Inauguration of Saint John the Evangelist’s church
On this grand opening day of Saint John Church, several hundred guests gathered in a festive and joyful atmosphere. Starting at 9 a.m. many people from the French-speaking parish, from the Catholic Church of Ethiopia, from the neighbourhood, some of the community member’s families and some workers involved in the construction, came and met on the freshly flowered church forecourt.
The prior general of the Saint John Community, father François Xavier Cazali, came in Ethiopia for this occasion which represents a major step for the Entoto priory.
Abune Lesane Christos, bishop of Dare Dessie and the priests turned around the building three times, preceded by the Ethiopian youth choir and followed by the crowd, while the bell rang regularly
After the ceremony of handing over the keys of the big wooden doors, the faithful discovered the interior of the church, decorated with many ornaments for this occasion The night before, most of the furniture had been blessed during a prayer vigil in which a relic of Saint John Paul II was exposed It is now in the altar stone
During the inaugural mass, the crowd sang beautiful songs in Amharic, in English, in French or in West African languages. The multiplicity of languages used to praise the Lord testifies to the multiculturalism of our Christian community in Addis Ababa. During all the inauguration’s preparation, young Ethiopians who came in the past to our School of Life events helped us, and some of them were also involved in the choir. Their fidelity to the community is a way to thank for the organised activities, the summer camps, the weekends and every moment they spent with the Brothers of Saint John during the ten past years
After the blessing of the walls, of the stained glass, and of the altar, cardinal Berahneyesus celebrated a mass in this new chapel
After the mass, Abba Philip offered some presents to the Cardinal, to the prior general, to workers and to main actors of the project. Then the crowd went to the basement to bless the lunch. Families prepared several buffets: an Ethiopian buffet with the famous injera and ginger drinks, a West African buffet with traditional African food, and an other which was dedicated to European food.
This magnificent day and those enjoyable moments shared with the Catholic community of Ethiopia honoured the long term work that we begun years ago. The objective of welcoming in good conditions the youth, the elder, Ethiopians, foreigners, orphans and expatriate to the Saint John’s priory of Entoto is now closer than ever.
However, there is still some work to do final adjustments in the chapel, backfilling and site work, paving, water and energy networks, work in the basement, construction of the guardian’s house, etc.
We hope you will come soon to pray here in our chapel of Entoto priory
We thank again all those who helped us during the year, especially for the project funding and the inauguration’s preparation !