The Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry in African Pentecostalism

Home , Confessor of the Faith, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, Micheal Lubowa, Mirae caritatis, Nabumali High School, Naggalama Hospital

The Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry in African Pentecostalism:

A theological and pastoral challenge to the Catholic Church in Uganda.

Samuel Mugisa

(D-4046 UKSW)

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for degree of

Doctor in Theology

(specialization Missiology)

Supervisor:

Prof. UKSW Dr. Hab. Wojciech Kluj OMI

Auxiliary Supervisor

Dr. Mariusz Boguszewski

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw

2021

Figure 1.0: The Widows offering (Except from Lk 21:1-4)

Source: Excerpt from Luke 21:1-4 (NRSV), author’s design, Warsaw, 2021

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ix ABBREVIATIONS...... x INTRODUCTION...... 1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 8 METHODOLOGY ...... 9 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH ...... 9 STRUCTURE OF THE WORK ...... 10 MAIN ARGUMENT ...... 10 CHAPTER ONE...... 12 UGANDA’S GENERAL SOCIAL-ECONOMIC RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL SITUATION 1.1 Uganda’s present situation ...... 13 1.1.1 The Ugandan People ...... 14 1.1.2 Glaring poverty ...... 14 1.1.3 “Excessive love for wealth and money” ...... 17 1.1.4 Upsurge of “prosperity gospel ministers” ...... 19 1.1.5 The reality of sickness and quest for healing and wholeness ...... 20 1.1.6 The critical need for Theological training of Pastors ...... 22 1.1.7 The deep roots of the African Traditional Religion (ATR) ...... 26 1.1.8 Nominal Christianity and syncretism ...... 28 1.1.9 Mushrooming Religious Movements and Sects ...... 29 1.1.10 Uganda learning from the history of the Church ...... 31 1.1.11 A love for the rich vis-à-vis the option for the poor ...... 32 1.1.12 Political situation in Uganda ...... 35 1.2 Christian mission and Evangelization in Uganda ...... 37 1.2.1 Percentage distribution of Religions in Uganda ...... 39 1.2.2 Priesthood in Uganda and the formation of the hierarchy ...... 40 1.2.3 Christianity, literacy and education in Uganda ...... 44 1.2.4 Cardinal Lavigerie and the White Fathers in Uganda ...... 49 1.2.5 Ingenuity of the local converts ...... 52 1.2.6 Cooperation between missionaries, local chiefs and Catechists ...... 54 1.2.7 Translation of the Bible and other Christian literature in Uganda ...... 56 1.3 Competition and disillusion among religions in Uganda ...... 62 1.4 Conclusion ...... 64

CHAPTER TWO ...... 66 CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UGANDA AND THE CHALLENGE OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND SECTS 2.1 Some Considerations regarding New Religious Movements ...... 66 2.1.1 Struggle for survival and the belief that needs will be met ...... 67 2.1.2 Christian identity and witness of life today ...... 68 2.1.3 Quest for a mutual and dynamic approach in youth ministry ...... 70 2.1.4 New Evangelisation ...... 71 2.1.5 Communion and a sense of belonging ...... 72 2.1.6 Pastoral formation of leaders ...... 73 2.1.7 Liturgy and use of the Bible ...... 74 2.1.8 Cultural originality of Africa ...... 76 2.2 The African Independent Churches ...... 81 2.3 Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God ...... 88 2.4 The Bisaka sect – “the Faith of Unity” (FoU) ...... 93 2.5 Pentecostalism in Africa ...... 100 2.6 Pentecostalism in Uganda ...... 104 2.6.1 Origin and growth of Pentecostalism in Uganda ...... 104 2.6.2 The Balokole Revival Movement ...... 105 2.7 Characteristics and trajectories of African Pentecostalism ...... 109 2.7.1 Evangelisation and emphasis on the action of the Spirit ...... 109 2.7.2 Centrality of the Bible ...... 110 2.7.3 Celebrity status of Pentecostal preacher(s) ...... 111 2.7.4 Teaching centered on divine blessings and people’s needs here and now ...... 112 2.7.5 Utilization of Religious Broadcasting ...... 113 2.7.6 Autonomy of Women ...... 115 2.7.7 An eschatology that locates Christian hope here and now ...... 117 2.8 Conclusion ...... 118 CHAPTER THREE ...... 120 THE GOSPEL OF PROSPERITY 3.1 Pathways of the Gospel of Prosperity ...... 120 3.1.1 The Roots of the Gospel of Prosperity ...... 121 3.1.2 Lifestyle of Prosperity Gospel preachers ...... 127 3.1.3 Music as a tool to enhance the Prosperity Gospel ...... 128 3.1.4 Prosperity Wealth and Riches ...... 131

3.2 Pentecostals and the Prosperity Gospel ...... 137 3.2.1 How far liberating is the Prosperity Gospel ...... 144 3.2.2 Salvation is not a Theology of Prosperity ...... 147 3.3 The dim side of the Prosperity Gospel ...... 151 3.3.1 “Prophets for profit” ...... 152 3.3.2 The Abrahamic covenant is interpreted as a means to material entitlement ...... 154 3.3.3 The teaching that “Jesus’ atonement extends to the sin of material poverty” ...... 154 3.3.4 Faith is perceived as a self-generated spiritual force that leads to Prosperity ...... 156 3.3.5 Prayer is a tool to “force” God to grant Prosperity ...... 158 3.3.6 Prosperity Gospel thrives in a community with a faith in crisis ...... 159 3.3.7 Prosperity Gospel supports Neoliberalism ...... 160 3.4 Biblical implications of the Prosperity Gospel ...... 168 3.5 Conclusion ...... 172 CHAPTER FOUR ...... 174 THE HEALING MINISTRY 4.1 Healing as presented in the Old Testament ...... 176 4.2 Perspectives of healing in the New Testament ...... 178 4.2.1 Christ as a Healer ...... 178 4.2.2 Christ as a Liberator ...... 179 4.2.3 Christ as a Saviour ...... 180 4.2.4 Extension of Christ’s healing power on the disciples ...... 183 4.3 Health Care in the Ugandan Context ...... 186 4.3.1 Uganda’s Health Institutions since the Missionary impetus ...... 187 4.3.2 The Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB) ...... 189 4.4 Healing and the early Missionaries in Uganda ...... 190 4.4.1 Distribution of free medicine ...... 191 4.4.2 Devotion to Virgin Mary and “Religious articles of Healing” ...... 194 4.4.3 Facing straight the stereotypes and prejudices ...... 197 4.4.4 Building of Hospitals, Dispensaries and Nursing Schools...... 201 4.4.5 Religious as Qualified Medical Practitioners ...... 203 4.4.6 Tender Loving Care in Mission Stations ...... 206 4.5. The Present quest for Healing ...... 207 4.5.1 Healing Beliefs and Practices among Pentecostals ...... 210 4.5.2 Independent Churches New Religious Movements and Healing ...... 212

4.6 The Ministry of the Priest as a Healer ...... 214 4.6.1 Priest as healer in the sacrament of anointing and Penance ...... 214 4.6.2 Priest as healer through the Holy Eucharist ...... 215 4.6.3 Priest as counsellor and collaborator in the healing ministry ...... 219 4.6.4 Health Care as “Locus Theologicus” ...... 222 4.6.5 Evangelizers but not Exorcists: Towards finding a link ...... 224 4.6.6 The Christian meaning of human suffering and sickness ...... 226 4.7 Conclusion ...... 227 GENERAL CONCLUSION ...... 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 242 Appendix I: Sample of bottled water dabbed “Special miracle water” ...... 274 Appendix II: Hospitals/Health Centers in Fort Portal Catholic Diocese ...... 275 Appendix I1I: Prayer of deliverance and protection ...... 276 Appendix IV: Extra data received by the researcher ...... 277

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.0 The Widows offering: Except from Luke 21:1-4 iii

Figure 2.0 Percentage distribution of population by religion in Uganda 39

Figure 3.0 Trend in percentage in four main Christian religious affiliations in Uganda 40

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I give thanks to God, for the grace and strength in completing this work. To my parents Thomas and Symfroza Arubbe (R.I.P) whose Christian faith has always been my inspiration. My sincere gratitude to Rt. Rev. Dr. Robert K. Muhiirwa, Bishop of Fort Portal, for sending me for further studies and for his continuous support. I am grateful to ACN International (KIRCHE IN NOT) for granting me the scholarship for licentiate and doctoral studies at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland.

To my Supervisor Rev. Prof. UKSW Dr. Hab. Wojciech Kluj OMI, for his encouragement, tremendous patience and insightful guidance that has enabled this work take its proper shape. To Rev. Dr. Mariusz Boguszewski, my auxiliary Supervisor for his kind support. To the members of the Council of Theological Sciences of the UKSW in Warsaw for their expertise assistance and for endorsing the topic of my doctoral dissertation. To Rev. Prof. Peter Neema-Abooki, Rev. Fr. Dr. Francis Nnaku, Dr. Mary Muhenda (Mrs.), for their guidance during the early stages of this work and their constructive comments. To Sr. Gertrude Kabanyomozi, DST, for proofreading this work and for the helpful remarks. I appreciate the Fort Portal diocesan chancery, Fr. John Tumuhairwe in collaboration with Sr. Jacinta Kusemererwa, DST, Sr. Melania Birungi, DST, Fr. Innocent Guma and Fr. Samuel Musiimenta for availing me some literature. To Pfr. Stefan Maier, Deacon Berndt Rosenthal and the Parish community of Bad Wurzach. To the Passionist Community in Warsaw and the UKSW staff and alumni. To the clergy, religious and lay faithful of Fort portal diocese, for their prayers and support. To Hedi and Bruno Marzini, Maria and Andreas Knoebl, Elizabeth and Bruce, Ewa and Carsten Mengel, Beate and Thomas Haas, Xavier Kunz, Odilia Sproll, Franz Scheuble, Sibylle Hofmann, Anni Kuebler, Maria Schmidt, Beate Reutbuch, Franz and Helga Schmidt, Mathew and Justine Okello. To my family, brothers and sisters and all friends who have been supportive during the course of my studies.

Thank you and may God bless you.

ABBREVIATIONS

AAS Acta Apostolicae Sedis AFER African Ecclesial Review AG Ad Gentes divinitus: The Decree on the Church’s Missionary activity. AIC African Initiated Church AM Africae Munus: Church in Africa in service to reconciliation, Justice & Peace. AMECEA Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa AT Africae Terrarum: The Land of Africa (Apostolic letter to the Bishops of Africa) ATR African Traditional Religion C.M. S Church Mission Society (Church Missionary Society) Can/Cann Canon(s) CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church CCR Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement CIC Code of Canon Law Cf. Confer, refer to, see the work cited CL Christifideles Laici: The Vocation & Mission of the Lay faithful. Ed(s) Editor(s), edited by EDI Economic Development Institute EG Evangelii Gaudium: On the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world. EIA Ecclesia in Africa: On the Church in Africa & its Evangelizing Mission. EN Evangelii Nuntiandi: On Evangelisation Et al. Et alli, et aliae, et alia, and others. FoU Faith of Unity FT Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship GE Gaudete et Exsultate: On the call to Holiness in Today’s World. HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome LG Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. MAC Meeting for African Collaboration MI Maximum Illud: On the Propagation of the Faith throughout the World. MM Mater et Magistra: On Christianity and Social Progress MRTCG Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God MSOLA Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (White Sisters) NGO Non-Governmental Organization op. cit. opera citato, in the work cited. OT Optatam Totius: The Decree on the Training of Priests. PO Presbyterorum Ordinis: The Decree on the life and Ministry of Priests. RCCG Redeemed Christian Church of God. RH Redemptor Hominis: ‘The Redeemer of Man,’ 1st Encyclical of John Paul II RM Redemptoris Missio: The Mission of the Redeemer. SCC Small Christian Community SRS Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: Social Concern (progress and development) trans. translation UCMB Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau UEC Uganda Episcopal Conference UFIC United Family International Church UJCC Uganda Joint Christian Council UNDP United Nations Development Programme UOMB Uganda Orthodox Medical Bureau UPMB Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau UR Unitatis Redintegratio: The Decree on Ecumenism W.F. White Father

INTRODUCTION

The rise of the prosperity teaching stressing wealth, health and happiness, continues to flourish in Africa. In Uganda, the situation has not been different. The Gospel is at borders with quest for healing and fighting poverty. The central focus of this study is to investigate how the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry as experienced and proliferated in African Pentecostalism poses a theological and pastoral challenge to the Catholic Church in Uganda with regard to its holistic mission, especially its response to the scourge of poverty, exorcism and healing. Because of the deep social and economic predicaments facing Ugandans, some “Pastors” have taken advantage, preaching appealing messages to vulnerable followers, claiming they can bring wealth to the poor, cure the terminally ill, give children to the barren, provide jobs to the jobless and partners to those seeking marriage.

The prosperity teaching maintain that, God has met all the needs of human beings in the sufferings and death of Christ, and every Christian should now share the victory of Christ over sin, sickness and poverty. Poverty is thus attributed to the devil from which Christians should strive to be healed. The promise of untold riches, finds a willing audience among people experiencing poverty. Opulence and success is construed as a sign of God’s blessing on those who lead a “true” life in Christ.1 The non-materialization of wealth and prosperity is often blamed back to the people.2 Followers are told to “sow seeds”3 proportionate with their prayer requests and those who fail to comply are shunned. The rise of this “give and be blessed” prosperity ideology that promises material wealth, health and happiness to faithful Christians, and the Christian ministerial practices emphasizing wealth and prosperity, eventually raises questions about the aptness of using Church ministry as an instrument for economic survival.

1 M. O. Ajibade, “The role of Pentecostalism in sustainable development in Nigeria,” in P. Öhlmann, W. Gräb, and M. Frost, (eds.), African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development (New York: Routledge, 2020), p. 153. 2 M. Frahm-Arp, “Pentecostalism, Politics, and Prosperity in South Africa,”Religions, 9 (2018), no. 298, p. 3. According to Kenneth Hagin, poverty is the result of sin against God, not tithing regularly or giving adequately, and the failure of individuals to understand and apply the divine laws that would allow them to claim their wealth in God’s name. 3 “Sowing seed” implies giving certain amount of money to their Pastors.

Christ gave the mandate to preach the Gospel and heal the sick (cf. Mk 16:5; Mt 10:1). If the Gospel of Christ is Good News to enliven Africa and the world at large, then it must be for all people, the poor and rich alike. The Bishops of AMECEA,4 have noted that: “No matter where the Church turns her head in Africa, she is confronted with Christ hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned and generally alienated for lack of education opportunities, public services, oppressed and neglected and suffering from civil wars and coups. This Christ needs to be helped to overcome these miserable situations.”5

The Gospel (as Good News) includes the forgiveness of sins: This encompassed Jesus’ ministry and was repeatedly witnessed in early Christian proclamation (cf. Lk 24:47; Acts 3:19; Acts 5:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38-39). Paul affirms that Christ enables the forgiveness of sins. This heralds the day of the Lord’s favor as all sins and debts are cancelled (cf. Mt 18:23-27). This forgiveness of sins is linked with the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:38; Jn 20:22-23).

The Gospel includes deliverance from the devil and his demons: in realizing the eschatological reign of God. Jesus not only exorcised demons,6 but also declared that “if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Lk 11:20).7 The Gospel includes the healing of the sick: The Spirit who empowered Jesus to heal also empowered the early Christians to minister healing to the sick ( cf. Acts 5:16; 8:6-7; 9:32-35; 14:8- 10; 28:8-9) hence the Gospel healing accounts can be understood as processes of social transformation, breaking social prohibitions. The needy are able to appreciate the divine community, the new people of God.

The Gospel is directed towards the needs of the poor, the freeing of captives, and the liberation of the oppressed, precisely through calling into reality a new community and social order where there is neither rich nor poor, slave nor free, oppressed nor oppressor (Gal 3:28; Col. 3:11).

4 Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is an association of episcopal conferences of Eastern Africa and the coordinating body of the Catholic dioceses, established in 1961. Members of the AMECEA include the episcopal conferences of: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti. 5 Cf. AMECEA Plenary conference, 1973; see also L. Magesa, “Return to the World, Towards a Theocentric Existentialism in Africa,” AFER, 16 (1974) no. 3, p. 278. 6 Cf. H. Graham Twelfttree, Jesus the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the Historical Jesus, (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993). 7 E. J. Woods, The “Finger of God” and Pneumatology in Luke-Acts, (Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). The preference for “the finger of God” rather than the “Holy Spirit” signifies reference to God the Father as actor against Beelzebub.

These are essential features of the new community of God brought about by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

The Gospel has an eschatological dimension that is both realized and future: The Church continues to anticipate the return of Jesus (Acts 1:11; Acts 3:21). These dimensions – the forgiveness of sins, the deliverance from evil powers, the healing of the body, the liberation of the poor and oppressed, the establishment of the new people of God, and the eschatological salvation of God – identify constitutive elements for a Pentecostal understanding of salvation informed throughout by pneumatology.8

However, the continual attempt to manipulate the Biblical doctrine of Christ by Prosperity Gospel preachers has the potential to cause ineffectiveness and inefficiency. Prosperity Gospel involves the belief that God wants believers to get rich. For the common believer, the promise of financial prosperity through a direct relationship with the Divine is a major pull factor, while membership of a Church is seen as opening access to social and business networks within the Church community. Adherents to the Prosperity Gospel believe that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and the poor are poor because of lack of faith (Sic! SM).

Similarly, African Independent Churches display almost infinite variety. For instance, the Nazareth Baptist Church and the Kimbanguists share many similar features. In the former, men are required not to use a razor on their faces, while in the latter beards are forbidden. What makes the exercise of studying these churches more complex is that most African Independent Churches use the Bible to justify respective beliefs and practices. In other words, the same texts are used in different ways by different groups in different settings.9

Furthermore, in an era of the globalization of modern capitalism, there has been an increase in understandings of economics and in particular monetary gain.10 The new mass-mediated form of Pentecostalism does not remain within the boundaries of the particular Churches that produce it and their communities. Charismatic Pentecostalism’s extensive media production and powerful

8 A. Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2005), p. 91. 9 C. Partridge, (ed.) New Religions: A Guide New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 47. 10 S. E. Bremner, Transforming Futures? Being Pentecostal in Kampala, Uganda, PhD dissertation, (Norwich: University of East Anglia, 2013), p. 128.

3 audiovisual presence in the public sphere have produced and circulated typical formats for public representation of religion that influence the styles of public performance and media representation adopted by other religious groups.11

As some scholars have observed, there is a growth in using the “occult” to deal with problems,12 including “magical” and “get-rich-quick” thinking about money and wealth in sub- Saharan Africa.13 Money seems to become ever more separated from the means of production,14 Comaroff and Comaroff have noted that, the “inscrutable speculations” of this neoliberal economy thus “call up fresh spectres in their wake”15 they suggest that in the clamour of the marginalized seeking divine assistance to navigate their way through a confusing capitalism, people turn to “fee- for-service” religions that peddle “locally nuanced fantasies of abundance without effort”16

Uganda has been witnessing a wave of new religious movements and some Evangelical and Neo-Pentecostal Churches, sometimes springing spontaneously. “Born-again” Churches in Uganda has grown exponentially in the last decade. The country is estimated to have 40,000 “born- again” Churches across the country.17 “They offer an attractive faith and a great simplification of the Christian message. They emphasize healings, and they mix their rituals with those of the traditional religions.”18 “A relentless message of assurance is delivered with eloquence and flair by enormously gifted and articulate preachers, often supported by superb soloists and choirs: to be told that you matter, that you belong at the top, that you will have what you desire, must provide incentives in circumstances in which it is all too easy to give up. Whatever the tensions and inconsistencies, these Churches are clearly developing a winning formula.”19

11 M. de Witte, “Pentecostal Forms across Religious Divides: Media, Publicity, and the Limits of an Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism,” Religions, 9 (2018) no. 7. 12 Cf. P. Geschiere, Modernity and Witchcraft: Politics and Occult in Postcolonial Africa, (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1997); quoted by Bremner, Transforming Futures? p. 128. 13 Cf. Comaroff and Comaroff, 2000, “Millennial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second Coming” Public Culture, 12 (1 May 2000) no. 2, p. 291-343. Quoted by Bremner, Transforming Futures? p. 128. 14 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Millennial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second Coming” Public Culture, 12 (1 May 2000) no. 2, p. 291-343. 15 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Millennial Capitalism,” op. cit. p. 292. 16 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Millennial Capitalism,” op. cit. p. 292, see also: S. E. Bremner, Transforming Futures? op. cit. p. 128. 17 E. Ojulu, “Born-again pastors under scrutiny,” New African Magazine, (23 March 2019), https://newafricanmagazine.com/20201, (accessed 22.03.2021). 18 F. Lombardi, “Interview of the Holy Father Benedict XVI with the Journalists during the flight to Benin,”, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2011/november/documents/hf_ben- xvi_spe_20111118_incontro-giornalisti.pdf (accessed 16.04.2021). 19 P. Gifford, “The prosperity gospel in Africa: Expecting miracles,” Christian Century, (10 July 2007), p. 24.

Consequently, as Pope Francis has put it, “the Catholic faith of many peoples is nowadays being challenged by the proliferation of new religious movements, some of which tend to fundamentalism while others seem to propose a spirituality without God. This is, on the one hand, a human reaction to a materialistic, consumerist and individualistic society, but it is also a means of exploiting the weaknesses of people living in poverty and on the fringes of society, people who make ends meet amid great human suffering and are looking for immediate solutions to their needs” (EG 63).

There is also a wild proliferation of “indigenous Christian Cults” inspired by personal prophecies and visions. Their recruiting techniques and intensive indoctrination, although endearing converts from mainline Churches,20 are potential dangers to followers. In many instances, “recruits” are taught to surrender their material possessions in exchange for salvation.21 Leaders of these groups rule with unquestioned authority.22 Actions of manipulation of people’s piety by deceit or use of electric gargets,23 “Miracle drink,”24 “holy rice,” “holy oil” on one hand is a reaction to a materialist, consumerist and individualistic society, but also it is a weakness of people living in poverty and on fringes of society looking for immediate solutions to their needs.

Christians who hardly consider their faith seriously seem to have a view that Christianity has hardly provided enough solutions to their messy life, economic hurdles, social perplexities or religious aridity; this may cause the rush to other movements or sects or even to traditional diviners. Although this requires a different inquiry from this particular study, there is dichotomy between faith and tradition life: “in the morning at the Church, in the evening at the witchdoctor’s.” Uganda’s situation is similar to what Ngalula calls “the high level of uncertainty characterizing many African societies today – thus – there is a great flux in Church-belonging among many African Christians. They very easily move from one Church to another, following a process of

20 By Mainline Churches, the author implies, Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox. 21 Those who joined the “Movement for Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God” (MRTCG), of J. Kibwetere in Kanungu by December 1999, were told to sell all their property and give the money to their leaders. Cf. H.E. Cauvin, “Fateful Meeting Led to Founding of Cult in Uganda,” The New York Times, (27 March 2000), National edition), Sec. A, p. 3. See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/27/world/fateful-meeting-led-to- founding-of-cult-in-uganda.html (accessed 16.04.2021). 22 Cf. Bisaka of the “Faith of Unity” (FoU) in Kapyemi, western Uganda. 23 Cf. Pastor Obiri Konjo Yeboah Saga in Uganda, (Oct. 2007). See also: M. de Witte “The Electric Touch Machine Miracle Scam: Body, Technology, and the (Dis)authentication of the Pentecostal Supernatural,” in J. Stolow (ed.) Deus in Machina: Religion, Technology, and the Things in Between, (New York: Fordham University Press, 2012), p. 61-82. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt13x095h.8 (accessed 16.04.2021). 24 Cf. Ojulu, “Born-again pastors under scrutiny,” op. cit.

