BY VINCENT GOTAMI
1. PREAMBLE
The penultimate of the eighteenth century and the advent of the nineteenth century witnessed some mercurial raise in Christianity through the great track in of missionaries, particularly the Catholic religion.
Black African natives fast received the gospel, embraced the bearers of the gospel, the missionaries and secured convincement to do away with ancient traditional religion practices.
Strategic areas from where to set up and establish missions to evangelize and recruit more souls into Christianity were set. One such establishment was St. Don Bosco in Masvingo, once named Fort Victoria, which was identified as the strategic hub from which to grow and blossom the catholic faith
Today in 2025, the parish marks and celebrates eighty (80) years of evangelization since its establishment in 1945. The parish graduates into an octogenarian, marking a fit of eighty (80) years of serving the divine purpose and will of God among the faithful, and this article traces that expedition noting some of key developments, success stories and individuals who contributed to this accomplishment.
2. INTRODUCTION
THE URBAN CATHOLIC LANDSCAPE DOMINANCE- JOBERT COMES TO TOWN!!
Jobert is a fine young teenager who grew up in Chivi. He has finished his secondary education and, just like any other teenager of his age, he redirects focus from school and contemplates joining the growing bandwagon of rural to urban migrates.
Jobert thinks of his uncle, his late father’s younger brother who resides and works in Masvingo town. He doesn’t waste time. He is on the next Mhunga bus to Masvingo, a place unbeknownst to him, but the ambition to transform his life clouds the areal blindness. Jobert disembarks from the bus in town with his small bag and a parcel of dried vegetables in his hands. He was advised that his uncle stays in a high-density suburb called Sisk. He was also under strict instruction to look for commuter omnibuses that ply the route called “VIA ROMA” and nothing else, to eliminate chances of getting lost.
There comes Jobert’s dilemma. There are three catholic parishes in Masvingo city. There is St Mary’s cathedral, situated north of the city and established in the middle of a residential area. There are commuter omnibuses and pirate taxis which service that route and it qualifies to be referred to as “VIA ROMA”. If anything, it qualifies more than any other because its enroute to the dwelling where the Diocesan Bishop resides, apart from the 133 years old parish being the oldest in town.
There is also St. Theresa of Avilla in Rujeko suburb. The parish is also situated along a route where commuter omnibuses service. It therefore qualifies too to be referred to as “VIA ROMA”.
There is also St. Don Bosco parish in the heart and middle of Mucheke suburb, and almost all routes that destines the various parts of Mucheke suburb pass through the parish, making it eligible for the “VIA ROMA” reference.
Which Kombis should Jobert board? At least three routes pass through a catholic establishment, but there is only one that has monopolized the sacred trademark reference of “VIA ROMA”, as if the other two are less catholic.
Jobert ponders and decides to engage a tout at the terminus for clarity before it gets late and dark. The response he gets takes him aback. “ _Young man, where are you from? When we say VIA ROMA we mean and refer to just one route. That which passes through St. Don Bosco, and none else. Come on, its getting dark, board this one, sit there and enjoy your ride_”
The story of Jobert’s urban initiation reflects how St. Don Bosco parish has harnessed its rich history, rooted in effective and sustainable evangelization drive and cathectical thrust. Today, as the parish celebrates and marks eighty years since its establishment, it proudly boasts of arguably the largest congregates enrolment whose current statistics stands north of one thousand five hundred (1500).
Over the years, St. Don Bosco parish has hatched vocations, churned out priests and has reproduced stand-alone sister parishes formed off its rib. Perhaps the question that repose in many’ s minds is “HOW DID IT ALL START?”
3. ST. DON BOSCO PARISH BIRTH & BACKGROUND
An astute early missionary, Father Joseph Winterhalcher, whose name was shortened to Fr Joseph Winter for easy of reference, in 1944 then serving at Gokomere mission, came up with the idea to establish a school in Masvingo urban’s Mucheke high density suburb, Don Bosco Primary school.
St Don Bosco school started as a day and night school for men working in town. Major employers for these men were the National Railways and the Cold Storage company.
St Don Bosco Primary started with one thatched classroom and a year later in 1945, the classroom served the dual purpose of accommodating pupils for lessons and congregates for church, with Father Winter serving as the principal and priest. The school and parish were established primarily to accommodate the black race in the poorer segment of town. Saints Peter and Paul already existed, having been established fifty-three years earlier in 1892, but was largely a preserve for the elite white minority.
