{"id":25915,"date":"2017-11-28T08:44:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T08:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=25915"},"modified":"2017-11-28T08:44:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T08:44:55","slug":"democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/","title":{"rendered":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221;  &#8211;\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar &#8211; ACN International"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The impact of a new cathedral in Basankusu in the western Congo \u2013 supported by <em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The position of the church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult, especially in the eastern part of the country, where war has been raging for decades over the coveted mines for raw materials. The effects of this can also be felt in the northwestern diocese of Basankusu of Bishop Joseph Mokobe Ndjoku. For some time now, an impressive church building has towered over the surrounding countryside there. A project that the international Catholic pastoral charity <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) <\/em><\/strong>has been supporting for many years. It is now taking on definite shape, in the middle of green fields.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Travel in the diocese is arduous <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The ailing economy, marked by corruption and inefficiency, has left its mark everywhere. For example, in many places, the infrastructure is in a very bad state of repair or hardly existent. This means that when Bishop Joseph Mokobe Ndjoku and his employees go out to visit the parishes in his diocese of 77,000 square kilometres, they can often only travel by canoe on the rivers because the streets are impassable. It takes him more than two days to travel about 300 kilometres.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">National elections are planned for late 2017. However, Bishop Mokobe reports that the preparations for these are stagnating, the roundtables at which the church had time and again championed peace talks and the reformation of the bitterly divided camps that make up Congolese society have ceased to take place. The well-known exploitation of natural resources and its devastating impact on the people remains unresolved. One of the main demands of the church has, therefore, become \u201cto hold the upcoming elections\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The new church building motivates believers <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, symbols of hope continue to rise in the midst of this state of affairs. One example is the nearly completed cathedral of Basankusu. With it, more than just a building has become visible and tangible to the local people. A Congolese saying goes, \u201cWithout a roof over your head \u2013 there is no such thing as community.\u201d As the cathedral begins to rise up out of the field, \u201cthis literally establishes the community of believers for the local people,\u201d explains the bishop. After all, this is where they can gather in prayer or for educational programmes, for trade fairs and celebrations, on sunny and rainy days. For them, the cathedral is \u201ca perpetual source of motivation carved in stone to do something for the common good. It symbolizes being a part of the large family of believers that stretches beyond national borders.\u201d And it is thus also a link to the benefactors of <em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em> from all over the world who have contributed to the funding of this cathedral. At the same time, the new church represents the challenge \u201cfor Catholics in the Congo to become active in the Christian spirit for peace,\u201d explains Joseph Mokobe Ndjoku. That is why he describes the cathedral as the key for further campaigns of this sort \u2013 in spite of the austerity of daily life. The inauguration of the cathedral is planned for this spring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Dr Karla Sponar \u2013 ACN International<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; The impact of a new cathedral in Basankusu in the western Congo \u2013 supported by Aid to the Church in Need The position of the church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult, especially in the eastern part of the country, where war has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &quot;A challenge carved in stone&quot; -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &quot;A challenge carved in stone&quot; -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; The impact of a new cathedral in Basankusu in the western Congo \u2013 supported by Aid to the Church in Need The position of the church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult, especially in the eastern part of the country, where war has...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/\",\"name\":\"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO \\\"A challenge carved in stone\\\" -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; &#8211;\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar &#8211; ACN International\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO \"A challenge carved in stone\" -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO \"A challenge carved in stone\" -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; The impact of a new cathedral in Basankusu in the western Congo \u2013 supported by Aid to the Church in Need The position of the church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult, especially in the eastern part of the country, where war has...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/","name":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO \"A challenge carved in stone\" -\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar - ACN International - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-28T08:44:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/DEM.REP_.jpg","width":1200,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/11\/28\/democratic-republic-congo-challenge-carved-stone-dr-karla-sponar-acn-international\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8220;A challenge carved in stone&#8221; &#8211;\u00a0Dr Karla Sponar &#8211; ACN International"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25919,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915\/revisions\/25919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}