Jesuits launch Cyclone Idai appeal. . . Catholic bishop relives mass trauma

14 Apr, 2019 - 00:04 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Fatima Bulla

AS the Jesuits in Southern Africa launched a fundraising appeal for victims of Cyclone Idai at Aruppe University recently, a strong sense of trauma played out in a room that was filled with a number of Roman Catholic clergy.

Dubbed ‘Beyond Cyclone Idai’ with the aim of raising US$3 million, the initiative will be implemented in three phases of Response, Recovery and Reconstruction.

While this event was happening thousands of kilometres away from the provinces, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, it was indeed clear how these clergy from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique carried with them the trauma of its aftermath.

The Mozambican Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Agostino Timoteo Joaquim who had been slotted on the programme to give a special address to the gathering chose not to speak due to the dumbfounding devastation that resulted from the cyclone.

Bishop Paul Horan O’Carm, who heads the Catholic Diocese of Mutare which runs St Charles Lwanga Secondary School where the first report of devastation was made, narrated how traumatic experiences were playing out even as people sought divine intervention through prayer. As he attended mass recently at St Charles Church in Chimanimani where the Cyclone ravaged the community, Bishop O’Carm said one of the worshippers, confessed that she could no longer finish praying her rosary due to trauma.

The mother of four, he said, had her home swept away when they ran to higher ground for cover on the fateful night of March 15.

“She said they lived near the river, not where slides where happening but where rivers were flowing. She said they could see that water was rising so they left their homes to go on higher ground and they stayed there.

“But when they came back their home was gone. A neighbour, a mother and I think three children had been washed away. So I could see in her eyes that she was living through that experience. She was saying that she was able to pray the rosary before but now she can only pray one decar because the trauma kind of comes out during the prayer,” Bishop O’Carm said.

Beyond Cyclone Idai initiative will be overseen by a board of directors set by Prestage Trust. The board will work with local church organisations and the Jesuit worldwide network.

Bishop O’Carm said besides the trauma of losing their two Form 1 students at St Charles Lwanga, having the priests, deputy and school head inform the parents of the demise of their children was also harrowing.

“So many other parents seeing and hearing about it on social media, and asking ‘is it our son who has died?’, was traumatic.

“At personal level this personal experience has touched me and drawn me into a silence, understanding how God could allow this, and understanding why some people were chosen to die, and some to continue living. It’s kind of a mystery of life,” he said.

As the Holy Week which culminates in Easter on the Christian calendar starts today, Bishop O’Carm said the season was significant through how Jesus Christ gave meaning to suffering.

“But then that depth of hopelessness was risen from the dead, when the Father rose Him again. That’s really the patron of our lives that we go through these depths of crisis, sadness and distress and the power of resurrection can just bring us up again and we get on with life.

“We think suffering is completely meaningless but He saved the world through his suffering. The rest of His life is part of the story, he did miracles, He was with His disciples but if He hadn’t experienced the suffering of the crucifixion all else would have been on vain.”

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