While the Catholic Church in Mongolia in 2017 celebrates its silver
Jubilee, the community is celebrating the ordination of Bernard Kambala,
a member of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM),
ordained a priest on February 19 in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and
Paul in Ulaanbaatar. The community of the baptized in the land of Genghis Khan had celebrated the priestly ordination of the first Mongolian priest, Father Joseph Enkh in August 2016. "They are gifts that ensure the future of the Church in Mongolia", says to Fides Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, CICM, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar.
The Bishop in his message for the New Year wrote: "2017 is for us a promise of great joy: the Silver Jubilee of the Catholic Church in Mongolia (1992-2017) and two Priesthood ordinations: deacon Bernard Kambala Muana, CICM, and deacon Antonius Werun, Salesian". These priests and missionaries will give "new impetus to our community".
"The Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which also celebrates the 25 years in Mongolia, is pleased that the Lord still sends out laborers for his vineyard and shows us his benevolent face", notes Padilla.
Bernard Kambala, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, joined the CICM congregation in 2005. After three years of philosophy studies and one year of novitiate in Kinshasa (Congo), he studied theology at Ecole théologique Saint Cyprien de Ngoya in Ngoya, in Cameroon until 2013.
Once he arrived in Mongolia in August 2014, he studied the Mongolian language and dedicated himself to the knowledge of the local culture. He carried out his pastoral service in the church of St. Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar. Since January this year Fr. Bernard has begun publishing a daily meditation on the Word of God, writing in Mongolian, a fact much appreciated by the faithful.
As the motto of his ordination, Fr. Bernard chose the words of St. Paul to the Romans: "God proves his love for us: while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5: 8).
There are more than 50 missionaries and religious from 14 countries in the world, in Mongolia.
The Catholic community has over one thousand Mongolians baptized and hundreds of catechumens present in 6 parishes and three mission stations are expected to be erected to the rank of parishes on the occasion of the Jubilee celebration.