Thomas Luke Msusa, S.M.M. (born 2 February 1962) is

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre in

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

. He is a convert to the Catholic Church from Islam.

Life

He is the son of a Muslim

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

and at the age of seven left his village to study. He converted to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

at the age of twelve and after this entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

, facing opposition of his family due to his conversion. Upon his return, he was rejected by his family except his uncle, himself a convert to the Catholic Church. On 3 August 1996, Msusa was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to priesthood in the

Company of Mary The Company of Mary (; abbreviated SMM), commonly known as the Montfort Missionaries, is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his fir ...

. His appointment as Catholic bishop was on 19 December 2003 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

and on 17 April 2004 was ordained bishop to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Zomba The Roman Catholic Diocese of Zomba () is a diocese located in the city of Zomba in the ecclesiastical province of Blantyre in Malawi. History * May 15, 1952: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Zomba from the Apostolic Vicariate of Shiré * ...

Orlando Antonini Orlando Antonini (born 15 October 1944) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1980 to 2015, as an archbishop and apostolic nuncio from 1999 to 2015. Biography Orlando Antonini w ...

, with the principal

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

being Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye, Archbishop of Blantyre, and Allan Chamgwera,

bishop emeritus of Zomba The Roman Catholic Diocese of Zomba () is a diocese located in the city of Zomba in the ecclesiastical province of Blantyre in Malawi. History * May 15, 1952: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Zomba from the Apostolic Vicariate of Shiré * ...

. After his ordination to the episcopate, his father asked him to enter himself also within the Catholic Church and

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Msusa then baptised him in 2006 after he attended a

catechetical instruction The role of a Catholic catechist is to catechize (teach; variant spelling is catechise) the faith of the Catholic Church by both word and example. The ''Directory for Catechesis'' states that faith must be "known, celebrated, lived, and turned in ...

. On 21 November 2013 he was appointed to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre and on 8 February 2014 was installed on the archbishopric. In 2015, he was appointed vice president of the association of eight members of the

Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is the association of episcopal conferences of Eastern Africa and the coordinating body of the Catholic dioceses. The AMECEA was established in 1961, with Cardinal Archbish ...

and participated in the

Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops The Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, popularly referred to as the Synod on the Family, took place from 4 to 25 October 2015 with the theme of "the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemp ...

References

External links

* http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmsusa.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Msusa, Thomas Luke 1962 births Living people Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam Malawian former Muslims Malawian Roman Catholic archbishops Roman Catholic bishops of Zomba Roman Catholic archbishops of Blantyre