Memoirs of Cardinal Rugambwa: His Last Journeys to Europe and Bukoba
By
Fr.
Stanislaus Mutajwaha, PhD
Catholic
Diocese of Bukoba, Tanzania
(Writing
from USA)
There
was no possibility for a direct flight from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba. But that was not strange. We flew to Mwanza
then travelled by ferry to Bukoba.
The ferry was MV Victoria. In Bukoba, many people especially from the
Bunena Mission community who had the information that the Cardinal was coming
turned up to receive him at the port. One of these was Fr. Callist Kagaruki. He
drove us in his “hard top” Land Cruiser to the Diocesan Centenary Pastoral
Centre (CPC) in town. His Eminence rode
in the front seat. I was at the back.
On
arrival at the CPC Fr. Callist lost no time to move and open the door for his
Eminence to get off. Apparently lost in his thoughts His Eminence momentarily
looked at the Cathedral. In all probability his eye must have been met by the
wooden scaffold that practically encased the big Cathedral as it went through a
very major renovation. But there was much more of improvement to be noticed too.
Sure enough, with the steeple now raised through several meters above its
original height after a highly sophisticated maneuver of engineering, every
aspect gave a more majestic and more imposing look than anything the Cardinal
had ever seen of this Cathedral before.
Now, probably unaware that we might be looking at him, with his hand
scarcely raised beyond elbow level His Eminence pointed his right index finger
roughly in the direction of the apex of the steeple, shook his head slightly
but without uttering a single word, and in an instant tried to reach out for
his briefcase from the car indicating that we could move into the rectory. None
of us picked sufficient courage to ask him a question concerning his
impressions of the renovation. But if what he saw caused him great joy, probably
that joy was also touched with a kind of uncertainty at the same time or vice
versa.
Months
later, thinking about the incident in retrospect after His Eminence had passed,
the question still lingered in my head as to what kind of image will have gone
through his mind that morning. It is my conjecture that in relation to the
Cathedral His Eminence was thinking something like this: “I am likely to be
ready before you are”. But of course I might be wrong. This is only a guess.
Still, when one year later he was called from this life the Cathedral was not
yet ready to allow the celebration of his funeral Mass in it. In a sense then he
was ready before it was.
Once
in the rectory his Eminence expressed his wish to celebrate Mass before doing
anything else. We went into the rectory chapel. He said Mass while I
concelebrated thanking God for bringing us home safe. This was followed by a
breakfast after which we drove to Bunena - his first residence when he was
installed Bishop of Bukoba Diocese. He would stay at the same residential home
even now for the few days while in Bukoba.
People who wanted to talk to him could find him there. Shortly after his
arrival at Bunena Bishop Nestor Timanywa came to meet him as his host to
welcome him back home into the Diocese after those long days of travelling.
In
order to arrange the very last chords of what I described as the finale of his symphony into the most
appropriate cadence, His Eminence felt that he needed to go to Rutabo first to
visit his brothers, relatives and neighbors in Bukongo village, his birthplace,
before returning to Dar es Salaam. I accompanied him there too. I feel almost
embarrassingly indebted to him for allowing the honor of escorting him through
these landmark events of his last days to fall on me. May his soul rest in
peace!
No comments:
Post a Comment