ARCHDIOCESE OF DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA (SOCIETY OF MISSIONARIES OF MARY IMMACULATE - MMI) YEARLY REPORT 2016 Dear Fathers and brothers in Christ Jesus, we are extremely glad and joyful to meet you all through this yearly report of our parish and its activities in the year 2016. First of all, we thank our Fr.Founder whole heartedly for his continues support by his frequent visit and by his motivation. And also we thank Fr.Albert MMI, Superior General and Fr.Vinoth MMI, The Provincial of East African Province for their continuous support in developing our charism of our society in the land of Tanzania. 1. ADMINISTERING THE SACRAMENTS The priests are called to be the administer of Sacraments. 1.1. Sacrament of Baptism: The command of our Lord Jesus Christ is to go the whole world and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We carried out his command in our parish. o Children - 234 o Adult baptism - 30 Total = 264 1
1.2. Sacrament of Marriage: We preached the importance of marriage whenever we get a chance to instruct especially during we go for Jumuiya mass (small Christian Community Mass). As a result, many responded and received the sacrament of marriage. So, those who received the sacrament of marriage are totally 55 couples. 1.3. (Ndoa za pamoja) We too helped those who were not afford to have celebration and those who live without sacrament for many years to get the sacrament of marriage. We did twice celebration (Ndoa za pamoja) in which 40 couples got the sacrament of marriage. 1. It is on 07-05-2016 21 couples 2
2. It s on 11.09.2016 19 couples 1.4. The First Holy Communion We prepared the children with catechism of the Church in order to receive our Lord worthily. We also taught them the importance of the sacrament of Reconciliation. So far those who received Holy Communion are 204 along with all the substations. 3
1.5. Sacrament of Confirmation On 05.11.2016, Saturday, His Lordship Most Rev. Eusebius Nzigilwa, Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam gave the Sacrament of Confirmation to 232 children in Makabe. This year many children received the sacrament comparing to last year and the Bishop was very happy to give sacrament and to be with them. In this celebration, Rev.Fr. Michael Antony Vinoth MMI, The Provincial (East African Province), Rev.Fr. Chinnadurai MMI, Vice Provincial and other MMI fathers participated and prayed for our fathers. 4
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1.6. Adoration Praising, thanking, adoring, worshipping the Lord we give due respect to the Lord who created us in his image and likeness of God. Every month on the first Friday we have adoration in Makabe and this is the day dedicated to Sacred Heart of Jesus. And every Thursday of the week, we have adoration in the sub stations after the adoration we go for visiting sick and the old aged people. 1.7. Recollection in the parish Recollection was held twice in makabe parish for all our MMI fathers. The first recollection was held on 06.02.2016, reflection was given by Fr. William (White fathers) from Msakuzi. The second recollection was held on 04.05.2016, reflection was given by Fr. Pius Msfs (Parish priest of Mkuza parish) 6
2. Constructions 2.1 Construction in different places 2.1.1 Construction work of the new church in the parish: By the grace and guidance of god the father, we have been continuing the construction of the new church. We have no benefactors, it is people themselves are building this new church by the generous heart and hard work. And this year we have done many works in order to complete church work. 2.1.2. Glass painted with pictures 7
2.1.3. Aluminum frames 2.1.4. Church Tower 8
2.1.5. Cross in the Tower 2.1.6. Works of the marbles 9
2.1.7. Alter 2.1.8. Extension of the office 2.1.9. Fence for the presbytery 10
2.2. Construction of the presbytery in Msumi We are about to complete the presbytery in the substation called Msumi. And we also sent a request letter of announcing as quasi parish to His Eminency Polycarp Cardinal Pengo and he also accepted our request whole heartedly. 2.3. Construction of the presbytery in Tegeta A One of our substations called Tegeta A in which we have started building presbytery house by the blessing of His Eminence Polycarp Cardinal Pengo on the day of confirmation for the children. 11
2.4. Construction of the new house for catechists & Office in the substation of Msakuzi This is the new substation which was started in the year 2013. There is no church, we have only small hut in which we celebrate mass on Sundays. This year we could buy a land which is near by the church campus and we built a small house. Now almost we have completed and catechist of this substation started staying in this new house and also we built an office for catechist. 3. OTHER DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES 3.1. Seminar We conducted seminars for different topics and for the different group of people. These seminars were conducted both for spiritual and for the other developments. 3.1.1. Seminar on Leadership Leadership in the church is more important. We could see in small Christian groups (Jumuiya) and in the level of substation that the leaders failed to do their responsibilities. It is because they did not know what they supposed to do as a leader in the level of small Christian group or substation or in the level of parish. And so we decided to conduct a seminar on leadership and all the leaders from substations also were invited. And many participated and it was really a fruitful for everyone. It 12
was conducted by Chairman of the parish Mr. Antipacy Shinyambala on 31.01.2016. 3.1.2. Seminar on Liturgy We conducted seminary on liturgy because many of the people do not know the importance of the liturgy. So we decided to have a seminar and we invited resourced person Rev.Fr. Paul Chiwangu (Liturgist, Tanzania Episcopal Conference). It was held on 03.04.2016. 13
