It has been a while since I posted here. It’s not because there hasn’t been anything interesting going on; on the contrary, there has been a lot-almost—“too much—” thank God all going mostly in the right direction.

• A busy summer in Uganda working at BLI with the caretakers: consolidating a partnership between BLI and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kasana-Luweero leading to the signing of an MOU and a lease of 180 acres of land at Nandere; organizing a workshop on BLI’s strategic plan, and finalizing plans for its Nandere campus.

• Discussions of my forthcoming book courtesy of events sponsored by the Kellogg and Kroc Institutes at the University of Notre Dame. I am grateful for the ongoing support of my colleagues and the Notre Dame community in examining the manuscript and themes of Who Are My People?

• A fellowship at the University of Gothenburg, at the invitation of Professor Arne Rasmusson, — involving a workshop and a public lecture on the Who Are My People book project in the department of the History of Ideas. The lecture can be temporarily found here. You would recall that this was also the subject of the Henry Martyn lectures I delivered at Cambridge in 2017.

Easter Greetings from South Bend.

Two significant trips marked the last month of my life, and reminded me, once again, of the significance of “planting seeds” on the long journey of peace and integral ecology.

Trip One: Uganda March 4-15: for a BLI Uganda board meeting, and to host a group of Notre Dame students on Spring Break. Part of the Common Good Initiative of the Center for Social Concerns , the trip brought together nine graduate students from various departments (and one professor) to explore “New Norms of Development and the Ecology of the Common Good in Uganda.” We visited various initiatives and programs, and spent two days at BLI, planting over 250 trees at both the Kiumpa and Nandere campuses of BLI. As always, the pictures only tell part of the story….

Trip Two: Rome April 3-6: For a conference on “Path of Nonviolence: Towards a Culture of Peace.” Organized by the the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development and Pax Christi International, the two day conference brought together church leaders, theologians and practitioners from around the world to deepen the church’s understanding and commitment to nonviolence and peace. Both Pax Christi and the National Catholic Reporter have covered the conference in more detail (click on the hyperlinks to read more). Again, pictures tell only part of the story of what was arguably a significant conversation, for which I am grateful to have been part of.

In all these and other events I find myself to be part of, I am reminded of the slow journey to peace and integral ecology – and encouraged by Oscar Romero’s “a step along the way” and that “we plant seeds that we hope one day will grow.”

“If we live we live for the Lord, and if we die we die for the Lord. And so, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Romans 14:8

On February 7th, I had the privilege of offering a mass for my mother, Magdalene Namatovu. Below is the homily I gave in her honor at the Geddes Hall Chapel on Notre Dame campus.

On the Sunday evening of January 6^th— Epiphany Sunday– mom passed away quietly at her home in Malube, Uganda at a ripe age of 93. When I received the news of her passing, I felt just like the siblings Martha and Mary, who sent a message to God about the sickness of their brother Lazarus. In my case, the message was: “The one you love is dead!”

Mother was loved by God. And Mother loved God. Therefore, mother lives and lives on. For as Jesus tells Martha “Anyone who is loved by God lives, even if she dies.” Whoever believes, which is to say–whoever loves God–will never die. 

We are grateful for mom’s life, for her love, and most significantly for God’s love for her, and for how that love was shared with us in so many wonderful ways.

We gather to celebrate and remember that love. We do so with gratitude for the life of resurrection that mom now shares. If mom enjoys the life of resurrection now, it is because even here, she already shared in that resurrection. She lived already resurrected.

Mom’s life was not easy. I am all the more grateful for the resurrection and the hope with which it was filled – a hope that was manifested through mom’s radiant joy, warm friendship, her determination and her selfless dedication for the well-being of her family. Much of this hope grew out of her firm but undramatic faith.

She grew up in a staunch Catholic family. Her father, Achilleo, the chief of Nkulungwe was one of the first Catholics in this part of Rwanda, and his dad had given the land on which the Catholic mission of Rwaza was built. Mom was baptized a week after she was born, receiving the name Magdalene – after the Mary of Magdala (who, witnessed the crucifixion, burial and resurrection according to John). The original meaning of Magdala is “tower”.

This would become true of this Magdalene’s life as she became a “tower” of love, care and selfless service, already at a young age. For even though mom’s early years were spent in this protected environment and with all the trappings of a Catholic chief’s family, it would soon take a dramatic turn when, at the age of 14, mom’s mother, Anna, died. The first born of her family, mother was taken out of school, to look after her six younger siblings. Thus began her journey of heightened responsibility.

Mom’s life took another dramatic turn, when one young man named Anthony, one of the many people working on Achilleo’s estate, asked for her hand in marriage. As mother would tell the story, at first she thought this was a joke. Anthony was not only from a poor background, he was much older, and most importantly he was not a Christian. Anthony said that there was not much he could do about his age. But about being poor, he assured her that he could go to Uganda and work (the British had set up coffee plantations in Uganda, and these were the years of the coffee boom) and there he could earn money to buy the cows needed for the dowry. About his not being a Christian, he wanted to know what he needed to do to become one. He was not only read to become Catholic, mostly importantly, he assured her that he would love and take care of her for the rest of her life. The love won her over, but not without Achilleo’s encouragement, and the intervention of the missionaries! A story for another time.

