The Profile of Cardinal Rugambwa in
USA
By
Deogratias Rweyongeza, PhD
Edmonton, Alberta, Canda
His
Eminence Laurian Cardinal Rugambwa did not live at the time of the Internet,
video cameras, digital cameras, television and twenty-four hour news in
Tanzania of his times. Therefore, his actions and engagements overseas are
hardly known to Tanzanians. The 1960s was the period of change whereby African
countries were beginning to gain their independence from Europe and African
Americans in the United States of America (USA) were struggling against
institutional racial segregation and the right to vote. The elevation of Bishop
Laurian Rugambwa to Cardinal was an important event to Bukoba, Tanganyika and
the USA. For the people in Bukoba, elevation of Cardinal Rugambwa may have been
seen as an affirmation of the right to self-governance at a much higher level
in this strongly hierarchical society of Buhaya. For the country, his elevation
may have been seen as yet another step towards independence and change from
English to native rule even in religious matters. For African Americans,
Cardinal Rugambwa meant hope for end of segregation and a better future.
In the
1960s, Cardinal Rugambwa visited the USA where he met different groups of
Americans both religious and politicians. The African Americans, in particular,
were very touched by the elevation of Cardinal Rugambwa as a black person and
his presence in their midst. They followed his moves in the USA and other
countries, quoted statements he made, and fundraised to help him build his
Bukoba Diocese. For the African Americans, Cardinal Rugambwa was not just a
Catholic priest who has been elevated to a higher order in the church
hierarchy. He was a black African who has been entrusted with the higher office
in the church previously reserved for the white priests. For African Americans,
Cardinal Rugambwa symbolized the beginning of the end of racial segregation and
discrimination in all matters of life, which they were struggling to achieve in
the 1960s USA. It is this image of Cardinal Rugambwa as a sign of hope that
prompted African Americans to publish many stories about his engagement events
in the USA and Europe and show that a black person was as capable of leadership
as white colleagues. Indeed, the early stories of the work and speeches of
Cardinal Rugambwa are likely to be found in newspapers and magazines in the USA
more than Tanzania where the media was still at its infancy and the population
was still uneducated.
As we
celebrate the 100th birthday of Cardinal Rugambwa and prepare to
bury him officially in the Bukoba Cathedral he built with the help of African
Americans, we must remember that it is Cardinal Rugambwa who put Bukoba in the
world map and world media. He was a man who journeyed from an unknown world on
the shore of Lake Victoria to inspire hope across continents into the USA.
