In a Pastoral Letter, “With Deep Surprise: On the Freedom of Sunday Worship,” the Catholic Bishops of the Episcopal Confe-rence of Angola and Sao Tome (CEAST) condemned the practice of holding political party activi-ties and events on days of worship where the faithful, especially civil servants, were obliged to attend. Many locals attend the party acti-vities out of fear of victimisation or reprisals from authorities and local party functionaries.
Presenting the Pastoral Letter at a press conference, on behalf of CEAST, Archbishop Luzizila Kiala of Malanje Archdiocese reiterated that Sunday is a special day of the week dedicated for worship.
Quoting from the Pastoral Letter, the Archbishop denounced the prohibition of “sacred mini-sters – priests and catechists from carrying out any worship and compulsorily forcing them to take part in party political activities.” This, the Archbishop said, goes against the country’s “constitu-tion, human rights, hurts common sense and is out of date.”
From a Railway Platform to the Altar: Abandoned Child Becomes a Priest
Twenty-eight years ago, a frightened five-year-old boy was found alone at Shoranur railway station. He had no memory of his parents or a family to
