On Sunday, 31 December, Bishop Timothy Bodika of Kikwit presided at the Mass for the closing of the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the parish Our Lady of the Rosary of Kikwit. The parish has been served by the Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate since her canonical erection in December 1998.
Monsignor Bodika recalled how the present parish Our Lady of the Plateau district began as a chaplaincy. Work began around 1984 for a parish. Father Roger Lievens, former provincial superior, will be one of the pioneers in buying the current concession. Father Clement Mayuli was the first priest after the canonical erection in 1998.
The provincial superior of Congo, Father Constant Kienge-Kienge concelebrated along with some other Oblates, former parish priests like Father Clement Mayuli and the current parish priest, Father Jean-Marie Wenze.
Father Constant Kienge-Kienge, the current provincial superior of the Oblates, revealed that he had been aspirant among the pioneer Oblates of Our Lady of the Rosary. He was then a student at the Higher Educational Institute of Kikwit. The provincial superior thanked Bishop Bodika, successor of the late Bishop Edouard Mununu, for the bishops' confidence in the Oblates.
The bishop of Kikwit thanked the Oblates for their presence in Kikwit and their commitment to the service of God's people. Since Oblate missionaries have just begun construction work on a school complex in Kikwit 4, the bishop intends to entrust them with a new parish in the neighbourhood.
The bishop also installed the parish priest of Notre-Dame du rosaire as the new dean of the dean Saint Francis-Xavier.
The mass was broadcast in full by the diocesan radio station Radio Tomisa.
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