Parishioners Come Together to Lift Up Grieving Catechist and His Family After Tragic Loss

By Sr. Henriette Anne FSSA

The Christians of St, Peter and Paul Parish, Nuvundio Chapel, under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Mizeredi Simone came together to be in solidarity with their Catechist Anthony Mazabutu after losing his wife through a snake bite.

 “Actually, no one expected what happened, because she was not sick, she worked in the garden up to midday, in the evening she decided to go and uproot the cassava to boil for dinner, on her way back from the garden she was bitten by a snake, they rushed her to the hospital, almost reaching the hospital, she passed away and the body was brought back”, Fr. Simone narrated.

“Mr. Anthony has served for more than 20 years and at the same time his late wife has served as the chair Lady of the Legion of Mary group until the last day of her life on earth”, Fr. said.

Fr. Simone further explained that he mobilized the community towards the noble act of charity after learning about the untimely death of the Catechist’s wife.

“After learning about the passing of his wife, I started by writing letters to all apostolic groups in the parish, inviting them to come for a brief meeting in which I disclosed how we can go together and give support to our Catechist, they were happy to do it very quickly. And we decided to go and show him that we love him and to show him that we stand by him in the sad situation in which he was going through and also the family and community for the loose t of that great woman”.

He added, that the motivation behind this initiative was rooted in Anthony’s and his wife commitment to serving God and the community. Their genuine care and dedication inspired others to come together and provide practical and emotional support.

“What motivated us is actually by looking at his lifestyle since he has been serving God as a catechist and also his wife has been so committed. His commitment to the service of the church and also to the community of Nuvundio Chapel actually motivated us to take this initiative and go and pay a visit to him in times of distress so that we can stand beside our brothers and sisters”.

During the visit, Fr, Simone observed that the family and the community were happy with their presence in the community, they celebrated mass and prayed with the family and the entire community, shared with him words of consolation, and supported him with material things.

 “According to my observation, the family and community at large were so happy, first holy mass was offered for the passing of his wife and we prayed for himself and the entire community he was serving, secondly, we shared with him the words of consolation, and also supported him in both materially and spiritually. So, with all this mission, they were so happy and we were appreciated actually by family and the community at large”.

To continue providing support for Mr. Anthony and his family, Fr. Simone said,  “As members we must stand with our brothers and sisters when they are in bad situations consolation and love, and also our plan for this incident, we already have a meeting that day with the community and the family on how to care for this great man who has been offering great service to the church, so our plan is to identify a place where he can be put something like a “tuku” where he can establish himself and we shall continue to be close to him and make sure he gets better”.

Addressing his fellow priests and all those serving in the Church, Fr. Simone said, “My message is that my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we who are trying to serve God, to be the leaders in the church, the only thing we can show to our love is to act through action, words and actions, we cannot only preach in the church that ‘love one another, ‘show unity’, while you yourself, are not leaving by that example, through this we cannot make it, so the only thing we can do is to be close to our people, pay attention to them, the situation that they are going through we have to go with them and stand with them and show it by action, actually, through this, we can promote a vibrant community in the society”.

Finally, the Parish Priest explained that “Nuvundio Chapel is one of the oldest Chapel in St. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish. It has supported the parish in many ways. It has helped the parish in terms of evangelization from the grassroots, and also it has supported the parish in terms of material things, money, and other things like food. It has helped the Christian community of the parish at large to stick to their faith”.

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