5 offer and demand and encouraged by mass media propaganda as tactics for evangelisation. And so, if people do not find a solution in one Church, they do not hesitate to try other Churches until they find the satisfaction they had hoped for.25

Nonetheless, Bosch has pointed out that, true conversion is not joining a community to secure “eternal salvation” but rather true Christian conversion is: “a change in allegiance in which Christ is accepted as the Lord and center of one’s life. A Christian is not simply somebody who stands better chance of being ‘saved,’ but a person who accepts the responsibility to serve God in this life and promotes God’s reign in all its forms. Conversion involves personal cleansing, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal in order to become a participant in the mighty works of God.”26 The Greek word metanoia which means “conversion” or “change of heart” or “change of way of life” is often used. Conversion thus is a complete turn-around and not just a change of one’s religious identity. Since conversion is through the grace of God which moves one to conversion and inner personal experience, it is often difficult to know who is truly converted and who is not.

Despite its marked globalism and explicit distancing from African traditional religion, Charismatic Pentecostalism resonates with much of indigenous religious tradition. This is crucial to understanding its tremendous appeal. Four shared features stand out with regard to Pentecostalism and African traditional religions as Marleen De Witte has observed: first, a religious imaginary that recognizes the direct presence and influence of spirit beings in people’s daily lifeworld; second, a practical, this-worldly (rather than other-worldly) focus that is directed at spiritual problem-solving and physical, material, and social wellbeing; third, an emphasis on the role and power of divinely elected religious specialists as intermediaries between human beings and spirit powers (despite the Pentecostal rejection of such mediation), and by extension, a competition for clients between such religious specialists; and fourth, a bodily regime that values expressive, emotional modes of worship and constitutes the body as the prime medium of interaction with the spirit world.27

25 J. Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” International Review of Mission, 106 (2017) no.1, p. 239. 26 D. J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, (New York, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998), p. 488. 27 M. De Witte, “Pentecostal Forms across Religious Divides: Media, Publicity, and the Limits of an Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism,” Religions, 9 (2018) no.7, p. 217.

In spite of the increase in the population of Catholics in Uganda, there are at the same time some signs of falling percentages. This can be a point of ponder for the Catholic Church in Uganda. Looking at the demographic figures, the population of the Catholics has been growing steadily but the percentage has been dropping, from 44.5% in 1991 and 42% in 2002 to 39.3% in 2014.28 Just like Catholics, Anglicans too, are registering falling percentages in Uganda, from 39% in 1991 and 35% in 2002 to 32.0% in 2014.

The percentage of Pentecostals in Uganda on the other hand has increased. In the 1991 census, Pentecostals had no category, probably because they were either considered to be insignificant or counted as Anglicans, but in the 2002 census, they counted 4.6% and in 2014, they made up 11.1% of the total population of Uganda.29 “Even though demographic figures are not the standard measure of true conversion, they are at the same time an important sign of the times that should be read intently.”30

Within the Catholic Church, healing ministry also goes hand in hand with the need for exorcism. This poses another challenge because not all ministers in the Catholic Church are exorcists in the strict sense (cf. Can. 1172). Healing also brings another challenge as it is mixed with traditional African religion. “What the Catholic theologian denounces as unchristian magical belief, some African regards as genuinely religious, being convinced that the power of her medicine goes back to the same God who works through Christian blessings and sacraments.”31

The Prosperity Gospel and Healing Ministry in Uganda also flourishes in the framework of the following:32 1) The Global Pandemic (COVID-19 pandemic),33 which has affected

28 Cf. 2014 National Population and Housing Census, https://ugandajournalistsresourcecentre.com/uganda-national- housing-population-census-2014/ (accessed 20.03.2021). 29 Cf. 2014 National Population and Housing Census, https://ugandajournalistsresourcecentre.com/uganda-national- housing-population-census-2014/ (accessed 20.03.2021). 30 G. M. Nnamunga, “The Theological Anthropology Underlying Libermann’s Understanding of the “Evangelization of the Blacks” in Dialogue with the Theological Anthropologies of the East African Context: Implications for the Contemporary East African Catholic Church,” PhD Dissertation, Pittsburgh: Duquesne University, 2013), p. 311. Majella has noted that 83% of the Rwanda’s population is Christian (Catholics 56.9% and Protestant 26%), yet the country experienced one of the worse genocide in the world in 1994. 31 J. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2009), p. 416. 32 Cf. Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC) 50 General Conference, Guide Document, (29 Nov. 2020), p. 1-20. 33 This can be related to the 1918 worldwide influenza which heightened the growth of African Indigenous Churches with emphasis on faith healing and Spirit empowerment. The flu pandemic of 1918-19 was identified as HINI strain. It came suddenly and had a devastating impact on African communities with poor sanitary conditions, low level of nutrition intake, endemic malaria affliction and in some cases, widespread famine. Cf. C. Aigbadumah, “Healing

7 healthcare, economy, food security, education, recreation, socialization and livelihoods; 2) Climate Emergency, which in many cases is not considered a common challenge and yet it can lead to weather extremes, drought, deforestation and food scarcity; 3) Digitalization, which despite its good side has fostered media manipulation, fake news, over reliance and social disconnect.

4) Urbanization, with the increasing wide gap between the rich and the poor, joblessness, development of slums, child labour, high cost of living, impersonal relationships, spreading of diseases; 5) Youth, who have a deep thirst for social and religious transformation, a genuine desire to develop their talents in order to offer something to the world; a deep desire to live differently; but where education, employment and societal safeguards are lacking, the youth may fall prey to many social evils; 6) Gender issues, women are mothers of the nation; they have taken on responsibilities traditionally given to men. In most cases, when they face difficulties, they look for spiritual and economic solutions.

Pope Francis reminds that “the legitimate rights of women be respected, based on the firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with profound and challenging questions on the social, political, economic and religious level which cannot be lightly evaded”(EG 104); 7) Human Dignity, the respect for life and the human person is of great importance, however, due to human greed, selfishness and sometimes exploitive economic structures, the human person can be quite easily reduced to merely an object or even a commodity. This therefore calls for justice, reconciliation, mercy and respect for human persons.34

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study probes the following questions: 1) why does Prosperity Gospel appeal massively in Africa and in Uganda today? 2) Is Prosperity Gospel consistent with the Gospel of Christ? 3) Does the quest for healing and search for wealth has any relation to people switching from mainline to Neo-Pentecostal movements? 4) How has the Catholic Church contributed to healing, exorcism and the economic empowerment of Christians?

and the emergence of African Indigenous Churches in Nigeria,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology, 18 (2013) no.3, p. 27-28. 34 Federation of Asian Bishops Conference 50 General Conference, (29 Nov. 2020), p. 10.

METHODOLOGY

A descriptive research resign will be used to help provide answers to the questions of the phenomenon. A descriptive design is a scientific method that involves observing and describing the behaviour of a phenomenon. Descriptive research answers descriptive research questions such as: “what is happening? How is something happening? Why is something happening?35

The author will use qualitative content analysis to examine those aspects relevant to this research. Qualitative content analysis is a systematic method of data interpretation that emerged from quantitative methods to deal with the large amount of information gathered in qualitative research. It describes the meaning of qualitative material by classifying the material into categories of a coding frame. This method is appropriate for material that requires some degree of interpretation; this can be verbal or visual, or it can be sampled from other sources. Qualitative content analysis requires that a researcher focuses analysis on selected aspects of the material as indicated by the research questions.36

The work will employ Library Research on previous works of Prosperity Gospel and Healing Ministry. These will range from the Bible to encyclopedias, books, journals, magazines and newspapers, some research articles concerning Uganda, pastoral reports, Bishops letters as well as various official documents of the Church and some internet sources as it will be acknowledged in the bibliography.

OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The objective of the research are: 1) To raise awareness of the phenomenon of Prosperity Gospel and Healing Ministry which arise from the proliferation of religious movements in Uganda with stress on the workings of the Holy Spirit. 2) To re-count that the proliferation of the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry is a moment for the Catholic Church in Uganda to reevaluate its holistic mission in reaching out to the poor and sick.

35 Cf. Education Commission of the States, ECS Report to The Nation, 2004, p. 16, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511682.pdf (accessed 26.04.2021). 36 M. Schreier, Qualitative content analysis in practice, (London: Sage publications, 2012).

STRUCTURE OF THE WORK

This work will be divided in four main Chapters, with an Introduction and a Conclusion: Chapter One will present Uganda’s general Social-Economic, Religious and Political situation; Chapter Two will discuss the phenomenon of the New Religious Movements and Sects in Uganda, Chapter Three will investigate the Gospel of Prosperity and Chapter Four will analyze the Healing Ministry.

MAIN ARGUMENT

The Gospel of prosperity and healing ministry is undoubtedly becoming popular in Uganda and is certainly responsible for the numerical growth and enthusiasm of the new religious groups that promote it. It is also one among the factors that Catholics are switching to these new Christian movements. However, I argue that the practice of the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry as witnessed in current Ugandan milieu is coupled with unsuitability especially to the relegated poor folk. Whereas it expresses some aspects of entrepreneurship and the work principle or work ethic, which seem to consider and support the poor, it is silent when it comes to addressing the overriding unjust social structures that consign people into a spiral of poverty. Too much preoccupation with sermons on witchcraft and the devil as to blame for people’s problems and poverty, obscures the real cause of poverty. Furthermore, the emphasis on miracles as a remedy for poverty appears to take a lead on which the doctrine of prosperity and healing centers. Besides, there are perceptions that the Gospel of prosperity and healing ministry is entrenched with deceit among its preachers and pastors as a means of building their own comfort zones at the expense of the poor whose complaints are increasingly surfacing in Uganda. Generally, with the current modus operandi of the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry, there is no significant socio- economic transformation of the Christians who embrace it. On the contrary, there is widespread of diseases, corruption and many churches still struggling in abject poverty. If the Gospel of prosperity and healing were really prospering the people as it is often asserted, how come such social ills continue to flourish in Uganda? The mushrooming churches which propagate the gospel of prosperity and healing, although this does not in effect alleviate poverty, non-the-less pose a challenge to the Catholic Church with regard to its response to poverty and evil possession. Uganda needs to prosper with integrity. It needs a message of hope guaranteed in the word of God and

10 embedded in the Ubuntu. What Uganda does not need is exploitation and manipulation in the name of God. The Gospel of Christ who is the fullness of truth ought to help Christian evangelizers overcome any semblance with the “bad shepherd of Israel” (Ezek 34:2) where fostering true love and fraternity among the members of the body of Christ is possible amidst tough social, political and economic situations.

CHAPTER ONE

UGANDA’S GENERAL SOCIAL-ECONOMIC RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL SITUATION

The Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry is undoubtedly becoming popular in Uganda and is certainly responsible for the numerical growth and enthusiasm of the new religious groups that promote it. It is also one among the factors that Catholics are switching to these new Christian movements. However, the practice of the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry as witnessed in current Ugandan milieu is coupled with unsuitability especially to the relegated poor folk. Whereas it expresses some aspects of entrepreneurship and the work ethic, which seem to consider and support the poor, it is silent when it comes to addressing the overriding unjust social structures that consign people into a spiral of poverty. Too much preoccupation with sermons on witchcraft and the devil as to blame for people’s problems and poverty, obscures the real cause of poverty.

Furthermore, the emphasis on miracles as a remedy for poverty appears to take a lead on which the doctrine of prosperity and healing centers. Besides, there are perceptions that the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry is entrenched with deceit among its preachers and pastors as a means of building their own comfort zones at the expense of the poor whose complaints are increasingly surfacing in Uganda. Generally, with the current modus operandi of the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry, there is no significant socio-economic transformation of the Christians who embrace it. On the contrary, there is widespread of diseases, corruption and many churches still struggling in abject poverty.

If the Gospel of Prosperity and healing were really prospering the people as it is often asserted, how come such social ills continue to flourish in Uganda? The mushrooming churches which propagate the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing, although this does not in effect alleviate poverty, non-the-less pose a challenge to the Catholic Church with regard to its response to poverty and evil possession.

Before we can delve in this discussion, it is important to situation the site for our study, the people involved as well as the synopsis of our discussion.

1.1 Uganda’s present situation

Uganda is a land locked country in East Africa astride the Equator located between 1° 30 S and 4° N. It has a surface area of 236,040 km2 of which 36,330 km2 is water and 199,710 are land.37 As Karugire has observed, such a geographical entity did not exist until the early 1900s when the British through conquests, signing of treaties and agreements created it.38 It is, therefore, eminently a creation of the British during their colonial activities between 1890 and 1926.39

Uganda’s final borders were definitely drawn on 1st February 1926, the date from which the Constitution of Uganda begins to enumerate the indigenous communities that are authentically considered Ugandan.40 Economically, Uganda depends on agriculture and the greater part of the population is peasantry, growing crops as coffee, cotton, cocoa, tea and tobacco. Other crops like beans groundnuts, millet, maize, soya, banana, casava, wheat and rice are also grown.41

Uganda has as its Motto: “For God and My Country.” This Motto acts as a norm of good conduct to every citizen; and for the leaders, to take up responsibility in the country means to stand by this Motto. However, since 1962 when Uganda got its indipendence, it has continued to face some political challenges.42 Churches in Uganda have operated against the historical background of a weakened state.’43

37 Cf. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, (Entebbe: Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation, 1995), Second Schedule article 5, p. 174-189; B. Balletto, Spectrum Guide to Uganda, (Nairobi: Camerapix publishers International, 1998), p. 21. 38 Cf. S. R. Karugire, The Political History of Uganda, (Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980), p. 17-99; R. O’Neil, Mission to Upper Nile: The Story of St. Joseph’s Missionary Society of Mill Hill in Uganda, (Binghamtom: Mission Book Service, 1999), p. 5. 39 J. M. Waliggo, A Brief Overview of Society and Church in Uganda Democratisation and Reconciliation process and Development, Paper presented at Lubaga Social Centre, (21 Nov 1994), p.2. Quoted by B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, (Kampala: Angel Agencies Ltd., 2013), p. 43. 40 Cf. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, Third Schedule, article 10, (Entebbe: Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation, 1995), p. 189. 41 Cf. B. Linda, “Uganda Economy”, in Regional Surveys of the World: Africa South of the Sahara 1998, (London: Europa Publications, 1997), p. 1084-1085. 42 Cf. V. Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in politics in Africa and in Uganda in particular,” in: B. Ssettuuma Jr. (ed.), The Waliggo Journal of holistic theological reflection, (Kampala: Angel Agencies, 2009), p. 125. 43 P. Gifford, African Christianity: Its Public Role in Uganda and other African Countries, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 1991), Ch. 1.

1.1.1 The Ugandan People

By 1995, Uganda had a population of approximately 33 million people. These people fall into 56 ethnic groups with about 56 indigenous languages.44 In 2014, the National population council estimated the total population of Uganda at 40.8m people, with 55% below 18 years.45 Uganda’s 2020 population is estimated at 45 million people at mid-year according to the United Nations (UN) data,46 which is equivalent to 0.59% of the total world population and ranks number 31 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population.47 Uganda is a country with a great variety of peoples and cultures.48 It is a nation where the people’s faces are warm, and kind and their welcome is genuine.49 The hospitable nature of the Ugandan People shines.50 Among the four major classifications, the Bantu, the largest group makes up 65.7% of the population. These are found in the South and West and some parts of Eastern Uganda. The Nilotic, the second largest group makes up about 13% of the population and is found in the central section of Northern Uganda. The Nilo-Hamites, the 3rd largest group, is found in North East, which constitutes 12.7% of the population. The Sudanic peoples constitute about 6% of the population and are found in North-West of the country.51 1.1.2 Glaring poverty

Uganda, a country situated in Africa, a continent endowed with natural resources, minerals, fertile soils, vegetation, animals, birds and abundant energy, and the people and their spirituality, continue to face poverty. The Catholic Bishops of Uganda, report about the situation as follows: “There is still poverty galore in our Country. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening as a result of inequitable resource distribution. Even the forecast expectations of the Millennium Development Goals are far from being fully realized…we challenge ourselves to join and

44 Cf. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, Third Schedule (article 10a), p. 189-191. 45 Cf. National Population Council, Ministry of Finance Planning & Economic Development, https://npcsec.go.ug/key-facts-on-ugandas-population/ (accessed 16.12.2020) 46 Cf. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/uganda-population/ (accessed16.12.2020); see also: The State of Uganda Population Report (SUPRE) 2020 made by the national Population Council in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 47 The State of Uganda Population Report (SUPRE) 2020, op. cit. 48 Cf. J.M. Mittelman, Ideology and Politics in Uganda, (London: Cornell University Press, 1975), p. 54. 49 Cf. “The Uganda declaration”-in the Rwenzori Jubilee Network Convocation, held from:17-31 Aug 2014, (available in private archives of the author). 50 Greeting is part and parcel of everyday life which extends to the young, adult, fellow citizen or stranger alike. 51 B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of age in priesthood, a centenary of indigenous Catholic Priests in Uganda, (Kampala: Angel Agencies, 2013), p. 67.

14 supplement such efforts aimed at transforming people’s lives in order to liberate them from the scourge of poverty.”52

According to the 2011 World Human Development Index Report by the United Nations Development Program (2011), Uganda ranks 161st out of 186 countries, meaning Uganda is among the world’s poorest countries with half of the country living below the poverty line. As such, people’s incomes, literacy levels, health services, and other social services are very low, affecting the standard of living and the quality of life for many. As observed by Fred Jenga, the gospel of prosperity preached in many Ugandan Churches and on Uganda’s airwaves “is a message that is being addressed to an audience in search of social economic advancement. A message that promises quick improvement through prayer, fasting, and tithing comes off as manipulative of a desperate audience.”53

Jesse Ndwiga Mugambi, laments the irony that Africa which contains all the climates and vegetations of the world should also have the greatest food deficit in the world.54 Coupled with this is the high degree of dependence on foreign assistance in the case of mission-connected churches.55 In order to solve the problem of an unhealthy dependence and to promote the self- support of African churches, Prof. D Crafford of the University of Pretoria, observes that, the “moratorium” debate has continued since 1974 Assembly at Lusaka.

The Assembly decided: “to enable the African Church to achieve the power of becoming a true instrument of liberating and reconciling the African people, as well as finding solutions to economic and social dependency, our option as a matter of policy has to be a moratorium on external assistance in money and personnel. We recommend this option as the only potent means of becoming truly and authentically ourselves while remaining a respected and responsible part of the Universal Church.”56

52 Cf. The Catholic Bishops of Uganda, Fifty years of Independence: Celebrating our heritage, Pastoral letter (9 Oct 2012), (Kampala: UEC, Uganda Catholic Secretariat, 2012), p. 20. 53 F. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” Journal of Communication and Religion, Journal of Communication and Religion, 40 (2017) no. 4, p. 67-68. 54 Cf. J. N. Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War, (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1995), p. 86. 55 Cf. D. Crafford, “African Christianity: a miracle or tragedy?”, Africa Insight, 12 (1982) no. 3, p. 155. 56 Ibid., p. 155; A. Hastings, African Christianity, (New York: The Seabury Press, 1976), p. 22.

Since 1974, very little has changed in the unhealthy dependence of African churches on foreign money and personnel. With this background, some Christians who hardly consider their faith seriously seem to have a view that Christianity has hardly provided enough solutions to their messy life, economic hurdles, social perplexities or religious aridity. The proliferation of the Prosperity Gospel is occurring in the context of austere poverty, which Jean-Marc Ela has described as the “shock of the gospel” in Africa.57

Actions of manipulation of people’s piety by deceit or use of electric gargets58; the exorbitant sale of “miracle drink”59, “holy rice”, “holy oil”, among others, as items of healing, on one hand by some movement leaders seem to be a reaction to a materialist, consumerist and individualistic society, but also it seems to deduce to the feebleness of people living in poverty and on fringes of society looking for immediate solutions to their needs. Peoples’ concern seems to centre on how to survive in a hostile economic situation impaired by chronic poverty, unemployment, street children, prostitution, crime, HIV/AIDS and other sicknesses by which people are no longer their brother’s/sister’s keeper.60

A church that claims to be one in the Lord but is not one with those with whom the Lord has united himself, is a contradiction in terms.61 Therefore, the Church is supposed to be where the poor are and totally identify with them as does the Lord Jesus Christ (Mk 1:18, 20, 38-39; 2 Cor 8:9; Gal 3:28). The Catholic Church, one of Africa’s oldest mainstream churches, has been instrumental in combating the challenge of poverty. In the Catholic Social Teaching, the Church has demonstrated that Evangelisation involves the promotion of integral development, championing the promotion of social justice, peace, reconciliation, and integral development.62

57 J. Ela, My Faith As An African (Oregon: WIPF and STOCK, 1988), p. xvi-xvii. 58 Cf. Pr. Obiri Konjo Yeboah saga, (New Vision, Uganda, July 2007). See also: M. De Witte “The Electric Touch Machine Miracle Scam: Body, Technology, and the (Dis)authentication of the Pentecostal,” op. cit., (2012), p. 61- 82. 59 E. Ojulu, “Born-again pastors under scrutiny,” New African, (23 March 2019), https://newafricanmagazine.com/20201, (accessed on 08.04.2021). See also: Appendix 1. 60 Cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, (Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2003), p. 18. 61 Cf. A. Wilson and R. Letsosa, “Biblical Principles towards a pastoral strategy for poverty alleviation amongst the Youth in Uganda,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 7 (2014) no. 2, p. 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i2.1328. 62 Cf. Pontifical Council of Justice and peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. This is in line with the principles of Catholic social thought as: dignity of the human person, principle of participation, principle of the common good, the universal destination of goods, preferential option for the poor, the principle of subsidiarity, the principle of solidarity among others; cf. Ch. M.A. Clark, “The Contribution of Catholic social thought to

As John Paul II observes in Redemptoris Missio, a people’s development does not derive primarily from money, material assistance or technological means, but from the formation of consciences and the gradual maturing of ways of thinking and patterns of behaviours. Other forms notwithstanding,63 the Church promotes development through forming consciences. The Church’s mission consists essentially in offering people the opportunity not to “have more” but to “be more.” By awakening their consciences through the Gospel (cf. RM nos. 58-59).