The first teacher to be recruited at the newly established Don Bosco school was the late Mr. Max Kwashira (May his soul rest in peace). The second teacher, who later became the head, was Mr. Severino Nhariwa, deputised by Mr. Ignatious Charles Chishambwa.
As the school growth prospects became evident and visible, so became community’s interest and zeal for the catholic faith and the need for the church’s establishment and expansion. This drove Father Winter to pen an article to the Bethelehem Fathers Swiss magazine on the 9th of May 1944 whose extract read “I have found very good people in the locations. They are very interested in religion and the Roman Catholic Church has a respected and admired reputation”.
In 1945, St. Don Bosco parish was officially established as a fully fledged parish although the priest was visiting from Gokomere mission, seventeen kilometres out of town towards Harare, once named Salisbury. As earlier alluded, the parish was operating from primary school whilst plans and ground work were in place to build a church. The church project was completed and commissioned in 1967, introducing smiles to the local community’s faces through the infrastructural milestone that enhanced and game-changed their spiritual development.
4. EVALENGICAL PARTURITION OF OFFSHOOT PARISHES.
As the local authority drove its municipal growth objectives, so was the parish’s congregates base from which it drew its parishioners. At a local scale, small Christian communities, also known as sections, kept growing from as low as three sections in the lower eastern area of the parish where Mucheke bus terminus is, to fourteen sections by the year 1998.
The growth trajectory continued with the birth of new sections either from geographical expansion of the residential areas or through dissection of existing sections, which largely took place during the tenure of the longest serving priest at the Parish, the late Father Kizito Mavhima.
To date, the parish has thirty-one sections which have evolved into small Christian communities and have migrated from numerical reference of sections to identification with patron saints.
On a larger and broader scale, the high-density population kept growing and the catholic faith graph behaved the same, growing in leaps and bounce and correspondingly growing the need for decentralization of service through establishment of outstations and development of offshoot parishes. This birth and growth of other parishes from the rib of St Don Bosco parish acting as the Adam of the era symbolises how the parish has acted as a faith hatchery from which evangelization stemmed, grew, compounded and spread, contributing to the growth of the church at large.
On the 20th of May 1993, the first meeting to operationalize the idea of decentralizing service and establishing St. Theresa of Avilla as an outstation of St. Don Bosco parish was convened. During the meeting, a committee was elected to spearhead the project and apply to the municipality for a piece of land to establish a church. The committee was chaired by Mr. C. Chikwadze.
On the 19th of July 1993, the then Housing Director, Mr A. Gusha (MHDSRIP) responded positively to the application granting the request for a church site. The initial site allocated drew reservations from the then Bishop of Gweru diocese, Right Reverend Bishop Francis Mugadzi, on the basis of its proximity to existing parishes which kind of defeated the purpose.
The current site of St Theresa of Avilla was allocated through the then Housing Director Mr. N.F Temba in a letter dated 20 January 1999. This marked the official birth of St. Theresa Parish, detaching from St. Don Bosco parish and getting its first designated priest, Father Charles Machida.
In August 2004, when the late Father Kizito Mavhima got an assistant priest for the first time in his fifteen year long tenure at St. Don Bosco, newly ordained priest Father Ferdinand Mubvigwi, an attempt was also made to respond to the parish’s growing geographical dispersion through the establishment of an outstation in the Runyararo suburb called St. Kizito. The outstation was housed at Runyararo Primary School and utilized the school assembly point for masses. The first chairman of the newly established St. Kizito parish was the late Mr. Govo (MHDSRIP) while the treasurer was Mr. Regedzai Gumbire, then Branch Manager of Standard Chartered Bank before his retirement. The project took off to a promising start but was short-lived by the transfer of Father Mubvigwi in August 2005 to Mutero Mission in Gutu as the Priest in Charge.
As much as the St. Kizito parish birth suffered a neonatal mortal effect, its vibrance lived long as it responded positively and took the southern end of the parish’s landscape by storm during its short period of existence.
The idea and need for another parish sustained justifiably and in 2023, a ground breaking gathering to establish St. Dominic in the Victoria Range area was convened. A convenient site was established and all sections in and around the area were branched off St. Don Bosco to support the St. Dominic project.
