By Paschal Norbert
VATICAN, JANUARY 19, 2024 (CISA) – In an emotional encounter but one that was spiritly lived as a witness of God’s mercy and the power of unrelenting prayers, members of the Missionary of Africa (White Fathers) gathered in Rome at their generalate both in person and online for a thanksgiving and testimony conference, heard the touching and inspiring testimonies of the Lord’s grace from their confreres: Seminarian Dominic Merikiori Mahinini and Frs Hans-Joachim Lohre (Ha-Jo) MAfr and Paul Sanogo MAfr who were kidnapped between the years of 2022 and 2023 for a total of 392 days.
A post made on the official website of the missionaries detailed the experiences of, first, Seminarian Dominic and Fr Paul who were kidnapped from their community in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Minna for 21 days from August 2 to 22, 2023.
“In their testimonies, Dominic and Paul spoke of the torture they endured, starting in their community house from which they were captured and continuing throughout their captivity in the forest. Prayer was their only support, and this strengthened their faith. During this conference, they reiterated their gratitude for the prayers that accompanied them from all over the world. They are grateful for the care and support they received after such an experience,” the missionary society noted.
For Fr Hans-Joachim Lohre, a German-born missionary priest who lived in Mali for over 30 years and was kidnapped from November 20, 2022, to November 26, 2023, a total of 371 days, the prayers and spiritual support of the people never made him feel ‘abandoned’.
“I have never felt abandoned, I have never been afraid and I know that I do not owe that to my little faith, but it is thanks to you, thanks to your prayers that the Lord has converted into consolation for me,” he shared at the conference.
Sitting next to Fr Stanley Lubungo MAfr, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa, Fr Ha-Jo as he is commonly known “described his time in captivity, from the abduction to his release, in several stages, starting with a 5-week stay in the Sahel bush, a stay in the desert in the sands, then another stay in the stones, thorns and wadis.”
“Throughout his abduction, Ha-Jo was not tortured. However, he felt dependent and stripped of everything except his faith in Jesus Christ. So he gave a sense of spiritual retreat to his rapture in the desert. Ha-Jo affirms that the fact that he was released after a year is proof that prayers serve a purpose. He was abducted on Christ the King Sunday in 2022 and was released on Christ the King Sunday 2023, which coincided with the anniversary of Cardinal Lavigerie’s death, Founder’s Day,” the society wrote.
He confessed that the story of Joseph, son of Jacob in the book of Genesis, accompanied him throughout his captivity, a spiritual journey that according to the reflections from the conference was also true for Dominic and Paul.
“It was not God’s will that Joseph should be sold by his brothers, nor was it God’s will that the three confreres should be abducted, but God can use such events for his loving plan for the world. So Ha-Jo asks himself: who knows if I was not more useful for inter-religious dialogue in captivity than physically present in Bamako?”
