GITEGA June 20th (ABP) – The Vice President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Prosper Bazombaza, honored with his presence on Saturday June 17, 2023, the opening ceremonies of the jubilee year of 125 years of the Catholic parish of Mugera, located in Bugendana commune of Gitega province (center of the country).
The Mass for the occasion was presided over by the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Gitega, Mgr. Bonaventure Nahimana, in the presence of several faith leaders and a large number of people of the same parish and its surroundings.
In his homily, Bishop Nahimana said that the Mugera parish was established in 1899 by white missionaries who settled in the locality of Mugera, with the objective of introducing Christianity there.
From then on, they preached the Good News and chased away the obscurantism that prevailed there. Mugera was the shrine of the deity of the ancestors of the Burundians, he pointed out, before adding that their belief was materialized by human or domestic animal sacrifices.
Historically, he recalled, the parish of Mugera is the first in the Archdiocese of Gitega and the first Catholic cathedral in Burundi.
On behalf of the Government, Mr. Bazombaza congratulated the Mugera parish for the 124 years of apostolate and wished the parishioners to prepare well for the festivities of the jubilee of 125 years.
Reacting to Bishop Nahimana’s request to contribute to the rehabilitation of the parish towers, Vice President Bazombaza promised to forward the request to the Head of State.
He, on the same occasion, called on the parishioners of Mugera and those of its surroundings to contribute in the implementation of that task. Also, he recommended that they devote themselves to the country’s economic development activities.