Saint John XXII Parish celebrated on Saturday, January 28, 2023 in Ouagadougou the ordination ceremony of four new missionary priests from Africa. The newly elected, who accepted to follow Christ to preach the Gospel, came from different parishes and dioceses in Burkina Faso.
Aimé Ouédraogo, André Sawadogo, Ephrahim Konkobo and Jean Luc Compaoré are now missionary priests from Africa. The official ceremony of their priestly ordination took place this Saturday, January 28, 2023 in the parish of Saint John XXII in Ouagadougou under the presidency of His Eminence Philippe Cardinal Ouédraogo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ouagadougou Archdiocese in the presence of many Christian faithful.
The four new priests from different parishes and dioceses in Burkina Faso have accepted to become “Missionaries of Christ”. They have sworn to serve the Church wherever duty calls them. “It is a call that we have received from God and we accept it willingly,” declared Jean Luc Compaoré, one of the four new priests. “We are animated by great joy and we thank God for the gift of the priesthood,” he confided, explaining that this “also fulfills (their) needs because (they) find joy in serving God and serving others”.
“Congratulations to you who have accepted to follow Christ and give your lives for the proclamation of the Good News in a world hostile to the values ​​of the Gospel”, declared His Eminence Philippe Cardinal Ouédraogo, president of the ordination ceremony, to the site of the newly elected. He prayed and counseled them. “May the Holy Spirit strengthen you so that your yes today becomes a true and irrevocable yes in Mary’s temple!”, he wished them.
Furthermore, His Eminence Philippe Cardinal Ouédraogo reminded the four missionary priests that (their) first mission is to preserve (their) friendship with Christ. “You have to strengthen the love of Christ,” he told them, letting them know that it “requires things.” “The priest inspires the Christian community with his example of life, pursuing in truth and joy the evangelical counsels, priestly obligations, celibacy in chastity and detachment from material goods,” said the Metropolitan Archbishop of the ‘Archdiocese of Ouagadougou.
Continuing his advice, he encouraged new members of Africa’s missionaries to have Jesus Christ as their unique model by constantly conforming to his lifestyle through the total and exclusive gift of their persons to the service of the church. “May you therefore follow in the footsteps of your predecessors for a heroic gift and commitment to the cause of the Gospel until the cost of your lives,” added this leader of the Catholic Church.
The four new priests, ready to serve, will carry out their mission in four different African countries. Thus, Jean Luc Compaoré has been appointed in Burundi, Aimé Ouédraogo in Mozambique. André Sawadogo is called to Congo and Ephrahim Kokonbo is appointed to Ghana.
As a reminder, the Missionaries of Africa, also called the White Fathers, are an apostolic missionary community with pontifical right founded in 1868 by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie. Today, they are 111 among 36 nationalities working in 41 countries, including 22 African countries. Missionaries of Africa arrived in Burkina in January 1900. The Province of West Africa spans seven West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Togo. 1 o’clockeh December 2022, it collected 98 nominated missionaries, 116 from there, of which 85 are from Burkina Faso.
By Siaka CISSE
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