Zadar, (IKA) – “Your gift from the heart for the heart of Africa – let’s help construct and equip schools in the Congo” is the title of this year’s Lenten campaign of the Zadar Archdiocese to help the missionary work of the Franciscan School Sisters, who are also active in the Zadar Archdiocese. The charism of this order is the upbringing and education of children. The sisters have built schools in the Congo and have suffered during warfare. On Monday, February 4, the general vicar of the archdiocese, Msgr. Ivan Mustać; the archdiocesan commissioner for missions, Don Mladen Kačan; and the provincial representative of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Franciscan School Sisters, Sister Klara Šimunović, presented the campaign to journalists at a press conference held at the Archdiocesan Ordinariate in Zadar. On this occasion, Archbishop Ivan Prenđa of Zadar sent a letter to all the cities, municipalities, enterprises and institutions in the archdiocese, appealing for campaign contributions to be sent to the following giro account at the OTP Banka: 2407000 – 1100041082, Ref. No.: 02 0755877 – 536, with the notation “Lenten Campaign – for the Congo.” “Through the renewal and equipping of schools, we shall give the young knowledge and the ability to build their society and Christian community. Fortified by the splendid examples of the first Christians, when individual Churches helped those in need, with this campaign the Zadar Church will help the Church in Bukavu, the neediest of the needy and the poorest of the poor,” said Sister Klara.
The archdiocese of Bukavu is in the northeastern part of the country, in the territory of South Kiva. Croatian Franciscan School Sisters of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus have been active in this part of Africa for thirty-four years. “It is precisely this part of the Congo that suffered an earthquake on Sunday February 3, near the border areas of Rwanda and Burundi. We have news that the sisters and their neighbors are well, although there were casualties,” said Sister Klara.
In 1974, Sister Erika Dadić, born in Poljice near Nin, and Sister Romana Baković were the first two Franciscan School Sisters to come to Africa. In the Congo, there are now four communities of this province with eight Croatian sisters, thirteen Franciscan sisters from the Congo and six novices. They work in the archdiocesan Caritas, provide healthcare and serve in two hospitals. The sisters are also engaged in spreading literacy and caring for orphans, widows, abused women and refugees. Sister Klara thanked the benefactors on behalf of those whom this campaign will help and on behalf of the sisters, adding that renunciation should be accompanied by prayer. The sisters with the poor commend themselves to our prayers and pray daily for their benefactors. In the mission communities, a Mass is celebrated every week for all those who help them do good.
There are 113 missionaries from Croatia in the world, three of whom are from the Zadar Archdiocese: Sister Erika Dadić of Poljice, Sister Ankica Čirjak of Korlat and the lay brother Leopold Mičić from the parish of Dračevac Zadarski who is serving in Sudan.