Development cannot be seen to be an end in itself. “Authentic human development must be rooted in an ever deeper evangelization”.64 Programmes for human promotion should never lead the Church to lose sight of the priority of the transcendent and spiritual realities which are premises of eschatological salvation (RM no. 20). If the Church works for human development, then it should be with the aim of leading the person to God, making the person more human, making his/her situation better or to increase his or her dignity. The Church calls for an examination of the social reality; it opines to the gratuity of God, strives to encourage the common good, longs for the protection of the dignity of the human person, promotes freedom as rights and responsibilities, values life as sacred gift, esteems family of blood and family of humankind and fosters environmental and ecological stewardship.65

1.1.3 “Excessive love for wealth and money”

The Catholic Bishops of Uganda in their pastoral letter Fifty years of independence: Celebrating our heritage, observed: “we are concerned about the attitude of excessive love for wealth and money, which is spreading rapidly in our country. This greed or attitude is driving many of our people more and more away from God…wealth in itself is not bad, what is evil is the self-serving accumulation of wealth that excludes and alienates others, condemning them to abject poverty and denying them their full dignity as human beings”66

It is quite probable that Vatican II, Optatam Totius (Oct.28, 1965), in view of guarding against too much preoccupation with money especially among the Church’s ministers, proposed

economic policy,” in B. Reynolds and S. Healy (eds.), Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy, (Dublin: CORI Justice, 2007), p. 10-13. 63 The Church through schools, hospitals, printing presses, universities and experimental farms has also promoted development. 64 John Paul II, Address to Clergy and Religious, Jakarta, (10 Oct. 1989); 5: L’Osservatore Romano, (11 Oct 1989). 65 Cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nos. 160-255. 66 Pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops of Uganda, (9 Oct 2012), p. 23-24.

17 such guidance in the training of priests: “Students must clearly understand that it is not their lot in life to lord it over others and enjoy honors, but to devote themselves completely to the service of God and the pastoral ministry. With special care they should be so trained in priestly obedience, poverty and a spirit of self-denial, that they may accustom themselves to living in conformity with the crucified Christ and to giving up willingly even those things which are lawful, but not expedient” (cf. OT, no.9).

When it comes to Africa, the second Assembly for Africa (2009), already observed that: “In considering all things in the light of the Holy Spirit, the Particular Churches well understand that the wounded, human heart is the ultimate hiding place for the cause of everything destabilizing the African continent. Selfishness nurtures greed, corruption and the allurement of gain. It is the driving force in the misappropriation of goods and riches destined for entire populations. The thirst for power leads to contempt for all the elementary rules of good governance, takes advantage of people’s lack of knowledge, manipulates political, ethnic, tribal and religious differences and creates cultures where warriors are considered heroes and people need to be paid back for past sacrifices and wrongs committed. Basically, what blackens African society comes from the human heart (cf. Mt 15:18-19; Mk 7:15).”67 Such an argument calls for the healing of the human heart.

Benedict XVI observes that, “cognizant of the growth of violence and the emergence of selfishness in Africa, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of venerable memory called in 1988 for a theology of fraternity as a response to the pressing appeals of the poor and the little ones.”68 Similarly, the African Lactantius had at the dawn of the fourth century written: “The first duty of justice is to recognize others as brothers and sisters. Indeed, if the same God created us and gave us birth in the same condition, in view of righteousness and life eternal, we are surely united by bonds of brotherhood: whoever does not acknowledge those bonds is unjust.”69

67 Synod of Bishops, II Special Assembly for Africa, The Church in Africa in service to reconciliation, Justice and Peace, Intsrumentum Laboris, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2009), no. 11. 68 Cf. Benedict XVI, Address during a special meeting with the Synod for Africa, (Yaoundé: 19 March 2009); regarding Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, see: L’Osservatore Romano, French edition, (12 April 1988), p. 4-5. 69 Cf. Divine Institutions 54, 4-5: S.C. 335, p. 210; Benedict XVI, op. cit., (19 March 2009).

1.1.4 Upsurge of “prosperity gospel ministers”

Uganda, like in many countries of Africa, continue to witness an increase in many wealthy church ‘pastors’ and ‘prophets’ who preach the gospel of material prosperity.70 Adherents to the prosperity gospel believe that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and the poor are poor because of lack of faith. This also involves the selective application of Biblical texts as: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your souls prosper” (3 Jn- :2). “The Lord, delights in the welfare of his servant” (Ps 35:27).

Prosperity preachers have common denominators in their teachings that involve health, wealth and success. The view that is promoted is one that it is not just a privileged status but it is a right promised by God. Scriptures are used to support the belief that these are promises that can be claimed in any and every situation. Emphasis is given on faith being the great actuator of these promises. It is a type of glorified slot machine where you insert your request and the answer rolls out. Usually it involves a gift of money commonly referred to as faith promise.71

Faith tantamount to giving (sowing seed), prayer tends to be more magical; there is not enough spiritual formation,72 in addition, some of these church ministers, fake miracles of healing so that they can attract more followers. Prosperity gospel involves the idea that God wants believers to get rich and healthy. For the common worshipper, the promise of financial prosperity through a direct relationship with the Divine is a major pull factor, while membership of a Church opens access to social and business networks within the Church community.73 Among the prosperity churches is the rise of the utilization of church spaces as areas for generating wealth and also of healing.

At the beginning of October 2014, the Catholic Church in Uganda condemned the actions of Catholic layman John Baptist Mukajanga for advertising and organizing prayer crusades,

70 Cf. B. Ssettuuma Jr. “Platform and documentation: The state of religion and culture in Uganda 2008” The Waliggo Journal of holistic Theological reflection, 2 (Jan 2009), no.1, p. 162-163. See also: Marshall (2009); Chitando, Gunda & Kügler (2013); Angel (2013). 71 A. B. Phillips, An examination of the prosperity Gospel: a plea for return to Biblical truth, PhD dissertation, (Lynchburg Virginia: Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015), p. 3. 72 Cf. S. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal diocese in Uganda, Licentiate dissertation, (Warsaw: Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, 2020), p. 39. 73 Cf. O.A. Mobolaji, “The role of Pentecostalism in sustainable development in Nigeria,” in P. Öhlmann, W. Gräb, and M-L. Frost, (eds.), African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development, (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2020) no.9, p. 152-156.

19 without authorization. Mukajanga, whose popularity rose while working at Mt Sion prayer centre in Bukalango (a centre headed by Msgr. Expedito Magembe) had held two crusades in downtown Kampala. He allegedly asked for money from those who wanted special prayers from him- something against the normal practice in the Catholic Church, the Church thus wanted him and others to refrain from selling anointing oil, advertising crusades in the media and to renounce the personalized “Mukajanga Fire Ministries”.

The Catholic Church offered guidance to all laity to discover their unique role in the church and that of the ordained priest. The archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, while celebrating the 48th anniversary of Lubaga Cathedral said: “We are changing all prayer centres into retreat centres and they should be under the leadership of a priest.74 Underlying the notion of ministry as a means of economic prosperity is the mix-up between clientelism and discipleship.75 It raises queries as to whether these meetings and services, are intended to produce Christ-like disciples or to boost the prosperity pastors’ clientele base.

1.1.5 The reality of sickness and quest for healing and wholeness

The quest for wholeness has always been the desire of man in every culture. It is a universal concept that is sought after wherever man lives.76 The Catholic church in Uganda- as well as other mainstream churches- has continued to show concern for the sick and the suffering in the fight against infirmities, diseases77 and great pandemics through her health care institutions amidst the escalating cost in medical units and the inadequate material and financial resources (UEC, 2012, 19).78 Uganda still grapples with the HIV/AIDS scourge. According to UNAIDS 2010 figures,

74 Cf. J. Kimbowa and Y. Nangonzi, “Why Church must give consent for exorcism,” The Observer, (28 Oct. 2014), https://observer.ug/lifestyle/sizzling-faith/34576--why-church-must-give-consent-for-exorcism (accessed on 21.11.2020). 75 Cf. J. Maxwell and I. Phiri, “Gospel Riches: Africa’s rapid embrace of prosperity Pentecostalism provokes concern- and hope” Christianity Today, (2007), p. 23, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/12.22.html (accessed 26.04.2021). 76 C. Aigbadumah, “Healing and the emergence of African Indigenous Churches in Nigeria,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology, 8 (2013), no. 3, p. 18. 77 The bishops of Uganda observed in 2012, that “for the last 30 years...Uganda like any other country in Africa, has been struggling with the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS. The disease has brought about untold suffering to thousands of our people. Since its detection, over 2.5 million people have died of HIV and AIDS. Currently, it is estimated that more than 1.2 million Ugandans are infected with the disease” (cf. UEC, 2012) no.33. 78 For more information about the reality of sickness and need for healing see: M.O. Kuteesa et al., “Experiences of HIV-related stigma among HIV-Positive older persons in Uganda - a mixed methods analysis,” SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 11 (2014) no.1, p. 125-137, https://doi.org/10.1080/17290376.2014.938103 (accessed 26.04.2021); A. Shorter, “Mediumship, Exorcism and Christian Healing,” Wajibu, 3 (1988) no. 3, p. 19-

HIV prevalence in Uganda is 4.8% for females and 2.3% for males ages 15-24. HIV prevalence increases with age 20-24-year-old have higher rates of HIV infection than 15-19-year-olds. The New Vision Paper reported in 2014 that 570 Ugandan girls between 15-24 years get infected with HIV/AIDS each week.79

Healing is more than a fix or a cure, it is restoration to wholeness. It encompasses body, mind, and spirit for both individuals and communities.80 For the Catholic Church, the necessity for each health care institution to have a chapel, the presence of which reminds all who work there as well as the sick that God alone is the Lord of life and death (cf. AM, no. 141) signifies the link between the physical healing and spiritual healing. In the traditional health practices in Africa, attention is not given to the process of healing alone but protection from that which creates disequilibrium in life, and against perceived enemies.

As noted by Christopher Aigbadumah, Africans believe in the preponderance of evil spirits that wreak havoc in human affairs. Ordinary events in life such as accidents or natural disasters are attributed to evil forces that one must constantly protect himself. Because of fear and insecurity, people often patronize the services of medicine-men. To secure aids for protection from evil attacks of perceived enemies. Prior to the advent of Christianity, Africans had evolved ways of dealing with adversities like diseases, sorcerers, witches, enemies and retrogression in life, however, the missionaries asked converted indigenes to do away with these methods of charms,

20; R. DeGrandis, S.S.J. Intergenerational Healing, (Texas: Praising God Catholic Association of Texas, 1989); R. Kabeba Muriisa and A. Simon Rwabyoma, “Synergy in Social Service Provision: Embeddedness and Complementarity in fighting HIV/AIDS in Uganda, “Africa Journal of Public Sector Development and Governance, 1 (Oct 2018) no. 1, p. 58-70; P. Baguma, “Stress and Coping among Ugandan Nurses,” Journal of Psychology in Africa, 11 (2001) no. 1, p. 16-37; E.G. White, The Ministry of Healing, (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press publishing Association, 1905); C. Banda, “Managing an elusive force? The Holy Spirit and the anointed articles of Pentecostal Prophets in traditional religious Africa,” Verbum et Ecclesia 40 (Nov 2019) no.1. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v40i1.2025; L. Sulkowski and G. Ignatowski, “Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Organization of Religious Behaviour in Different Christian Denominations in Poland,” Religions, 11 ( 2020), p. 254. 79 P. Kiwuuwa and R. Baguma, “HIV/AIDS: 570 girls infected with HIV/AIDS every week,” New Vision, (8 Oct 2014), p.7, https://archives.visiongroup.co.ug/vision/NewVisionaApi/v1/uploads/NV081014pg01.pdf, (accessed 26.04.2021). See also, J. Vithalani and M. Herreros-Villanueva, “HIV Epidemiology in Uganda: Survey based on age, gender, number of sexual partners and frequency of testing,” African Health Sciences, 18 (2018) no. 3, p. 523- 530 80 Cf. C.L. Ross, “Integral Healthcare: The Benefits and challenges of integrating complementary and alternative medicine with a conventional Healthcare practice,” Integrative Medicine Insights, 4 (2009), p. 13-20.

21 local medicines, incantations, divinations, sacrifices and other cultural ways of protecting, healing and liberating self from evil powers, without offering any substitute.81

There is need for catechesis and the revival of exorcism as a ministry given the strong African perception of evil and evil possession. This can go hand in hand with equipping of the ministers with counseling skills, in areas where proficient psychiatrics are lacking. As some scholars have observed, “mass hysteria and insistence on immediate results often render the healing ministry transient and ephemeral.”82 Healing is an ongoing process; not only recovery from injury or illness, but all growth is a form of ongoing healing across the entire lifespan.83

Although priests serve in parishes and others are chaplains in hospitals, prisons, universities, schools, convents, as well as other areas of ministry, the need to exorcise is not possible since not all clergy in the Catholic Church are exorcists in the strict sense (Can. 1172). As Lukwata observes: “The exorcisms done on a canonical level are not fixed in nature and form. The formulation of the Order of Exorcism should make a distinction between exorcism in the strict sense and in the broad sense. The former could be done by a minister with a mandate from the Church in specified cases and the latter can be performed as an intercessory prayer or devotion by any Christian on behalf of a member possessed by evil.”84 This is partly because the number of sick people keeps growing. There are different sicknesses. Some illnesses are in fact spiritual problems, demonic possessions, somatic illnesses which not only require faith healers but, psychiatrists, and exorcists as reported in some parts of the world.85 This means that some people end up searching for healing elsewhere.

1.1.6 The critical need for Theological training of Pastors

The Catholic Church has been aware of the enormous need to form those who are to minister to the people God. Already in July 1563, the establishment of formal structures for priestly formation (seminaries) in each diocese was envisaged by the council of Trent as necessary to curb

81 C. Aigbadumah, “Healing and the emergence of African Indigenous Churches in Nigeria,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology 18 (2013) no. 3, p. 23-24. 82 J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, (Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2003), p. 92. 83 C. White, “Preaching on Faith and Healing,” op. cit. p. 42. 84 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 92. 85 Cf. I.J. Pietkiewicz, et al., “Beyond dissociative disorders: A qualitative study of Polish catholic women reporting demonic possession,” European Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 5 (2021), p. 1-10; C. Nye, “Possession, Jinn and Britain’s backstreet exorcists” BBC Asian Network and BBC Newsnight, (19 Nov 2012), http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20357997 (accessed 27.04.2021);

22 ideas injurious to orthodoxy.86 Vatican II, Christus Dominus (28 Oct 1965), urged bishops to do their utmost to ensure that the activities of evangelization and the apostolate are zealously supported and promoted by the faithful but more specifically, that suitable priests, as well as lay and religious auxiliaries, are trained for those missions and regions suffering from a lack of clergy (no. 6). At the same time, Optatam Totius (28 Oct 1965), emphasized the training of priests in seminaries. The document recommends proper preparation of the priests who are carrying out the training in order to get candidates who can be good pastors of the people of God (nos.1, 2, 8). Presbyterorum Ordinis (7. Dec. 1965) clarified the priesthood in the church’s mission, the nature of the priesthood and place of priests in the world (cf. nos. 2, 4); the ministry of priests, functions of priests (cf. nos. 4-6); and life of priests in general (cf. nos. 12-20).

However, such an arrangement of theological training and formation appears deficient when it comes to the many mushroom churches and religious movements in Africa and Uganda in particular. Pentecostalism espouses egalitarianism in its doctrine.87 Pentecostals believe that anyone who is inspired by the Spirit can evangelise, regardless of the level of education or formal training.88 It is contended that the Bible as inspired contains truth relating to personal freedom through faith in Jesus Christ and participation in his kingdom. This truth is revealed and activated by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is the source of spiritual power (Eph 1:18-20) that leads to personal and group transformation. In other words, Pentecostalism legitimizes individual agency. Accordingly, many church members are involved in the task of evangelisation and their outreach is often aggressive.89

When discussing about Christianity in Africa, we could ask: Is the numerical growth also accompanied by the so necessary spiritual growth? This presents a need for the thousands of new converts to be trained otherwise they will fall back into paganism or remain in syncretism. As Crafford observes, “the shortage of trained office-bearers makes it very difficult to provide the necessary training. The result is that in many churches founded by Western missions, thousands

86 Cf. H.J. Schroeder, Canons and decrees of the Council of Trent, (London: B. Herder Book Co., 1941), p. 175-179. 87 J. Robbins, “The Globalisation of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), p. 123-124. 88 Cf. C. M. Goliama, Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism: A Theological and Pastoral Challenge to the Catholic Church-with Reference to the Archdiocese of Songea, Tanzania, PhD dissertation, (Wien: Universität Wien, 2013), p. 92. 89 Robbins, “The Globalisation of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” p. 124.

23 of believers have not received sufficient instruction in basic Christian teachings. In Independent African churches the position is even worse. Here, many thousands of priests, prophets and preachers have not received any theological training at all.”90

Sadly today, many Christians are lacking in a foundational knowledge of truth.91 It is not because opportunity to ascertain truth is not readily available. Neither does it stem from the scarcity in the presentation of the Gospel. In fact, the Gospel message has never been spread in the magnitude and brilliance that it is today. Technological advancements have propelled the preaching of the gospel literally around the globe through mass media including satellite television, international radio broadcasts and the worldwide web. Then to what may be attributed the shortfall of biblical knowledge? The answer lies, at least partially, in a hostility toward theological training.92 This results in vulnerability among Christians to teachings within the Church which are manipulated and not based on solid doctrine or biblical foundation.93 Shawn Hendricks in an article, discusses this issue in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, but Uganda in particular:94

The prosperity gospel is alive and well in sub-Sahara Africa as is Islam and African

traditional religions, animism…it is not rare to find a preacher, if you want to call him

a preacher, who charges for prayers…many pastors go into the ministry for the wrong

reasons of financial prosperity. Being a pastor in countries like Uganda is often seen

as “the best job around here,” with many Ugandans unable to find good jobs,

“sometimes the best job is to be the pastor and to take advantage of people.

90 Cf. Crafford, “African Christianity: a miracle or tragedy?” p. 155. 91 Today’s economic and social conditions and even people’s morals are being transformed, and their sense of values is undergoing change. This comes with obstacles opposing the faith and the apparent fruitlessness of the work and the loneliness which inevitably brings a feeling of frustration (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 7 Dec 1965, no.22). 92 S. J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson, Who needs Theology? An Invitation to the study of God, (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996), p. 6. 93 As reported by S. Hendricks, “Prosperity gospel a problem in Africa, Chitwood says,” International Mission Board”, (9 April 2019): https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/prosperity-gospel-a-problem-in-africa- chitwood-says/ (access 26.04.2021). One, gladly prays for church members who pay a shillings; another preacher says God will bless them with a car or house if they are willing to give him some money. Another preaches John the Baptist was born of a virgin birth… These few examples among many indicate how critical theological training for pastors in Uganda and other parts of sub-Sahara Africa is. 94 S. Hendricks, “Theological training a critical need in Africa, Chit wood says,” International Mission Board, 9 April 2019, https://www.imb.org/2019/04/09/uganda-theological-training/ (accessed 26.04.2021).

This issue is among the reasons Uganda is reportedly looking at passing laws that will impel pastors or all preachers to receive theological training before opening up a church.95 According to the minister of Ethics and Integrity, Fr. Simon Lokodo, “some religious leaders in Uganda are taking advantage of ‘loopholes’ in the existing laws to manipulate Ugandans and extort money from them.”96 Others are misleading their flock to abandon medicine, drop out of school or sell their property for wrong reasons. The policy will also seek to enforce transparency and financial accountability in religious and faith based institutions.97

As observed by Joseph Serwadda (presiding “Apostle” of the Born Again Faith Federation in Uganda), “the State can and has the right to put in place guidelines for anything it considers useful to societal growth for common peaceful co-existence with others of like spirit.”98 Similarly, Richmond Wandera (pastors discipleship network executive director), emphasizes that natural gifting is no substitution for training therefore, all pastors need theological training.99 In 2018, Rwanda reportedly saw thousands of Churches close after the country passed legislation requiring pastors to receive training.100

Although such legislation often may cause issues which have to do with religious freedom by allowing government in a way to regulate churches,101 nonetheless, we cannot rule out the vitality of theological formation and training to those charged as pastors of souls. As observed by Serwadda, “there are scores of self-proclaimed and media-created pastors/ ‘ministers’ previously registered as NGOs which cannot point at a church they have established! These have turned into

95 Cf. UG Christian News (UgCN), (5 Dec 2018), https://www.ugchristiannews.com/Uganda-new-policy-requires- all-pastors-to-obtain-theological-training/ (accessed 20.12.2020). 96 UG Christian News -UgCN, (5 Dec 2018), op. cit. 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid. 99 J. Sabano, “Uganda Pentecostal pastors urged to go for theological training,” Daily Monitor, (Sunday, 19 May 2019), https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/uganda-pentecostal-pastors-urged-to-go-for-theological- training-1826694 (accessed 26.04.2021). 100 “Rwanda closes ‘700 unsafe, noisy churches’”, BBC’s Focus on Africa, (28 Feb 2018), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43225067 (accessed 03. 08. 2021). 101 Pastor Michael Kyazze of “Omega Healing Centre” said “there is no manner of organization or law that will regulate faiths and their practices without it becoming discriminative and oppressive…whether the law is beautiful and acceptable today, I resist it because of what it is going to become and the resultant subculture, patterns and allegiances it will force us into in order to fit under it and to serve the political powers that will be existing. Good intentions can become bad mistakes” Cf. UG Christian News - UgCN, (5 Dec 2018), op. cit.

25 wolverine critics of Balokole Churches, but cannot point at a church they attend, let alone one they pastor!”102

1.1.7 The deep roots of the African Traditional Religion (ATR)

Prior to the advent of Christianity in Africa, there existed an African traditional religion.103 Therein, Africans regularly paid homage to their ancestors through diviners, healers or local “priests” among others. As Jenkins observes, The African traditional religion was used as the tool for divination replacing the arsenal of traditional oracles.104 In African traditional religion, misfortunes, disasters or any negative forces in life are attributed to magical forces.105 To appease the wrath of the “supreme being” or cleanse a person from evil attacks, an offering is required. These practices are still practiced widely today. In order to gain hearts and minds of the African society, the mushrooming movements, tend to proclaim their message in the African setting, to suit the African audience and in so doing integrate some elements of the African traditional religion.106

The prosperity gospel preachers claim to have the ammunition and spiritual tools that can intervene to protect and deliver believers from evil attacks.107 It is easy to mark out the similarities between the practices of the African traditional religion and the Prosperity Gospel.108 These religious practices pinned the blessing on humankind from the “Supreme Being” in the performance of religious rites and choices. Hence Africans are invited to bring their fear and anxieties about witches, sorcerers, bad luck, poverty, illness and all kinds of misfortunes to the “Supreme Being”.109

These problems can only be solved if the believer performs the prescribed rites of either “sowing seed” or offering sacrifice to the ancestors. According to the Prosperity Gospel, Christians

102 J. Serwadda, UG Christian News - UgCN, (5 Dec 2018), op. cit. 103 Cf. Pretorius et al, Reflecting on mission in the African context: A handbook for Missiology, (Bloemfontein: Pro Christo, 1987), p. 115-123. 104 Cf. P. Jenkins, The new faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the global South, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 37. 105 Cf. Pretorius et al. Reflecting on mission in the African context, op. cit. p. 115-122. 106 Cf. Pretorius et al. Reflecting on mission in the African context, op. cit. p. 141. 107 Cf. Jenkins, The new faces of Christianity, p. 37, 104-106. See also: E.Z.M. Gbote, and Kgatla, S.T. “Prosperity gospel: A Missiological assessment,” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, 70 (2014), no.1, p. 5. 108 Cf. Lausanne Theology Working Group 2008-2009. 109 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, An Introduction to African Religion, (New York: Praeger, 1975), p. 55-56.

