhwawa said based on theme for this year’s celebration, children are encouraged children to give their very best for the Church in terms of prayers, services and monetary contributions.
“Therefore, in all Catholic Parishes, Outstations and Small Christian Communities on this Sunday, children (and all adults) will be expected to pray for children, take active role in the Sunday service, and contribute money for supporting other children,” said Fr. Mwakhwawa.
According to Fr. Mwakhwawa, in all Catholic parishes in the world, the offering or collection for this particular Sunday will be for the intention of supporting children the whole world.
He said the whole collection will be sent to Rome in one solidarity account for children and be distributed to different countries who would like to support children hence this offering becomes a solidarity monetary contribution which is a source of blessing to the giver and receiver.
Fr. Mwakhwawa said among other reasons for the Children’s Day for Mission in the Catholic Church include praying for all children in the world so that they should be under the protection and guidance of Child Jesus.
Apart from that, Fr. Mwakhwawa said the reason is to give chance to children to take an active role in the Liturgy so that gradually they can grow into missionaries who later will serve the Church and the whole human society.
During the Eucharistic mass which was presided over by Fr. Vincent Chilolo, Diocesan Administrator for Zomba diocese, children themselves took lead of all the liturgy proceedings including reading the word of God and Choir among others.
Apart from the Diocesan Administrator and the national PMS Director, other priests who co-celebrated the mass were Fr. Henry Chimwala, Diocesan PMS Director for Zomba and Fr. Lawrence Kamwana, Parish Priest for Thondwe Parish.