Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
10 July 2009
Catholic missionaries of the society of White Fathers, now called Missionaries of Africa, have made a passionate apology to Ugandans for any wrongs they may have committed since their arrival in the country 130 years ago.
The White Fathers pioneered Catholic evangelization in Uganda on February 17, 1879.
During celebrations to mark 130 years of the Catholic faith at Mapeera-Nabulagala Church, Kasubi, on Sunday, the provincial superior of the congregation, Fr. Rudi Lehnertz, said: "When we came here, we brought with us the religious rivalries that had divided the Church in Europe. We didn't make serious efforts to overcome these rivalries and as a consequence, the same rivalries have continued to divide our beloved Ugandans today. For every time we have offended Ugandans, we ask for forgiveness from God.
"Our founder, Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, always insisted that we learn the languages of the local people, so as to be acquainted with the cultures of the same people.
Unfortunately, on many occasions, we have not respected the cultures of the Africans. We have thought that our own culture is higher and superior and on many occasions, we have tried to impose it on the people of Africa."
According to the New Vision newspaper, Fr Lehnertz said to disrespect the language and culture of other people is not the will of God. "We ask for forgiveness, for every time we have despised Africans and their culture," he said.
A White Sister apologised for all the times missionaries have not been sensitive enough to the hospitality of Africans and the richness of their cultures. Nevertheless, their Catholic followers continued to sing their praises.
Retired archbishop of Kampala, Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala, paid a moving tribute to Fr. Simeon Lourdel Mapeera and Bro. Delmas Amans, the first missionaries to arrive in Uganda, in admiration of their deep faith in God, missionary zeal and courage.
"Their religious conviction was deep. They braved the wild beasts, the hostility of some Africans and the terrible sicknesses. It was their religious conviction in God that enabled them to get followers after a very short time," Wamala said.
The archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, agreed with Lehnertz's request to re-launch the beatification (and eventual canonisation) process of Fr. Mapeera and Bro. Amans.
In view of the celebration's theme: 'I am the bread of life', Archbishop Lwanga asked Christians to develop a deep devotion to the Eucharist, which he said is the source of the spiritual foundation of the Catholic faith.
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Mapeera-Nabulagala is a symbolic place in the history of the Catholic faith in Uganda. It is the first Catholic mission, where the White Fathers stayed after the Kabaka of Buganda then, Mutesa I, allowed them to preach the Catholic faith in his kingdom.
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