Father Ribeiro to be celebrated

Extra Reporter

One of Zimbabwe’s longest-serving Catholic priests, Father Ribeiro, will on December 13 be celebrated for his 50 years of service to the church.

The celebrations will be at St Peter’s Kubatana, Harare from 7am-5pm where mass and lunch will be served. Entertainment will be provided by Catholic musician Brian Nhahuma.

Chairperson of the diocesan clergy, Fr Rungano said the celebrations would then proceed to Kadoma.

“The main celebrations will be held at his parish in Kadoma where he grew up,” Fr Rungano said.

Fr Ribeiro’s contribution to music will also be clebrated as the priest is credited with composing some of the first Shona hymns in the late ‘50s.

His love for music began in 1951 at Kutama College before he moved to Gokomere Mission where trained as a teacher before his ordination.

Fr Ribeiro also made a breakthrough when he introduced use of drums in Catholic services.

He is counted among the service legends in the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe alongside the likes of Fr Goncalo Da Silveira, Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa and Stephen Ponde among others.

Born in 1935, Fr Ribeiro went to St Francis Xavier’s Kutama College before he joined Chishawasha Seminary in 1952 where he did his Junior Certificate in Education.

He went on to study Philosophy in 1954 with his ordination as a diocesan priest being held on December 13, 1964.

 

New Life hosts children’s party

Extra Reporter

More than 1 000 children are expected at this year’s Harare Children’s Hospital Christmas party to be hosted by New Life Covenant Church on December 6.

The party, which has been held annually over the past four years, is meant to bring smiles to less-privileged children who are admitted at the hospital as well as those referred from clinics.

Head of the covenant care ministry in New Life Covenant Church, Pastor Naison Masaka, said the party would also see clothes being donated to parents and guardians of the children.

“The party is our way of reaching out to the community and society; bringing hope and smiles to the children’s faces. It is also in line with our theme as NLCC, which is ‘Transforming People, Transforming Nations’.”

Pastor Masaka said the party would be a full-day event starting from 9am to 5pm.

An invitation to children who have passed through the hands of the hospital in recent months will also be extended, Pastor Masaka highlighted.

 

Safaids, pastors unite in HIV fight

Extra Reporter

NGO SafAIDS has embarked on a programme to work with pastors as a strategy to step up the fight against Hiv.

It is this objective that drew 27 pastors from different denominations to a two-day workshop hosted by SafAIDS in Kadoma last Wednesday.

SafAIDS executive director Mrs Lois Chingandu said, “Our strategy is now mostly around looking at key populations. There are high risk populations and highly vulnerable groups and what has happened is we have not reached as many pastors as the numbers remained very small. By not engaging pastors in the past this has derailed the progress in fighting HIV.

“And also noting that pastors command respect for their congregants who are likely to listen to them more than NGOs, we discovered that we need to engage them so they can be fully informed about HIV.

“And in our workshop we realised that there were huge information gaps within the pastors. We told them that they do not have to be Hiv experts but that they can also invite us to speak to specific groups like women, men, youths or couples in the church where the information is tailored made for them,” Mrs Chingandu said.

 

Boko Haram eyes Christian south

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram is eyeing a new offensive that would target Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south, according to Africa analysts.

Yan St-Pierre of the Berlin-based intelligence firm MOSECON, which monitors Boko Haram, said evidence indicates the group has been laying the groundwork for such a move.

“We call it national-park hopping. They’ve been using the national parks as cover for moves down south. This is what we expect them to be doing. They’re going where the money is in Nigeria,” St-Pierre said.