Many tend to think of Catholic missionaries as religious, priests, sisters and brothers, but there are many in the foreign fields who are lay men and women. One example close to us is a past intern, Hannah, who is in MALAWI,one of Africa’s poorest countries. This country is nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa" because of the friendliness of its people.
Malawi is a landlocked country in central Africa with about 18 million people, 85% of which live in rural areas, 53% below the Poverty Line. Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. Malawi, one of the world's least developed countries, has an economy heavily based on agriculture, with a rapidly growing population. Just 6% of the population has ready access to sanitation facilities, and deadly diseases like Cholera are tragically common because so many families must rely on contaminated water sources.
The Malawian government depends heavily on outside aid to meet its developmental and educational needs, although the amount needed (and the aid offered) has decreased since 2000.
Jesuit missionaries from Mozambique evangelized the area around Lake Nyasa in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and the White Fathers (most of whom were French) who arrived in Malawiin 1889. By 1904, the White Fathers had three permanent mission stations.Today there are over 2 million Catholics in Malawi- around a third of Christians and a fifth of the total population. Malawi is a majority Christian country, with the Roman Catholic Church the largest group.
By the late 20th century the Church had grown in Malawi, in part due to the availability of a translation of the Bible in the two main local languages, Chichewa and Tumbuka, which was completed in 1971. Other factors included the achievement of political independence, the Church's emerging role as a leader in the push for a democratic society and the influence of the Second Vatican Council in shaping Church life and pastoral activities in Malawiduring the first decades of independence.
In May of 1989 Pope (St.) John Paul II visited Malawiand encouraged Church leaders to take an active role in righting the wrongs perpetrated by the Malawigovernment. In 1992 the bishops issued the pastoral letter Living Our Faith, condemning the extensive human rights abuses of the Banda dictatorship. The letter served as a catalyst for political change: while government action was taken against the bishops, it prompted such public defiance as student marches and strikes, while Malawians of all faiths showed solidarity by attending overcrowded Catholic masses.
While areas of the country are developing and overcoming- slowly- poverty, Hannah's small rural village still suffers from lack of many necessities for a healthy life, but one thing Hannah writes of in her regular Blog, is the kindness towards neighbor.
On this MISSION SUNDAY, we pray for her and all who labor to improve the lives of others less fortunate in material goods, but who take heart in the goodness they see in these mission fields.
