Raymond de Souza, September 2008.

The general goal of my visit to Mozambique was to set in motion the HLI Program for Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. It was my first visit to that country. Emil Hagamu, HLI's Coordinator for Englishspeaking countries in Africa, had already opened a path there in 2007. With his help, I aimed to renew the contacts previously made by him and to make new ones with both lay and ecclesiastics, with a view to establishing a pro-life group there that would work with HLI.

THE PRO-LIFE SITUATION IN MOZAMBIQUE

Coming from Tanzania, Mozambique was for me a refreshing change: they speak a language I understand (Portuguese)! In Tanzania, they speak mainly Swahili, and I was a bit lost there, to put it mildly. However, Mozambique is a Portuguese-speaking country, so I was in my element, as least as far as language is concerned.

I was pleasantly surprised with the city of Maputo. I had thought it would resemble Dar es Salaam, but it is more like Johannesburg than any typical African city - except, of course, that virtually 99% of people there are Africans. A large number of Portuguese people left the country after the Communist takeover in 1975.

Emil and I set up our headquarters at the Santa Cruz Hotel and put the hotel functions room to good use for receiving people in a relaxed and agreeable atmosphere. We also went out to visit some of the contacts and gave two talks, one in the St. Pius X seminary and another in a private home.

Most of the people I spoke to indicated that the main obstacle to the pro-life cause in Mozambique is the difficult situation of the local Church, which is understaffed and seemingly without the required means to counteract the wave of de-Christianization that has swept the country after nearly two decades of Communism. This situation has been worsened by a wave of immorality and promiscuity among the people, coupled by a profound lackof moral teaching among the populace.

And yet the good prospects for the visit could be seen in the variety of good contacts made, the willingness of many of them to cooperate with HLI, and invitations to run a pro-life conference in the near future.

Emil and I began by making a variety of telephone calls to priests and religious. We wanted to know firsthand what their views were regarding the prospects of a serious pro-life campaign in their country.

THE CHURCH IN MOZAMBIQUE

Fr. Albert Buque was our first contact. He is a Mozambican priest in charge of Radio Maria. He showed great interest in the work of HLI and volunteered time in his radio station to promote our initiatives in Mozambique.

Encouraged by that first promising contact, we visited Fr. Rafael Sabate, the rector of the St. Pius X major seminary. He was very friendly to us and took the initiative to invite me to address the 65 seminarians studying there in the course of my visit. That talk took place a few days later, when Emil and I visited the seminary for a great meeting! The overwhelming majority of  the young men greeted the talk with much enthusiasm, and several of them came forward to express their desire to become "Seminarians for Life" with HLI. Had there been more time, I would have spent hours answering their questions.

We then met with Fr. Aloysius Kawesi, the archbishop's secretary. He was kind enough to share with us his understanding and concerns about the difficult situation in which the Church finds herself in Mozambique. He took the initiative to invite me to address the whole Bishops' Conference in the course of their meeting in April 2009. He also indicated his willingness to help organize talks for me in various parishes, in the course of a future visit, in preparation of a possible pro-life conference in the capital city.

That was certainly good news. Now it was the time to see the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency, Archbishop George Panikulam. He received us at the Nunciature and confirmed what we had heard from the priests. By way of example, he cited the fact that many catechists teach children what they themselves learned as children, as there are no solid catechetical programs available. A similar situation applies to marriage preparation and moral formation in general in the country. He wished us well and recommended that HLI approach the bishops in the first place, in order to organize a concerted effort to help the Church in her pro-life work in Mozambique.

The last priest we met was Fr. Manuel Tavares, a Portuguese Missionary of the Consolata. He showed great interest in HLI, especially by indicating his willingness to cooperate with us in projects carried out in Mozambique. He pointed out the difficulties encountered by the clergy in exercising good influence on the people in matters related to morality. Apparently, marriage is  an exception, and cohabitation is the "normal" thing among Mozambicans, especially the young.

The only religious we could meet was a Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood. She was very concerned with the poor moral formation of the youth-which seems to be a constant concern in the country-and she welcomed the presence of HLI in Mozambique. She also encouraged me to speak at parishes after Mass in order to invite people to attend a pro-life conference in the Archdiocese of Maputo. She promised to pray and help in whatever way she is able to promote the work of HLI in the country.

SPEAKING WITH PRO-LIFE CONTACTS

While in Mozambique, I met with several non-clerical pro-lifers from different backgrounds and walks of life who offered their skills and connections to help HLI advance the pro-life cause in their land. Three of them were law students from the local university. They were very interested in receiving informative material from HLI via email, as well as in helping recruit more people to work for the pro-life cause.

I met with the leaders of two different groups who promised to help HLI promote the Culture of Life in Mozambique. One group was a Catholic network called "Couples for Mary." Its coordinators are a man and his wife who organized a group of some 20 people to attend a talk I gave. All of them showed interest in HLI and wanted to be involved in any activities we may hold in the country. The other group was "Offices for Prayer and Life in Mozambique." Its leaders are a Mozambican and his wife, who showed the utmost interest in getting his network to join efforts with HLI in the country.

Two other people I spoke with proved to have strong pro-life views. One of them was a woman who works at Radio Mozambique on a part-time basis (her husband is its president). She volunteered her assistance in any activities HLI may organize in the country. The other was a young man in his mid-twenties, fluent in English, who admitted to having no particular religion, although the way he spoke revealed his Catholic background. He is keen to help HLI in the country because he sees and  understands the horrors of abortion in the United States and elsewhere.

Finally, Mr. Antonio Rodrigues was the only non-African layman we met in Maputo. Being of Indian descent (from Goa), he is the contact person for a group of Goan Catholics in the metropolitan area. He came to see us at the hotel, insisted on driving us to the Apostolic Nunciature and, later, organized a talk in his parish. After the talk, he and his Goan friends treated us to a succulent dinner. All Goans were very friendly, and it would seem that much could be done with them in Maputo.

I came away from this trip to Mozambique with many contacts made and many ideas on how to move forward with the pro-life movement in Mozambique and other Portuguese-speaking countries around the world to advance HLI's mission of creating effective opposition to the culture of death around the world.