Divine Mercy Centre in Zimbabwe’s Capital Embarks on a Gigantic Church Project

Divine Mercy Centre in Zimbabwe’s Capital Embarks on a Gigantic Church Project

CANAA || By Br. Alfonce Kugwa || 13 February 2017

The Divine Mercy Centre, one of St. Francis of Assisi Parish’s eight centres under the Catholic Archdiocese of Harare, Zimbabwe, has embarked on a gigantic church construction project.

The Centre is under Waterfalls and is located in Mainway Meadows Suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

The project that started in 2014 is estimated to cost the centre some US$800,000.00 most of which is raised through local fundraising efforts including dinner dances and levies on families.

The church is expected to have a carrying capacity of 2,000 people once it is completed.

Construction is following prescribed phases, to allow the beneficiaries considerable time to fundraise before they can move on to subsequent phases.

The chairperson of the centre, Mr. Maturure said that the center had targeted to complete the construction of the massive church in five years’ time but economic challenges seem to biting and forcing the centre to push the project forward.

The church, which lies adjacent to Mother Patrick Primary School beams its roof above all structures in Mainway Meadows.

The growing population of Catholics under St. Francis of Assisi parish resulted in the parish opening eight centers to cater for the Catholic faithful.

This influenced the construction of Divine Mercy Church as the catchment area is booming with Christians.

The terraced church structure comprises of indoor toilets, priest’s office, meeting rooms, sacristy and store rooms.

The Parishioners used to attend mass at Mother Patrick Primary School, which has become too small to accommodate the growing number of Catholics.

“The suburb is growing with new areas beyond Mainway Meadows coming up. We used to attend mass in the school hall at the Mother Patrick Primary School which is very small for our growing population and this led us to think about constructing this church,” Mr. Maturure said.

Mr. Maturure also said that although levying families proved a strategy to go by, the money raised through this way was not enough to complete the project without assistance from the donor community.