Leadership of Gabon’s Port-Gentil Diocese Issues Guidelines for Year of St. Joseph

The 61-year-old Gabonese Bishop further says, “The virtue of justice, practiced by Joseph, is the basis of mercy and is the mercy of God who brings true justice to its fulfilment.”

The Local Ordinary of Port-Gentil goes on to recommend, “Reciting the Rosary in the family and between fiancés is one of the ways of obtaining this gift.”

“Saint Joseph was the husband of Mary, the adoptive Father of Jesus and the guardian of the family of Nazareth, where his vocation blossomed. Christian families are invited to recreate the same atmosphere of intimate communion, love and prayer that was lived in the Holy Family,” Bishop Ogbonna explains in the February 3 letter.

The Bishop who has been at the helm of the Port-Gentil Diocese since 2016 encourages youth in search of decent jobs to “confidently turn to the craftsman of Nazareth to find a job and make it worthy for all.”

The youth, he says, “will be able to obtain the plenary indulgence, extended also to those who daily entrust their work to the protection of St. Joseph.”

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The Gabonese Bishop invites members of the Clergy under his jurisdiction to “offer themselves with a voluntary and generous spirit to the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and often administer Holy Communion to the sick.”

Pope Francis proclaimed the “Year of Saint Joseph” to run from 8 December 2020 to 8 December this year, calling upon Catholics across the globe to celebrate “a man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”

In the Apostolic Letter titled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes St. Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.

As part of their program to celebrate the year of St. Joseph, Catholics in Kenya’s Diocese of Ngong have been invited to participate in monthly reflections on the patron Saint of the Universal Church.

“There will be monthly reflections about St. Joseph led by the Priests. Since we are a mission land with few Priests, in some places, the Catechists will lead the reflections,” the Pastoral Coordinator of Ngong Diocese, Fr. Boniface Mukwe told ACI Africa January 25 adding, “We want the people to know who St. Joseph is, to imitate him, and to learn from his life.”

In Uganda, an initiative by children at Namugongo Catholic Parish of Uganda’s Kampala Archdiocese to mark the Year of St Joseph has spread to other Parishes across the East African country, attracting other children who are eager to learn about the Saint.

In an interview with ACI Africa February 3, the Pontifical Mission Society (PMS) Children animator at the Ugandan Parish, Dorothy Atuhaire Ssonko, who started the initiative in which children are invited to share weekly reflections on St. Joseph, envisions “a child whose relationship with St. Joseph and Jesus will grow immensely, a child who will have Jesus as their closest friends through the intercession of St. Joseph.”

The children’s celebrations of the Year of St. Joseph in a program that is aired every Sunday on the Uganda Catholic Television (UCTV) was born at the onset of COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.