Rev. Fr. Lawrence J.K Samba is an SMA Priest from Ghana ordained in 25 July, 2015. Right after his ordination he was appointed to Liberia and works in the Eastern Part of Liberia called Sanniquellie City in Nimba County. After spending eight months in his first Parish called St. Mugagga Catholic Church and then was made the Parish priest of Immaculate Conception Parish in the Eastern part of Liberia. It was a big challenge for me but with God all things are possible. I work with Fr. Jean Tayoro, an assistant and SMA Priest from Cote D’ivoire. I am doing well as far as pastoral activities, Plans, and collaborative ministry with other institutes or organizations are concerned. There are two parishes in one; Immaculate Conception Parish, Sanniquellie and St. Augustine Parish, Karnplay which is a quasi- Parish. In fact, it is Primary evangelization area because People still do not understand what they are receiving and so play hide and seek.
ACTIVITIES
I have about 56 outstations, 26 under Immaculate Conception Parish while 30 under St. Augustine Parish. Each station has a church leader. I have two trained catechists who also help greatly. 26 outstations were placed under 3 SECTORS (7 to 8 villages coming together) while 30 outstations placed under 4 SECTORS and each of them is headed by a coordinator. A priest visits each SECTOR at least once in a month on Sunday while on week days we reach out to individual communities. In the Main parish, there are many activities going on. We organize programs for each organization to keep them up and doing. The organizations such as: Catholic Youth Organization(CYO), Catholic Young Adult Association(CYAA), Catholic Men Organization(CMO), Catholic Women Organization(CMO), Knights of St. John and Ladies Auxiliaries, Knights of Marshall, Catholic Children Group(CCG), and Married Couple Association. We also have small Christian Communities (SCCs) of 5 sectors in the main parish. A priest visits two SCCs communities per week. In the light of this our church has become very small due to the large number of people each Sunday. As a result, the Parish has embarked on constructing a new Church Edifice.
PLANS
These are the plans we have:
-To build chapels in each community of 56 outstations- the Christian communities here worship in Village Halls where various village programs are held. This is uncomfortable, not conducive and inconvenient place and as such retard the growth of the faith of our people.
-To reach out to each of these communities no matter how far and difficult it may be.
-To make each community self- sustainable by helping them to have a small plantation for themselves.
Collaboration with Other Congregations and institutes
We work together with Franciscan Sisters of Mary, St Mary’s School, and St. Mary’s clinic and Youth Development Program (YDP). Sisters have taken five of the outstations where they do most of their pastoral work. They helped in building a church and a mission house in Mao and Karnplay respectively. The Parish Priest is the chaplain of the school, clinic and YDP but both of us form part of the school and clinic board. As a result, we form part of day today activities of these congregations and institutions.
Rev.Fr. Lawrence J.K Samba
(Contact: +231775500126/Kwame_lawrence@yahoo.com/kwamelawrennce2017@gmail.com)
posted by: Mark
