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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Catholic PRWire

The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may have ended in 2003, but a humanitarian crisis remains. As The Lancet recently documented in a special report, 38,000 people die each month in the DRC due to war, poverty, and malnutrition. Despite these challenges, Fr. Baudouin Mubelsala, a priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, remains committed to the Oblate ministries in the DRC that bring faith, hope, and sustained assistance to poverty-stricken children and families.

The Oblate presence in the DRC began in 1931. The Oblates devoted themselves to parish ministry and evangelization, traveling from village to village setting up parishes or mission stations. “I knew the Oblates since I was a child in my city of Laba Nsim,” said Fr. Mubesala, who is a native of the DRC. “Priests from the minor seminary were coming to Mass each Sunday in our village.”

Through the guidance and influence of three Oblates, Fr. François DuPont, Fr. Benoit Kabongo, and Bro. Roger Durand, the young Mubesala learned about the Oblate life and later decided to join the order.

In addition to parish ministry and evangelization, the Oblates in the DRC have built elementary schools and established an educational center to reach some of the thousands of Congolese street children. By the 1980’s, they opened a School of Theology, and have since opened its doors to lay persons. The Oblates have also built a medical center, and work on farms to teach the Congolese people agricultural skills necessary for survival.

“What attracted me to the Oblates is the simplicity of their lifestyle, their proximity with the people, and their generosity,” Fr. Mubelasa recounted. “I made my first vows in 1980. When I think about that today, I feel so happy that I have made this choice.”

Fr. Mubesala’s choice to remain in the DRC and serve his people has not been without consequences. On a recent trip back from the airport in Kinshasa, he was carjacked and shot multiple times. “I was attacked by one, two, three men trying to rob my car,” he described. “As I was resisting giving them the ignition key, they just shot me.”

In his near death experience, Fr. Mubesala remembers that “the physicians realized it was too late to operate but an Oblate brother who was working as a nurse convinced them to operate.” Although his heart stopped beating and “physicians decided to stop and were looking for a coffin,” Mubesala gratefully conveyed that the Oblate brother “took the responsibility to reanimate my heart. Thank God, after many efforts, my heart began to beat again.”

Fr. Mubesala is currently studying at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. In mid-2006, he will return to DRC as president of the new School of Missiology.

“What I know is only that the people have suffered enough,” Fr. Mubesala lamented. “We all expect, pray, and hope for peace for the country and for the people.”

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is an international, Catholic religious order with 4,500 priests and brothers serving the world’s poor in over 70 countries. For more information visit www.oblatesusa.org.

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