26 who choose to give are sure of God’s blessings or happiness. Giving is depicted as a means of enjoying happiness. The merging effect of these religions provides for the rapid growth of the Prosperity Gospel within the African context.110 Furthermore, where this is absent, there is the oft- mentioned dichotomy between faith and traditional life: “in the morning at Church, in the evening at the witchdoctor’s”. What the Catholic theologian denounces as unchristian magical belief, some African regards as genuinely religious, being convinced that “the power of her medicine goes back to the same God who works through Christian blessings and sacraments”111

This is similar to what Fred Jenga observes: “Ugandan Pentecostalism and its media practice provide evidence to illustrate the influence of traditional African religious beliefs and practices over the Pentecostal pastors’ message and use of the broadcast media. Pentecostalism seems to tap into the socio-cultural beliefs and practices of many Ugandans from all ethnic backgrounds. Beliefs in curses, spirits and spirit possession, witchcraft, and the attribution of misfortunes to evil forces and the need to deal with such matters through divination, is a worldview that is still held even among some practicing Christians. Pentecostal broadcasts with emphasis on breaking curses, evil spells, protection from witchcraft and misfortunes, prophecies and healing, speak directly into people’s real-life concerns given their cultural worldview.”112 Francis Anekwe Oborji,113 on the occasion of the Bestseller Author Award 2016 for his Book: “Towards a Christian Theology of African Religion: Issues of Interpretation and Mission,”114 observes:

Another pertinent concern in Africa today is the upsurge of the so-called independent or healing churches. We examined this phenomenon of the healing centres and ministries under the premise that it is a challenging phase of African Christianity. However, as our investigations have shown, these healing churches do not represent the true African religiosity. They have been described as deformations or transformations of the traditional African religiosity. Moreover, one is at pains in watching the attempts in these healing churches to anchor Christianity in Africa on the spirituality of workers and seekers of miracles. Christianity as rooted in the

110 Gbote and Kgatla, “Prosperity gospel: A Missiological assessment,” op. cit. p. 5. 111 J. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 416. 112 F. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” Journal of Communication and Religion, (2017), p. 68. 113 Oborji is Professor Ordinarius of Inculturation and Contextual Theology, Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. 114 At the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Eldoret Campus, Kenya, Sept 19.

Paschal mystery is beyond the ministry of consolation, no matter how desirable the latter may seem in contemporary African reality.115

1.1.8 Nominal Christianity and syncretism

There are tendencies towards syncretism, perhaps because of insufficient attention to the integration of African culture into the Evangelisation process. Partly to consider- as John Parratt puts it- is that missionaries from the west created aspects of dichotomy between Christianity and African cultures and traditional religion to such an extent that they excluded the aspects of continuity between Christianity and African Cultures and traditional religion. African religious beliefs and practices were condemned without proper evaluation and substituted with western cultural and religious practices.116 Similarly, Ukpong observes that since the beginning of the missionary activity in Africa, there have been processes of contact between African traditional religion and culture on one hand and Christianity presented in European culture on the other.

Whereas integration of some elements has been possible, this has also created tension in some others. The Christian concept of God has, to some extent, been integrated in the local cultures of Africa because the missionaries found Africans already believing in a supreme God.117 The European missionaries selected some elements which they thought to be compatible with Christian message. Areas of tension, such as initiation rites, polygamy, witchcraft and magic, consulting of diviners, and others has often resulted in syncretic practice. Some Christians seem to have a faith that is still fragile. The various currents of the moment seem to leave them perplexed and confused, sometimes looking for salvation elsewhere.

The problem of syncretism within the church is not a new one, nor is it restricted to the newer churches. Wherever it arises, it wanes and undermines the church’s health while also compromising its witness. As we have already discussed, in Africa, syncretic tendencies manifest in moments of sickness and suffering. When confronted with sickness, they are apt to respond in traditional ways, particularly when the Church seems unable to offer any defense against, or response to, the supposed causes of their suffering. The reason lies partly in the fact that

115 F. A. Oborji, “The Universal value of African traditional religion (ATR): The need for a new approach in African studies,” The Waliggo: A Philosophical and Theological Journal, 7 (2007), no. 2, p. 175. 116 Cf. J. Parratt, Introduction: A Reader in African Christian Theology, (London: S.P.C.K, 1987), p. 8. 117 J. Ukpong, African Theologies Now, (Eldoret: AMECEA Publications, 1984), p. 509.

28 explanations of, and responses to, suffering are at the heart of African traditional religion. Though much of the ritual expression of traditional religion has vanished under the influence of Christianity, the worldview of which it was an expression continues to be powerfully influential even among those who have converted to the Christian faith.

This necessitates effective contextualization both doctrinally and pastorally, and to engage with the traditional worldview at both levels from a biblical perspective, how sickness is understood on one hand and what appropriate models of care for instance in Christian hospitals and dispensaries exist, in order to respond to the felt need in an authentically Christian way.118 African theologians are therefore to face this challenge and offer a deep reflection in order to integrate better the African thought system and the European one in which Christianity was transmitted to the Africans.119

1.1.9 Mushrooming Religious Movements and Sects

Religious plurality is a reality in Africa where Christianity and Islam co-exist with traditional African religions.120 Uganda has been witnessing a wave of new religious movements; and some Evangelical or Pentecostal Churches, sometimes springing up spontaneously. As Pope Francis has observed in Evangelii Gaudium (24 Nov. 2013), such movements offer an “attractive faith, and a great simplification of the Christian message, they emphasize healings, and they mix their rituals with those of the traditional religions. Some tend to fundamentalism while others seem to propose a spirituality without God” (cf. EG, no.63). Ogbu Kalu identifies the Pentecostal movement as the ‘third response’ of Africans to mission Christianity. For him, African Pentecostalism embraced the ‘spiritual ecology’ of Africa as mapped out in its traditional worldview.121

Asamoah-Gyadu argues that the pioneers of the Pentecostal movement in Africa were ‘indigenous prophet figures’ whose uncommon spirituality had earned them immediate expulsion

118 Cf. K. Ferdinando, “Sickness and Syncretism in the African Context,” in P. Cotterell, A. Billington, T. Lane, M. Turner, (eds.), Mission and Meaning: Essays, (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1995), p. 265-287. 119 J. Ukpong, African Theologies Now, (Eldoret: AMECEA Publications, 1984), p. 509. 120 From a population of c.190 million people in AMECEA countries, 17% are Catholics, 35%, are Christians of other ecclesial communions, 27% are Muslims and 16% belong to the smaller groups including the Jews, Hindu, Bahai and the traditional religions. Cf. AMECEA Documentation Service, 8 (1998), no. 488, 5-6. 121 O. Kalu, “Preserving a Worldview: Pentecostalism in the African Maps of the Universe,” Pneuma: Journal of the society for Pentecostal Studies, 24 (2002) no. 2, p. 110-137, see also, O. Adeboye, “A starving man cannot shout halleluyah” African Pentecostal churches and the challenge of promoting sustainable development, (2020), p. 119.

29 from their respective Mission Churches,122 these men as William Wade Harris (Gold Coast), Garrick Sokari Braide (Niger Delta in Nigeria), Simon Kimbagu (Congo) among others, he contends preached Christian message with unusual authority, challenging witchcraft, sorcery and the powers of traditional religion and healing various categories of sickness.123 Father Jose Martinez,124 observes that the desperate state of most residents in informal settlements could be driving individuals to start churches that purport to offer solutions to the residents’ economic and social problems.125 “This might be why most churches nowadays preach the message of healing and financial prosperity as opposed to the real gospel.”126 Furthermore, “the desire for money and power contributes to the rapid mushrooming of personalized churches [as] some of these churches are born out of rifts that arise from disagreements over money and power between pastors of a church.”127 Some point out that “lack of rules that regulate churches is the major reason that instigates people to begin their own churches”128 Divisions in churches make leaders move with a section of loyal members to start another church. Apart from money issues, clashes in churches happen when rogue pastors refuse to be reprimanded once their moral behaviour is in question, consequently, this discord splits a church, and each pastor starts their own […].129

Elsewhere, some have argued that “the modern wave of Pentecostalism is so grossly materialistic in form and content that only a very thin line of distinction is left between churches and business enterprises.”130 There is also a wild proliferation of “indigenous Christian cults” inspired by personal prophecies and visions. Their recruiting techniques and intensive indoctrination are potential dangers to followers. In many instances, recruits are taught to surrender their material

122 K. Asamoah-Gyadu, “Born of water and the Spirit: Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity in Africa,” in Ogbu, U. Kalu, (ed.), African Christianity: An African Story, (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2007), p. 340. See also: O. Adeboye, “‘A starving man cannot shout halleluyah,’ African Pentecostal Churches and the challenge of promoting sustainable development,” in Ph. Öhlmann, et.al., (eds.), African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development, (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2020), no. 7, p. 119. 123 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Born of water and the Spirit,” op. cit. 124 Jose Martinez is a priest of Christ the King Catholic Church in Laini Saba, Kibera in Kenya. 125 Cf. T. Ogoti, “Why are churches in slums mushrooming?” Ghetto Mirror online, (22 June 2016), https://ghettomirroronline.wordpress.com/2016/06/ (accessed 2.01.2021). 126 Ogoti, “Why are churches in slums mushrooming?” Ghetto Mirror online, op. cit. 127 Ogoti, “Why are churches in slums mushrooming?” Ghetto Mirror online, op. cit. 128 Ibid., quoting Pastor Alfred Okumu of Calvary Evangelistic Church, Kenya. 129 Ogoti, “Why are churches in slums mushrooming?” Ghetto Mirror online, op. cit. 130 Cf. Corten and Marshall-Fratani (2001); Ukah (2006).

30 possessions in exchange for salvation.131 Leaders of these groups rule with unquestioned authority132.

1.1.10 Uganda learning from the history of the Church

In agreement with apostolic model (Acts 15), local councils and synods have been convened by Christian leaders to discuss and resolve ecclesiastical problems. Canon II of Chalcedon (451) was the first legislation against preoccupation with money and sale of grace which cannot be sold.133 Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) rigorously attacked the problem. Furthermore, the twenty-second session of the Council of Trent (under Pope Pius IV, 17 Sept. 1562) on the Decree Concerning Reform noted that “there is nothing that leads others to piety and to the service of God more than the life and example of those who have dedicated themselves to the divine ministry”.134 Clerics were to adhere to the life, conduct, dress, and learning, also with the avoidance of luxury, feastings, dances, gambling and sorts of crime and secular pursuits.

Benedict XV in 1919, furthermore observed in Maximum Illud: “if a man is the victim of a craving for financial gain, how can he fulfil his obligations of working single-mindedly for the glory of God?”(cf. MI, no. 21). Other documents such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon law and the documents of the Vatican II Council, are essential examples where the Catholic Church after examining its extensive history, deemed it paramount to articulate issues of doctrine, Church discipline and organisation. The Church has continuously urged Christians especially church ministers to desist any semblance with Simon Magus who endeavored to buy from the apostles the power of conferring the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18). The Catholic Church in Uganda can be enriched by learning from such treasured experience not to be influenced by the present religious movements.

131 Cf. Uganda Human Rights Commission, “The Kanungu Massacre, The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God indicted Periodic Report” Center for Studies on New Religions, 2002, https://www.cesnur.org/2002/uganda_rep.htm (accessed 26.04.2021). 132 Cf. Bisaka, Faith of Unity (FoU). 133 Cf. H.R. Percival, Medieval Sourcebook: Council of Chalcedon, 451, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/chalcedon.asp (accessed 27.04.2021). 134 Cf. Session XXII Twenty-Second Session of the Council of Trent, https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/twentysecond-session-of-the-council-of-trent-1489 (accessed 26.04.2021). 31

1.1.11 A love for the rich vis-à-vis the option for the poor

Although, in few instances until recently, Catholic evangelisation in Uganda since the coming of the missionaries generally tended to look out for the poor and marginalized in society and a few affluent. Writing about the “White Fathers” in Uganda, Shorter observes that, unlike Catholics who were strenuous on the peasantry, “Anglicans were more at home with monarchies and identified strongly with their royal converts.”135 The White Fathers who were pioneers of Catholic evangelisation in Uganda, followed the counsel of their founder.136 In their evangelisation efforts; emphasis was placed on the spiritual conversion of the people than the acquisition of worldly wealth or prosperity. As Pawlikova-Vilhanova has noted, Lavigerie almost never spoke of civilization and instead insisted in his instruction:137

From the material aspect we must leave Africans as they are, that is to say truly

Africans. We must shut our eyes and heart to a false pity…and resign ourselves to see

young Negroes close to us maintain the customs of their land, their wattle huts instead

of houses, their bare earth in place of bed, sorghum and manioc instead of bread, grass

waist bands in place of shirt and trousers.138

The Biblical text “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3) became meaningful among first Catholics in Uganda (Buddu) “having lost the political

135 A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, The “White Fathers” during the Colonial Scramble, 1892-1914, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2006), p. 227. 136 Lavigerie’s mission strategy called for less concern with “civilizing” and far closer cultural identification with African neophytes and catechumens. He however, distinguished between external habits or conditions of life and traditions belonging to the religious sphere. Lavigerie’s ideal and vision were shared by many other nineteenth century theorists of the missionary cause, who were opposed to the “civilization model” and viewed heavy civilizing and Europeanizing as an obstacle to the establishment of a self-governing African Church, the realization of which required the acceptance of cultural diversity and the adoption of non-European, African ways (cf. A. Hastings, The Church in Africa 1450-1950, op. cit. p. 290-291). Such theoretical models had in the long run proved difficult to sustain or strictly and effectively implement in praxis, and the White Fathers missionary enterprise in Africa had in the course of time taken a direction which differed in many ways from what their founding father had advocated and anticipated. 137 Cf. V. Pawlikkova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’ or ‘White Fathers’ in the study and development of African languages,” Asian and African Studies, 20 (2011), no. 2, p. 274. 138 Pawlikkova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’”, op. cit. Quoting Lavigerie, C. Instructions aux missionnaires, op. Cit. p. 98. Furthermore, Hastings has observed that since its foundation in 1622, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide had been opposed to all unnecessary Europeanisation (cf. Hastings, The Church in Africa, op. cit. p. 289). Pawlikkova-Vilhanova contends that Lavigerie and other great Catholic missionary founders must have been influenced by Propaganda Fide’s guidelines. (cf. V. Pawlikkova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’ p. 274, footnote 25).

32 kingdom, the Catholics were exhorted to seek the heavenly one.139 “They began to accept all the sufferings of Buddu plague - famine, jiggers and influenza - for the sake of their religion.”140 Suffering had produced a great sense of unity and love among Catholics (in Buddu) which was envied by Protestants.141 “Catholics outnumbered Anglicans and were able to field large numbers of catechists and clergy to proselytize in chiefdoms other than their own.”142

We pick one question from this background: the question that should mobilize the Church in Africa and Uganda in particular is how to speak about God in the living conditions of the poor. “Called to confess Jesus Christ in a continent which tends to become veritable empire of hunger, perhaps we should rethink the whole question of understanding and experiencing faith.”143 Credibility of the church also is a call for it to deepen the ability of the gospel to respond to situations of poverty, identifying the structures and strategies of impoverishment in the Church itself and in the society at large. One instance is the attitude of greed which poses a real danger to both the poor and the Church itself. Rather than employing a unilateral exclusive strategy in charting a common social action, an interdisciplinary collaboration is paramount.144

The preferential option for the poor goes back to the conference of Latin American bishops which took place at Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979). At Medellin, the bishops decried material poverty as an evil, caused mainly by structural injustice. They projected the role of “a poor Church.” A Church that is poor is one that denounces material poverty caused by injustice and sin; it must preach and live spiritual poverty.145 The requirement to evangelise the poor thus, included the giving of a real preference to the poorest and most needy sectors within the Church itself in terms of resources and personnel. “Hence they coined the expression ‘preferential option for the poor’ to underline this obligation.”146 Bénézet Bujo has observed that:147

139 Cf. Hirth to Livinhac, 15 June 1892, See: J.M. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda 1879-1925, (Kampala: Angel Agencies, 2010), p. 67. 140 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 67. 141 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. p. 67, quoting letter of Mugwanya to Livinhac, 1892. 142 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, op. cit. p. 227. 143 Ela, My Faith As An African, op. cit., xvii; Goliama, Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 15. 144 Goliama, Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 16. 145 D. Dorr, Option for the Poor: A Hundred Years of Catholic Teaching, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 206-207. 146 Cf. Goliama, Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 13. 147 Cf. B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 71.

There are of course church organizations which are helping to mitigate the mass poverty of Africa. There have also been church leaders who have spoken out boldly on behalf of the poor. On the whole however it must be said that the church of Africa has been a silent church. Personal witness has certainly not been its strong point. It must also be said that the lifestyle of the clergy at all levels, local as well as foreign, serves to cut them off from the ordinary people. It was no foolish desire for publicity that led an African layman to address an anonymous letter to the Bishops of Africa and Madagascar, meeting in Nairobi in 1978, urging them to take the side of the poor. ‘If the hierarchy is to be credible as a sign of the Gospel, it must make itself so by its manner of life. When the clergy do not just save the Good News for their public professions, but live it in their own private lives, then they gain moral authority and people listen to them willingly.’

Bujo argues that it would be a clear sign of the Kingdom if the official representatives of the Church saved resources and sought to some extent to share the lot of Africa’s poor multitudes.148 This implies a real change of direction which the Church must take, independently of all government policies. Bishop Kabanga of Lubumbashi expressed this as “a real descent into Hell on the part of all church leaders - Bishops, priests, brothers and sisters, catechists - so that we can meet our people who are still waiting there for the messiah who will save them,”149 like vacating the huge palaces and offices, selling their no less huge motor-cars and foregoing their privileges such as the travelling expenses granted by political leaders, which serve only to enslave them to governments and alienate them from the people.150

Similarly, already in 1965, Vatican II, spelt this as key among the role of bishops in the universal Church: “bishops should bear it in mind that in the expenditure of ecclesiastical resources they must take into account the needs not only of their own dioceses but of their individual churches, since they too form part of the one Church of Christ. Let it be their care also to give help according to their resources when other dioceses or regions are afflicted by disaster. Above all, they should extend their brotherly care to those bishops who are harassed by calumny and hardship for the name of Christ, who are detained in prison or prevented from exercising their ministry.

148 Cf. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, op. cit. p. 71-72. 149 Kabanga, La descente aux enfers, Lubumbashi (1983), no.14, in Bujo, (1992), op. cit., p. 72. 150 Cf. Bujo African Theology in its social context, quoting Kabanga, La descente aux enfers, no.14.

They should manifest an active fraternal interest in them so that their sufferings may be lessened and alleviated by the prayers and works of their brethren.”151 (CD 6-7)

The Church, as the Family of God in Africa, made a preferential option for the poor at the second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2009). “We are children of the one God, our Father, who is in heaven. Difference of race, sex or religion must not become a cause for dispute. With this conviction it will then be possible to build a more just and peaceful Africa, an Africa worthy of the legitimate expectations of all its children.”152

1.1.12 Political situation in Uganda

Baur has observed that for Uganda, the 1920s were a time of transition. The old chiefs were handing power to their sons, who educated in Kampala’s famous colleges now towered over them with their command of English. In 1921 the Catholic leader, Chief Justice Stanislaus Mugwanya, resigned; the Protestant Katikiro, Sir Apollo Kaggwa, was forced out of office in 1926.153 Whereas the post-colonial state was strong enough, churches were barely succeeding to keep control over their roles. During the times of dictatorship in the 1970’s and wars in the 1980’s, the Ugandan state weakened significantly which had diverse effects on the Church as well:

In 1966 Obote overthrows Kabaka Muteesa II. He was in turn overthrown on the 25th

Jan. 1971 through a coup d’état of Amin Dada. In April 1979 Amin Dada, a life

president is overthrown by the combined forces of Tanzania and Uganda exiles. Yusuf

Lule brought to power and removed after two months. A coup within the general

election of 1980 made by Paul Muwanga when the Democratic Party (DP) was seen

to be winning. Then Obote was rigged in and overthrown by his own army UNLA in

1985. Then Tito Okello became a president overthrown by Mr. Yoweri Museveni

151 Vatican II, Christus Dominus, Constitution on the Pastoral Office of Bishop in the Church, (1965.10.28), nos. 6-7. 152 Cf. Benedict XVI, address to the Bishops in Yaoundé, op. cit. (19 March, 2009). 153 J. Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2009), p. 345.

National Resistance Army (NRA) in 1986. Elections made after this overthrow have

so far been disputed.154

Vincent K. Ssekabira,155 has written quite a revealing article “The Church’s involvement in Politics in Africa and in Uganda in particular,” in which he discusses the issue of politics touching different dimensions. The question of religion and politics is not the same as the question of church and state. The problem of church and state has to do with institutions and practices. Neither must trespass the boundaries that define their legitimate sphere of influence. Here the concept of separation is valid.156 Problems arise in two particular areas: 1) The first involves trying to steer between avoiding an establishment of religion and permitting its free exercise.157 2) A second range of problem arises when religious belief and practice conflict with secular law.158 Ssekabira further discusses the current political challenge of “Life Presidency and genuine democracy” in Africa.159 He observes that “Africa has had a chaotic political life because the continent lacks true politicians and receives often its leaders accidentally and not through a duly, free and fair electoral process.”160 The laity are unreservedly encouraged to participate in politics and to take up leadership positions as a way of transforming society positively; they are encouraged not to compromise their religious principles.161 Furthermore, he advocates for avoidance of “Personal Cult Politics”162

154 Cf. V. Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in politics in Africa and in Uganda in particular,” in: B. Ssettuuma Jr. (ed.), The Waliggo Journal of holistic Theological Reflection, 2 (2009), no. 1, p. 125. 155 Rev. Fr. Dr. Vincent Ssekabira is a lecturer of Sacred Scripture and biblical languages at St. Mary’s National Seminary Ggaba, Kampala. 156 Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in Politics,” op. cit. p. 114. 157 For example, prayer in public schools in America and is among the most contentious. In Italy, a Moslem pupil who frequented a public school had his father complain in the Italian Law Court against the “crucifix”. He complained that it was against the rights of his child to be always looking at the “crucifix” hanging in the class. The contention was to have crosses taken out of all public schools. 158 For example, in the Italian Law divorce is acceptable with a possibility of remarriage. However, for the catholic once a marriage has been validly contracted, it persists until the death of one member of the couple. Another example is that of where states have allowed abortion or euthanasia, all of which are against the Catholic Church’s teaching for the respect of life from conception up to its natural end. 159 Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in politics,” op. cit., p. 117; Kambo Wakano, Coups d’état, Revolutions and Power Struggles in Post-Independence Africa, (Nairobi: News Publishers, 1985), p. 3. 160 Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in politics,” op. cit. p. 121. 161 Cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, (21 Nov 1964), Chap. II a ”The People of God”. 162 Personal cult politics emphasizes that always the leader that be is the only one capable of carrying the country forward or keep peace. Those who appear to contend with president that be appear to bring the country to chaos. The coercive organs of the state may appear to belong to the leader that be because of personal cult politics. This mode of political behaviour makes politics a very dangerous undertaking and at the same time perpetuates the political question of the incapacity to change a president peacefully. Cf. Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in politics,” p. 129.