The two priests at St. Don Bosco, Father Everesto Ricky Hungwe and Father Solomon Mbengo alternated to celebrate mass at St Dominic site to draw more patronage and instil a sense of belonging to sustain the new centre born off St. Don Bosco.
Due to circumstances beyond the parish administration’s control, St. Dominic centre suffered similar fate that St. Kizito centre in Runyararo suffered. The only difference being that St. Kizito was later named to the Diocesan Minor Seminary in Mukaro upon its commissioning in 2008. One hopes that one site or institution of strategic significance will be named after St. Dominic to preserve the name and legacy and honour the vibrance of the parishioners who had pledged their membership to the parish named after St. Dominic.
A new issue- free site has since been secured around the ZEXCOM area and plans are in place to clear the land and establish a parish to be named after St. John Paul the second.
5. THE PRESBYTRAL ALUMNI- PRIESTS WHO HAVE SERVED AT THE PARISH
The discharge of the mammoth task of evangelization would only be successful on condition of availability of the men who answered the divine calling to be stewards in God’s vineyard.
To date as at August 2025, at total of 36 (thirty six) priests have worked at Don Bosco from the time of its establishment in 1945.
The founding priest was Father Joseph Winter. From him, successive priests came and passed through St. Don Bosco, some still alive and some departed, each leaving a distinctive mark that they are well remembered for and identified with.
Some of the other early priests who served at the parish include Fr Rutishauser who came in 1949, Father Galvin (1953); Father Burginer, who came in the same year after Fr Galvin in 1953; Fr Inaven (1956); Fr Weber (1958 and was back again 1967); Fr Neiderberger; Fr Paul Bossard; Fr Werder; Fr Weber; Fr. A Fisher (1959); Fr Gosplhuler (1960); Fr Gaunelli; Fr. Hugo Dietsche (1965); Fr Walter Beale (1966); Fr. J. Rubio (1972); Fr. Furnfut (1972).
The first black priest to work at St. Don Bosco parish was Father Alois Mavheneka in 1975, at the peak of the liberation war. Father Mavheneka stayed only a year as he was replaced by Fr J Celman in 1976. Fr Goher came 1978 and stayed for 6 (six) years until 1984 when Father John Geisser came. Fr. Geisser stayed for 5 years until 1989 when the second black priest to be assigned at St. Don Bosco, Father V. Chanyau came. Father Chanyau only stayed for a year before paving way for the longest serving priest at St. Don Bosco, Father Kizito Mavhima.
Father Kizito Mavhima, who later became Monsignor Kizito Mavhima, was the longest serving priest at St. Don Bosco Parish. Monsignor Mavhima arrived at Don Bosco in 1990 and stayed for fifteen (15 years) until 2005. Known for leading a low key and less materialistic life.
Monsignor Mavhima is credited for his vast liturgical wisdom and spiritual development of St. Don Bosco. He was particular about the upholding and teaching the catholic doctrine which sprung a lot of vocations as several young men from St. Don Bosco parish got inspired to respond the divine calling to priesthood. These include Fr Elliot Zvarevashe, the late Father Peter Rugora, Father Emmanuel Zandonda; Father Johannes Mabhikwa among others.
Every Sunday, Monsignor Mavhima would begin mass by outlining and explaining the theme of the day, which would be legibly written in capital letters on a chalk board infront of the church, and would end mass with listing of the succeeding week’s saints feast days, from Monday to Saturday, signifying the depth of the value proposition he assigned to liturgical matters.
Monsignor Mavhima was not very particular about any eye cathing appearance. For the 15 years he stayed at Don Bosco, he stayed in a wood partitioned compartment in the parish hall while the current priest house was a convent for Sisters of Jesus the Infant (SJI) designated for full time pastoral work sisters. The sisters only relinquished the house to become a priest house after Father Mavhima left.
He is also credited as being the first Chancellor of Masvingo Diocese upon its birth from Gweru Diocese in April 1999. He retired from active ministry in 2005 and stayed at Gokomere Mission until his untimely death in 2011.
In July 2004, Father Mavhima was assigned his first and only assistant Priest during his 15 year long stay at St. Don Bosco, Father Ferdinand Mubvigwi. Father Mubvigwi was assigned there for his pastoral year immediately after his ordination.
