Jan 25, 2021
Last year, our World Projects Appeal introduced you to the children of the Yetsi region in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Bishop Toussaint Iluku MSC was raising funds to build a school in an area of extreme poverty and hardship.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked as one of the poorest countries in Africa. The diocese of Bokungu-Ikela, located in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1961 and is an area of real and pressing need.
The population depends on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, and on a day-to-day basis, they live hand-to-mouth in precarious conditions.With the diocese coming up to its 60th anniversary, Bishop Toussaint and MSCs in the region are shining the spotlight on the lack of educational facilities in the region.
The Catholic Church is one of the main sources of hope for struggling families in the area, particularly when it comes to education, and our MSCs are doing their best to lay the groundwork to give local children,and generations to come, hope for the future.
Thanks to the generosity of our mission friends here in the Irish Province following last year’s appeal,Bishop Toussaint and his team were able to fund the construction of a school building in Yetsi.
Work is ongoing on the project; however, the school is sorely lacking in equipment as essential as benches and tables. The children can often be seen studying on the floor due to the lack of the most basic facilities,creating additional challenges for students who already have very little, and who are desperately trying to make the best of what they have in order to build a more hopeful future.
Some of the pupils bring their own chairs from their homes. However, many of these children are from homes that have so little, they don’t even have a chair to bring to school.Those children who don’t have them, they have the
floor, where they sit down and follow the teacher.”
– Bishop Toussaint MSC
Even the smallest contribution will help Bishop Toussaint and MSCs in the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela to continue to educate needy children in the region, providing something as simple as a bench and chair where pupils can study and gain a fighting chance for a brighter tomorrow.
CAN YOU HELP OUR MISSIONS IN THE CONGO?
Jan 23, 2020
Educating for the future in Bokungu-Ikela
The diocese of Bokungu-Ikela, located in North West of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1961. Coming up to its 60th anniversary, the diocese has 15 parishes and a small clergy of 24 priests, with three MSC communities ministering in the area. Covering an area of 42,000 km, the population of the diocese is estimated at 620,000 – 30% of whom are baptised Catholics.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked as one of the poorest countries in Africa, with enormous natural resources but terrible corruption at government level. The majority of parishes in the diocese are located in extremely isolated areas, where transport is difficult as the roads are in almost destroyed. Cars are rarely used, with locals sometimes travelling by motorbike, or, most often, on foot. The population depend on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, and their living conditions are both difficult and precarious.
The Catholic Church is one of the main sources of hope for struggling families in the region, particularly when it comes to education. However, schools in the area are severely lacking in even the most basic necessities – many children study and learn while sitting on the ground, as they have very little in terms of facilities such as benches and tables, or even notebooks and pencils. School buildings are rudimentary, often little more than straw and clay bricks in a state of disrepair.
Bishop Toussaint Iluku MSC, who became a Bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela in July 2019, is now attempting to bring some relief to students and teachers in the region by raising funds for education in the area. Over the next five years, his aim to begin repairs on existing school buildings, and to build new ones where repair is futile, giving the new generation of local children a spark of hope for a brighter future.
“I would particularly like to encourage young girls to go to school, and even later, to have their mothers back in school, so they can learn to read and write, as most women abandoned literacy classes because of lack of resources. I am convinced that the one who educates a girl prepares the future of the nation.”
The initial stages of Bishop Toussaint’s project involve building a new school in the Yetsi region, with the construction of a school building with six classrooms and an administration office estimated at approximately €66,000. The provision of education facilities for the children of the area, and future generations, is priceless, and will provide a vital resource for a region that is currently locked in a serious struggle for survival.
CAN YOU HELP OUR MISSIONARIES IN THE CONGO?
Jul 25, 2019
Congratulations and very best wishes to Bishop Toussaint Iluku Bolumbu MSC, who was ordained bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela in the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 21st.
His ordination took place in Bokungo, celebrated by Bishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungo, Archbishop of Kinshasa and Apostolic Administrator of Mbandaka Bikoro.
We are delighted to share the first official photograph of Bishop Toussaint, whose ministry in his new diocese has now begun.
Previously named superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for the French-speaking African region, Bishop Toussaint is the first MSC African bishop. He was appointed fourth bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela by Pope Francis in April, following a rich and varied missionary journey since his ordination as a priest in 1995. Some of his previous roles include parish priest, vice rector, bursar, and later superior and director of formation of the MSC School in Yaoundé, teacher of philosophy and theology, vice president of the Association of Major Superiors of the ecclesiastical province of Mbandaka-Bikoro, assistant to the secretariat general of the General Chapter of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Rome, and moderator of the General Conference of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Yaoundé.
Please join us in sending well wishes to Bishop Toussaint, and we keep him in our prayers as he embarks on his new ministry.
May 16, 2019
Sincere congratulations to the Rev Fr Toussaint Iluku Bolumbu MSC, who has been appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Currently acting as superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for the French-speaking African region, Bishop-Elect Toussaint is the first MSC African bishop.
The bishop-elect was born in Monieka, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), in November 1964, the seventh in a family of eleven children. He entered the novitiate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and was ordained a priest in 1995, having professed his religious vows the previous year. He holds bachelor’s degrees in both philosophy and theology, and has served in a wide range of pastoral roles including parish priest, vice rector, bursar, and later superior and director of formation of the MSC School in Yaoundé, teacher of philosophy and theology, vice president of the Association of Major Superiors of the ecclesiastical province of Mbandaka-Bikoro, assistant to the secretariat general of the General Chapter of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Rome, and moderator of the General Conference of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Yaoundé.
In April, Rev Fr Toussaint was appointed fourth bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela. His ordination will take place on July 21st in Bokungo, by Bishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungo, Archbishop of Kinshasa and Apostolic Administrator of Mbandaka Bikoro.
We send our very best wishes to Bishop-Elect Toussaint
from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart!
May 9, 2019
We are delighted to have received a letter from Br Jean Manga MSC with an update from our MSC community in Righini, Congo.
Earlier this year, we reached out to our mission friends to help the MSC community in Righini as part of our 2019 World Projects Appeal. 15 MSC pre-novitiate students live in the Formation House in Righini, along with their two formators. Here, they work, study, and pray together as they contemplate the missionary journey. The residents of the formation house live primarily on a grant provided by the MSC French African Union – a grant which allows each person a sum equivalent to €11 per day.
As part of their daily routine, the pre-novitiate students travel to the local university to attend classes. They also travel around the surrounding areas, visiting parishioners and undertaking parish ministry. An old minibus served as their only mode of transport, until it broke down beyond repair in April 2018.
For the past year, our MSC students and their formators have had no choice but to travel on public transport, which is unpredictable, undependable, and time-consuming. The community has been unable to travel together, and the lack of transport has made it very difficult for duties around the parish to be undertaken efficiently and effectively. It has also incurred great costs, with $10 per day spent on public transport as opposed to the cost of fuel for the minibus at $30 per week.
The support and generosity of our mission friends here in the Irish Province meant that we have been able to contribute to the cost of a new minibus, and Br Jean has sent a message of thanks from Righini.
“We thank the Lord for you and your great generosity,” he writes. “You have made it possible for our pre-novitiate students to have a brand new school bus. After many months of hope, the bus is now with us.”
“You have our sincere gratitude,” he continues. “God bless you fully!”
We would like to join with Br Jean in extending our heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed to our ongoing 2019 World Projects Appeal. Every contribution, no matter how small, helps us to change lives for the better across the world.
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