Nonetheless, churches have always assisted the victims of political upheavals and have consistently challenged the governments in the face of abuse of human rights.163 The Joint Christian Council has been intervening in occasions of crisis and The Catholic Bishops of Uganda have often written pastoral letters.164 At one time in the political turmoil of Uganda, the late Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga requested from Rome to be exempted from the canon law restrictions to participate directly in Peace-Talks in Nairobi chaired by Daniel Arap Moi between NRA and the then Tito Okello Lutwa government in 1985. Permission was granted, he participated until a peace agreement was signed.165

1.2 Christian mission and Evangelization in Uganda

Christianity reached Africa south of the Sahara late in the fifteenth century. In the last third of a century before 1914, an amazing growth of the Christian Church was witnessed in Uganda.166 This was through the Anglican and Roman Catholic missions which entered almost simultaneously.167 Inspired by the explorer H.M. Stanley’s letter to the Daily Telegraph in London, 1875, which described the king of Buganda Kabaka Mutesa, as “a great enlightened despot eager to hear the Gospel and speedily to propagate it throughout his kingdom,”168 the first Christian missionaries arrived on 30. June 1877 sent by the Church Missionary Society (CMS).169

163 J.B. Kisoga, “Healing the wounds of Christian Divisions: Theory and practice of Ecumenism in Uganda,” The Waliggo Journal of Holistic Theological Reflection, 2 (2009) no. 1, p. 49. 164 Some of these letters include: Shaping our National Destiny (9.Oct.1962), Re-Shaping Our Nation (3. June. 1980), I have Heard the Cry of my People (30. Oct. 1980), With a New Heart and a New Spirit (29.June. 1986), Towards a New National Constitution (26. Mar. 1989), Political Maturity: Consolidating Peace and National Unity in Uganda (13. April. 1995), Be my Witnesses (Aug. 1996), Let Your Light Shine (18. Oct. 1992), Political Maturity (13. April. 1995), The Evil of Abortion (April 1998), True Peace comes from respect for Human Rights (20. Dec. 1998), Kanungu Suicide Inferno (2000), A Concern for Peace, Unity and Harmony in Uganda (2004), Towards a democratic and peaceful Uganda based on the common good (2005), Building a peaceful, United and Prosperous Uganda through Free and Fair Elections (11. June. 2010), Fifty years of independence: celebrating our heritage (9. Oct. 2012), Centenary Celebration of the African Priesthood (29. June. 2013), Guidelines on the coming elections (18. Feb. 2016), The Pastoral Implications of Pope Francis’ Visit to Uganda (27. Nov. 2016), Blessed are the Peace makers: On the 2021 General Elections (Dec. 2020). 165 Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in Politics,” p. 122-123. 166 K.S. Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, The Great Century in the Americas, Australasia, and Africa, (New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1943), p. 412. (Here after referred to as The Great Century). 167 K.S. Latourette, The Great Century, op. cit. p. 413. 168 Cf. K. Ward, A history of Christianity in Uganda, p. 3. 169 The CMS managed to respond to an alleged invitation of missionaries by Kabaka Mutesa as expressed in Stanley’s famous letter published in the Daily Telegraph on 15 Nov 1875. The first two CMS missionaries, Lieut. Shergold Smith and Rev. C. T. Wilson, arrived in Buganda on 30 June 1877. However due to a number of misfortunes and difficulties of this early period of missionary presence, the work of evangelization did not actually

Catholic missionaries arrived soon after on 17. Feb. 1879, led by the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) sent by their founder Cardinal Lavigerie.170 Prior in 1878, Pope Leo XIII had made Lavigerie responsible for the evangelization of the Great Lakes region of equatorial Africa, and by 1892 the White Fathers171 had managed to maintain a tenuous presence there for fourteen years.172 For Catholics as well as Protestants, the mass movement towards Christianity brought thousands into the Church. Shorter has reported, that in January 1892 “Catholic loyalist majority had been defeated in a civil war, in which the agent of the Imperial British East African Company, Frederick Lugard, had lent armed support to the rival Protestant minority. Catholic mission property had been destroyed and Catholics themselves driven into exile. Many had been killed or enslaved. The White Fathers had been forced by the British to give up two stations in the eastern part of the vicariate, as well as one in the Sese Islands. At the end of 1892, they were left with three mission stations in Buganda itself and two on the western and southern shores of Lake Victoria.”173 The most fruitful mission had been the Vicariate Apostolic of Nyanza, centred on the Kingdom of Buganda, where, after a brief period of persecution, relatively large numbers had been converted, and the king, the former persecutor, seemed likely to become a catechumen.174 The Vicariate of Uganda, as it came to be called, with its mass conversions, the memory of its martyrs and its vocations to the priesthood and religious life, became a model for all other missions of the White Fathers. Shorter recounts that in 1905-1906, its eighteen mission stations averaged more than five thousand Christians each.175 This was more than the total Christian population of every other vicariate of the Society, in East or West Africa.176

begin until the arrival of Alexander Mackay in November 1878 and three months later, in February 1879, of the second party of the CMS missionaries, Dr. R. W. Felkin, the Reverend G. Litchfield and Mr. Pearson who had come by the Nile route, to be followed in only one week by Father Simeon Lourdel and brother Amans Delmas of the Roman Catholic White Fathers’ Society. 170 Cf. Ward, A history of Christianity in Uganda, op. cit. 171 The missionaries of Africa, or “white Fathers,” and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, or “White Sisters”, became “a missionary force of unsurpassed vigour and consistency in the interior of Africa” and came to play a vital role in the conversion of the African continent. Cf. A. Hastings, The Church in Africa 1450-1950, op. cit., p. 298. 172 Cf. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 3. 173 Ibid, p. 3. 174 Ibid, p. 3. 175 Ibid, p. 7. 176 Only Nyanza South, with its wave of conversions in the Kingdom of Rwanda, could reach six thousand, and this was far below the numbers in the mission stations of the Ugandan Buddu province. Cf. Ibid.

Latourette observes that not far from the year 1912, the White Fathers counted 113,811 Christians in their vicariate and the Mill Hill Fathers 22,393 in theirs.177

1.2.1 Percentage distribution of Religions in Uganda

Although Uganda as a nation is a secular state, her people are a highly religious one and its surging population is shared by a number of religions.178 Roman Catholics are 39.3%, Anglicans 32.0%, Moslems 13.7%, Pentecostal/Born again/Evangelical 11.1%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.7%, Orthodox 0.1%, Baptist 0.3%, Traditional religion 0.1%, others 1.4%, Non religion 0.2%.179

Figure 2.0 percentage distribution of population by Religion in Uganda

[Data extracted from National Population and Housing Census, 2014]

177 Latourette, The Great Century op. cit. (1943), p. 418. 178 B. Ssettuuma Jr., “The State of religion and culture in Uganda 2008’’, in The Waliggo Journal of Holistic Theological Reflection, 2 (2009), no. 1, p. 156. 179 Data extracted from 2014 National Population and Housing Census. Available at: https://ugandajournalistsresourcecentre.com/uganda-national-housing-population-census-2014/ (accessed on 2.11.2020).

Figure 3.0 Trend in percentage in four main Christian religious affiliations in Uganda

Trend in percentage of people in four main Christian religious affiliations in Uganda

45,00% 40,00% 35,00% 30,00% 25,00% 20,00% 15,00% 10,00% 5,00% 0,00% Roman Catholic Church of Uganda Pentecostal Seventh-day (Anglican) Adventist

1991 2002 2014

1.2.2 Priesthood in Uganda and the formation of the hierarchy

Priestly vocation was the only religious vocation in Buganda which did not come from the initiative of the Baganda. Some regarded it as too high for them.180 Bishop Hirth soon after his arrival put great effort to begin the Seminary. Bishop Streicher, leader of the White Father Vicariate in Uganda (1897-1933), was convinced by Hirth and by an explicit instruction from Propaganda Fide: “The mission that can produce Martyrs can also produce priests”181 prior, in 1912 the process of Beatification of the Ugandan Martyrs was officially opened when (St.) Pius X declared them “Venerable” and asked Msgr. Streicher to set up a local tribunal of enquiry.

180 One of the Catholics, Mugwanya opposed it: “you will never succeed, - he told Streicher in 1892 - in turning us or our children into priests as you plan.” Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. p. 102. 181 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. p. 103.

This led to their Beatification by Pope Benedict XV in June 1920,182 and their canonisation on 18th October 1964 by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome.183

Bishop Hirth had started the Seminary with a double aim: to produce trained catechists and, if possible, priests. Whereas Streicher assured the students that they were being prepared for the priesthood, many of his missionaries, including several staff members, were convincing them that they were only to become catechists. This ambiguity was only solved in 1901. Frequent dismissals, especially for trivial reasons, demoralised students. The lack of a well-planned educational system discouraged the most able students. The strictness of the rules, especially those which were alien to Ganda culture such as silence, strict regularity, overcrowded timetable, imposed absence from parents and relative, and the spirit of poverty at a time when material wealth was increasing, all created deep tensions within the seminaries.184

By the time Bazilio Lumu and Victor Womereka were ordained in 1913, they had passed through a most rigid disciplinary, spiritual and intellectual training. Lumu had spent twenty-two years in the Seminary while Womereka had spent fifteen. Of the 487 students who had entered the seminary between 1892 and 1902, only 41 were still pursuing the priestly goal in 1903. The most difficult period for both students and staff were the first ten years. The frequent movement always on foot with each carrying his own belongings - proved too hard for the very young. But what created the greatest discouragement was the absence of a definite aim for the establishment.185

As Ssettuuma Jr., has noted, the institution of the local Catholic priesthood grew quite rapidly in Uganda. Before 29. June 1913, there was no priest in the entire country. But of now, there are more than 2000 local clergy including those who have passed on.186 This remarkable growth of the clergy has some similarity to a radical change in the universal church. As Degrijse Omer has observed, in 1973, there were 170 African and 144 Asian bishops. Some five years later,

182 Cf. Y. Tourigny, W.F., A century of trials and blessings, (Kampala: Uganda Episcopal Conference, 1979), p. 24. Two eye-witnesses of Namugongo, Denis Kamyuka and Joseph Nsingisira were present at the ceremony in Rome, and so was Fr. Ludovic Girault who had baptized three of the new Beati. 183 Cf. Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 39. 184 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. 185 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 104. 186 B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of age in priesthood, A centenary of indigenous Catholic Priests in Uganda, (Kampala: Angel Agencies Ltd., 2013), p. 205. See also, S. Mugisa, “The growth of the priesthood in Uganda and the formation of the hierarchy,” in Remuneration and Care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal Diocese in Uganda, (2020), op. cit., p. 17.

271 of the 432 bishops of Africa were Africans, and 331 of the 467 bishops of Asia were Asian. An authentic African, Asian and Latin American church started to develop as a result of the Vatican II teaching on the appropriateness of diversity within the church.187 The moving words of Bishop Streicher, in his letter to his missionaries in 1913 prior to the ordination of the first Ugandan priests, show the grandeur of priesthood in the life of the Ugandans. Bazilio Lumu and Victor Mukasa Womeraka, were the first to be ordained priests of the Catholic Church in Uganda on 29th June 1913. They were ordained at Villa Maria in Masaka diocese. Their ordination was seen as an answer to the laborious life and dedication of the formators and the missionaries and the intercession of the Uganda Martyrs whose blood watered the seed of faith.188 Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa describes it as a proof of God’s love, which looked like a dream to many. At the time when people doubted whether Africans had souls, whether they were able to live a celibate life, etc., Uganda got the privilege to nurture the first African diocesan clergy in modern times.189

Bishop Streicher’s 1925 report to Rome suggested that part of the vicariate should be entrusted to the local clergy under their own apostolic vicar or prefect.190 He transferred the African priests to Mubende district,191 here “Fr. Joseph Mpagi’s admirable policy of self-reliance was welcomed by the chiefs and noted with satisfaction in Rome.”192 In 1934, upon the retirement of Bishop Streicher, Propaganda Fide, granted his wish, with the proviso that it should comprise Masaka (Buddu), Fr. Mpagi was elected by the African clergy, and scrupulously carried out his duties as “episcopal delegate for the district’s affairs.”193

As John Baur has observed, Rome had in mind Dr. Joseph Kiwanuka;194 the two were the first African students at a Roman University Angelicum - except for two Zulu priests in 1903.195 A pontifical decree erected the Vicar Apostolic of Masaka and nominated Dr. Kiwanuka as Vicar

187 O. Degrijse, Going forth: Missionary Consciousness in Third World Catholic Churches, (New York: Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1984), p. 6. 188 J. M. Waliggo, A History of African Priests, (Nairobi: Matianum Press, 1988), p. 50, quoting Bishop Streicher to his Missionaries, 9 May 1913. 189 Waliggo, A History of African Priests, op. cit. p. 7. 190 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 345. 191 Formerly part of Bunyoro area, somewhat unresponsive and not much liked by the missionaries. 192 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 345. 193 Ibid. 194 In addition to his high academic capacity, he had joined the White Fathers in 1933, and would thus be a link between missionary and diocesan clergy. 195 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 345.

42 apostolic and bishop of Masaka on 25 May 1939.196 On the erection of the hierarchy in 1953, he automatically became diocesan bishop of Masaka. He was transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Rubaga in January 1961, while Msgr. Adrian Ddungu succeeded him as Bishop in Masaka. The Catholic Church outside Buganda progressed at a low pace. In 1934, the Vicariate of Rwenzori was detached from the Vicariate of Uganda and Bishop François Xavier Lacoursiére was its first Vicar Apostolic.197 The new bishop had his cathedral in Mbarara.

In 1958, he called the American Holy Cross Fathers (CSC) who took over Toro and Bunyoro as the Diocese of Fort Portal under Bishop Vincent McCauley.198 He prepared Bunyoro to become the second African diocese of Uganda, called Hoima, in 1965, with Msgr. Cyprian Kihangire as its first bishop, who three years later went back to Gulu as its diocesan bishop.199 By 1950, Uganda had six vicariates: Uganda Vicariate, Rwenzori Vicariate, Masaka Vicariate, Kampala Vicariate, Tororo Vicariate (upper Nile) and Gulu Vicariate (equatorial Nile).200 With the Apostolic Constitution Quaemandmudum ad Nos of Pope Pius XII on 25th March 1953201, all the existing vicariates in Uganda, become dioceses.202 The Vicariate of Uganda became the Metropolitan archdiocese of Rubaga with Msgr. Louis Joseph Cabana as its bishop,203 the Apostolic Vicariate of Masaka became the Diocese of Masaka with Msgr. Dr. Kiwanuka,204 The Apostolic Vicariate of Kampala, became the Diocese of Kampala with bishop Billington, the Apostolic Vicariate of Tororo became the Diocese of Tororo, with bishop Grief,205 the Apostolic Vicariate of Gulu became the diocese of Gulu with bishop John Baptist Cesana and the Apostolic Vicariate of Rwenzori became the diocese of Mbarara with Msgr. Lacoursiére as its bishop.206 The Catholic Church is organised presently around four archdioceses: 1) Kampala with suffragans

196 Ibid., p. 346. 197 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 29. 198 The Catholic Diocese of Fort Portal was erected on 2 July 1961, with Rt. Rev. Vincent Joseph McCauley, CSC as its first bishop. He was succeeded in 1972 by Bishop Serapio Bwemi Magambo, till 1991 when Bishop Paul L. Kalanda took over, (with Msgr. Joseph Mugenyi Sabiiti appointed as Auxiliary Bishop on 02 Jan 1999). On 15. June 2003, Bishop Robert K. Muhiirwa was installed as the new bishop of Fort Portal. Cf. S. Mugisa, (2018), op. cit., p. 132. 199 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 346. 200 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 29. 201 The text read in part: “We raise to the dignity of dioceses all the Vicariates Apostolic of British East Africa and divide them into four ecclesiastical provinces, Uganda, Kenya, Dar es Salaam and Tabora.” 202 Ssettuuma Jr. Coming of age in priesthood, p. 210. 203 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 31. 204 Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of age in priesthood, p. 210. 205 Ibid, p. 211. 206 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 31.

Kasana-Luwero, Kiyinda-Mityana, Lugazi and Masaka; 2) Mbarara with suffragans Fort Portal, Hoima, Kabala and Kasese; 3) Gulu with suffragans Arua, Lira and Nebbi; and 4) Tororo, with suffragans Jinja, Kotido, Moroto and Soroti.207 The faithful are about 15,543,117 million Catholics, served by 2379 Priests in 640 parishes.208

On the part of the Anglican Church in Uganda, the role of played by their leader deserves mention. Bishop, Alfred R. Tucker (of the Anglican Church), consecrated in 1890 and during the more than two decades of his episcopate, a tenure terminated in 1911 by ill-health, gave notable leadership. Latourette describes Tucker in these words: “Of rugged physique, unflinching courage, bold initiative, sound judgement, organizing ability, and single-hearted devotion, Tucker made an ideal head of the enterprise.”209 When Tucker arrived in Uganda his flock of baptised Christians numbered only about 200. In 1908 it was 62,867. Reinforcements came to the missionary staff. The Bible was translated into the vernacular, largely by Pilkington.210 An educational system was developed which included the industrial training inaugurated by Mackay. There were schools for girls as well as boys. A beginning was made in secondary education which, it was hoped, would grow into a university course. Medical work became part of the programme of the mission. A native staff was trained, composed of teachers, evangelists, and clergy. Hundreds of places of worship, including a huge Cathedral were built.

1.2.3 Christianity, literacy and education in Uganda

As observed by the author, “literacy was associated with the arrival of monotheistic faiths from the mid-nineteenth century when Muslims from Egyptian Empire travelled up the Nile and entered Buganda.”211 Reading and writing were first used in Uganda by Arab traders from around 1844.212 Even though the Arabs were the first to introduce written information (texts) in Uganda, they did not make any effort to teach reading and writing in Arabic outside the practice of the

207 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 349. 208 Cf. The Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC), https://www.uecon.org/index.php/ (accessed 04.08. 2020) 209 Latourette, The Great Century, p. 416. 210 Latourette, The Great Century, op. cit. p. 416. 211 S. Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda (Fort Portal: CAARD Publishers, 2018), p. 153. 212 G. L. Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy practices in Uganda,” Journal of Research in Reading, 30 (2007) no.1, p. 99.

Islamic faith.213 According to Ward, Kabaka Mutesa (King of Buganda) strongly patronized Islam for 10 years from 1867 to 1876, which introduced literacy through Arabic.214 But when Egyptians visited the Buganda in 1876, he found that their criticisms began to undermine his power over the Kingdom. Hence, Buganda was open to the beliefs and technologies brought by the Christians, including writing and books.215 The Christian missionaries introduced literacy (in the Roman alphabet) in Uganda in the late 19th century as an integral part of Christian religious practices.216

Although before 1890, the principal centre of learning was the catechumenate, two schools were also in operation. The first which began in 1879, was for freed slave boys and boys given by the converts to the Fathers. They were the candidates for Lavigerie’s plan of doctor-catechists. They were entrusted to Father Levesque who trained them as ‘seminarists.’217 After the introduction of formal school education by the missionaries in the 1890s, the teaching of literacy was no longer directly linked to religious instruction. Many of the differences between the Catholic and Anglican approaches to literacy were reduced because all the schools used the same approach to teach reading and writing. This shifting of literacy teaching to schools resulted in the dominance of school literacy and English as language of literacy outside of church practices.218 English was and has continued to be the language of instruction in Uganda after the first three years of initial education from Primary Four (P.4) to University.219

As members of a long-standing Kingdom with its own oral histories, literature and religious practices, the Christian chiefs of Baganda recognized the possibility of grafting Christianity onto their traditions, and literacy became a means of creating a permanent record. Literacy was also of benefit for the colonial government as well as the Christian missionaries. The Baganda became the earliest indigenous administrators, as well as Priests, Catechists and scholars. Luganda continues

213 J. C. Ssekamwa, History and development of education in Uganda, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2000). 214 Both Swahili and Luganda used to be written in Arabic script and Mackay was one of those missionaries who were responsible for reducing Luganda to writing in Roman script. Cf. V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, The role of early Missionaries of Africa or “White Fathers” in the study and development of African languages, (2011), op. cit. 280. 215 Ward, A history of Christianity in Uganda, (1991), p. 2, see also: S. Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood, p. 153. 216 Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy,” op. cit., p. 99. 217 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu op. cit. p. 130. Quoting Levesque to confrere, (10 April 1881), White Fathers Archives (WFA, C.14). He gives the daily programme the boys followed and shows how they learnt the Latin prayers for serving mass. 218 Cf. Ssekamwa, History and development of education in Uganda, op. cit. 219 A. Nsibambi, “Language and literacy in Uganda: A view from the Ministry of Education and Sports,” in K. Parry (Ed.), Language and literacy in Uganda: Toward a sustainable reading culture, (Kampala: Fountain Publisher, 2000), p. 2-5.

45 to be a dominant language of wider communication in Uganda, and one of the very few indigenous languages studied in higher education.220

Waliggo has noted that in 1917, the Protestant and Catholic bishops met for the first time to present a common memorandum221 to the government asking more aid for schools and voicing the requests of their converts for more advanced institutions of learning.222 The educated Baganda were asking for scholarships to study abroad and the Lukiiko (Buganda’s legislative Assembly), was supporting them,223 but the administration was still reluctant.224 In 1920 fourteen priests met in Buddu and revised the school programmes. They called for immediate increase in girls’ education, for stricter control of the studies, for new text-books and foundation of new high schools to spread evenly throughout the Fathers’ vicariate.225 By 1923, most of these suggestions were implemented. A permanent education commission and a full-time priest appointed for the supervision of the entire educational work. By 1925, therefore, the Catholic school system was only beginning to change.226 Elementary schools were run by catechists in the village centres, these taught catechism, reading and writing. Bishop Streicher’s annual report,227 indicate 928 catechists in the White Father’s Uganda Vicariate, catering for 18,030 pupils, of whom 10,308 were boys. It was not until 1929 that Streicher became convinced that “the school should be regarded as the heart of missionary organisation in each vicariate.”228 The denominational school system was the most powerful tool in perpetuating the earlier Catholic-Protestant competition.229 Mission schools had replaced the

220 Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 154. 221 Bishop Streicher and Bishop Biermans issued a joint memorandum which completely changed the government approach to mission schools; they were assisted by Bishop Forbes, Fr. Minderop, M.H.M., Fr. (later Bishop) Michaud, W.F., and from 1925, by Bishop Campling. The system was revised, the standard was raised in all schools, but mission schools remained mission schools. Cf. Y. Tourigny, W.F., A century of trials and blessings, (Kampala: Uganda Episcopal Conference, 1979), p. 27. 222 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. 138, quoting Buganda annual report 1917-8. 223 A request of the Lukiiko to the governor to allow some Baganda to study abroad, 1926 (no date); Also see the administration’s rejection of the king of Toro’s request for his son to study in England, 3 June 1921, cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu op. cit., 138. 224 Provincial Commissioner to Chief Secretary, 7 April 1924, objects to allowing Baganda to go abroad for fear they would cause trouble when they returned. 225 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu op. cit., quoting Decisions prises par la “Commission Scolaire”, 29 July 1920. 226 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. 227 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. 228 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, op. cit. quoting Resolution 2 of the “Conference of the heads of Catholic missions in Uganda on Native Education,” 22 January 1929. 229 Cf. D.A. Low, Political Parties in Uganda 1949-62, (London: Athlone Press [Toronto: Oxford], 1962, p. 11.