Together with Monsignor Mavhima, Father Mubvigwi established the St. Kizito outstation in Runyararo which immediately made a mark with positive response and vibrancy. The outstation was discontinued when Father Mubvigwi was transferred to Mutero Mission in Gutu to take up Priest in Charge role.
In 2005, Father Michael Kupfuwa was assigned at St. Don Bosco to take over from Monsignor Kizito Mavhima as the Priest in Charge after only a year as a priest, having been ordained in July 2004 as one of the popular group of ten (10) priests who were ordained at Silveira Mission. Affectionally known as Teacher Mike, due to his teaching background and passion for imparting knowledge in the faithful and upcoming priests, Father Kupfuwa consolidated the evangelization gains that had been built over the years.
Soft as wool, Father Kupfuwa was also known for his liking for a low-level lifestyle. He could walk around all sections visiting the sick and the faithful on foot when his service vehicle, an intact blue Toyota 2.4 Diesel truck was parked at the parish and on full tank and defect free.
Father Kupfuwa stayed alone at St. Don Bosco until for 2 years until 2007 when the late Father Thomas Madusise, with whom they had been ordained together same day in the group of 10 (ten) in 2004, was assigned as his assistant. Father Madusise was recovering from injuries sustained in a major road traffic accident in 2006 while at St. Nicholas Mukaro Mission, and St. Don Bosco parish was identified as the best place for his recuperation while serving as an assistant to Father Kupfuwa.
The two stayed together at Don Bosco until August 2009 when they were both transferred out of Don Bosco, with Father Kupfuwa taking up the role of Rector of the Minor Seminary at Mukaro while the late Father Madusise was transferred to All Saints parish in Rutenga.
Father Julius Togarepi was assigned to St. Don Bosco as the Priest in Charge in 2009 and the current Vicar General, Father Oscar Chagweda, then Secretary to the Bishop, was assigned as the Assistant Priest. The two had a fruitful year long stay at St. Don Bosco where they upped the momentum in terms of evangelization, with particular bias for youth development and social nurturing. They were simultaneously transferred out in August 2010 and both headed for further studies, Fr Togarepi heading to Kenya and Father Chagweda heading to Rome where he stayed for 6 years.
In 2010, in came the second longest serving priest to stay at Don Bosco parish, Father Richard Pundo, who was coming from St. Vitalis mission in Neshuro. Known for his good sense of humour, creativity and awakening sermons, Father Pundo stayed for eight (8) years 5 months as the Priest in Charge, effectively making him the second longest serving priest at St. Don Bosco after Monsignor Mavhima.
Father Pundo started alone at Don Bosco before being assigned Father John Dzeka in 2011 as his assistant. Other Assistant priests who came and left Father Pundo’s assistance during his tenure at Don Bosco include the late Father Paul Bandawe, The late Father Cuthbert Magama, Father Raymond Mahefu and Father Alfred Gumbochuma.
Notable developments that ensued at the Parish during Father Pundo’s tenure include purchasing of the first parish vehicle in 2011, a Mazda 323 Familiar which was later disposed and a brand new Toyota D4D truck was purchased. Both vehicles were purchased using locally mobilized resources by parishioners. Current tiling of the church floor and procurement of the Primary School bus also took place during Father Pundo’s tenure at Don Bosco.
In January 2019, Father Pundo left for Triangle Parish after an eight and half year stay at Don Bosco and paved way for the coming of the current Chancellor of Masvingo Diocese, Father Cleophas Magundani, who had been transferred from Mukaro Mission. Father Magundani stayed initially with Father Gumbochuma whom he had found already at the Parish as Assistant to Father Pundo, but was later transferred to Mutero mission later in 2019. Father Cuthbert Magama was transferred back to St. Don Bosco parish in 2019 for easy of access to health facilities as he was already battling health set backs, including being on routine dialysis, ailments that he later succumbed to in 2020.
Father Magundani only stayed for one year before his reassignment to become the Cathedral Administrator in January 2020.
Father Everisto Ricky Hungwe came in 2020, initially staying with and nursing Father Magama before his passing on. After the demise of Father Magama, Father Solomon Mbengo was assigned to the parish as the assistant to Father Ricky Hungwe. As at August 2025, Fr Hungwe clocked 5 years 8 Months at the helm of St. Don Bosco parish where his passion for ongoing formation, liturgy of the church and flawless choral output was felt.
