OSHIKUKU – Members of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Namibia gathered at Oshikuku missionary centre in the Omusati Region on Saturday to celebrate in style the ordination of the church’s 56th priest.
The RCC members and their parish priests came from various pastoral centres such as Opuwo, Nyangana, Khorixas, Aminus, Omuthiyagwiipundi, Okatana, Tsumeb and Otjiwarongo.Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda of the Windhoek Diocese of the RCC in Namibia also took to the Oshikuku missionary centre to ordinate the 30-year-old Evaritus Hinanane to the priesthood.Nashenda, who was the first Oshiwambo-speaking Namibian to be ordained as a priest of the RCC in Namibia before Indendence, told Nampa that Hinanane graduated after seven years of training.According to Nashenda, any young confirmed RCC male member, who has obtained 20 points and more in Grade 12 qualifies for the church’s priesthood training course.He explained that the RCC Namibian priests are currently trained at the St Charles Lwanga Seminary in Windhoek for seven years and more, while before independence they were trained in the neighbouring South Africa and Lesotho.Speaking during the ordination celebration, the Vicar-General of the RCC in Namibia, Werner Afunde pointed out that after Hinanane’s ordination, the church now has 12 trained Oshiwambo-speaking priests.’Our Windhoek Diocese now has a total of 56 priests,’ Afunde told the audience, adding that more young RCC Christians are being trained to become clergymen of the church in the country.After his ordination, Hinanane appealed to all members of the RCC and his family to continue supporting him, if he is to serve the church as a good servant of God.Afunde indicated that Hinanane will be based at Oshikuku to stand in for priest Willem Eita, who is currently out of the country for further studies, until such time as Nashenda decides otherwise. – Nampa
