Help to repair three churches damaged by Cyclone Chido
On the Third Sunday of Advent 2024, in the early morning, Tropical Cyclone Chido left in its wake a desolate landscape in the province of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique, a region sadly already plagued for several years now by Islamic jihadist terrorism, which has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee.
With wind speeds initially bordering on 200 km/hour, the cyclone tore through homes, schools, hospital clinics, and kindergartens, flattening trees and electricity poles and knocking out the electricity and water supply systems in the regional capital Pemba and in other towns and cities. Church buildings and premises, including chapels, convents, and parish houses, were destroyed or badly damaged.
The Parish of St. Isabel (St. Elisabeth) in Chiuré lies in one of the most densely populated districts of Cabo Delgado Province and serves a wide area, with 96 outlying communities. In recent years, thousands of people sought refuge here after fleeing the jihadist terrorism that has afflicted the region. But in 2024, some of the villages of the parish were themselves victims of murderous raids by the jihadist rebels.
The parish itself is in the care of two diocesan priests and two Jesuits. And there is also a community of Salesian religious sisters and a total of 187 lay catechists. Additionally, the parish has a Fazenda da Esperança (or “Farm of Hope”), an initiative originally born in Brazil, offering a centre for the recovery of addicts. The cyclone tore the roof off the parish church and broke the windows.
In the same region, the parish of Christ the King in Metoro was also damaged. This parish is home to the catechists’ training centre for the Diocese of Pemba, and the church was used for their meetings. Even before the cyclone, the parish was facing challenges due to some of the villages having already been attacked and pillaged by the terrorists.
The parish church of Mieze—which also took in hundreds of IDPs—is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Hundreds of people attend Sunday Mass here, including many children and young people. And here, too, the cyclone tore the roof of the church right off. So the faithful are now without a roof over their heads when they attend Holy Mass, and even the trees which could have provided shelter were ripped up by the storm.
ACN is supporting the repair of these three churches, damaged by the cyclone, with a total of $45,450, and we have already received requests for other reconstruction projects in this diocese.