To summarize the presbyteral alumni of St. Don Bosco Parish over the eighty (80) years, the longest serving priest to stay at the Parish was Monsignor Kizito Mavhima (15 years); Father Richard Pundo (8 years); Father Goher (6 years) while Father Geisser and Fr Ricky Hungwe are tied on 5 years each.
6. VOCATIONS SPROUTING- PRIESTS WHO HAVE COME FROM ST. DON BOSCO
The 80 years have not just been of plain evangelization but one with fruits as young souls from the parish have also answered to the call to harvest in God’s fields as labourers.
Over the years, the parish has produced vibrant 10 young men who have been ordained Priests and identified with Don Bosco as roots of origin from where their vocational seed was originally sewed and germinated. This, by any measure, is a no mean achievement and a notable fit worth celebrating as the parish reflects on its 80 year journey.
Though with his origins and roots skewed towards Gokomere mission, the first priest to spring out of St. Don Bosco was father Herman Nhariwa, son to the pioneer headmaster of Don Bosco primary school Mr. Severino Nhariwa. Father Nhariwa was ordained at Gokomere mission on 8 August 1965 and only served for twelve (12) years before his untimely death at Harare hospital on the 15th of December 1977 and subsequent interment at Driefontein mission 2 days later.
The parish endured a 29-year hiatus of vocations drought up until 1994. The second priest to stem from Don Bosco parish was Father Elliot Zvarevashe, a humorous priest famous for his popular “homiya tatami” sermon. Father Zvarevashe was ordained at his land of origin, St Don Bosco parish together with Fathers Justice Mafusire and James Padiel Mambo, who had Mozambican origin.
The next seed to germinate from Don Bosco soil was the late Father Peter Rugora who was ordained in 1998, same year with Father Lawrence Madzivire, Bishop Rudolf Nyandoro, Father Simblicio Musemburi, MacDonald Masvosva and Onisimo Gumbu among others. The late Father Rugora was not only ordained at St. Don Bosco parish but also carried the parish flag high through academic excellence when he attained a Doctorate from Catholic University of East Africa in Kenya and rose through the formation ranks to become Rector of Saints Thomas Moore and John Fisher’s Chishawasha Regional Major seminary in 2008.
The third priest to spring from the parish was Father Emmanuel Zandonda who was ordained at the stroke of the new millennium in July 2000. Again, the parish scored a brace as its son was ordained and St. Don Bosco parish hosted the ordination.
The fourth son of the parish to dedicate his life to the alter was Father Johannes Mabhikwa in July 2004. Father Mabhikwa was one of the ten (10) priests who were ordained in July 2004 at Silveira mission, one of the biggest ordinations events ever witnessed in the country and the biggest in the Diocese’s history.
Three years later, the Parish’s vocations churning mantra continued, this time landing at Chishamiso stadium in Chiredzi where another son of St. Don Bosco parish Father John Dzeka lay downward facing, on his stomach before Bishop Michael Bhasera to take his vowels as a priest in July 2007.
On the 23rd of August 2009, at an occasion to mark the Diocese’s 10th anniversary, the function concluded with an ordination of seven priests presided the then Papal Nuncio to Zimbabwe Archbishop George Kocherry at Gokomere mission. Among the ordainees was one of the Don Bosco’s sons, Father Vitalis Gotami.
The next Don Bosco parish born priest came seven (7)years later at a colourful ordination at Silveira mission in 2016. In came Father Vincent Roy Moyo, a son born and bred at St. Don Bosco parish and is still energetically carrying the parish flag high in the ministry as a priest across all parishes and missions he is assigned.
In exactly a year’s time, another vocational milestone was achieved before the celebratory mood of Father Roy Moyo ordination had dried up. In July 2017, Father Kudzai Francis Bakuri, son to one of the former heads at Don Bosco Primary school, the late Mr. Severino Bakuri, was ordained Priest at St. Vitalis Neshuro mission in Mwenezi. In fact, when Father Roy Moyo was ordained priest in 2016 at Silveira, Father Bakuri was simultaneously ordained deacon on the very same day and occasion. It was a double achievement for St. Don Bosco parish as two if its sons had the Bishop laying his hands to ordain them deacon and priest respectively at once.
