On 14 January, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Paderborn (Germany), Most Rev. Matthias König, together with a group of five others, visited our mission at Muketuri, Ethiopia. The visit was a grace-filled encounter that has strengthened faith, hope and missionary commitment. Bishop Matthias’ visit was a great encouragement to both the members of MCSPA and the community whom we serve.

Bishop Matthias visited the St. Joseph Child and Mother Centre with its teachers, cooks, and workers together with the 400 kindergarten students. The students sang songs of welcome and proudly showed the visitors their handiwork. The group also met mothers and their underweight babies enrolled in the program, and they spent time in the Special Education classroom, listening attentively to the stories of the baby-sitters and 15 children living with disabilities. The words of comfort from the visitors were much appreciated.

Bishop Matthias expressed deep gratitude for the missionaries’ dedicated service to the most vulnerable and for the compassion shown in their daily outreach of serving others.

At the Eucharistic celebration, Bishop Matthias also encouraged the MCSPA members to live with missionary zeal and prayed for the people of the area. After the Mass, which was celebrated at the Holy Family Ecumenical Chapel, Bishop Matthias blessed the special-needs children one by one. It was a very meaningful moment of sharing in the suffering of special-needs persons and their families, often deeply marginalised in society.

The visitors also visited one of the community dining rooms in a village called Jebene, 23 km far from Muketuri where they saw people fetching clean water from the taps of a drilled well, the community vegetable garden and the dining room, where daily efforts to provide nourishment and care to 60 children were evident.

The visit concluded with lunch at the MCSPA house at Muketuri – “Bete Mariam” or House of Mary. We were all filled with renewed inspiration and gratitude. The visit reminded us of the call to serve with love, unity and perseverance in mission and reinforced the long commitment between the Archdiocese of Paderborn and the MCSPA.

Esther Kerubo

Muketuri Mission

[Ethiopia]