Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1950-1962
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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA From Democratization to Ethnic Revolution: Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1950-1962 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By James Jay Carney Washington, D.C. 2011 From Democratization to Ethnic Revolution: Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1950-1962 James Jay Carney, Ph.D. Director: Jacques Gres-Gayer, S.T.D., Ph.D. In the shadow of a 1994 genocide which cost nearly 800,000 lives, 20th-century Rwandan history has become a highly polemical and contested field. This is especially true for the history of the Catholic Church, one of the dominant social, political and religious institutions in Rwanda from the 1920s to the 1990s. This dissertation explores Catholic politics in Rwanda between colonial Belgium’s introduction of political reforms in 1950 and Rwandan independence in 1962. The primary subjects of the thesis are Rwanda’s two preeminent church leaders of the period, the Swiss White Father Mgr. André Perraudin and the Rwandan prelate Mgr. Aloys Bigirumwami. In engaging the pastoral writings and personal correspondence of Perraudin and Bigirumwami, this study analyzes the two bishops’ reactions to the rapid political developments of the 1950s, their divergent analyses of the contested Hutu-Tutsi question, and their grappling with ethnic violence during the revolutionary changes of 1959 to 1962. This study also evaluates how Catholic bishops responded to Rwanda’s first major ethnic massacres in 1963-64 and 1973. Drawing on newly released archival material from the period, this dissertation highlights the extent to which the Catholic major seminary and other church institutions served as sites of contestation in Rwanda’s growing inter-racial and intra- ethnic disputes. Post-genocide scholars have critiqued the close association of church and state during Rwanda’s colonial period and highlighted missionary contributions to the hardening of Hutu- Tutsi identities. Overlooked in this standard narrative, however, is the complexity of Catholic political discourse in the early 1950s, a discourse in which the Hutu-Tutsi question was oddly muted. In turn, the emergence of the Hutu-Tutsi question in elite Catholic circles in the later 1950s reflected a broader array of ideological contexts than ethnicism, including decolonization, democratization, anti-communism, Catholic social teaching, and rising intra- clerical tensions. By returning to the 1950s genesis of Hutu and Tutsi as political identities, this dissertation sheds light on how and why this cleavage became the fulcrum of post- colonial Rwandan politics in church and state alike, offering constructive lessons for Christian ecclesiology and social ethics. This dissertation by James Jay Carney fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Church History approved by Jacques M. Gres-Gayer, S.T.D., Ph.D., as Director, and by Thomas M. Cohen, Ph.D., and Paul V. Kollman, Ph.D., as Readers. _______________________________ Jacques Gres-Gayer, S.T.D., Ph.D., Director ________________________________ Thomas M. Cohen, Ph.D., Reader ___________________________________ Paul V. Kollman, Ph.D., Reader ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 A. Overview of thesis & argument 1 B. Contested categories: Hutu & Tutsi in Rwanda 12 I. Building the Christian Kingdom: Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1900-1950 25 A. 19th-century contexts: Charles Lavigerie’s missiological vision and the legacy of Buganda, 1865-1900 26 1. Charles Lavigerie and the origins of the Missionaries of Africa 27 2. Lessons from Buganda: mass conversions, martyrs, & political conflict 35 B. Catholic missions in Rwanda, 1900-1950 39 1. The initial colonial encounter: Germany’s arrival in Rwanda 40 2. Catholic missions on the margins, 1900-1905 42 3. A poor church seeks power, 1906-1914 47 4. World War I, the Belgian takeover, and missionary divisions, 1914-1922 51 5. Classe’s tragic triumph: Ethnic discourse & the Christian coup d’état, 1922-1931 54 6. The Tutsi tornade, 1931-1939 63 7. Triumphs and tensions in Africa’s Catholic Kingdom, 1939-1950 69 II. Success Breeds Restlessness: Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1950-1955 77 A. Ecclesia ad extra: Catholic engagement with Rwandan society, 1950-1955 80 1. A new civilizing mission: communism, secularism, development, & democracy 86 2. Keeping the évolués in the Catholic fold 94 B. Ecclesia ad intra: Internal Catholic politics, 1950-1955 102 1. Intra-clerical tensions and the appointment of a Rwandan bishop 103 2. The Nyakibanda seminary crisis of 1952 108 3. André Perraudin’s background 111 iii 4. Perraudin’s leadership at Nyakibanda, 1952-1955 115 5. Nyakibanda to Kabgayi: Perraudin’s appointment as Vicar Apostolic 121 III. Did the Catholic Hierarchy Incite an Ethnic Revolution? Catholic Politics 127 in Rwanda, 1956-1959 A. 1956: Perraudin’s consecration and the emergence of the Hutu-Tutsi question 133 B. 1957: The year of manifestoes and the irruption of Hutu-Tutsi tensions 148 C. 1958: The Hutu-Tutsi Study Commission & Bigirumwami’s intervention 164 D. Early 1959: Perraudin’s Super omnia caritas and the amelioration of ethno-political discourse 184 E. July-October 1959: Mutara’s death and the rending of Rwanda’s sociopolitical fabric 203 F. Conclusion: Did the Catholic hierarchy incite an ethnic revolution? 