It’s difficult, being born in Monsoonimagine that you are going to spend much of your life in Kazakhstan. But the history of the world gives surprising turns and the general ends up modifying the concrete. He fell Berlin walleverything changed and John Paul II requested priests for the countries of ancient Soviet Union. It was mission land and José Luis Mumbieladiocesan priest in Péridhe said yes. Since then, his life is intertwined with a country and a city that today receives one of the most unexpected visits in its history: that of Real Madrid. «In 98 they already asked me if it was from Real Madrid or of the Barcelona. I, put to choose from, I’m from Real Madrid», Says Mumbiela, now a bishop of Almaty, between laughs and good humor. Remember in amazement that, at that time, at the beginning of globalization (although I still had no name), both club shirts were already seen in Kazakhstan. «The t -shirts Real Madrid and of Barcelona They arrive before the Gospel», He says with a mixture of humor and missionary reality. Because that was what touched him: take the gospel where there was nothing. No church. Neither temple. No community.
“ID and do what you can”
José Luis Mumbiela It came to Shymkent With another Spanish priest. «There was no place to live. The bishop told us: ” Good luck, id and do what you can ”. And that is what we did ». They started in an apartment they used as a chapel and meeting place. “It seemed like a sect,” he acknowledges. But they did not give up. “You had to look for life, make their way, meet people and let themselves known.” He gave Spanish classes at a private university, helped in what he could and looked for any way to make himself known, help and fulfill what had been entrusted to him.
Kazakhstan It was not easy. “Everything was very special and difficult at the level of visa, procedures, bureaucracy … and the Catholic Church, as such, did not exist.” Little by little they found the scattered Catholics, especially Poles, Germans and Ukrainians. “Our mission was to gather them, encourage and grow.” And they grew up, but all together, like a team. They bought land, built a parish and, just when everything seemed consolidated, to Mumbaila They transferred him. “God bless those beginnings,” he says serenity now and looking back. In 2011 Benedict 15And appointed him bishop of Almatythe city where everything turns around football today.
The arrival of the Xabi Alonso team for his second game of Champions It has been a national event. «Everyone is wondering about that. Whatever happens, it is a historical fact. Is to be at a level that many countries have never reached ». There is emotion in the city, sale of tickets at excessive prices, resale … Mumbaila You will see it on television, because “the tickets are very expensive.”
Soccer as a message
Soccer, in this land of hard sports such as fighting or boxing, individual sports, has grown as a social and cultural phenomenon. First was the Sala football, now that of eleven against eleven. «Here football was not very popular. But it has changed. Football creates team mentality and that is good to train youth, ”continues the Spanish bishop. And he has lived it closely: «They gave me a shirt of the Madrid. And a Polish priest who played against him Villarreal He has set up a team of children in a town … and they, happy ».
It is no accident that Mumbiela speaks of football as a way of educating, joining and giving joy. Because it is also as he understands faith. «Transmitting faith is not to release a doctrine. It is transmitting love. And if it is true, people capture it ». He has proven this weekend, when a woman, with a son and divorced told him that he stayed in the church because one day he went to pray he felt received by affectionate nuns. “I’ve found my house,” he confessed.
This also happened to José Luis Mumbiela. He left his home very young to live in Kazakhstan. Not long after, the other Spanish priest who traveled with him left. «And I was left alone; the closest priest was 200 kilometers ». But he does not complain or keep memory of loneliness. He learned rushing y kazajo to be able to celebrate mass and be close to people. «Diocesan priests are educated to be independent. You have to launch yourself. Love you have inside, it is a virtue that grows more and more and that includes family. But you share it and those you want are part of your family ».
A growing city
When there was nothing, now there are promises of everything. Almaty It has been transformed in the last two decades. «It officially has 2.5 million inhabitants, but I think there are more than three. He is in full growth boom », radiography his bishop. And football has helped put it on the map. «20 years ago I brought in a joke that one day Madrid would play here. They laughed. And you see … ».
Mumbaila He tells everything with humor, with enthusiasm. When I was a child in Monsoon His father was president of the local club. «I liked me a lot, I played football and basketball. But my father did not want me to play in lower teams. I saw it and enjoyed it, but I told me that I couldn’t play.
He doesn’t know, but maybe thanks to that “no”, today he is a bishop in Kazakhstan And not one more defense in third division.
