Repair a Chapel in Senegal
Thursday, December 17, 2009

Project Code: 146-04-19

For years every Sunday, the Catholics of the village of Nianing and its surrounding villages in Senegal had to walk or travel by lumbering ox cart the 5 miles or so to the nearest town of Mbour to attend Holy Mass. Finally, in 1964, things changed. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus established a house in the village and later built their central provincial house for the whole of Senegal, together with a formation house for their postulants and novices. They also built a church, and so from then on local Catholics were able to celebrate Holy Mass there together with the Brothers.

Very soon the Archbishop of Dakar raised Nianing to the status of a parish, and since then they have also had a permanent parish priest. It is a very active parish, with women's groups, youth groups, Boy Scouts, a group for organizing the Liturgy, a catechists’ fraternity, a variety of different prayer groups and a ‘Catholic student youth group.’ Although barely 5% of the population of Senegal is Catholic while Muslims make up 90%, the Catholics are very active. In Nianing, in fact, so many come to Sunday Mass that many people have to remain standing outside!

Additionally, this is still the place where the young men who feel called to the religious life receive their training. The Senegal province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus currently maintain eight schools in Senegal itself and two in Guinea Conakry, with 59 Brothers working in them. By now, young vocations come not only from Senegal but also from Ivory Coast, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon and Chad. For the postulants and novices the chapel is the heart of their religious life, the center of the house where they are preparing to take their permanent vows.

Nianing is on the coast, some 50 miles south of the capital Dakar, and the church, after some 45 years of exposure to the salt sea air, has suffered a steady deterioration. Rust is eating away at the ironwork, and even the timber is damaged. The roofing timbers, the doors and window frames, the tin roof, the benches, the timber cladding inside the church – everything is being devoured by passage of time and the salt sea air of the nearby ocean.

Brother Mathieu Cabo, who was involved in the building of the original chapel in 1964 and who lived in Nianing as a schoolboy, postulant, novice and young religious and who then worked, after his final vows, as a teacher, wrote to us: "During my last holidays, in November 2007, I spent a few days in our provincial house in Nianing and prayed again in this chapel where on several occasions I renewed my religious vows and also stood beside many of my confreres. In truth it is no longer what it once was but has lost much of its beauty and original freshness. It is in need of renovation." Today, Brother Mathieu is living in Rome, but he is asking our help on behalf of his confreres and the faithful of the parish.

We have promised $6,700 for the renovation of this chapel, the place where not only the faithful of the Parish of Nianing but also the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus gather as a family around the Table of the Lord. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who decide to contribute so that this chapel can once more become a fitting house of God and place of prayer in Senegal.

Progress: 0% Raised: $ 0     Goal: $ 6700

Return to Projects in Need