Dear Friends,
Allow me to share with you a little about our mission in Mozambique, one of the last to be opened and which has been open for ten (10) years, and we are now in its eleventh (11th) year.
I praise God and our Holy Intercessors who are helping us to continue this work in the Lord’s vineyard “Mozambique”. We are moving forward, but this almost young mission is in a hurry, so we believe in the providence of St. Joseph and we have many concrete proofs, we just have to have faith and believe, putting everything in prayer and it is strengthening us and encouraging us in the footsteps of our founder and the strength that comes from above.
Our starting point: The continuation of the experience and charism of our Holy Founder, so we set out on the road “when the goal is to shake the world and we need to look there always there” (St. Joseph Marello), so we believe in the graces of God, the strength of the Holy Spirit and our Superiors who sent us to Mozambican lands, poor and suffering people and often exploited, but always with great faith and unique joy, making it a fuel to continue in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Walking the path of our mission in the footsteps of the Master
Every mission begins with a call, and the congregation of the Oblates of St. Joseph responded promptly in the person of our then Superior General Father Michele Piscopo and his council in the congregation and the readiness of some confreres who opened the way to unknown lands.
Piscopo, Superior General, together with the Provincial of Brazil, Father Ailton Ferreira de Almeida, both Superior General and Provincial at the time.
The mission continued with the union of the provinces of Peru and the then delegation from Nigeria.
Initially, three priests and a deacon were sent to the mission. However, we began the mission with Father Angelo Eduardo Romano from the Province of Peru and Father Devanil Ferreira from the Province of Brazil. The other confreres who were sent arrived later, with Deacon Edenilson Alves arriving in August 2014, already ordained a priest, and Father Salomão Obiuto arriving in 2015.
After these first steps and having already taken over the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Marara with the elementary school and boarding school on September 4, 2014, also the parish of São José de Tete on September 7, 2014, and in the same period the house of formation in Tete, São José Seminary, was started.
The third parish to have the presence of the Oblates was the parish of Santa Maria in the diocese of Nampula, with Father Ângelo Romano, the then parish priest of the parish of São José de Tete, as the first parish priest.
At 14:25 we left Tete for the missionary front in Mozambique, the Oblates’ fourth house, with the great challenge and responsibility of taking over the most populous parish in the Archdiocese of Nampula and the third largest province in the country. After taking over the pastoral care of that parish, we also began building the formation house for our minor seminarians in the preparatory and philosophy stages, with Father Geancarlos Abregom from the Peruvian province (now in memory) as its first formator.
Our mission is made up of confreres:
- Father Angelo from Peru, having arrived in 2014
- Father Devanil Ferreira from Brazil, having arrived in 2014
- Father Edenilson Alves after ordination arrived in August 2014
- Father Giancarlo from Peru just ordained arrived in February 2015
- Father Solomon Obiuto from Nigeria arrived the same year after a long wait and much time spent obtaining his visa
- In 2018 we received the powerful help of Fathers Jose Antonio Viera from Brazil; Dante Angel from Peru and Father Ingar Orlando from Peru, a young man of 30
- In 2020 we received the Nigerian seminarians, Dura Richard Acndona and Okere Theophilus Ihechukuler
- In 2021 Fathers Rinoy Kachappilly OSJ from India and Simon and Philip from Nigeria came to the mission.
- In 2023, Father Kenneth, a priest with experience in Brazil and Nigeria, arrived.
- It seems like a long list of priests, but Father Giancarlo Obregon left for his father’s house on June 13, 2022, Father Edenilson Alves da Silveira and José António left the mission, Father Dante and Ingar returned to Peru. Father Kenneth, a priest from Nigeria, also returned to Nigeria after a short period.
This left six (6) priests with three (3) parishes and a seminary with 16 seminarians, seven for introductory studies and nine for philosophy.
Fields of work of the Oblates of St. Joseph in the Mission
In the Diocese of Tete:
- 2 Parishes
- 1 School for children
- 1 Community secondary school
- 1 Boarding school
Pastoral work in the diocese:
- Diocesan vocation promotion
- Director General of Marara Community Secondary School
Archdiocese of Nampula
- 1 Parish – Fr. Devanil Ferreira
- 1 House of Formation – Fr. Rinoy Kachappilly OSJ
- Volunteering in the Bishopric (Diocesan Archives-Library)
Final Message
Every day we learn a lot from the humble and hard-working people of Mozambique. The presence of the faithful at the liturgical celebrations encourages us and we are looking to the future with hope, hoping for more Oblate brothers and also English-speaking missionaries because Mozambique is surrounded by English-speaking countries and has a lot of migrants. We can and must do a great service to this church in Africa
We are happy to feel part of the Marellian family, working together for the Kingdom of God and at the same time we thank God for having placed us as his collaborators in this part of his beloved vineyard.
Having made all these improvements to our brothers and sisters in Mozambique, we see that our mission is here to stay: “Move on to deeper waters.”
With the blessing of St. Joseph and Marello and the African Martyrs.
Rome, August 2024
Fr. DEVANIL FERREIRA OSJ
Mozambique Mission Coordinator