228 IV. “A country where nothing ever changed now changes every day”: 239 Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1959-1962 A. From jacquerie to coup d’état : The November 1959 revolution and its political aftermath 244 B. Catholic reactions to the November 1959 Hutu uprisings 255 C. Political developments in Rwanda in 1960 269 D. Navigating treacherous waters: Catholic reactions to Rwandan politics in 1960 276 E. An epicenter radiating tensions: The Hutu-Tutsi division splits the church 299 F. From Gitarama to Independence: Rwandan politics in 1961 and 1962 310 G. Catholic reactions to Rwandan political developments, 1961-1962 314 H. “But it shall not be so among you”: The death of a bishop and the Nyakibanda crisis, 1961-1962 327 I. Conclusion: The limitations of Catholic politics between 1959 and 1962 341 iv V. Codas: 1964, 1973, 1994 and the Road not Taken 349 A. From church & state to church & world: Catholic ecclesiology in Rwanda in the wake of Vatican II 352 B. The UNAR invasions and Gikongoro massacres of 1963-1964 358 C. Church as ethnic cauldron: The 1973 Tutsi schools expulsions 373 D. From 1973 to 1994 389 E. Reimagining Catholic politics after Rwanda 396 Appendix I – Timeline 404 Appendix II – Abbreviations & Glossary 414 Bibliography 426 v Acknowledgments This thesis began in 2002 in the library of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Tasked with the responsibility of writing an undergraduate term paper on human rights and Christian theology, I located a number of texts on the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and decided to explore one of the great human rights tragedies of the 20th century. As I delved deeper, however, I realized the extent to which my own religious tradition, Catholicism, had shaped the entire 20th-century history of Rwanda. I grappled with seeming church complicity in the massacres of 1994, wondering how such a devout country could fall into the depths or human barbarity. This grappling only grew through studies with Emmanuel Katongole at Duke University, a pilgrimage to Rwanda in 2004, and my own theological reflections on the ecclesiological ramifications of the Rwanda genocide.1 But while I began my explorations of Rwanda as a student of Christian ethics and theology, I found myself drawn to Rwanda’s history in an effort to understand better how and why Rwanda’s pernicious Hutu-Tutsi mythos came to be. I am not sure I have wholly achieved this goal, but recognizing limits to one’s knowledge is itself an important step on the path to wisdom. There are many people who have aided me in this journey. First I thank my dissertation committee – Dr. Jacques Gres-Gayer, professor of modern church history in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America; Dr. Thomas Cohen, Associate Professor of History at CUA; and Dr. Paul Kollman, Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Gres-Gayer generously agreed to 1 Cf. J.J. Carney, “Waters of Baptism, Blood of Tribalism?” African Ecclesial Review 50, 1-2 (2008): 9-30. vi direct a project that lay outside of the traditional areas of study in Catholic University’s Church History department; Profs. Cohen and Kollman in turn provided detailed feedback on my research and writing over the course of three years. Even as my committee gave me ample freedom to develop my own research agenda, they modeled collegiality, refined my thinking, and strengthened my writing. I also thank CUA’s School of Theology and Religious Studies for awarding me a Hubbard Dissertation Fellowship in 2010, a scholarship that greatly facilitated my ability to finish this thesis. I am also grateful to the Diocese of Little Rock and St .Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Fayetteville, Arkansas, my current employer who has demonstrated remarkable flexibility with me as I’ve researched and written this thesis over the past two and a half years. I also thank all of the individuals who helped facilitate my research. I thank Dr. Judith Mayotte, then at Marquette University, for introducing me to Rwanda and the intersection of theology and human rights back in 2002. I am greatly indebted to Dr. Emmanuel Katongole, Associate Professor of World Christianity at Duke University Divinity School, for further developing my analytical thinking on Rwanda during my Masters’ studies at Duke between 2002 and 2005. I remain grateful to Dr. Katongole for giving me my first opportunity to visit Rwanda in 2004. In subsequent years he has remained a trusted mentor, friend, and model of an engaged scholar.