3.1.3. Seminar for men and women groups (Uwaka, Wawata) We conducted seminar for men and women groups of the parish in order to encourage them and also to inspire them to responsible member in the church. We invited Rev.Fr. Nicholaus Ngowi Cpps. It was held on 12.06.2016. 3.1.4. Seminar for Youth We conducted seminar for all the youth in the parish. Youth were not very much in the parish activities and so we decided to have seminar for youth so that they may be inspired and to know their part in the church. We invited Rev.Fr. Nicholaus Ngowi Cpps for the seminar and it was held on 23.07.2016. 3.2. Pastoral Activities in the schools We could see the importance of spiritual nourishment for the students in the school. We celebrate mass for the students so that they may be nourished by the word of God. 14
3.2.1. Teachers College 3.2.2. Secondary School 3.3. Picnic with Catechist We too consider and respect the works of the catechist. Really they do their best by teaching catechism to the children and liturgical activities. And so after the busy schedule of Easter celebration, we went for picnic with all the catechists and some of the leaders also joined with us. 15
3.4. Parish council election Once in three years, in the catholic church of Tanzania, there will be election starting from small Christian group till to the parish level. According to the instruction and regulation of the diocese, we started election from small Christian group level till the parish councilors. 3.4.1. Election for Parish Council On 1 st of May, we had election for parish council which was held after the Sunday mass. All the leaders from each substation participated this election. From the diocese, they sent a leader to conduct this election. 16
3.4.2. Promise Parish council On 29.05.2016, 111 children from makabe parish received their first holy communion. On this special day, we announced officially parish councilors who were elected by all the other leaders on 1 st of May. And also the leaders who were elected made their promises in from the parish priest and in the presence of all the faithful. And also along with them, leaders from Men and Women group, Charismatic, Sacred Heart of Jesus and Youth group also made their promises. 17
3.5. Workers day On 1 st of May, we invited all who are working in the church (All the Catechists, Secretary, Watchmen and Cook) for dinner in the parish. All were happy to participate and they were also given chance to express their difficulties and other opinions for the betterment of the parish. 3.6. Sacred Heart of Jesus On 3 rd of June, we celebrate the feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since it was on Friday, here in our parish sacred Heart of Jesus group celebrated on 5 th of june, Sunday. On this day, some of them joined this group. 18
3.7. Children trip to Mwanza (Utoto Mtakatifu) From Makabe parish, 13 of our children went mwanza to join the celebration of national gathering of all the catholic children group which was held in mwanza on 07.06.2016. 3.8. Recollection (Women Group (WAWATA)) All the women of the parish gathered to gather in the parish and did their recollection on 08.08.2016. 3.9. Feast day in the substation of Msumi This is the first time we have feast day celebration in our substation. And so this year the substation of Msumi they well arranged their feast day celebration of St. Teresa Benedict of the cross on 14.08.2016. It was really nice celebration and people were very happy. 19
3.10. Charismatic day We have charismatic group in our parish. They really help in all the way possible. They prepared themselves for four to five weeks of preparation by attending seminars. Finally they come together to make their promise in the holy mass (promise of helping faithful to come closer to god and the church wherever they will be). This was held on 23.09.2016. 3.11. Parish feast day (Our Lady of Consolation) Every year we celebrate the feast day of the parish and this year also we had really nice celebration. Comparing to previous years, this year feast day celebration was completely different. In order to bring more meaning to the celebration, 19 couples received the sacrament of marriage on this celebration. Once couple celebrated their 50 th year marriage anniversary. After the holy mass, we had common meal in which all the people of the parish from substation also participated. It was really meaningful and joyful celebration. On this joyous occasion, we invited Rev. Fr. Beno Kikudo VF (Vicariate of Kibaha) as a chief guest and as an invited guest Rev.Fr. 20
Antony Michael Vinoth MMI (Provincial for East African Province), Rev.Fr. Chinnadurai MMI (Vice Provincial East African Province) and all the MMI fathers also participated. And also Rev.Sr. Teresa DMI and other DMI sisters also participated. 3.11.1. Flag Hosting We started our Novena for Our Lady of Consolation on 04.09.2016. Rev.Fr. Mrema Cap. Who hosted the Marian flag and started the novena. On this day, he gave reflection on mother Mary and her exemplary life. 3.11.2. Competitions For the feast day celebration, we too had different completions like Foot ball, Valley ball, basket ball and other games for children. 21
3.11.3. Feast day Parish Feast day of our lady of consolation was held on 11.09.2016. 22
3.12. Night Vigil (Wawata Women Group) Since month of September, it is month of rosary, women Group (Wawata) of the parish arranged night vigil on the 21.10.2016 in which Rev. Fr. Nicholaus Ngowi Cpps who gave them talk on Mother Mary as a role model for all the women. 23
3.13. Pilgrimage to Kibeho Rwanda (Wawata) The Archdiocese arranged pilgrimage of going to Kibeho where mother Mary appeared and many miracles had taken place. From our parish, 10 women prepared themselves and started their journey on 23.10.2016 and safely came back on 30.10.2016. 4. Meeting with Fathers in Child in the Sun and Charitable work in CIS On 22 nd of May 2016, we had meeting with the fathers who are in Child in the Sun. Parish councilors listened to them and their challenges of taking care the children and they discussed how we can support them. On 14 th of October, women group (Wawata) went to Child in the Sun to meet the boys and to give them food materials and they spent the day with the boys. 24
5. CONCLUSION With this we conclude our yearly report of the parish of Makabe. Once again I take this opportunity to thank all for your support and prayers in doing God s work in this East African Province and especially in Tanzania. Let us continue to cherish our charism by doing the will of God the Father and the society. Yours in Christ Jesus Fr. C. Amaladoss MMI Fr. M. Absalom MMI 25