The Birth of BERO

    A New Fransalian Mission in Chad

MSFS

Global News

Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish of Bero is the new Fransalian Mission in the sub-saharan country of Chad. It is a mission on the southern fringe of the great Sahara bordering Cameroon and the Republic of Central Africa. Bero is situated about 25 km from the diocesan headquarters of Doba.

On February 2, 2003, Bishop Michel Russo of Doba blessed the newly built presbytery at Bero and declared the new mission as a new parish and dedicated it to the recently canonised African Saint, Sister Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947), the slave girl from Sudan who later became a Canossian nun in Italy.

Bishop Russo has entrusted the newly created parish of Bero to the Fransalians of the South-West Province. The Fransalian missionary team at Bero consists of three very young and dynamic priests from India, namely, Fr. Jose Puthiaparambil, Fr. Regi Narikunnel and Fr. Saji Vadakkedath. The new mission has some 1500 Catholics and about 500 catechumens spread over 28 villages out of a total population of around 15000 in the entire Canton of BERO.

The new parish is a mission with a lot of formidable challenges as the missionaries have to lay the foundations of this mission on a firm footing. The semi-desert like conditions of the region with its scorching heat and frequent outbreak of malaria and several other health hazards coupled with an almost total lack of basic communication facilities pose real challenges and insurmountable difficulties to the missionaries. Besides, the missionaries from India are faced with the arduous task of mastering the French language and learning a number of local dialects to be effective in their ministry. The mission does not yet have the basic infra­structure. There is no parish church. The Eucharist is celebrated on Sundays under a mango tree. As a new centre, which had no priests or religious in the past, the Fransalian missionary team in Bero has to work very hard for the faith formation of the new community. It indeed is a 'frontier mission' in the true sense of the word.

Fransalian International,  Vol. 5  No. 1 (2003)

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