THE SCJ PROVINCE IN MOZAMBIQUE

Father Ezio Toller, SCJ

On March 14, 1998 the Superior General and his council decided to establish the SCJ region of Mozambique, the 23rd Province of the Congregation.

The Priests of the Sacred Heart entered Mozambique on March 27, 1947. There were four missionaries, full of faith, enthusiasm and good will, but they were going into an environment which was unknown to them. They settled in the central province, called Zambezia, where they were entrusted with a territory of about 50,000 sq. km., with a million and a half inhabitants.

Map of Mozambique

They were the only Catholic missionaries in that region and there was everything to be done. Almost all of the population was pagan, except for a few Protestant communities a Muslim presence along the coast.

Without losing heart they started to work with simplicity, above all with the children. They gave them the possibility to learn the fundamentals of reading and writing and, through the simple questions of the catechism, to have their first contact with Christian doctrine.

In the following years other missionaries arrived and this led to a flurry of building: Churches with schools and missionary centers, boarding schools, small hospitals, workshops and plantations. Little by little the mission became the center of the region. Over a period of 15 years twelve new missions emerged, with all their various works and with many offshoots of schools and places for catechism spreading through the area of the bush.

Above and beyond this social aspect, there was always the basic aim - the missionary's essential task of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Almost at the very beginning of the mission, a specialized school was organized to train young catechists. These catechists, after a two year course, took their places within the various communities and carried out their catechetical activities.

At the beginning the catechists were young, unmarried men. Later on, courses were organized for more mature people. From that point on, it was the entire family which went to the center for the specialized training, always for a period of two years. The Christian communities began to increase and with them the entire movement of catechism expanded. The missionary was clearly almost overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done.

In the meantime, the idea was gaining strength that these newly-born Churches should be prepared for autonomy and given the possibility of having a clergy of their own. In 1960, the SCJs opened their own seminary for those who were aspiring to the religious life and a short time later the bishop also inaugurated the diocesan seminary. It was a fine group of young men who, through study and along the difficult course of formation, were preparing for the religious and priestly life. It was a time of great hope.

Five young SCJ religious in Mozambique make their final vows. The Mass was presided over by the Bishop of Quelimane, His Excellency Bernardo Filipe Governo. Their vows were received by the Provincial Superior, Father Onorio Matti, SCJ.

Towards the 1970s the spirit of Vatican II led to a new vision of missionary presence. It was an opportune moment for reflection, for conversion and for a revision of pastoral methods, and it gave rise to a "new" presence and to "new" activities. It was the rediscovery of the Church as the "People of God," and of the Christian community as a "family-community." This led to a multi-faceted flowering of local ministries which brought drive, youth and autonomy to the communities and to the Church.

However, alongside this hope-filled ecclesial progress, the guerilla warfare between the Mozambique liberation front (the Frelimo) and the colonial government of Portugal gradually developed. The Church found itself in a very difficult position: on one side there was the colonial power, which wanted to take advantage of the Church in its own favor; and on the other there was the missionaries' solidarity with the Mozambique people who were claiming their rights of independence. In this delicate situation, various SCJ missionaries became objects of suspicion on the part of the colonial powers and were threatened with prison and with expulsion.

In 1972, faced with the possibility of a mass exit from Mozambique, as a sign of protest against an unjust colonial power, the SCJ missionaries, with the help of the Superior General in Rome, came to an agreement among themselves and decided to remain beside the people who were suffering.

Finally, on June 25, 1975, independence finally came. The joy of the people was indescribable. The missionaries participated with the enthusiasm and the satisfaction of a father who sees his children setting out with maturity on the road of life.

In this historic moment, the SCJ missionaries (approximately 50) were at the height of their activity: all the mission centers had adequate personnel, Christian communities were thriving in the brush with a great vivacity of Church life, the houses of formation for the religious life were overflowing with young men, schools of arts and trades were well equipped and in full development, the training school for the formation of catechists was well structured. Everything looked as if it was going to be perfect!

The independence of Mozambique took place with a single party in power: the Frelimo. They were a party of Marxist-Leninist inspiration and were totally managed by the Soviet Union, by East Germany and by other communist powers. A month after independence, nationalization of the schools and the hospitals was decreed. All of the missionary centers passed into the hands of the government. The churches were reduced to storehouses, or theaters, or dance halls; the seminaries became public schools and the seminarians simple pupils to whom the option for the priesthood was prohibited. Even the residences of the missionary personnel were requisitioned and assigned to the new directors, either of the party or of professional activities.

Almost without warning, the missionaries found themselves without churches, without schools, without health centers, without the seminary, without catechists, without plantations, without houses where they could live, without the liberty to move from place to place in order to visit the Christian communities, with the added complication of becoming the object of a thousand suspicions. They were seen as reactionaries who were working against the ideology of Frelimo and hindering the true "growth of man." It was a hard and violent blow! It seemed to be the end of everything! Now things had reached the point where it truly seemed the time to shake the dust off their feet and go somewhere else.

But the missionaries understood that it was not the people who did not want them; it was only their political leaders who were drunk with Marxist ideology. Therefore, for the love of the people, they decided as a group to stay.

SCJs who attended the Chapter meeting of the Province of Mozambique.

They had been deprived of everything, but with great faith and humility they built huts so they would have a place to sleep, and they lived their solidarity with the people in an evangelical way. They carried on with their apostolic activity in many different ways, arousing and animating the little ministerial communities, and defending them from the assaults of those who wished to threaten them with the party's ideology. Again there were insults and threats of prison and expulsion. However, the grace of God always gave them new strength!

Because the political totalitarianism in all sectors of social life caused hardship and negative reaction among the people, civil war broke out. The new movement was called Renamo (Resistance National of Mozambique).

The war lasted 16 years. There was total destruction. In this new and truly dramatic situation, the SCJ missionaries decided once again to stay at their posts as a sign of solidarity with the people, to be "prophets of love and servants of reconciliation," as it is written in the SCJ Rule of Life.

Some of them (including this writer) were taken prisoner and were forced to live in the guerilla camps and follow them on foot for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers, their only future being hunger and uncertainty. Others, for reasons beyond their control, had to leave their places in the brush and withdraw to safer centers.

Many missionary stations were completely destroyed by the government forces and by guerrillas. The little Christian communities, although in the midst of so much tragedy, tried to survive, sustained by faith in God who is always Father.

Finally, on October 4, 1992, the war ended and freedom returned!

Little by little the ancient missions started up once again, but with standards and methods which responded more to the current situation. The missionaries are, in fact, very much engaged in the field of formation, both for aspirants to the religious life and for the diocesan clergy. The school of arts and trades has been reactivated, together with other small projects. Of great importance too, within the framework of our pastoral program, is the continuing formation of instructors for the various lay ministries which function in our Christian communities. In 1994 the territory entrusted to the Dehonians was elevated to a diocese.

Currently the Province of Mozambique is composed of 53 religious who are distributed throughout 11 communities. This includes 1 SCJ Bishop, thirty three priests, five deacons, 10 seminarians, four Brothers. There are also four novices. With our faith in a lasting peace and in the coming of the Kingdom of God, we continue to strive to be "prophets of love and servants of reconciliation."