Take Care of Seminarians – Bishop Valentine

Livingstone Diocesan Seminarians at St. Dominic’s Major Seminary, Lusaka.

The Rt. Rev. Valentine Kalumba, OMI., Bishop of Livingstone has challenged the people in the Diocese of Livingstone, to take care of the Seminarians (Priests-to-be).

Addressing the congregants at St. Theresa’s Cathedral, on Saturday, 3rd December, 2022, during the Mass of Seminarian Fund Presentation, the Bishop stated:

“Seminarians are in training to become labourers, to become priests, those who will be attending to people who are dejected and harassed.

‘We hope they will be good shepherds to those people.

‘The same seminarians we are looking at today, will be shepherds of tomorrow. That’s why we need to take good care of them.

‘If you take good care of them, we are sure that they will be good shepherds.

‘If they feel harassed and dejected in the seminary, I don’t know what they will turn out to be.”

Pray for more vocations to the Priesthood.

The Bishop equally took advantage of the presence of the huge numbers of the congregants to appeal to them to pray for more Vocations to the Priesthood. He said:

“As we heal, as we minister to people, as we help those who are dejected…we are also called to pray.

‘Asking the Lord of the harvest, to send more labourers into his vineyard.”

The Livingstone Shepherd, aware of the few numbers of the clergy in his Mission Diocese,  highlighted:

“We are very few, if you look around here [at the Sanctuary]. But we need to replace them.

‘Fr. [Albert]Njamba is old. He needs someone to take over.

‘Now where is that someone going to come from? It’s from those we are praying for, that they go into the vineyard.”

The Bishop was grateful to the people of Livingstone who generously presented to him a cheque of K501,692.00 – Five Hundred and One Thousand and Six Hundred and Ninety Two Kwacha, for the formation of Livingstone Diocesan Seminarians. In the previous year, in 2021, K344,079.05 was donated to the Bishop.

 

Watch the Bishop’s Homily during the Presentation of Seminarian Fund https://youtu.be/hjuNS1mLPN8

Watch the Bishop, as he addresses the Laity in the Diocese https://youtu.be/nZ5Q4HTWar4