Monsignor Moïse Tinguiano was appointed bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Boké in Guinea on Feb. 22, 2024. / Credit: Conakry Archdiocese
Rome Newsroom, Feb 23, 2024 / 13:40 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis on Thursday erected the new Diocese of Boké in the West African country of Guinea, with the new bishopric coming from territory previously under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Conakry.
According to the figures provided by the Holy See Press Office, in the new diocese the total population sits at 1,153,909, of which 10,225 are Catholic. There will be six parishes, 11 diocesan priests, one religious priest, four seminarians, and 12 religious sisters.
Leading the new diocese will be Monsignor Moïse Tinguiano, who has served as the parish priest of the Church of St. Augustin de Taouyah in Conakry since 2018.
Tinguiano was born on Dec. 11, 1977, and undertook his priestly studies at the minor seminary of St. John XXIII in Kindia. He went on to study philosophy and theology at the St. Augustin Samayah Major Seminary in Bamako, Mali. He was ordained to the priesthood on Nov. 26, 2006, and since then has served in a variety of pastoral roles.
The bishop-elect went on to obtain a doctorate in catechetics and youth ministry from the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, concluding his studies in 2017.
From 2018 he served as the pastor of the Parish of St. Augustin de Taouyah, as a professor in the Benedict XVI seminary, and as director of the Catholic Radio Station La Voix de la Paix (the Voice of the People).
Conakry is the capital and most populous city in the predominantly Sunni Muslim western African country, with nearly 89% of its residents Muslim, while only 7% identify as Christian.
There have been multiple initiatives undertaken in Boké to promote religious dialogue in the predominantly Muslim country.
In 2022 the new governor of the administrative region of Boké, Mamadou Camara, launched the first-ever series of meetings aimed at bridging sectarian divisions between religious groups and building regional and national unity.
According to Camara, religion has played an invaluable role in promoting “social peace,” and the prayers from religious leaders have “allowed Guinea to avoid numerous social crises and political tensions.”
The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Guinea in 1875, and in 1890 the Conakry Mission was established. Guinea became an apostolic prefecture in 1897 and was made an apostolic vicariate in 1920. The Archdiocese of Conakry was erected on Sept. 14, 1955.
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Fathers Javier Campos Morales, SJ and Joaquín César Mora Salazar, SJ. / Mexican Jesuits
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Standing 100 feet tall, the Christmas Star overlooks the little town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (aka “Christmas City, USA”). / Credit: A. Strakey/Flickr
CNA Staff, Dec 25, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
There are at least 18 cities and towns in the United States named Bethlehem, but one of the first and perhaps the most famous is Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a town of 75,000 in the eastern state’s Lehigh Valley, a short drive from Allentown.
Bethlehem was founded in 1741 — prior to the establishment of the United States itself — when Protestant Christians, members of the Moravian Church, purchased land along the confluence of Monocacy Creek and the Lehigh River and cleared it of trees to begin building hewn-log structures.
According to the city’s official website, the town of Bethlehem was christened on Christmas Eve of that year. It’s not the only town in the area to be named after a biblical location — the valley also is home to towns named Egypt, Emmaus, and Nazareth.
In the intervening years since its founding, the town has sought to lean into its name by branding itself “Christmas City USA.” The town even claims to have put up the first documented Christmas tree in the (future) United States, in 1747.
The town has seen a lot throughout its lengthy history, including the deaths of about 500 of its soldiers in the Revolutionary War. One of the original buildings in the town is thought to be the largest 18th-century log structure in continuous use in the United States, the town’s website says.
The town’s status as a nexus of industry is long as well. Just six years after its founding, the town website says, some 35 crafts, trades, and industries had been established, including a butchery, clockmakers, and numerous mills of different kinds. Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter had, the town says, the largest concentration of pre-Industrial Revolution crafts, trades, and industries in America and “can be considered America’s earliest industrial park.”
A steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Credit: Peter Miller/Flickr
Bethlehem Steel was once one of the most important manufacturers in the entire country, as it provided the steel for such iconic structures as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, and the Hoover Dam.
And according to at least one historian, the United States may not have succeeded in the two World Wars if Bethlehem Steel, with its wartime peak of some 300,000 workers, had not been able to turn out the necessary materials for the country’s military. Bethlehem Steel alone produced 1,127 ships during World War II.
The massive plant in the corporation’s hometown finally closed down for good in 2003 after the company declared bankruptcy two years earlier. Still a prominent landmark on the city’s riverfront, the rusted, dystopian steel mill towers have been preserved and incorporated into a trendy new public park and music venue.
Inside Holy Infancy Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is located on Bethlehem’s south side and founded in 1861, attracting Catholic immigrants from all over the world who came to work in the steel industry. Credit: Courtesy of Holy Infancy Catholic Church
Catholics in Bethlehem
Father Andrew Gehringer, pastor of Holy Infancy Catholic Church, told CNA that his parish, which is located on Bethlehem’s south side, was founded back in 1861 and attracted Catholic immigrants from all over the world who moved to Bethlehem to work in the steel industry. In the town’s heyday, there were six Catholic churches within 10 blocks, he said, with Holy Infancy being the first. Germans, Irish, Hungarians, Polish, Portuguese, and Brazilian people have all made Bethlehem home over the years.
Today, Mass is offered at Holy Infant in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Gehringer said the multicultural nature of his parish lends itself to numerous fascinating Christmas traditions. For example, Portuguese-speaking parishioners participate in the “Novena de Natal” (Christmas novena), a nine-day prayerful meditation on the birth of Christ.
Spanish-speaking Catholics celebrate “Las Posadas” at Holy Infancy Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is located on Bethlehem’s south side and founded in 1861. Credit: Courtesy of Holy Infancy Catholic Church
A similar devotion, “Las Posadas,” is practiced by the parish’s Spanish-speaking Catholics. The Spanish word “posada” means “inn,” and this devotion commemorates Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where they sought shelter for the birth of Jesus. Like the Portuguese Christmas novena, Las Posadas begins on Dec. 16 and involves the recitation of the rosary followed by a procession, Mass, and a celebration with a piñata on the nights leading up to Christmas.
“We really do push the multicultural flair of our parish. So we have multicultural dinners, and we have a multicultural summer festival,” Gehringer continued.
The priest said the town, as you can imagine, goes all out decorating for Christmas. Many of the decorations are religious, such as a Nativity scene in the center of the city, as well as innumerable Christmas trees. Gehringer said some of the parish’s Spanish-speakers have been asked in years past to decorate Christmas trees for the city in the manner of their culture.
The town has had a massive Christmas star set up on a nearby mountain since the late 1930s, a five-pointed star with eight rays. The structure is located at Bethlehem’s highest point — 890 feet above sea level — and the star’s LED lighting array, installed in 2010, can be seen 20 miles away. The star has become a symbol of the city, with signs throughout Bethlehem bearing an image of the star and proclaiming “Follow the Star to Bethlehem Attractions.”
Gehringer said it is special to live in a city where the religious aspects of Christmas are so widely celebrated with symbols — which, of course, include the name of the town itself.
“There’s some very Christian symbolism that’s very prominent in our city, that our city puts up,” Gehringer said. “In some towns, they don’t even allow the Nativity set.”
La Voix de la Paix – The Voice of Peace.
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