46 traditional schools of the royal palace and chiefs’ enclosures. Henceforth, chiefs were to emerge from the former, influenced by Christianity and their missionary teachers. The only difference between the catechumenate and the school, the catechist and the teacher had begun to emerge and there were founded fears among the fathers that soon secular would overshadow religious education.230

The following schools were started: a high school at Namilyango by the Mill Hill Fathers in 1902,231 the Bikira School of catechists and the Seminary,232 Y. Tourigny, W.F., observes that the first seminary started in 1893 at Bukalasa near Villa Maria (Buddu) with 32 students.233 Rubaga opened a catechists’ school in 1901 and included the teaching of English in the curriculum.234 Lubaga high School was founded in 1906, to prepare candidates for chieftainships and clerical work within the administration,235 Kisubi technical school for training young men in crafts, deemed necessary for church work.236 St. Mary’s College was founded and in 1906, it became a full High school with the same educational standard as Namilyango.237 Streicher sent Catholic girls to Namirembe nursing school to train as midwives for the Catholic mission maternities,238 two teachers’ training colleges were founded in Buddu with a new government syllabus for vernacular schools,239 and a new interdenominational school at Makerere.240

In the Eastern Region the Mill Hill Fathers built a new centre at Tororo, finding a ready response among the Nile-Cushitic Teso, the largest tribe in the area. The work of evangelisation was greatly helped by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa and their African counterpart,

230 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p.139. 231 Ibid, 134. 232 Ibid. 233 It was then transferred to Rubaga in Dec. 1893, because of lack of space, the missionaries were forced to look for a suitable place: Msgr. Guillermain put it at Kisubi. In 1901 the first group of seminarians enrolled for their philosophy and theology course. Sleeping sickness, which was raging around the lake, rendered Kisubi an unhealthy, this necessitated a new transfer of the seminary premises: the minor seminary returned to Bukalasa in 1903, and in 1904 the major seminary went to Bikira and in 1911, it definitely settled at Katigondo. Cf. Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 14-15. 234 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 19. This school was completely reorganized in 1904, under the direction of Fr. Prentice, W.F. 235 Cf. Streicher’s educational report, 30 June 1910, in Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 135. 236 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 135, quoting Father Robillard, “A brief Historical account of the development of education up to 1925”, 29 August 1930. 237 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 19. 238 T. Ssemogerere, interview with Waliggo, (26 Sept. 1973), see: Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 135. 239 Cf. Uganda Protectorate, Elementary Vernacular Schools: Syllabus of studies and List of School Requisites, Entebbe, 1926. 240 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 139, quoting Streicher’s annual report 1925.

47 the Little Sisters of Saint Francis241 “The Little Sisters became the second largest Ugandan Sisters Congregation, dedicated to hospital work and higher education: by 1948 some of them scored best results in a teachers’ diploma course at Makerere College.”242 The evangelization of the Karimojong, the only nomadic tribe in Uganda, in the far north-east, was entrusted to the Verona Fathers in 1929. The Comboni with their charitable work were more successful, but their converts remained mostly nominal Christians.243 Solid Christian communities came into existence only among the settled groups, following the example of their Teso neighbours with Bishop Sisto Mazzoldi, the diocese of Moroto was erected in 1965. The school system became the approved method of evangelisation.244

At Virika, Fort Portal, the minor Seminary of St. Mary’s was founded in 1964 with 21 students which had risen to 207 in February 2015.245 Its sole purpose was to prepare and recruit candidates for major seminary so that they become priests. It is known as one of the best schools in western region for its academic and moral standards.246 It is now a fully-fledged secondary school247 teaching sciences, humanities, languages and business subjects without losing its foundational aim of grooming young men for the priesthood. Other minor seminaries within Mbarara archdiocese, include: St. John’s Seminary (in Kasese), St. John Bosco Seminary (in Hoima) and St. Francis Minor Seminary Kitabi (in Bushenyi). St. Paul National Major Seminary Kinyamasika (Fort Portal- western Uganda) was opened in 1992.248 It is a Theologicum, and it was needed to cater for the increasing number of priestly vocations. Other Major Seminaries before it include: St. Mary’s National Seminary Ggaba (for Theology) in Kampala, St. Mbaaga’s Major Seminary (for both Philosophy and Theology) in Kampala and Katigondo National Major Seminary (for philosophy) in Masaka and Uganda Martyrs National Major Seminary Alokolum (for Philosophy) found in Gulu Northern Uganda.

John Baur has noted that in 1965, the Department of Religious Studies at Makerere University, under the chairmanship of Professor Noel King (succeeded by Professor John Mbiti),

241 Also known as Nkokonjeru in 1923, both founded by Mother Kevin. 242 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 346. 243 Ibid. 244 Ibid. 245 Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 133. 246 Ibid. 247 It follows the Uganda national curriculum and policies of the Ministry of education and sports. 248 Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 134.

48 organised a Theological Diploma course open to all protestant theological colleges and Catholic major seminaries in East Africa. It brought lecturers as well as students from both sides together, so that they began to learn from one another. In the 1980s, the two Ugandan institutions, Bishop Tucker College Mukono and the joint Katigondo-Ggaba Seminary affiliated themselves to the University, enabling their students to read for the degree of Bachelor of Theology. Each Church, however decided to build up its university, the Anglican one opened its doors in 1992,249 the Catholic Martyrs of Uganda University (Nkozi) in 1993, and the aim is to form convinced Christian lay leaders.250

There are currently 27 private universities, 5 public universities in Uganda all accounting for a student population of about 110,000, turning over 30,000 graduates annually.251 200,000 students enroll in higher education annually while 6-8 million gross enrolment in primary schools. There are also technical and commercial business colleges that enroll another 20,000 students studying various disciplines.252 Furthermore, Uganda has some best schools accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges with Examination centres for popular Cambridge Examinations i.e. IGCSE and GCSE.253 Some have noted that “Uganda enjoys a comparative advantage in East Africa due to good curriculum, lower tuition and student maintenance costs, and English being the main language of instruction,”254 however, this assertion needs to be weighed considering the COVID-19 situation that has weakened the education sector since 2020.255

1.2.4 Cardinal Lavigerie and the White Fathers in Uganda

Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie (1825-1892), ordained to the priesthood in 1849, started his career in 1854 as Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the Sorbonne where he lectured

249 It is called Uganda Christian University (UCU), located in Mukono. 250 This is so because Catholic training for the lay leadership is on a snail pace than the Anglican one. The numerical growth of the Catholic Church has not been matched by a corresponding growth in public influence. Cf. Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 349. 251 Cf. https://opentoexport.com/article/education-sector-in-uganda/ (accessed 08. 03. 2021). 252 Ibid 253 Ibid 254 Ibid 255 Cf. Samer Al-Samarrai, et. al., “The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Education Financing,” World Bank Group Education Brief, (May 2020), p. 1-12. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/734541589314089887/Covid-and- Ed-Finance-final.pdf (accessed 08. 03. 2021).

49 on the Early Church History in Egypt and North Africa.256 He later undertook educational welfare work in the Middle East where he made acquaintance for the first time with Islam. Being consecrated Bishop of Nancy in 1863, Lavigerie, decided to give up the bishopric in Nancy four years later, and accepted the Episcopal see of Algiers. While in Algiers, he wanted to reinforce the charitable works for all, increase the number of schools and work for development.

It was in Algiers that he decided to form a new Catholic mission congregation to maintain a non-proselytizing presence among the Muslims and to take care of and educate children orphaned by famine and epidemics in this part Africa. In 1868, Lavigerie founded the religious order the Societé des Missionnaires d’Afrique (the society of Missionaries of Africa) but came to be known by the nickname “White Fathers”257 It is Lavigerie who sent the first caravan of White Fathers to Uganda, 17 Feb. 1879: Fr. Léon Livinhac (later bishop), Fr. Ludovic Giraut, Fr. Siméon Lourdel (Mapera), Fr. Léon Barbot and Brother Amans Delmas.258 These pioneered Catholic evangelisation in Uganda. The first catechumens presented themselves in November, 1879. On March 27th, 1880, were baptized Paolo Nalubandwa who had been the first serious catechumen, Petro Ddamulira, Joseph Lwanga and Léon, one of the orphans.259 1.2.4.1 Lavigerie’s Language Policy

Lavigerie believed that the good language policy260 is a key to the establishment of Christianity in Africa, hence he demanded the White Fathers missionaries to learn the local African language as soon as possible and compose a dictionary and a small catechism in it.261 “The need for learning language was drummed into the White Fathers during their training in North Africa, sometimes by quite extraordinary measures, such as reading the New Testament in Kabyle in the refectory or reciting the Psalm Miserere in Arabic after meals.”262 He also stressed the need for a local priesthood, a viable church, and upon a lengthy catechumenate. He, however, recognized that celibacy and the obligation to be fluent in Latin required by Canon Law might have been a great

256 V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, 2011, op. cit.,267. 257 After the Muslim attire of gandourah, burnous, chechia and tashbi, the Missionaries of Africa had adopted in Algeria and kept when they established themselves in sub-Saharan Africa. Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’” p. 268. 258 Y. Tourigny, W.F., A century of trials and blessings, (Kampala: the Uganda Episcopal conference, 1979), p. 7. 259 Tourigny, A century of trials and blessings, p. 9. 260 This was one of Lavigerie’s missionary principles, others being: the Catechumenate, medical care and the evangelisation of Africa by Africans themselves (cf. V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, 2011, op. cit.,276). 261 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’” p. 268. 262 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 161.

50 obstacle, and in 1890 he suggested to the Pope that Africa should be allowed a married priesthood.263

1.2.4.2 Cultural adaptation

Cardinal Lavigerie, asked his missionaries to adapt themselves to the Africans, to strip themselves as much as possible of the cultural elements peculiar to them, of their language in the first place. His approach was one that insisted upon assimilating oneself to Africa and upon the serious study of language as a necessary element in cultural adaptation.264 Lavigerie’s language policy, his insistence on learning African languages which were then to be used by confrères among themselves, except during recreation, was reiterated in 1914 by the new Directory of the Constitution.265 Out of these principles came grammars, dictionaries, reading books, and catechisms in different African languages as well as translations of liturgical, doctrinal and parts of the Biblical texts printed in small booklets, which were aids to oral evangelization.

A corpus of nineteenth and early twentieth century White Fathers linguistic work is quite remarkable.266 The first Luganda catechism and a Luganda grammar and vocabulary by Livinhac.267 Bishop Streicher (1863-1952) had succeeded to learn Luganda with the aid of Livinhac’s grammar before his arrival in Buganda in February 1891.268 George Pilkington one of the early Church Missionary Society missionaries (CMS) in Uganda and a linguist who, with the help of Bishop Steere’s Swahili translation, translated the Bible into the Luganda language, found the White Father French Luganda grammar far better than the English.269

Furthermore, Aguste-Armand-Aimé Achte (1861-1905) had mastered Arabic in North Africa and on the boat from Port-Said he started to learn the Swahili language.270 Pawlikova-

263 Cf. Hastings, The Church in Africa 1450-1950, p. 289; Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’ p. 267-274. 264 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 274. 265 White Fathers, Directory of the Constitutions, Society of Missionaries of Africa, (Algiers: Maison Carrée, 1914), nos. 345-347. 266 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 278 267 Unfortunately, Livinhac’s Luganda dictionary of up to seven thousand words, with narrative texts, was lost at sea. Cf. Shorter, A Cross and Flag in Africa, op. cit. p. 6. 268 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 279. 269 Cf. V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “Biblical Translations of Early Missionaries in East and Central Africa: Translations in Luganda,” Asian and African studies, 15 (2006) no. 2, p. 198-210. See also: B. Sundkler, A History of the Church in Africa, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 580-581. 270 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 279.

Vilhanova, describes him as follows: “Before arriving in Uganda he [Achte] was proficient in French, Flemish, Arabic and Swahili, and during his stay in the country he added to these languages the knowledge of Luganda, Runyoro-Rutoro and Kiziba. Achte became an outstanding scholar in these African languages translating catechisms, Gospel readings, and hymns and prayer books into them later on he studied English to be able to communicate with the British colonial authorities.”271

Father Le Veux (1868-1942), who arrived from Europe in 1895, was the author of a Luganda-French dictionary of over a thousand pages long, which has since, its publication, remained the basic work on Luganda vocabulary. He was also the author of Lexicon Latinum Ugandicum.272 The earliest publishes which enabled the White Fathers to teach Latin in their seminaries, at the time the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church was always and everywhere in Latin.273

1.2.5 Ingenuity of the local converts

The missionaries needed not only excellent language proficiency but also an insight into the religion, thought and worldview of the local people.274 They had to collaborate very closely with native speakers in creating a specialized theological and liturgical vocabulary before they could use the African language as a tool for evangelisation and worship.275 Shorter has noted that the missionaries desperately sought help in translating the Apostle’s Creed. How did one translate such difficult words and phrases as “Almighty Father,” “conceived by the Holy Spirit,” “under Pontius Pilate,” “descended into hell,” “communion of saints,” “remission of sins” and “life everlasting”?276 Nothing was more important than choosing the right name for God. Africans already believed in the existence of the Supreme Being, upon whom they bestowed many names

271 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 278-290. 272 Veux, P.H. le, Premier essai de vocabulaire luganda-francais, (Algier: Maison Carrée, 1917). Father Le Veux was also the author of Lexicon Latinum Ugandicum, Bukalasa, 1912, p. 632. 273 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 280. 274 Just like today, the use of the major local languages in the translations is a process that requires adequate knowledge of the languages and cultures and is therefore a collective effort of theologians, linguists, biblists and anthropologists. 275 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 278. 276 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 163.

52 and attributes. Adopting an ethnic name such as Imana, Lesa, Mungu, Katonda, Ruhanga, or Wende entailed a dialogue with the doctrine of God found in African tradition.277

Missionaries in Nyanza North (Uganda) were surprised to find that there were considerable differences between the Ganda, Nyoro and Kiziba languages.278 After the initial phase, when some basic words and phrases were learned from local African speaker and a few grammatical observations made, missionaries proceeded to the collection, recording, standardization and classification of African languages. Here the role of African catechumens, and converts was very crucial.279 The Fathers realized that religious and secular knowledge, catechumenate and school, memorizing and reading religious instructions had to go together. Lourdel’s catechism and the syllabaire pour la langue Ruganda of 1881 satisfied that need in the initial years.280 Of the ten chapters of the catechism, only the first one on God built on what Baganda previously knew. The term Katonda (creator) was chosen for God, ggulu (sky) for heaven. The remaining nine chapters taught simply from revealed truth. The Trinity (obusatu).281

“The Missionaries of Africa had a vested interest in Swahili and in this region, a virtual monopoly of Swahili vocabularies, primers and grammars”282 Some Greco-Roman terms such as, Sacrament, Baptism and Eucharist, were mostly transliterated into African vernaculars; Lukwata gives the following examples of Swahili transliterations of liturgical terms: Ubatizo (Baptism), Ekaristia (Eucharist), Mkate (Bread), Divai (Wine), Sadaka (gifts, offerings), Baraka (Blessings).283 The linguistic activity of early missionaries in Africa facilitated an increased knowledge of and sympathy with African and their cultures. Studying African languages became an entry point into understanding the African society and its culture, appreciating the richness, inner beauty, precision and unbelievable diversity therein.284 Adaptation of African language therefore, had tremendous implications for theology of mission and evangelization, particularly in

277 Ibid. 278 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 162. 279 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 278. 280 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 130. 281 Ibid. 282 Emile Brutel’s (1874-1919) Vocabulaire français-kiswahili et Kiswahili-français, printed in Brussels in 1911, was the most influential. Cf. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 163). 283 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 74. 284 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 284,

Africa. It is in light with this that Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world, Gaudium et Spes (7. Dec. 1965) declares: The Church learned early in its history to express the Christian message in the

concepts and language of different peoples and tried to clarify it in the light of the

wisdom of their philosophers: it was an attempt to adapt the Gospel to the

understanding of all men and the requirements of the learned insofar as this could be

done. Indeed, this kind of adaptation and preaching of the revealed Word must ever

be the law of all evangelisation. In this way it is possible to create in every country

the possibility of expressing the message of Christ in suitable terms and to foster vital

contact and exchange between the Church and different cultures (GS, no. 44).285

1.2.6 Cooperation between missionaries, local chiefs and Catechists

The success of the Catholic mission work in Buddu was partly due to the catholic local chiefs who accepted to serve as Catechists; the Catholic chiefs had accepted to act as catechists in their own areas. A group of full-time Catechists dependent on Streicher had been formed and the preparation of future expansion to neighbouring districts already started. Over 150 candidates had been baptised and thirteen couples married, while between two and three thousand catechumens were under instruction in the chief’s enclosures and at the mission. Motives for conversion had been various. A few had come to the mission merely out of curiosity.

Many came with sincerity desiring to identify themselves with the new religion which also meant identification with the new political order. Several were attracted by Streicher’s personality his free medicine especially for eye sickness and his free distribution of religious objects. The fear of hell dominated those who insisted on quick baptism.286 The Lubaga mission diary of the White Fathers (1 October and 3 November 1892), reports that by mid-1892, there were local Catholic communities running smoothly under their catechists in Kyaddondo and Busiro, while by September, Lubaga had no less than 150 catechumens.287

285 Quoting Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, Ch. 2, no.13 (21.Nov. 1964). 286 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 64. 287 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 56.

Cooperation was exhibited by the missionaries who had the capacity to mobilize resources for mission. This was done from their countries of origin but also from the ‘older sister churches’ in Europe and America. They also mobilized resources locally. It is a task to learn from them. Bishop John Forbes toured Europe, the United States of America and Canada to raise funds and the work that took him two years led to the construction of the current St. Mary’s Cathedral Lubaga.288

In Fort Portal diocese, following the earthquake of March 1966, which destroyed many structures including the old cathedral at Virika, Bishop Joseph Vincent McCauley mobilised resources from outside, and embarked on building a magnificent Cathedral, which was consecrated on 21 April 1968 by Cardinal L. Rugambwa of Bukoba (Tanzania).289

There was cooperation between the priests and the catechists in the work of evangelisation in Uganda. Wherever the missionaries could not establish a mission, a catechist was provided to look after the needs of the local Christians and catechumens.290 In Buddu, from 1894, white father’s mission took gifts to the chiefs and requested them to accept Streicher’s offer of friendship to send their own men to be instructed as catechists. These were later sent from Villa Maria to Busoga, Ankole, Toro, Bweera, Bunyoro, Kooki and Mawogola.291

This is similar to what Pope John Paul II in Christifideles Laici emphasized that ‘the Church’s mission of salvation in the world is realized not only by the ministers in virtue of the Sacrament of Orders but also by all the lay faithful; indeed, because of the baptismal state and their specific vocation, in the measure proper to each person, the lay faithful participate in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Christ.’292

Even the opening of new territories to the Gospel was sometimes the work of a catechist. Yozefu Ruteebemberwa, a Mutoro, prepared the ground for the foundation of the Church in Ankole and guided Fr. Lesbors there from Koki in 1900. Yoana Kitagana, a Muganda Catechist is better known because of his long years of service in Kigezi. Albera Mbuga a catechist collaborated

288 Cf. Y. Tourigny, St. Mary’s Cathedral Lubaga, p. 16; Ssettuuma, Coming of age in priesthood, p. 117. 289 Cf. A. Katuramu, Ediini omu Uganda [Religion in Uganda] 1879-1979, (Kisubi: Marianum press, 1979), p. 119. 290 Ssettuuma, Coming of age in priesthood, p. 76. 291 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, op. cit. p. 74. 292 John Paul II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, (30 Dec. 1988) no.23.

55 with the white Fathers in the founding of the Catholic mission in Bwamba.293 The two Uganda Martyrs, Gildo Irwa and Daudi Okello from Paimol, the territory evangelised by the Verona Fathers were Catechists. These Catechists were missionaries in the true sense having left their homes to go out and learn a new language in order to be able to preach the Gospel.294

The Catechists accompanied families in their spiritual growth, they encouraged priestly and religious vocations, and they served as a link between their communities and the priests and Bishops. Quite naturally, they brought about a successful inculturation which yielded wondrous fruit (Cf. Mk 4:20). The Catechists allowed their “light to shine before others” (Mt 5:16), for in seeing the good they did, entire peoples were able to give glory to Our Father in heaven. This was a case of Africans evangelizing other Africans.295

Furthermore, the Baganda Churches were largely self-supporting, erecting their own structures and paying the stipends of the native staff. A diocesan organisation, heading up in a synod, was gradually developed, with the native Christians having a large share in it. The Baganda, active and intelligent, proved eager missionaries. More than once their enterprise led to the introduction of the faith to neighbouring tribes.296 However from 1920s onwards, the CMS missionaries made fewer conversions than the Catholics, but their church was more indigenized. Their reliance on the chiefs turned to disadvantage when many second and third generation chiefs returned to polygamy, drunkenness and traditional customs. But the lack of funds prevented them from offering attractive salaries especially for school graduates.297 As John Baur has noted, in this declining situation the Revival Movement of the Balokole swept over the country, reaching Kenya and Tanganyika in the 1940s.298 1.2.7 Translation of the Bible and other Christian literature in Uganda

Christianity, as it has been noted, was the first social and institutional framework within which literacy found meaningful use in everyday life in Uganda. The local people by embracing

293 Cf. Mugisa, Cultural perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 135-144. 294 Cf. C. Mario, Passion for Africa:missionary and imperial papers on the evangelisation of Uganda and Sudan, 1848-1923, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2004), p. 475-487; B. Ssettuuma Coming of age in priesthood, p. 77. 295 Benedict XVI, address during the meeting with the special council of the Synod for Africa, Yaoundé, (Thur. 19 March 2009), http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20090319_eterovic- yaounde_en.html (accessed 19.04.2021). 296 Latourette, The Great Century, op. cit. 297 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, p. 347. 298 Baur, 2000 years of Christianity in Africa, op. cit.

