After restoration, the Macuti parish, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Archdiocese of Beira, was reopened to worship over the weekend.
Rogério Maduca – Radio Pax, Beira, Mozambique.
The parish of Macuti in the Archdiocese of Beira was destroyed in March 2019 when Tropical Cyclone Idai hit the city of Beira. Beira is the capital and largest city of Sofala Province in the central region of Mozambique.
On 14 March, tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall at the port of Beira, Mozambique, before moving across the region. Millions of people in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe were affected by the worst natural disaster to hit southern Africa in at least two decades.
Archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna of the Archdiocese of Beira presided over the inaugural Eucharist.
Parishioners living an authentic communal experience
In his homily, Archbishop Claudio explained that the reconstruction of Macúti’s parish church represented an authentic experience of living in communion.
This communal experience, he said, was inspired by the life of the early Christian communities as witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles, in which the faithful lived together, sold their goods, and shared them with those in need. The Beira prelate commended the parishioners of the Sacred Heart Parish of Macuti for doing everything possible to rebuild their parish church, as was explained durin the ceremony, by Father Silvio Anovo, the parish priest of Macuti.
In addition to the faithful of Macúti parish and Christians from other parishes, several Mozambican Bishops, government officials, and the Secretary of State, Stella Zeca attended the parish’s inaugural ceremony