On July 2, at Marie-Reine Cathedral in Tenkodogo, Fathers Raoul Béogo and Jean-Paul Bangré were ordained priests by Bishop Prosper Kontiebo, bishop of this diocese in central-eastern Burkina Faso. Portrait of these two priests whose paths have crossed for more than 15 years.
Friends for more than 15 years and now priests of the diocese of Tenkodogo, Fathers Raoul Béogo and Jean-Paul Bangré concelebrated their mass of thanksgiving on Sunday July 3, the day after their ordination, at the parish of St Paul de Moaga, 20 km from Tenkodogo Cathedral.
Father Jean-Paul Bangré evokes his vocation with great precision. “I remember that one day a priest came to celebrate mass. The chapel was a straw shed with a squared wall. It was during this Mass that the desire to be a priest was born in me”. The vocation of Father Raoul Béogo was also born by rubbing shoulders with priests. “I used to serve at mass when I was a child and I liked to accompany the priests to the presbytery. I wanted to become a priest then, but I didn’t really know what that meant.”
Cross paths
Jean-Paul Bangré was born on January 25, 1992 in Kampoaga, 20 km from the town of Tenkodogo, the youngest of a family of five children. In May 2005, he was admitted to the 6th grade at the minor seminary of Saint Augustin de Baskouré in the diocese of Koupéla.
His colleague and friend, Raoul Béogo was born on August 14, 1993, in the same diocese, to a catechist father. He is the youngest of a family of 4 children.
After their success in the baccalaureate in 2013, the young seminarians begin the propaedeutic year at the St Irénée de Toessè seminary in Koupéla from 2013-2014, then from 2014 to 2017, they study philosophy at the St Pierre St Paul major seminary in Kossoghin. (in Ouagadougou).
After Kossoghin, Raoula Béogo was sent to the Saint Pierre Claver major seminary in Koumi (Bobo-Dioulasso) for the theology cycle, with a year of internship during the pastoral year 2019-2020. At the same time, Jean-Paul Bangré began theology at the major seminary of St Jean Baptiste de Wayalghin, in Ouagadougou. From 2019 to 2020, he carried out his pastoral internship before being ordained deacon in June 2021.
” Everything is grace “
Another detail that seals their bond, the two priests have the same priestly motto. ” Everything is grace “. But their first mission as a priest will not be in the same parish.
Father Jean-Paul Bangré is assigned to the parish of St Clément-Marie de Salemboaré. As for Father Raoul Béogo, he was sent on a mission to the Sacred Heart parish of Grango, 25 km from Tenkodogo. In a country troubled by insecurity, these priests will have to face the humanitarian challenges that have grown over the past two years.
Kamboissoa Samboé (in Ouagadougou)