As soon as they got married, Anthony, my dad, decided to bring his bride to Uganda, much to the chagrin of mom’s family. The transition was hard particularly for mother. She had grown up in a chief’s family, now they had to start literally from nothing, in a foreign land.  Through a lot of hard work, they established themselves, and built up their home. A number of things kept them going. First, their love for each other (growing up I remember witnessing something like an ongoing romance between mom and dad every evening…); Secondly, it was their faith (every Sunday, walking 7 miles to the mission for mass; As we kids, we were raised at the intersection of mother’s settled Catholicism, and dad’s evangelical fervor of a newly converted Catholic ). The third gift that kept them going, I think, are the blessings that they received in this new place: first the gift of 7 children; and then the gift of warm friendships. Mom and dad’s house soon became a hub for many goings and coming. Every year, around Easter or Christmas, they hosted the entire village at our home.

 But then in 1972, dad unexpectedly passed. Mother not only became a young widow, but a single parent, left with the unenviable task of raising seven kids. I was 12, and in grade 5. This was during the very difficult and turbulent years of the Idi Amin dictatorship.  Somehow, through her hard work, incredible resourcefulness and tough love, mother not only managed to keep our family together, but to raise us, and send us to school, with the help of many friends. Two of us, my older brother Joseph, and then me, would end up joining the seminary and eventually becoming priests.

In the 1980s mother’s life took another dramatic and painful turn, when her home was attacked and ransacked. She herself narrowly survived being killed by the rebels. She was to spend seven painful years of ‘exile’ living in the city (Kampala) until  1987, when she returned to Malube, after the rebels took over power, to start rebuilding her destroyed home.

In 2003, she was diagnosed with lupus, a condition that she had till her passing, which resulted in a lot of joint pain, and left her–in her later years–unable to walk.  Throughout this time however, mother’s zest for life, her joy and generous spirit never waned. Neither did her sense of humor and sense of gratitude!

I could go on and on… These are some of the events that marked mom’s life, events through which God’s love, protection and providence were not only manifested, but generously shared with us–her children, grandchildren, neighbors and friends. If you did not know mother’s story, you would not tell for her warm hospitality, cheerfulness and generosity the personal challenges she went through.   

We are grateful for her life, for her love, and the glimpses of “resurrection” that shone through her life, in the midst of so many challenges.

As a family we are particularly grateful that she has indeed been Magdalene: a “tower” of love, care and stability all these years. We are also grateful that on December 27th, ten days before her passing, we all gathered: her remaining five children, her more than 50 grand and great grandchildren, and family friends to celebrate her life. We had mass in her honor, sang and danced for her, and gave her gifts. In what we now recognize as her farewell to us, she was full of joy, as she embra,ed and blessed each one of us.

“Alive or dead, we belong to God,” St. Paul reminds us. In her life here on earth and, even now, mom belongs to God. And for this we are extremely grateful, and with much love and gratitude, offer her life back to God.

Eternal life grant unto her Oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine unto her. May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. AMEN

Below are some photos from a farewell gathering with my mother on December 27th, 2018.

• 

The Tablet, a Catholic, British magazine, recently published an article titled “50 Minds that Matter.” I am honoured to share that my name was on that list! 

The Tablet introduced their list with the following statement: 

“Who do you think is the living Catholic doing the most to change the way we imagine ourselves and understand the world? Here is our selection of 50 men and women who are making waves and recalibrating disciplines, and adding some Catholic salt to the contemporary cultural soup.” 

Dear Friends,

I hope that you are enjoying this season of preparation and reflection as we await the Joys of Christmas. We here at Bethany Land Institute are reflecting on the genuine goodness of God, and how He has opened so many new partnerships for us this year. We are pleased to announce that through two generous grants, we have secured funding for much of Phase I of our construction, allowing us to break ground in 2019 for two dormitories and classrooms. This will enable us to open our doors to our first cohort of students in 2020, and target our formal launch in 2021.

We wish to thank each of you for your continued support for the vision and mission of BLI. We are especially thankful for the funding that you provide for the staff, who have been working tirelessly this year to prepare the campus. They have made tremendous progress, including cultivation of the land, which not only produces all of their food, but with enough extra to sell to the local community. With their proceeds from those sales, they have started the Savings and Credit Co-op, which will allow them to eventually purchase their own farms. In addition, they have planted and dispersed to the local area over 5000 trees on the mission to reforest the land.  I invite you to visit our updated website to see photos of their progress.

I also had the privilege this fall of being interviewed by Near and Far, a world Catholicism podcast, about our vision for Bethany Land Institute. If you would like to listen, here is the link: https://soundcloud.com/user-597480973/putting-laudato-si-into-action-in-uganda.

We look forward to the deepening work of BLI in the coming year, and value your partnership and support to continue our mission. You may make an online donation through our website www.bethanylandinstitute.org or send a check to the address below.  If you would like to speak with our Development Coordinator about ways that you can make an impact at BLI, please reach out to her at the contact number below, or through our website.

Wishing you and your family the blessings of Christmas,

Fr. Emmanuel Katongole