Last week, Winchester Diocese had the great pleasure of welcoming Revd Eustache Muryango, a young priest who has travelled to the UK from Burundi, a country which is one of our diocesan mission partner links.
The primary reason for Eustache’s visit was to take part in a graduation ceremony at Winchester Cathedral, at which Eustache received his Masters Degree in Mission from Winchester University. Eustache, who was ordained in Bujumbura Diocese (the capital city of Burundi), has been sponsored to further his theological studies by the congregation at Romsey Abbey. The Abbey has long been involved in supporting students at the Bujumbura Christian University (BCU) via a charity called Love Burundi which provides grants for students whom would otherwise not be able to afford higher education.
Eustache also spent some time with the community at Romsey Abbey, hosting a discussion on the longstanding relationship with Burundi, giving people a greater sense of the companion link between the two countries and how they can get involved.
The Abbey have been supporting Eustache’s training for a while so it was great for everyone to finally have the opportunity to meet him in person, especially the people from Romsey who previously visited Burundi in 2012 and 2017. These cross-cultural relationships are so important to our shared Christian life and a wonderful reminder that we are part of a global church!
Revd Thomas Wharton, Vicar of Romsey Abbey
Eustache was also able to travel around the diocese and meet with other groups, this included spending time at the Winchester School of Mission team, and giving a presentation on Bujumbura Christian University. He explained how the university is still only young, with currently 60 students, and that there are many steps they are looking to take to become fully accredited such as expanding their internet bandwidth, having more faculty teachers with higher degrees, providing visiting lecturers for block teaching and adding books to their physical library.
Eustache was also reunited with the team that had visited from our the diocese in the summer, enjoying a meal together. After that he spent time in Andover Parish, meeting the team and members of the community there. The Vicar of Andover, Revd Chris Bradish, and the Curate, Revd David Roberts had been part of the Winchester Diocese delegation and the Andover community are now looking at ways to grow this partnership. It was wonderful to show Eustache round some of their outreach projects in Andover, including the Life Bus, the ‘mission on wheels’ to young people which includes a video games station, a nail bar, and most of all an opportunity for youngsters chat to people who really care and can demonstrate God’s love to them.
Looking into the future, the diocese is very excited to welcome more of our friends from Burundi who will be coming over for the Service of Welcome and Installation of Bishop Philip on 13 January 2024. We will be joined by Pedaculi Birakengana, Bishop of Rumonge, which is in Western Burundi on Lake Tanganyika, along with Fabien Niyomwungere, Provincial Secretary of Burundi. In addition we will be delighted to welcome Jean Pierre Rukundo, Bishop of the new diocese of Karongi, Rwanda, on Lake Kivu in Western Rwanda. The three will also be joining all our clergy at the Clergy Conference in January.
