Fraternal greetings come your way from the Catholic Secretariat in Lusaka.
It is indeed with a great sense of sadness that I now write to officially inform you that His Eminence, Medardo Joseph Cardinal Mazombwe, the Archbishop Emeritus of Lusaka, passed away around 17:00hrs on Thursday 29th August 2013. READ MORE
Profile of Cardinal Joseph Mazombwe
HIS EMINENCE MEDARDO CARDINAL JOSEPH MAZOMBWE – 1931 – 201330 August 2013, Friday: Mourners gather at Cathedral of the Child Jesus, Pope Square Lusaka
19.00 hours: Mass at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus
31 August 2013 Saturday:
19.00 hours: Mass at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus
1 September 2013 Sunday: Morning: Mass in various parishes
19.00 hours: Prayers, Vespers, Rosary at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus
2 September 2013 Monday: 14:30 hours onwards: Body lies in State at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus 19:00 hours: Vigil Mass; Body lies in Church over night; Body Viewing at Cathedral of the Child Jesus 3 September 2013 Tuesday: 09:00 hours: Requiem Mass at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus. Burial at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus. (N.B. There will be no body viewing after the Requiem Mass) Updates on the 31st August 2013 May I share a personal word of strong memory of the goodness of Cardinal Mazombwe’s leadership and friendship. He was a great pastoral leader very much interested and involved in social justice work. He knew the social teaching of the Church and so often found opportunities to share that message with appropriate audiences.
In particular I remember two occasions when he spoke for the cancellation of Zambia’s debt during the Jubilee campaign. The first was at the First African Synod, Rome 1994. He made an impassioned call – factual, analytical and scriptural – of the need for cancelling debt as part of the Jubilee movement. He told me afterwards that he was moved by the fact that his intervention received a unique and prolonged ovation! The second was during a 1998 meeting in the USA where the President of the World Bank and the Director of the IMF were present, along with high Government officials and non-governmental representatives. His presentation of the debt issue as a moral challenge moved the audience and became a reference for subsequent Jubilee calls by the Bishops Conference of the United States of America. I know that this influenced decisions to cancel debt.
The very fine book of Zambian Bishops’ social letters, edited by Fr Joe Komakoma, contains so many rich teachings influenced over key years by Cardinal Mazombwe. His memory will continue to inspire the justice mission of the Zambian Church, indeed the wider African Church, in the years to come.
Personally, I was so happy to visit the Cardinal at Christmas time last year, where he very kindly recalled working with us on many occasions at the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection.
I wish I could be there at the Cathedral of the Holy Child next Tuesday for the Requiem Mass – but I will surely be there in spirit!
Peace of Christ.
Peter J. Henriot, S.J.
Director of Development, Loyola Jesuit Secondary School, Kasungu, Malawi
Funeral Mass at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus, Pope Square Grounds, Lusaka, Zambia presided by Cardinal J. Njue of Kenya.
Opening procession funeral Mass of Cardinal Mazombwe on the 3rd September 2013 by a traditional Bemba choir at The Cathedral of the Child Jesus, Pope Square Grounds, Lusaka, Zambia
Watch the following video:
Pożegnanie Kardynała
Procesja rozpoczynającą mszę pogrzebową pamięci kard. Medardo Mazombwe, w wykonaniu tradycyjnego chóru Bemba, w katedrze Dzieciątka Jezus na Placu Papieskim w Lusace.
Kard. Medardo Joseph Mazombwe zmarł 29 sierpnia 2013 r. Był pierwszym pochodzącym z Zambii członkiem Kolegium Kardynalskiego. Od dłuższego czasu zmagał się z chorobą nowotworową. Był znany ze swego wielkiego zaangażowania w sprawy społeczne nie tylko swej ojczyzny, ale całej Afryki. Link sent by Krzysztof Błażyca
Missionaries of Africa - SAP Province 