Uganda: Reflection on 135th anniversary of evangelisation

This year, 2014, as we make our pilgrimage on 17 February to Kigungu, to mark the 135th anniversary of the Evangelizing Mission of the Catholic Church in Uganda, we are also preparing ourselves to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the canonisation of our Uganda Martyrs. These two events are very much linked to one another.

Without Kigungu, Namugongo wouldn't be there and in turn, Namugongo reveals the quality of the faith and the apostolic work of our Ancestors in the Faith, the spiritual fathers of the Uganda Martyrs, whose arrival for the first time in this country on this notable date brings us here each year in commemoration.

Ideal to die for.......

When the Pioneer Missionaries left Algiers in 1878, they were almost sure that they would never return to their beloved homeland to see their dear ones again. Fr Simon Lourdel Mapeera, whom we can consider to be their spokesperson, (and in fact, once in Buganda, he was given this mission by their Superior, Fr Léon Livinhac), aptly expressed this in his will, written on 15 April 1878, two days before they left Algiers for their journey to East Africa: "I commit myself to this journey to those far-off countries, from where most likely I will never return home ......" Such certitude of an imminent death was based on the information provided by the explorers (eg Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Speke, Cameron, etc.) and the missionaries of other Congregations, such as the Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans), who had already experienced those deadly dangers - diseases, wild animals, bandits, etc., in this part of the world.

However, in spite of those threats, these men, consumed by the passion for their 'ideal', were ready to risk their lives. Again, their spokesperson spelled out in clear terms this 'ideal' in his will: "... but I want to be clearly understood that I am going there for no other reason than the one of spreading the glory of God by widening the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts and minds of the people there."

Of the five pioneer missionaries, Mapeera and Amans never returned to their home country. Both of them died on the soil of East Africa, Mapeera here in Uganda at Nabunnya, Lubaga, on 12 May 1890 and Amans at Bagamoyo in Tanzania on 19 January 1895. The other three, Léon Livinhac, Ludovic Girault and Léon Barbot, for one reason or another, had the chance to go back, at least once, to their beloved France.

Because of that 'ideal' and the 'passion' they had for its realisation in this country, they adopted this country as their second homeland.

Again their spokesman, Lourdel, expresses it very well in his letter to his brother Ernest:

"I recommend myself to your prayers. All my heart is here, in my dear Buganda Mission, which has become for me like a second homeland. I am only 35 years old, but already I feel terribly old. My hair and my small beard are turning white. Please, do pray hard for my poor soul, for I feel I am not much of a man of prayer." (28 December 1888)

In addition, we know from his correspondence with Cardinal Lavigerie that the dream of Bishop Livinhac was to come back to Buganda, not to hold any important office, but rather to be a catechist, to teach catechism and die here!

The Uganda Martyrs, like their fathers in the Faith, had an 'ideal' and a 'passion' for it, ready to witness to it whatever the cost. The passion for this ideal started from the beginning of their catechumenate, when some of them had to find the most convenient time for their catechism classes, even when it meant attending at night. When on that memorable day at Munyonyo they decided, like Peter and John (Acts 4/19-20), to 'obey God rather than men', they must have known the consequences of their decision and when they started their journey from Munyonyo to Namugongo, they knew very well that it was not to be taken lightly! Like their spiritual fathers in Algiers eight years before, they were more than sure that they would never go back alive to their cherished homes, nor see their dear ones again. They were embarking on this journey for an ideal: their Christian Faith and its implications in their day-to-day living.

.... not to kill for

The ways and means the pioneer missionaries had at their disposal to realise their 'ideal' was symbolised by the drawings on their caravan banner: the Cross of Jesus Christ, a symbol par excellence of active non-violence, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a supreme symbol of disinterested love and service, and Mary the highest symbol of maternal love and care. Again let us listen to their spokesman in a letter to his parish priest:

"The Carmelite Sisters, in whose chapel I have been celebrating Mass for almost a year, are making the banner under which we are expected to march. For this is a must: every caravan setting out into the African Continent is expected to have its own banner. The banner of our caravan will be the Cross surmounted by a drawing of the Sacred Heart with Christ's emblem INRI on one side, and Mary's emblem on the other. The Sacred Heart is with us, so is Mary; we shall march on with confidence." (Algiers 30th March 1878)

In other words, these were 'non-violent' symbols urging the missionaries to use non-violent means, implying never to kill anyone. They were prepared to die for the ideal of spreading the glory of God, but not to kill in the name of that ideal.

Correspondingly, the Uganda Martyrs never turned to violent means (words or actions) while trying to live fully in accordance with their ideal; and not only them but also the whole Christian Community, which instead sought spiritual strength from the Sacraments and encouragement from the missionaries at Nalukolongo mission to be able to face persecution courageously.

Ideals leading to killing are idolatrous

For a follower of Christ, 'ideals' that allow someone to kill or use violent and other immoral means are false. They are 'idols' (false gods). Moreover, let us not limit this killing only to physical act of murder or assassination. This assassination can also be spiritual, moral, psychological, social, political and economic. It can be carried out by an individual or by an institution. The victim can be an individual or a community (group) of persons.

The legacy of Mapeera and his companions and the Uganda Martyrs that symbolically offers us the Cross, the Sacred Heart and Mary as the determining criteria for the choice of the means to achieve our 'ideals', in a way, gives us also the criteria to discern and distinguish the 'true ideals' from the false ones. This legacy in no way allows us to espouse the attitude of 'the end justifies the means'! On the contrary! The means have always to correspond, ethically and morally, with the end.

Two 'false ideals' that many of us in Uganda today have added to the list of our ideals, sometimes with the blessing of some Churches, are 'wealth and power'. By seeking to attain these 'false ideals', which in fact are only a means, whatever the cost, has driven many Ugandans to assassinate physically, but also spiritually, morally, psychologically, socially, politically and economically, their fellow citizens and unfortunately this phenomenon continues even today.

Do we have ideals to die for, not to kill for?

As descendants of Mapeera and Amans and of the Uganda Martyrs, do we have, as individuals and as a community of Ugandan Catholics, some ideals and the passion for their realisation, ready to die for them, not passively, but actively and pro-actively? Do we have ideals to die for and not to kill for or use any immoral and violent means in order to achieve them? How does each of these ideals include and integrate the ideal of Mapeera and the Uganda Martyrs, that of spreading the glory of God, which St Irenaeus (2nd century Bishop of Lyons, France) well-defined saying that "the glory of God is the human being fully alive"?

Let us leave from Kigungu at the end of our pilgrimage with this question and let it be the subject of our prayers, reflections and meditations as we journey towards the Golden Jubilee of the canonisation of our Uganda Martyrs, to be celebrated on 18 October 2014. May Mapeera and Amans, through the intercession of the Uganda Martyrs, one day be beatified and canonised for the greater glory of God and for the good of His people.

For more information on the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) see: www.thewhitefathers.org.uk/