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Benin: Priestly Ordination of Armel Atohoun in Cotonou
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
On November 12, the Beninese Comboni deacon Armel Comlar Aflihoun (in the center of the picture) was ordained a priest in the Comboni parish of St. Francis of Assisi in the Fidjrosse neighborhood of Cotonou, Benin. The parish community prepared itself for the event with prayer and reflection on the missionary priesthood. Archbishop Roger Houngbedji of Cotonou, a Dominican friar, presided over what turned out to be his first priestly ordination since his episcopal consecration on September 24 this year.
“The ordination of a missionary in a missionary parish is a significant event that underlines the journey of the local Church opening to Mission through the gift of one of its sons offered to proclaim the Gospel to the world,” said the archbishop. He then invited the newly ordained Fr. Armel to live his priesthood in humility, gratuitousness, in a spirit of service to all, available to listen in order to lead each person to the meeting with Christ.
The Christian community felt very much involved in this concrete missionary commitment to be “missionary disciples” as Pope Francis has stated.
On Sunday, November 13, Fr. Armel celebrated his first Mass in his parish in Fidjrosse where he grew up and where his Comboni missionary vocation was born. Fr. Armel has been assigned to the circumscription of Egypt/Sudan, thus realizing his wish to work in the Arab world. This desire grew through his missionary service in the Comboni community of Toko-Toko, Benin, in the diocese of Djougou, a predominantly Muslim area.