56 the Christian faith, embraced a literate culture involving the use of the Bible, prayer books, hymn books and other religious texts.299 Creating a written form of the dominant locally spoken language (the vernacular) and translating the Bible into it was one of the earliest activities of the Christian missionaries, and continues to this day.300 In the case of Uganda, it was Luganda, the language of the Baganda, which benefited first. The first translations were begun in 1878 and the first Luganda Bible was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1896.301 The first Luganda Bible, published in 1896, came to be popularly known as “Biscuit Bible.”302

Shorter observes that in Uganda, the Anglican George Pilkington and a committee of Ganda translators303 produced a whole Bible in Luganda in 1897, translated over a five-year period mostly from Steere’s Swahili Bible.304 The White Fathers, who had been thirty years in the area, had no mandate to undertake Bible translation.305 The sole translations of the four Gospels to be produced by them during this period were in the Berber dialect of North Africa in 1900 and 1907, in Luganda and Rutoro in 1905 and in Swahili in 1913.306 It was only after 1920 that translations of the Gospels began to be made in earnest by White Fathers in the Vernaculars of sub-Saharan Africa.307 The Runyoro Prayer book was printed in 1907, one of the earliest works published by the White Fathers in Uganda after Bishop Julien Gorju started operating a printing press at Bukalasa.308

299 Cf. Byakutaga, S. and Musinguzi, R., “Developing Runyakitara as an area language,” in K. Parry (Ed.), Language and literacy in Uganda, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2000), p. 51-65. Onono-Onweng, N., Holmes, P. and Lumumba, P., Celebrating 100 years of Christianity in Acholi land, (Gulu: Church of Uganda, 2004). 300 Mugisa, Cultural perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 153. 301 Ibid. Quoting Pawliková-Vilhanová, V., “Biblical translations of early missionaries in East and Central Africa: Translations into Luganda,” Asian and African Studies, 15 (2006) no. 2, p. 204. 302 Cf. Ibid, p. 204; Sundkler, A History of the Church in Africa, p. 580-581. 303 These were senior Baganda Protestant converts and Church leaders, Henry Wright Duta Kitaakule as his chief assistant, as well as Sembera Mackay, Samwili Mukasa and Nuwa Nakiwafu. Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 282. 304 Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p. 141, quoting Sundkler, A History of the Church in Africa, p. 580-581. 305 Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p.141, quoting Hamilton, J. Taylor and Hamilton, Kenneth G., A History of the Moravian Church: The Renewed Unitas Fratrum, 1722-1957, (Bethlehem, PA: Moravian Church in America, 1967), p. 611. 306 Luganda is a language most spoken in Central and south western Uganda (North Buganda and South Buganda). Rutoro on the other hand is spoken in Toro Kingdom of western Uganda (The area comprise: Toro, Mwenge, Kyaka, Kitagwenda, Busongora and Butuku with the current administrative districts of Kabarole, Ntoroko, Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Bunyangabu, Kamwenge and Kitagwenda) it is called “Runyoro-Rutoro because it shares an orthography with Runyoro, a language spoken in the current areas covering Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom. 307 Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p.141, quoting Missionaries of Africa, Publications en Langues Africaines, Catalogue provisoire, (Algiers: Maison Carée, 1928). The Church Missionary Society produced a New Testament in Rutoro in 1902 and an Old Testament in 1906. 308 V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 281.

Becoming a Christian was closely associated with becoming literate.309 The Anglicans emphasized reading of the Bible310 by individuals themselves and as such before the establishment of schools, reading was taught as a precondition for becoming an Anglican Christian.311 The Catholics on the other hand emphasized a four years’ rule for the catechumenate and the White Fathers’ policy of gradual and continual religious instruction,312 this went hand in hand with a pious memorization of prayers and religious doctrines printed in Catholic literature. As Shorter has observed, “the religion taught by the Missionaries of Africa was not a religion of the book, but a religion of personal devotion, and this was the secret of its success.”313 Although they also conducted some literary classes, reading and writing was not a precondition.314 The material that would be recited was drawn from books and made available to the catechumens orally. This practice introduced two types of literacy practices: firstly, written material can be accessed through other people.315 Secondly, book content can be memorized and recited orally. These literary practices, in addition to routine use of related texts, encouraged Catholics to learn most of their prayers by heart and recite them during their Sunday service [or Mass] without further reference to the prayer books.316

Ssekamwa has observed that because of their historical and doctrinal differences, the two main missionary groups (CMS and WF) did not cooperate on common issues,317 the example given by Openjuri and Elda Lyster, is that the missionaries sometimes developed two different orthographies for the same language.318 In Acholi dialect of the Luo language, the word for the

309 “Musomi” is a word that means “Reader/learner” in Lubwisi language, among Amba people of western Uganda. Musomi was synonymous to a Christian, hence one would refer to one self Ndi Musomi (lit. meaning, I am a Christian). Going to church thus came be referred to as “kughenda kusoma” lit. meaning: “going to read/learn” [about the mysteries of God]- among the protestants. While among the Catholics, they used the term “Kusaba” which literary means to ask/to pray” one going to Church says: “nkughenda Kusaba” lit. meaning, I am going to ask/request/petition [God]- (I am going to pray). 310 The Anglican missionaries translated the King James Version of the Bible into the vernacular languages, thus putting the Word of God in the hands of the converts. This approach can be seen in the contemporary Anglican worship. Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 57. 311 Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy practices in Uganda,” p. 100. 312 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 129. 313 Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p. 141. 314 Cf. K. Parry, “Literacy Policy and literacy practice,” in K. Parry (Ed.), Language and Literacy in Uganda: Toward a sustainable reading culture, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2000), p. 59-65. 315 Literacy mediators according to the social practice theory of literacy, cf. K. Parry, “Literacy Policy and literacy practice,” op. cit. 316 Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy in Uganda,” p. 100. 317 Cf. Ssekamwa, History and development of education in Uganda, 2000, op. cit. 318 Cf. Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy in Uganda,” p. 100.

58 concept of one supreme God (which was introduced by the missionaries) is spelt and pronounced as Rubanga for Catholics and Lubanga for Anglicans; and a Christian is Lacristo for Catholics and Lacristayo for Anglicans.319 In Rutooro and Lubwisi languages in western Uganda, the name used for “Church” is Eklezia for Catholics, and Kanisa,320 for Anglicans. While a Christian is Mukristo, among Catholics and Mukristayo among Anglicans. These different spelling and pronunciation system later became marks of identity and differentiation between Catholics and Anglicans.321

1.2.7.1 The Term Church

There are insights on the concept of “church” from the study of G. W. Bromiley.322 The Greek word behind the term church is Kyriakos which means “belonging to the Lord”. Then the New Testament has the term ekklhsia (Acts 19:32:39-) with the sense of “gathering”. In the LXX it was used for the Hebrew lhq which denotes the congregation or people of Israel especially as gathered before the Lord (Acts 7:38).323 In Jesus’ teaching, there is little mention of the church. There are two references in Mt 16:18 and 18:17 which read: “on this rock I will build my church” and the other, “…tell it to the church”. The general context suggests the emergent Christian community. The church of Jesus is a new body with continuity of fulfilment in relation to the Old Testament congregation. The word “church” is regularly used in Acts to denote the company of believers more especially in the local sense. Each individual group can be addressed as a church (1 Cor 16:5; 1 Cor 16:19). The more general sense of the church is presented as organised with leaders. Thus, we read in 1 Cor 12:28: “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various tongues.” There are many symbolic descriptions of the one church of Christians that manifests itself in the local churches. Such as people of Israel of God (Eph 2:12; 1 Pet 2:10);

319 Cf. Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy in Uganda,” p. 100. 320 Whereas the first Catholic Catechism in Uganda used the term Kanisa for ‘Church,’ a term which Protestants also used, (cf. Petit Catéchisme, 16, 17, 23), the new catechism used eklezia to avoid any confusion with the Protestant Kanisa. Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 131. 321 Cf. Openjuri and Elda Lyster, “Christianity and rural community literacy in Uganda,” p. 100, quoting, Kalema, 2001, Ssekawa, 2000, Lumumba, 2004. 322 Cf. G.W. Bromiley, “Church,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. I, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), p. 693-696. 323 Cf. Stephen D. Renn, (ed.), “Assemble, Assembly”, Expository Dictionary of the Bible Words, (Massachusetts, Peabody: Hendrikon publishers, 2005), p. 73-77; see also: V. Ssekabira K., “The Church’s involvement in Politics in Africa and in Uganda in particular,” The Waliggo Journal of Holistic Theological Reflection, 2 (Jan 2000) no. 1, p. 115-116.

Household or family of God (Eph 2:19; 3:15; 4:6); Temple of God (Eph 2:21-22); Bride of Christ (Eph 5:25); Plant of God (1 Cor 3:10); Body of Christ (Eph 4:15).324

The White Fathers’ work was not a simple matter of collecting, recording and translating these languages, they had to create a tool for evangelisation and worship, and this was a work of invention.325 “Maintaining purity of doctrine and expressing its subtleties of meaning were activities intrinsically related to regulating the correctness of grammar and orthography.”326 As Lukwata has noted: “when the Bible, the Lectionaries, the Missal, the Sacramental rites and sacramentals are translated into the local languages with minor changes here and there a translation model of inculturation is then said to be taking place.”327

The teaching of literacy was a particular concern of the White Fathers mission. Shorter has noted that the white Fathers were obliged to teach Latin in their seminaries, according to the requirements of the time. This resulted in the linguistic curiosity of Latin-African vernacular lexicons and grammars.328 The earliest to be printed appeared in Uganda in the years 1912-1914, but the bulk of them were published after World War I, when the seminaries resumed.329 Many White Fathers became excellent linguists330 and great Luganda Scholars, their work laying a solid foundation for all Catholic missionaries who came after.

The pioneering language work of early White Fathers started with a catechism. The first catechism in an African language, which is at the same time, the very first publication in an African language kept in the Department of Publications in African languages of the White Fathers Archives, was in the Luganda language.331 The first catechism in Luganda was prepared by Father

324 Ssekabira, “The Church’s involvement in Politics in Africa and in Uganda in particular, p. 116. 325 Cf. Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p. 163. 326 Cf. Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p. 163, quoting Fabian, Johannes, Language and Colonial Power-The Appropriation of Swahili in the Former Belgian Congo 1880-1938, (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 83. 327 J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy,2003, op. cit.,74, quoting J. Waliggo, “Inculturation in the Age of Globalization” in Ryan Patrick, (ed.), CUEA 6th Interdisciplinary Session, 2002, p. 104-105. 328 Cf. Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, 2006, p. 163. 329 Ibid. 330 Excellent linguists among White Fathers working in the region deep in the interior of East Africa, in the present- day Uganda included: Livinhac, Le Veux, Gorju and Achte, among others. We can also recall the work of Msgr. Auguste Huys, who after his ordination 1895 was appointed to teach theology at the major seminary of Binson, but later was transferred to Upper Congo to teach Latin at Mpala, and while there, produced a Latin-Swahili Grammar, which explains his interest in the development of seminaries in Africa. Cf. A. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 222. 331 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 279.

Léon Livinhac, printed in 1881 and numbered forty-four pages.332 The essential Christian truths were condensed into nineteen pages, followed by seven pages of prayers, then a syllabary and some pages of reading which were intended to enable the Baganda to learn to read and write.333

Already in 1879 Alexander Mackay of the CMS mission used his engineering skills to set up his own printing press in Buganda and printed a booklet called Mateeka or “Commandments”, which comprised an alphabet, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments and a selection of texts Mackay himself called “Certain words from the Book of God.”334 White Fathers in Uganda lacked printing presses to which Protestant missionaries gave a high priority.335 However, only after Bishop Julien Gorju had started to operate a printing press at Bukalasa, works prepared by the White Fathers could be published in Uganda. One of such work was the Runyoro prayer book printed in 1907.336

When the missionaries reached Toro and other western Kingdoms, the effects on the languages was similar, though no so extensive. In 1910, the future Church of Uganda Bishop, Aberi Balya, together with Rev. Maddox Y. Kamuhiigi and Zabuloni Musana, translated the Bible into Runyoro-Rutooro.337 As Tooro only seceded from Bunyoro in the 19th century, Runyoro and Rutooro are mutually intelligible and share an orthography. However, at that time there was hesitancy to multiply translations further.338 The number of Ugandan indigenous languages, approximately 40, has continued to be an excuse, until very recently.339

332 Ibid. 333 Ibid. 334 Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’ op. cit. 280, quoting Chronique Trimestrielle, (1907) no. 143, p. 63, quoted also by Shorter, A. Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 162. 335 Father Livinhac (future Bishop of Nyanza), being a linguist closely followed what had been done by Protestant missionaries in this sphere and aware of Catholic missionaries’ handicap, asked in a letter to Algiers to print his little catechism and send it to Uganda as soon as possible. Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa” p. 280. 336 V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa,’” p. 281. 337 Cf. Mugisa, Cultural perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 155, quoting Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2014. 338 Cf. Ibid, p. 155, quoting: R.A. Palin, (Comp.), The Semliki Crossing: The writings of RC and DL Palin; incorporating Reg Palin’s “Mboga Diaries” 1934-1943, Online publishing, www.lulu.com: The Family Palin 339 Cf. Mugisa, Cultural perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 155.

1.3 Competition and disillusion among religions in Uganda

In the early years of the missionary presence, Uganda witnessed dissentions between adherents of the Anglican CMS mission, Roman Catholic White Fathers and Islam that led to serious political and armed conflicts, much turmoil and struggle for the dominant position in the country.340 The presence of two groups of Christian missionaries disputing the same territory “created an atmosphere full of suspicions and hostility, mutual recriminations, insinuations and quarrels between missionaries over doctrinal differences between Roman Catholic theology and Anglican Christianity, and also led to competition in attracting and gaining converts as well as rivalry in educational initiatives and linguistic work.”341 Ongoing controversy and dissensions between adherents of rival Christian denominations became part of the early history of Christianity in Uganda. The coming of the British ensured the Protestant faction the chief place in the administration of the country, and society in Buganda came to be divided, in descending order of importance, into Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and Pegan. Ever since religion came to play a major role in politics.342

Political and religious matters were intertwined in the formation of Uganda as a British protectorate.343 Civil war broke out between the Protestant, pro-Britain faction and the Roman Catholic, pro-French party. These religious wars of 1880s and early1890s heightened the situation in Uganda with each religion competing for converts. Earlier on, the first Muslim Arab trader, Ahmed bin Ibrahim reached the King’s court in Buganda around 1844, introducing Islam,344 Protestants arrived in June 1877 and then Catholics followed in February 1879, introducing Christianity. The Anglo-German treaty of 1890 assigned Uganda to the British, but in 1891 the latter seemed on the point of withdrawal. Protestant missionaries sought to further English influence, while the Roman Catholic missionaries saw their hope in French or German control.345

340 Cf. V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The Role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’ or ‘White Fathers’” in The study and development of African languages,” Asian and African Studies, 20 (2011), no. 2, p. 272. 341 Cf. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, “The Role of early ‘Missionaries of Africa’ or ‘White Fathers,’” p. 272. 342 Cf. V. Pawlikova-Vilhanova, History of Anti-Colonial Resistance and Protest in the Kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro, 1862-1899, (Prague: Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1988). 343 Mugisa., Cultural perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, p. 125 344 A.B.K. Kasozi, The Social origins of violence in Uganda, (London: James Curry, 1986), p. 23. 345 Latourette, The Great Century, p. 415

Educational rivalry was part of the wider ongoing controversy between Catholics and Anglicans, which went back to the origins of Christianity in this country. At Villa Maria, Protestants were said to be giving away cloth to attract pupils and adherents. “We redouble our visits to counteract them,” wrote the White Father diarist.346 The Missionaries of Africa at Rubaga reported that the Protestants were forcing children into their school, and at Butiiti they were building a mission and school a mere five hundred metres from the Catholic station.347 What Professor Low said of Protestants applied equally to Catholics: “If born of Protestant parents, and therefore baptized in a Protestant church, an aspirant was educated at a Protestant school, and therefore, automatically found himself a member of a Protestant party.348

Some argue that the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in Buganda reflected the rivalry between France and England back home. The Protestant Bishop Alfred Tucker, in his memoirs of eighteen years’ work in Uganda, referred consistently to Catholics as French “intruders,” never once acknowledging the presence of British Mill Hill Missionaries.349 When in 1894, the international struggle for Uganda was terminated by the formal act which made the land a British protectorate, Livinhac350 was emphatic in denying that either he or his colleagues had ever acted as representatives of France or that they had spoken of their faith as the religion of France. Further to remove the suspicion of a French taint from the Roman Catholic mission, in 1894 the north-eastern part of Uganda was made a separate vicariate apostolic and was entrusted to an English society, the Mill Hill Fathers. To aid them, in 1902 there came Franciscan nuns from Mill Hill.351 In British and German territories, the White Fathers felt that Protestants were favoured. Relations were further regulated by the 1900 Buganda Agreement, which, although it made a basically unfair allocation of political offices between Anglicans and Catholics, nevertheless subscribed to freedom of religion. Hence religion became not only a basis for identity but also a tool for political mobilization. By 1961-62 when Ugandans voted for leaders who would steer the

346 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 205. 347 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 205. 348 D.A. Low, Political Parties in Uganda, p. 11; quoted by Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 139. 349 Cf. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, p. 14, quoting Tourigny, op. cit. p.72; Tucker, Alfred R., Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa, (London: Edward Arnold, 1911). 350 Bishop Leon Livinhac (1846-1922) became the superior general of the entire society of the White Fathers in 1890. Cf. http://peresblancs.org/mgr_livinhacgb.htm (accessed 19.2.2021). 351 Cf. Latourette, The Great Century, op. cit., p. 418.

63 nation to independence, religious affiliation influenced voting behaviour as much as ethnic and personal (selfish) considerations.

1.3.1 Persecution of Christians

In the struggle for Africa which was then in progress, Uganda was caught in the maelstrom of titanic forces and was thrown into internal confusion. French, English, Germans and Arabs contended for the mastery.352 Moved by the Arabs to panic at the prospect of having his territories annexed by Europeans, Mwanga (the King of Buganda) instituted a persecution in which numbers of native Christians were killed.353 In 1885 the first Anglican Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Hannington, was murdered on his way inland from Mombasa, on the order of Mwanga. This was followed shortly by Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, (the first Catholic martyr in Uganda), who had criticised the murder of the Bishop. On 3rd June 1886 a large massacre of Catholics and Protestants took place, many being executed at Namugongo.354 Under Amin’s rule, (1971-1979), the first unpredictable, and then increasingly tyrannical murders of many prominent Christian politicians such as Benedict Kiwanuka and of the Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum shook the Christian conscience.355 After Amin’s overthrow with the substantial help of Nyerere’s army, old rivalries awakened again. As Baur has observed, “Obote rigged the 1982 elections, unleashing what Catholics called a veiled religious persecution. The worst thing for Christian Uganda was that murder was resorted to for the flimsiest motives.”356

1.4 Conclusion

In this Chapter, we have expounded briefly on some of the salient ideas on the social- economic, religious and political situation in Uganda as well as a history of the spread of Christianity in Uganda. So numerous were the individuals and the enterprises by which Christianity was spread in Uganda as in Africa in general. Whereas H.M. Stanley’s letter to the Daily Telegraph inspired the sending of the first Christian missionaries; the Church mission Society (CMS) and later the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), the missionary zeal

352 Ibid, 415 353 Latourette, The Great Century, op. cit. p. 414 354 Ward, A history of Christianity in Uganda, p. 5-6. 355 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 348. 356 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 348.

64 was never the sole impulse in their coming. The economic and political forces at work among European peoples would have brought it had never a missionary embarked upon his task. Christianity seemed to carry with it a certain desire to learn from what appealed to the local people as the powerful civilisation of the white man and so to acquire the Christian religion seemed an integral part of that European culture.

Motives for conversion were various; some out of curiosity, others, a sincere desire to identify themselves with the new religion which also meant identification with the new political order; in the case of Buddu, several were attracted by Bishop Streicher’s personality his free medicine especially for eye sickness and his free distribution of religious objects. Whereas many embraced Christianity, the fear of hell dominated those who insisted on quick baptism. In the case for Uganda, the expansion and credibility of Christianity depended on foresighted leaders, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Catechists who gave witness of an exemplary life, upon faithful men and women religious who lived authentic lives by their evangelical counsels, upon a dynamic laity, parents and good educators and the political leaders animated by a sense of responsibility.

On a spiritual note, we cannot undervalue the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary towards the success of the Roman Catholic Mission whose devotion was encouraged by the White Fathers and the courageous witness of the Uganda Martyrs, considered the ancestors in the Faith in Uganda. The apparent poverty which continuously takes different forms and is fanned by systematic structures, continues to be a challenge to the church’s mission of evangelisation. The Church needs to confront some theologies which in the guise of combating poverty end up undermining its eradication. Uganda needs to prosper with integrity. It needs a message of hope guaranteed in the word of God and embedded in the people’s ethical consciousness. What Uganda does not need is exploitation and manipulation in the name of God. The Gospel of Christ who is the fullness of truth ought to help Christian evangelizers overcome any semblance with the “bad shepherd of Israel” (Ezek 34:2) amidst tough social, political and economic situations.

Chapter two will discuss the situation of the new religious movements in Uganda with special focus on African Pentecostalism and in what ways these impact the Catholic Church.

CHAPTER TWO

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UGANDA AND THE CHALLENGE OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND SECTS

Sects and new religious movements are a common feature of the present-day world. They present an urgency of Evangelisation and the need for concrete ways by which the Catholic Church can express her missionary obligation and commitment. In this chapter, the author tries to discuss the new religious movements in an attempt to answer the following questions: what is the extent of the presence of sects and new religious movements in Uganda? What form of sects are these? What are the different characteristics of these sects? Is there any influence they pose on the Catholic? Which group of Catholics are influenced by them and become their followers? What do these sects have that attract some Catholics and what pastoral options or programmes are possible on the side of the Catholic Church in light of these sects and movements?

2.1 Some Considerations regarding New Religious Movements

The special Consistory of Cardinals which met with John Paul II in April 1991, considered two major topics of current relevance, one of them being, “The Proclamation of Christ, the Only Saviour, and the Challenge of Sects”.357 The Cardinals mention of religious movements that lure vulnerable people with money or other material resources, bombarding them with severe psychological or other forms of pressure.358 The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in collaboration with other Departments of the Roman Curia, had to include them in its wide field of interests. In addition, the Meeting for African Collaboration (MAC) issued the results of its collaborative study entitled, “New Christian Movements in Africa and Madagascar”.359 Sociologically, new religious movements are organizations or communities that exist to produce or prevent change in the religious life of a society or an organisation.360

357 Cf. L’Osservatore Romano, (6 Apr. 1991); Giovanni Caprile, La quarta riunione Plenaria del Collegio cardinalizio. II. L’annuncio di Cristo e la sfida delle sétte [The Fourth Plenary Meeting of the College of Cardinals. II. The Proclamation of Christ and the Challenge of sects], La Civiltá Cattolica, (15 Jun. 1991) no. 3384, p. 584-594. 358 Ibid. 359 Cf. Lineamenta, Synod of Africa, (1994) no.87. 360 Cf. W.S Bainbridge, The Sociology of religious movements, (New York: Routledge, 1997), p. 3.

2.1.1 Struggle for survival and the belief that needs will be met

The Catholic Church in Uganda is facing a challenge of these new religious movements and sects. The grim reality with some Christians today in identifying with any denomination depends on where people believe their needs are better met.361 African Christians are said to have multiple identities and to live in different moral planes; the traditional, Christian, state362 and business. Some theologians claim that African Christians do not feel at ease inside the church.363 Genuine and effective Christian evangelisation should give rise to an authentic and active Christian community and praxis.364 As observed by Bosch, the role of the laity is at the cutting edge of the Christian mission.365 This relies on the laity, catechists, youth, family, religious men and women. Jean-Marc Ela cited in Mpagi, for example observes that, the Christian belongs to a church which through its catechism and sacraments create an empty shell, with no real influence on the social problems.366 The African Christian still lives according to the traditions in the village or neighborhood. The separation of Christian piety, expressed in church attendance and participation in other church activities, from a morally transformed character imbued with gospel values has been blamed for the apparent hypocrisy exhibited by some people.367

Whereas the Church forms consciences according to its social doctrine in areas of justice, peace and integrity of creation (AM no. 22), the Church is challenged in this context to experience a renewal of its mission by reorienting the gospel message in order to lead those within it to a more mature faith (GS no. 43). She needs to be more sharply aware of the theological and missiological questions raised by the worsening socio-economic, political and religious situation and their impact on society in the form of lowered moral standards. Furthermore, before preaching to others, the leaders of the community of Jesus’ disciples are invited to put their own house in order (cf.

