Letter from Mauritania

Adrar Mountains

Fr Martin Happe, Bishop of Nouakchott in Mauritania writes of the positive developments taking place in his diocese where a number of new priests and religious are arriving to support the work of the Church there.

Dear friends,

Many of you will have known it: a time for crossing the desert, a time when difficulties and sadness mount up, a time when one no longer sees any perspective or any future …

The diocese of Nouakchott and its bishop have experienced such a desert crossing for some years now: we have watched as priests, who have laboured in the diocese for a long time, more or less, have left us on account of age or infirmity. Others, younger and bolder, have been called back by their superiors. This has led to such a penury of priests that we were obliged to close Zouérate parish in the North of the country.

With the sisters, things were not much better: the pioneers, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition, who had three communities in the country, came to the decision to pass the baton to other congregations at Nouadhibou and Atar. The Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, likewise at one time had three communities; just one remains. It is the same with the Daughters of Charity: out of their three communities they had to close two: one definitively, the other provisionally. The Marist Sisters (SMSM) had to leave the key under the mat at Rosso where they had been present and appreciated for 38 years.

The outlook for the presence of the Church in Mauritania was looking pretty dark and the prophets of doom were already announcing the forthcoming end of the diocese of Nouakchott. So what did we do, how did we react to this situation?
As far as I was concerned, I’ve never doubted that Jesus wants his disciples to be present in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. And I took the risk of provoking him a bit! So, when Fr Bernard had to leave Rosso because of age and illness, and then the departure of the sisters was announced, and the Superiors of the Holy Ghost Fathers were not sure they could replace Fr Bernard, I called up, with the support of Fr Bernard and the sisters, our benefactors in Italy and Germany and we invested 50.000 € to restore the Church at Rosso, which is the oldest church in the country, even though we could not predict who would be going to pray there …

Not exactly reasonable? Folly? Rather I should say an application of the word of Jesus when he told us, ‘If you have faith the size of this mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry bush, “Uproot yourself and go and plant yourself in the sea” and it will do it. (Luke 17:6)

And so, today I can say:

• Fr Bernard was replaced, first, for a year, by a Holy Ghost Father from Senegal, who gave up his sabbatical year to help out in this situation, and then by a young Holy Ghost Father who had had a pastoral work experience in Mauretania.

• On 24th February 2014, the day when we blessed the church in Rosso, delegations arrived from all the parishes and missions in the diocese, and even the mayor and council of Rosso wanted to attend. The celebration was due to start at 11, and at 10.30 I was just closing down my computer when an email arrived which I took the time to read.

It was the Superior General of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, a Senegalese congregation, writing to tell me that ‘after prayers and mature reflection’ their general council had decided to respond to my appeal and come to Mauritania, and so to Rosso!

I could not resist going out, computer in hand, to greet the provincial of the Holy Ghost Fathers who was arriving at that very moment, to share the good news with him. I don’t need to tell you that I also made an announcement to all those present at the beginning of our celebration.

The sisters kept their word and on November 1st took over the sisters’ house in Rosso.

• The Sisters of St Joseph found in India two young sisters to replace two others who left us after many years spent serving the poor in Mauritania.

• The Sisters of Our Lady of Africa received reinforcements: three young sisters have come to join Sister Kordula.

• The Daughters of Charity too have been able to honour their promise and reopen the house that they had closed provisionally in one of the suburbs of Nouakchott.

• In October 2013 the Archbishop of Dakar sent us a young priest, Fr Edouard, who has engaged himself as a ‘Fidei Donum’ priest to serve in the diocese for four years, which can be renewed once. In October 2014 he was followed by Fr Brice, who was sent to Mauretania on mission by the bishop of Ziguinchor, also on a Fidei Donum contract.

• During the summer an assistant general of the Holy Ghost Fathers visited me and informed me that the mission in Islamic lands had been defined as one of their four priorities by their recent chapter. We have harvested the first fruit of this decision by welcoming Fr Pachel who has been serving at Nouadhibou since the beginning of November.

• And now for the cherry on top of the cake: on 6th December, on the eve of the Golden Jubilee year of the diocese, we had the joy of celebrating the first priestly ordination in the diocese of Nouakchott. Fr Raymond Millimouno, a Guinean, had spent two years at Atar during his formation with the Holy Ghost Fathers, where he caught the ‘Mauritania virus’ and sought his incardination into the diocese. There is also a young Senegalese brother who likewise started his formation with the Holy Ghost Fathers and is now in his third year of Theology at Sebikhotane near Dakar, preparing to serve as a diocesan priest in Mauritania.

This year, then, more than in previous years, we can welcome the news of great joy for all the people, the news announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem, not as a pious story but as a reality that is lived today by the Church of Jesus Christ which is in Mauritania.

And so in this sense I wish all of you who read these lines: a joyful Christmas and a Good New Year.

Fr Martin Happe,
Bishop of Nouakchott.