Beautiful parish church of Saint-Jean Bosco Rango blessed by Bishop Philippe RUKAMBA

Our Southern Province Reporter

On May 9, 2021 in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Bishop Philippe RUKAMBA of the diocese of Butare presided over the opening and blessing ceremony of the Saint-Jean Bosco church in Rango in the district of Huye.

It was a joyous moment for Christians, district officials, and Church leaders.

The construction of the church has been completed thanks to the contribution of Christians, Salesians and other benefactors.

It has the capacity to accommodate approximately 2000 well seated Christians.

In his address to the Christians and the guests of the day, the Provincial Superior Fr. Pierre Celestin Ngoboka of the Salesians of Don Bosco in the African Great Lakes Province (Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda) said that the completion of the Church is a miracle because at the beginning of the foundation no one expected to have the capacity to complete it due to the fact that there was no financial means to complete such a magnificent church.

This was also affirmed by Father Remy Nsengiyumva, St John Bosco Rango parish Priest, who also maintains that it was not easy but with the support of Christians the church was completed.

Father Rémy said: “There were those who discouraged us by saying that we will not be able to complete the construction of this church. But we kept our determinations as agreed with the Christians. They told us we couldn’t do it and now God has made it. God, we pray and have heard our prayers. “

Huye District Vice Mayor for Social Affairs Ms. Kankesha Annonciata confirmed that the Church’s activities are in the best interest of the people of the district and ensures that the district will continue to work with Rango Parish.

She reminds Christians that they must continue to prevent the spread of COVID 19 but also continue to preserve development infrastructure such as the parish church which has been blessed today.

She said, “We promise you that we will continue to work with you, that we will continue to follow in your footsteps, in partnership with Christians and ourselves as leaders.” Thank you to everyone who shows us that we are together in everything, and that as the administration of the country, as the administration of the District, we are also here to protect the good Church that you have built and let us all work together to protect what we have accomplished.”

Bishop Philippe Rukamba, who presided over the opening and blessing ceremony of the church, called on Christians to make good use of it and to spread the word of God while extending catechism to as many people as possible.

Bishop Philippe Rukamba declared: “When entering through this entrance, they gave me the keys, one for the church and the other for the tabernacle, all these keys I handed them to the parish priest. This means that I am grateful to the Salesian community which is here, because we are working together to advance Christianity in the life of Christians. It is the decent thing to do, and it should continue. The diocese is here, and the church is here. Some people can dare to use this church in different ways, be it a library or a classroom, but it reminds us that there is Jesus Christ here. It’s a beautiful church, it’s a big church, even the people on the road can see it, it’s really a sign of the Christianity that we have here.”

Father Danko Litric, who has been in Rwanda for over 40 years, believes that having such a large and modern Church is a blessing to the Christians as they will find a place to pray even if the Corona virus does not allow them to enter in the great numbers.