Archbishop Tarcisious Ziyaye of the Lilongwe Archdiocese on Saturday, August 1, 2015 laid a foundation stone for the construction of a multi-million Kwacha office complex at St Patricks Catholic Parish in Lilongwe’s Area 18.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the project, which is expected to cost over K60 million, Ziyaye hailed Christians from St Patricks for demonstrating a spirit of ownership for the church.
“The church does not belong to priests, brothers or sisters. It is for us all and I thank the congregation of St Patricks for demonstrating a true spirit of ownership in coming up with this project, which will be financed by members of the church,” said Ziyaye.
Ziyaye also hailed St Patricks Parish priest Father Maxwell Kubalasa for maintaining the project, which was initiated by his predecessor Father Maxmian Khisi: “There is a tendency in our society, whereby new office bearers abandon projects or plans set by their predecessors and bring in their own ideas simply because it was not them who initiated the plan.
“I thank Father Kubalasa for continuing with the foundation that was laid down by his predecessor,” said Ziyaye.
The head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe the developments at St Patricks, which is also the parish for State Vice President Saulos Chilima as a sign that the church was progressing.
The parish priest said construction of the new office complex would help ease the congestion in the parish hall, which carters for many things.
“We have a hall, which houses offices for the priest, catechist, youth representative, parish clerk, Radio Maria and a tuck shop. The space in the hall is not enough considering we also have three sisters, who have no office and two of us (priests) share one office. On top of that, children coming for church classes learn from under a tree and some church meetings are also held under trees,” said Kubalasa.
Regarding the source of funding, Kubalasa said the church had no money would rely on contributions from its members and well-wishers, apart holding fundraising activities.
Chairman for the church’s development committee retired Lieutenant General John Msonthi Junior and head of a four-man task force set to oversee the project Paul Kulemeka urged their fellow Christians to contribute generously towards the project.