There is a notable similarity and unusual coincidence between Father Kudzai Bakuri and the first-born priest from the parish, Father Herman Nhariwa. Despite their ordinations being separated by 52 years, both their fathers were headmasters at Don Bosco Primary School, and both their fathers shared the name Severino.
The current temporary last-born son of the parish to be ordained priest (because by faith, more vocations are coming and more ordinations will be witnessed) is Father Tedius Tawanda Muziki. Father Tedius Tawanda was ordained priest also at St. Don Bosco parish, the very land from where he hails, in July 2024 by Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa.
With this rich line up of the parish’s own sons who have played deaf to the pleasures of ghetto life where they grew up in and responded to the inner voice’s call to serve in the church as priests and ambassadors of the gospel, the parish continue to pin its hopes on the current and future generations to oil the vocational conveyer, keep it motion and take up the responsibility of committing their lives to serve God as priests.
7. ORDINATIONS HOSTED AT THE PARISH
Sacrament of ordination is one fundamental and important part of the church’s ecosystem as it guarantees succession and fosters the principle of collaborative ministry. As we reflect the 80 years of evangelization for Don Bosco Parish, it is worthy tracing some of the ordination ceremonies that the parish has hosted in fulfilment of Christ’s ministerial succession plan.
On five (5) occasions, the parish has hosted ordinations, four (4) of which were priestly ordinations and one (1) was deaconate. What’s even more soothing about the ordinations hosted by St. Don Bosco thus far is that every edition had a Don Bosco parish son among the ordainees, with one exclusively for the ordination of one person.
In 1994, a product of St. Don Bosco parish, Father Elliot Zvarevashe was ordained priest at Don Bosco parish. The other ordainees on the same occasion were Father Justice Mafusire and Father James Padiel Mambo, who was of a Mozambican descent.
Four (4) years later, in 1998, the parish hosted another priestly ordination and among the ordainees was a son of the Parish, the late Father Peter Rugora.
In July 2000, the parish hosted another priestly ordination, this time exclusively for one son of the parish, Father Emmanuel Zandonda, the first priest in Masvingo Diocese to be ordained in the new millennium.
The only deaconate ordination to be hosted at Don Bosco parish was in 2006 and again, as the trend had become, it had a son of the parish as one of the 2 Deacons who were ordained, Deacon John Dzeka and Paul Wezana.
An 18-year ordination hosting drought struck as the next priestly ordination to be hosted by Don Bosco parish came in July 2024. However, just like all other previous ordinations, it had a son of the parish, Father Tedius Tawanda Muziki among the four (4) priests ordained. The others who were ordained on that day were Father Wayne Dziore, Father Francis Chikutuma and Father Stephen Gogoma.
8. COMMUNITY IMPACT
Ever since its establishment 80 years ago, the parish has made significant strides in community development and registered its mark as a responsible citizen in the community.
From the educational front, the parish origins are rooted in education as it was the school that was first established in 1944 and gave birth to the parish a year later. Since then, the parish has not looked back as far as educational development is concerned as it currently has a vibrant pre-school and primary school with commendable enrolment statistics.
Other developmental arms of the church like Caritas and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace have decentralised structures at the parish. Selected members and community focal people representing these institutions are active in their respective localities and communities, fostering social justice and cohesion as well as community development initiatives consistent with the social teachings of the church, including observation of national elections.
The strategic location of the parish, in the heart of the high density and old suburbs of the town, makes it the most appropriate compass point from which the scourge of social vices like Drug and substance abuse, early child marriages and prostitution can be curbed through an amplified voice denouncing these vices. These vices are traditionally associated with places from which the parish draws its membership and largely affects the youthful population in these areas. Ironically, the patron saint of the parish, St. Don Bosco had a passion and soft spot for the youths and young one whose vulnerability to the social vices keeps growing. Don Bosco once said “ _it is not enough to love the young ones, they must feel that they are loved_”
The role that the parish is playing in promoting youth development and safeguarding them from falling prey to modern destructive social vices is consistent with Don Bosco’s wish and desire for the youth.
From the original establishment of the parish, the core thrust has always been evangelization and spiritual development of parishioners. Successive clergies who have been assigned to drive this agenda have all accomplished this task with distinction as the parish has grown in leaps and bounce, both in quantitative membership statics and qualitative spiritual growth.
The community impact across all aspects that St. Don Bosco parish has had is one that leaves it with full entitlement of bragging rights.
9. NOTABLE CHAIRPERSONS WHOM THE PARISH HAS HAD
The parish has always been endowed with administrative talent where able chairpersons have took turns to ably steer the parish ship and compliment the clergy’s efforts to drive growth and development of the parish
Some notable figures include the late Mr. Aspinas Mazorodze (MHDSRIP), The late Mr. Graciano Muzenda Chitsama (MHDSRIP); Professor Chadamoyo, the late Mr. Makausi (MHDSRIP); Mr Benjamin Taguma Mazarire: Retired renowned Educationist Mr Sylvester Tererai, and probably the youngest chairman in the history of the parish, and current chairman Advocate Collen Maboke
10. PRIESTS AND THEIR POPULAR QUOTES
– *Monsignor Kizito Mavhima*- _Chitendero chinoda kutsungirira hama dzangu, haisi nyore nyore Zimbabwe furnishers_
– *Father Ferdinand Mubvigwi*- _Tinonzwa vamwe vachiti ini handi han’o, aaaah kana iye Kristo akahen’o iwe uri ani_
– *Father Thomas Madusise (MHDSRIP)*- _Mutenderi anoonekwa nekupfava. Dota ngaripore imbwa dziwane pekuvata_
– *Father Julius Togarepi (taking from the Our Father prayer)*- _Vana vababa vangu, mambo ngaave nemi_.
– *Father Richard Pundo*- _Mufunge ndakakura ndakapfava ndakanyarara. Zvangazongouya ndasanganiswa nana Baba Chagonda ivava_.
– *Father Cuthbert Nhamoinesu Magama (MHDSRIP)*- _Ukaona murume anosimudza ruoko kurova mukadzi, kuchikoro paidiwa answer haana kumbobvira asimudza ruoko_
– _Kuvarairwa nekusanamata zvekutadza kungoti Mwari good night wovata hako_
– *Father Cleophas Magundani*- _Chero uri mutadzi huya ku church. Simbe inovatira kumunda iri nani, painomuka inosakura, pane inogara yagarira kumba_
– *Father Everesto Ricky Hungwe*- _Kunamata kwezinyeke nyeke Satan anokuita party. Zvinoda utopfugama nemabvi ako_
– *Father Solomon Mbengo- (on the parable of the prodigal son)* – _Vana baba chawashanda ukawana ngachiriritire mhuri yako, pfambi dzinokupukuta. Pfambi hadzina tsitsi_
11. WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Looking into the future of the parish, the reflection on the 80-year journey of evangelization should act as an eye opener and pivot around which the future will revolve.
As the renowned philosopher Socrates once postulated, “an unreflected life is not worth living”. Looking back at the gains realised, a projection of the parish’s future fortunes presents a promising future of growth and expansion, both in evangelization and spiritual development.
Already, land has been secured for establishment of another parish in the eastern side of town, St. John Paul the second.
At the heart of the growth and development drive is embracing of modern technology and artificial intelligence in evangelization. Areas for potential exploration include information dissemination through social communications as well as capturing and storage of parish related information to enhance administration.
The church is evolving. One author once said “the only constant thing in life is change.” Modern trends in catholic best practices are also evolving and the current Bishop of the Diocese, His Lordship Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa is on record recommending the adoption of practices such as inclusion of musical instruments during mass to augment the melodical aesthesis of choral voices and traditional instruments that the church is accustomed to. Don Bosco parish provides a strategic ground around which pilot trials and adoption of these initiatives can be done due to its size and centrality.
The parish is also not accepting the tail position as far as infrastructural development is concerned. The parish is midway through construction of a bigger priests’ house to broaden the comfort and convenience of the priests as well as housing visiting priests especially those undergoing further studies with local tertiary institutions. The perimeter wall is also going through major facelift for enhanced strength and provision of security at the parish as part of infrastructural development initiatives
Above all, the purpose for which the parish is established, that of evangelization and spiritual development of the faithful is also poised for growth as liturgical education and ongoing formation enjoys preferential attention, with the religious and the laity all collaborated towards the cause.
For these and all other endeavours the parish has, current and future, may the patron saint of the parish St. Don Bosco and Holy Mary queen of peace intercede for the parish. Amen.