361 G. T. Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” International Review of Mission, 107 (Jun 2018) no.1, p. 115. 362 Mugambi, “African Theologians,” 36. According to Mugambi, the modern missionary enterprise introduced an ethic that elevated the individual above the community and the church above family. The state also introduced a legal regime derived from the colonial past and an economic system that emphasizes profit at the expense of human relations. 363 Cf. P. Njeri Mwaura, “Integrity of Mission in the light of the Gospel: Bearing witness of the Spirit among Africa’s Gospel Bearers,” Exchange 35 (2006) no. 2, p. 181. 364 Cf. A. Dulles, Evangelization for the third Millennium, (N.J: Paulist Press, 2009), p. 80. 365 Cf. D.J. Bosch, Transforming Mission, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1999), p. 467. 366 P. M. Mpagi, African Christian Theology in the Contemporary Context, Kampala: Marianum Publishing Company, 2002, 195. 367 Cf. P. Njeri Mwaura, “Integrity of Mission in the light of the Gospel, 2006: Bearing witness of the spirit Among Africa’s Gospel Bearers,” Exchange, 35 (2006) no.2, p. 181.

CCC 878). The worse the situation gets, the more Christians become preoccupied with struggle for survival. The proliferation of New Religious Movements is one such consequence of struggle for survival. Some scholars argue that New Religious Movements emerge due to a quest to attain a meaningful spirituality or to acquire healing or well-being due to challenges of poverty, illness, family and sometimes national instability.368

2.1.2 Christian identity and witness of life today

What is pointed out in Christifidelis Laici, on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay faithful in context of the Universal Church are realities in Africa and Uganda in particular. The temptation of legitimizing the unwarranted separation of faith from life; that is, a separation of the Gospels’ acceptance from the actual living of the Gospel in various situations in the world (CL no. 2) presents a dual pattern: The first temptation prevents the lay faithful from being active in society. The Church community certainly need the service not only of the clergy and the religious, but also the lay faithful. For instance, every 3rd June each year, Christians from across the world commemorate the martyrdom of the Uganda martyrs, majority of these were lay people killed for converting to Christianity between the years 1885 and 1887.369

Pilgrims travel thousands of miles by plane, by bus, and even on foot. The devotion is strong because many people have had their prayers answered through the intercession of the Uganda Martyrs. Catholic News Agency reported a 90 year-old Mzee Bernado Tibyangye, who walked for two weeks to attend the celebration of the Uganda Martyrs in 2018, a function attended by over 3 million pilgrims.370 Prayers, retreats, testimonies, adorations and healing sessions are held during the Martyrs’ feast.371 The religiosity of the people is expressed in the objects of worship which they carry along after the celebrations, as water, soil, flowers and branches of trees, among others.372 Pilgrims bring petitions written on papers and deposit them under the Altar which has the relics of St. Charles Lwanga.373 The petitions of pilgrims exhibit deep faith in God to grant

368 Cf. P. Njeri Mwaura, “Integrity of Mission in the light of the Gospel,” p. 182. 369 Cf. J. F. Faupel, African Holocaust: The Story of the Uganda Martyrs, Revised edition, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2017). 370 Cf. Mary Farrow, “Millions travel to basilica shrine for Uganda Martyrs’ Day,” Catholic News Agency (CNA), (8 June, 2018), https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/millions-travel-to-basilica-shrine-for-uganda-martyrs-day- 82757 (accessed 24.03.2021). 371 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 105. 372 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 105. 373 Lukwata mentions that one pilgrim brought the following petition:

68 personal existential needs as well as the concern for the welfare of others.374 What is discussed above, illustrates how Christians express their faith. The situation becomes a problem when all or the majority of the lay faithful think of the service only in the context of the Church community, without being able to understand their Christian responsibility beyond the boundary of the Church community. The vast field of the society is left open to all the forces, except to the Gospel, because of the absence of the lay faithful.

The second temptation makes the lay faithful become a meaningless, insignificant presence in the society. They are present in the secular realities, but they hide their Christian identity and conviction. Instead of bringing the light of the Gospel to enlighten the world, they rush behind the environment in their behaviour, choices and lifestyle, hence their presence as Christians loses impact and relevance. It is argued that the lay faithful in their missionary commitment in the secular realities do not treat simply the impersonal aspects of life, but they have to face people who are dealing with those secular realities, often with a secular heart and mind. This fact requires from the lay faithful an open mind and a loving heart which are transformed by the saving love of Christ in order to enlighten the realities and to transform the hearts of people. Doing so, the lay faithful will be like salt, light and leaven in society (LC no.15). They require to possess courage that edifies, a sense of prudence and particularly the strength and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Commenting on the rise of New Religious Movements in Africa, Nthamburi observes:

Many Christians are now leaving the traditional churches in search of salvation and

religious efficacy elsewhere. This is particularly noticeable among the youth who are

seeking to find a new meaning for human existence. They feel that the traditional

religious experience does not offer them an adequate understanding of their Christian

faith which is decisive for their human existence.375

God Bless our family especially my mom and my sister so that they can know how to pray and praise God better. Bless me to get a good job and a God-fearing husband. God Bless our leaders of Kenya, our Priests and Christians. God, bless my friends: Stella and Betty to get good jobs. To get enough school fees for the next academic year. To get a good boyfriend. For Monica to get a job. For academic promotion. Cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p.106. 374 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 105. 375 Z. Nthamburi, “Proliferation of New Religious Groups – A Kenyan Perspective,” in A. Temple (ed.), Emerging Christian Expressions and Challenges of Christian Fundamentalism, (Nairobi: AACC, 2003), p. 29.

2.1.3 Quest for a mutual and dynamic approach in youth ministry

A growing number of young people raised as Catholics, for example, can be found attending Mass while at home with their parents, but get involved with Pentecostal movements on their college campuses. Many young adults could be found attending mass in Catholic parishes and going to Bible study sessions organised by some Pentecostal and evangelical churches. This ultimately has consequences and risks of going astray for Catholics, deriving from some tendencies of some religious movements; but as Wankar has observed, instead of looking at this situation as a crisis of faith, this could be an opportunity for a dynamic and mutual enrichment for an effective witness of African Christianity.376

Despite the mainly negative picture which today characterize numerous parts of Africa and despite the sad situations being experienced in many countries, the Church has the duty to affirm vigorously that these difficulties can be overcome (AM no. 14). The Church can move forward only by strengthening communion among her members, beginning with her pastors (EA no. 17). The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelisation; it is He who impels each individual to proclaim the Gospel and it is He who in the depth of consciences causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood (EA no.21), our cooperation is necessary through fervent prayer, serious reflection, suitable planning and the mobilization of resources.

The greatest appeal of Pentecostalism of other religious movements in most African countries in the recent past is the attention given to the youth. Many universities are turning graduates every year with no business and job opportunities available to them. Political leadership requires party membership, and money that is not within the reach of these youth. The various youth programs of the Pentecostal movement- the identification of talents, abilities, and achievements where individuals could even rise to leadership and authority is much cherished by the youth. New religious movements as Pentecostals/ charismatic ministries have several social functions uniquely integrated with the religious function as a result of the adversity in the social environment, especially for the youth. They have programmes geared to skills acquisition and entrepreneur training sessions, as well as leadership development. Through such attention to the youth, Pentecostal/charismatic Christianity is believed to be addressing itself to the structures of

376 G. T. Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity” p. 115.

70 oppression that consign Africa to backwardness, mediocrity, and non-achievement by encouraging young people to work their way into public office and influence the agenda of the state.377

2.1.4 New Evangelisation

The changed religious scenario is a call for the Catholic Church in Uganda to something new: living out the experience of faith in a renewed way and to proclaim it through an evangelisation that is “new in its ardour, in its methods, in its expression,” as John Paul II said.378 This “New evangelization” as Benedict XVI recalls, is an evangelisation that is directed “principally at those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life…to help these people encounter the Lord, who alone fills our existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favour the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life.”379 The proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ thus is to enable the one who is evangelized to recognize the presence of Jesus Christ in his or her own life, both individual and communal. Through evangelisation and an entry into the tradition of faith, the one who is evangelized is enabled to have a transforming encounter with the crucified and risen Lord.380

The Second Vatican Council was in large part a response to contemporary challenges; the Protestant Reformation as well as the problem raised by the Enlightenment’s understanding of reason in the 18th century, questioning the validity of a particular, historically mediated revelation, available only to some people being the medium of salvation for all people; the problem raised by historical consciousness and pluralism in the 19th century, questioning the definitive application of the claims of Christianity as being the definitive revelation when other traditions, too, laid claims to revelation.381 Careful reading of the Second Vatican Council documents especially Lumen Gentium 15 and Unitatis Redintegratio 3, there is a deep appreciation for religious pluralism and a possibility of genuine revelation in other Christian traditions.

377 Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 112. 378 Discourse to the XIX Assembly of CELAM, Port-au-Prince, (9 March 1983) no.3. 379 Homily for the Eucharist celebration for the solemn inauguration of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Rome, (7 October 2012), quoted from “Message of the Synod and Homily of Benedict XVI,” The Pope Speaks Series, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications,2012) p. 6-7. 380 A. Shorter, Toward a theology of Inculturation, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988), p. 61. 381 Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 99.

2.1.5 Communion and a sense of belonging

The Church in Africa and Uganda in particular needs to provide free social space, which has been lacking over time. Some scholars have observed that ordinary Catholics, for instance, do not experience the church as their own but see it as a church of the clergy. G.T. Wankar seems to opine that the kind of training Catholic priests receive can easily alienate them from the people they are destined to serve, given the level of illiteracy prevalent in Africa. By contrast, he argues that, Pentecostal pastors receive little and inexpensive training, which both opens their ranks and enables them to identify easily with the people they lead and serve.382 The Catholic Church in Africa could understand its mission as one to be lived both as a mystery and as a communion. The Church must create smaller ecclesial structures that will give people a sense of belonging and community.383

Marius Nel, has written that starting in the 1940s and lasting to the 1960s, Pentecostals’ perspective shifted, gradually from the view point that the anointing with the Spirit was all one needs in order to understand and interpret the Bible and preach its message effectively, to the realization of the need for (some) theological training in order to meet the challenges that reading an ancient document and preaching its message to people living many centuries later pose to the believer and pastor. At the same time, the Pentecostal movement slowly shifted its theological stance of the church as the body of Christ with each member taking responsibility for its edification, to the professional pastorate taking up more and more of the responsibilities of the ministry.384

Although experience shows that Pentecostals would continually experience tension between the working of the Spirit and academic training, in time more attention was paid to proper theological training as a prerequisite to be ordained as an official pastor of the church, at least in the developed countries.385 Pentecostals would sometimes express the fear that theological knowledge and ability might become a substitute for the direct revelation of the Spirit if the church

382 Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 108. 383 Ibid. 384 R. P. Menzies, Pentecost: This Story is our Story, (Springfield: GPH, 2013), p. 129, quoted by M. Nel, “Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism: Blood Nephews?” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, (July 2017) no. 158, p. 59. 385 M. Nel, “Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism: Blood Nephews?” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, (July 2017) no. 158, p. 59.

72 would make theological training conditional to partake in the ministry,386 an opinion supported by their perception of some historical churches with excellent theological training for their ministers, that they are lacking the “revivalist spirit.” Revelation knowledge, the product of a direct revelation of the Spirit through what is read in the Bible but also sometimes of an extra-biblical nature, was viewed as superior to knowledge attained through theological study or informed exegetical investigation of the scriptures.

The problem was that revelation knowledge was sometimes used without recourse to any theological knowledge or scientific biblical exegesis that should serve as the guideline for life and teaching to protect the church from heresies.387 For these reasons, many Pentecostal denominations from the forties chose purposefully to rather provide training for their pastors in Bible schools where the training was characterized as “spiritual” (meaning, driven and initiated by the Spirit), Bible-centred and Bible-oriented,388 with the Bible serving as the main (and in many instances, the only) textbook and committed to the “fundamentals of the faith.”389

2.1.6 Pastoral formation of leaders

Gabriel T. Wankar has observed that formation as it is done today to train for the Catholic priesthood places too much emphasis on the cognitive and too little accent on the affective and intuitive dimensions of human development in general and the Christian enterprise. On the other hand, African pastoral ministry is full of the sick, occasioned by HIV/AIDS, hunger, and poverty. The result is that “there are more professional, scholars, and scrupulous functionaries among the Catholic clergy and religious, without real pastors.”390 The Church in Africa needs more pastors, and this should be a priority for the formation program for Catholic clergy in Africa today.391

Traditional African communities conceive a human being’s life as passing through different stages, each requiring a specific “initiation”, which not only marks the individual’s

386 Cf. D. Gordon, Fee, Gospel and Spirit: Issues in New Testament Hermeneutics, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1991), p. 84. 387 M. Nel, “Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism: Blood Nephews?”, p. 59-60, quoting Burger & Nel, The Fire Falls in Africa, p. 389-394. 388 A. H. Anderson and G.J. Pillay, “The Segregated Spirit: The Pentecostals,” in Christianity in South Africa: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, edited by R. Elphick and T.R.H. Davenport, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997, 236. 389 M. Nel, “Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism: Blood Nephews?”, p. 60, quoting K. Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community, (Cleveland: CPT, 2009), p. 92. 390 G. T. Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 112. 391 Ibid.

73 interior maturation but also his greater insertion into the community392 and his assuming further responsibilities related to the common good. The title of Initiator, applied to Christ, again reveals how the African think of Christ’s role in its relational or social dimension- as inserting humans deeper and deeper into a “communion of saints”.393 As a member of a community, the initiate shares in all that pertains to the community: the joys and sorrows, hardships and fortunes, sufferings and happiness. He also identifies himself with the community by rendering service and contributing to the building up and strengthening of the bond of communion in the society. This conception facilitates the understanding of baptism as uniting a person with the members of the mystical body, the Church, in the life of faith, and lets him use the divine gifts received in the work of building up the Church.394

I argue that the training and formation the Catholic Church offers to its ministers is worthwhile and should be nurtured and promoted. There is however need for religious leaders and theologians to be proactive in identifying in their religions whatever is anti-life and anti-liberation and prophetically fight for its elimination. There should be more attention to cults, particularly secretive ones which may one day become satanic and destroy life. As Ssettuuma Jr., has observed, the secretive New Age religions should be studied deeply to decipher their impact on Uganda’s liberation and development. Furthermore, Religious leaders should feel that one of their primary duties is to promote religious and spiritual formation of conviction fully grounded in the love for God and Neighbour, Life and Truth. This will enable them to judge various religions among them and become mature so that they do not move from one religion to another (Eph 4:15).395

2.1.7 Liturgy and use of the Bible

Another challenging area is in liturgy. For too long, historical churches have played down the role of experience.396 Wankar has observed that “Africans are thoroughly lively and celebrating

392 Bishop Anselm Sanon (Bobo-Dioulasso- Burkina Faso) explores this view that Jesus unfolds the meaning of initiation as the ongoing process from childhood to ancestor-hood that makes us progressively more fully human. Jesus, the master of initiation has gone before us in the process and knows all that we must endure. Cf. “Jesus, Master of Initiation”, in Faces of Jesus in Africa, 85-102, quoted by Dominic Ndubuisi Nwuzor, A Survey of African Christology,” op. cit., 1997, p. 51. 393 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, A Survey of African Christology,” op. cit. p. 51. 394 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, A Survey of African Christology,” op. cit. p. 51. 395 B. Ssettuuma Jr., “The State of Religion and Culture in Uganda 2008,” The Waliggo Journal of Holistic Theological Reflection, 2 (Jan 2009) no. 1, p. 165. 396 Cf. Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 108.

74 by nature. The participatory and experiential nature of Pentecostal worship fits well with the oral culture roots of the Africans. Above all the traditional churches must wake up to the challenge of popular biblical exposition, which is at the heart of Pentecostal worship, giving the impression of the traditional churches not taking the Bible seriously.”397 Unlike traditional patterns of worship in which single hymns are inserted within the liturgy, services in the Pentecostal-charismatic churches commonly start with a long succession of songs. As some scholars have noted, this contributes to the creation of an atmosphere of divine presence and enables the believers to focus on God.398 For the Pentecostal-charismatic Christians, singing engages the body and is usually accompanied by dance or bodily movements while participants are in a standing position, this makes believers feel an intense and absorbing union with God and the streaming of his power through their bodies.399 Joel Robbins gives a summary of Pentecostals’ manner of worship as follows:

Services appear spontaneous, experiential and exuberant…They have an eventful

quality, with people waiting to see what the Spirit will do…, and they often erase older

boundaries between worship and leisure…Many people are compelled to attend

services, revivals, and other ritualized gatherings by a ‘spiritual acquisitiveness’

generated in them that presses believer relentlessly on to the next experience…These

ecstatic rituals clearly are, in part, a counterpoint to the ascetic lives converts are

enjoined to live outside of religious contexts, and their structures frequently reiterate

the alternation of control and release.400

Aidan Nichols O.P,401 in his present book, “Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of its Contemporary form,” gives a critical examination of the recent developments in Liturgy based on the changes effected by the Vatican Council II (1962-1965). While appreciating the rich content of the Council’s documents, he observes and evaluates some of the lacunae created that have

397 Cf. Wankar, “Toward Common Ground: Catholicism and Pentecostalism in African Christianity,” p. 108. 398 M. Lindhardt, “‘If you are saved you cannot forget your parents’: Agency, Power, and Social Repositioning in Tanzanian born-again Christianity,” Journal of Religion in Africa, 40 (2010) no. 3, p. 254. 399 M. Lindhardt, “If you are saved you cannot forget your parents,” cit. p. 255. 400 Cf. J. Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004) no.1, p. 126. 401 Fr. Aidan Nichols is a Dominican Theologian who has written many books in the field of Theology.

75 evolved into some abuses experienced today in the field of liturgical celebration.402 He blames the present situation on the quest for “relevance” while sacrificing solemnity and spirituality of the liturgy. This has led to relativism and adulteration of the nucleus of worship. Some of the contributions of Liturgical Movements,403 were received by the Fathers of the Vatican Council II, without a proper examination of the hidden underlying elements.

This has led to the endorsement of documents and practices that are pregnant with ambiguities and translucency. He blames the Council Fathers for being a little laxed in investigating the social-political and intellectual background of the ideologies of some of these individuals. The liturgical movement sought to make the liturgy both more attuned to early Christian traditions and more relevant to modern man, the process involved simplifying liturgical rites, developing new texts, translating the Latin texts into the vernacular of individual countries, and re-educating both laity and clergy on their role in liturgical celebrations. “Not enough attention was paid to certain ambiguities in the history of the liturgical movement either by those who brought the Second Vatican Council’s commitment to the ‘liturgical renewal’ in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, or by those who subsequently worked to give that commitment concrete form in the revised liturgical books.”404 Pope Pius XII’s Encyclical letter Mediator Dei (20. Nov.1947), was the first encyclical to call for the need for public opinion in matters with regard to Liturgy in the Church. This gave a strong backing to the movements and the elements of such was felt later during the Council.405

2.1.8 Cultural originality of Africa

Nichols seems uneasy with the spirit of spontaneity that is experienced today in liturgy, all based on the interpretation and application of the outcome of Vatican II. He laments the rise of the heresy of the “cult of choice” a situation where priests introduce a lot of un-liturgical practices into worship with the aim of winning admiration and making the people “happy”.406 That due to the

402 Using the historical comparative method, he analyses how the Church has derailed from some of her core liturgical traditions that had both biblical and historical bases for centuries. 403 Liturgical Movement was a 19th – and 20th – Century effort in the Church to restore the active and intelligent participation of the faithful in the liturgy. 404 Cf. Aidan Nichols, Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of its Contemporary form, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996), p. 11. 405 Nichols, Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of its Contemporary form, p. 46. 406 This seems to resonate with a quote by Thomas Sowell, that “The problem of modern generation is emotion; the substitution of what is functional with that which only sounds better.”

76 emphasis on “active participation” in liturgy, as preached by Vatican II, the essentials of liturgy are gradually being replaced by external attractions and displays. “The rise of consumer-friendly rite and a demand for loose and lax ‘happy clappy’ events full of meet and greet transactions. These trivialize the social, preclude deeper meaning being read into action.”407

Nichols agrees with Ratzinger, that active participation does not mean gymnastics, as even the fact of silence can consciously and actively unfold the mystery of worship in liturgy. He sees the conflict between pastoral theologians and liturgists in an attempt of incorporating culture into liturgy, that is inculturation, this has led to a crossbreed between Christianity and social-cultural rites which lack theological foundation. Aidan Nichols calls for a re-evaluation of the central themes of the Liturgical Movements which inversely affected the content of Sacrosanctum Concilium and other documents of Vatican Council II. There is need to re-consider: intellectual studies, clerical reform and lay education. Any fabricated liturgical celebration which is aimed at a consumer-friendly rite is of no benefit to the Church.

Whereas the author may not delve deep in analyzing the issues presented by Aidan Nichols, the problem at hand reveals a conflict among theologians,408 when it comes to inculturation. As Shorter has noted, “Inculturation is essentially a historical phenomenon and the Church’s history is a history of inculturation.”409 Furthermore, “the Catholic Church is not a kind of multi-national corporation with local branches or subsidiaries. It is a communion of particular churches and these particular churches are Church in so far as they are open towards, and in communion with, one another. They are the Catholic Church in a particular place.410 This openness and communion are essential to their ecclesial identity.”411

Shorter further observes that, “If the intercultural process is really allowed to get underway in the Church, then there should be a more balanced exchange of cultural elements. We can perhaps already begin to observe some signs of this exchange. It is not only Africa or India that must

407 Nichols, Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of its Contemporary form, p. 55. 408 Liturgists on one hand and Missiologists and Pastoral theologians on another. 409 Shorter, Towards a Theology of Inculturation, p. 64. 410 Pope Paul VI, during his visit to Uganda and address to the bishops in the Cathedral of Kampala Archdiocese on Rubaga Hill, gave the same view: “In the first place, the African Church must be Catholic…we are not inventors of our faith, we are its custodians. Not every religious feeling is good, but only that religious sentiment which interprets the thought of God according to the apostolic teaching authority established by the sole master, Jesus Christ.” Cf. Shorter, Towards a Theology of Inculturation, 1988, op. cit. p. 209. 411 Shorter, Towards a Theology of Inculturation, p. 68.

77 venerate Our Lady of Lourdes or Our Lady of Czestochowa. Europe and America must begin to take an interest in the exuberance of liturgical dancing or the asceticism of Christian Yoga. Perhaps we shall witness the break-up of the Catholic sub-culture and its replacement by a much fluid cultural ensemble.”412 At the 1977 Synod of Bishops on Catechesis, “Paul VI gave his final message to Africa when receiving the African Bishops in audience. He spoke of the cultural originality of Africa which must be ‘enlivened from within’ by the Catholic faith. The faith ‘grafted on to the venerable ancestral trunk’ would give quality and taste to the fruits of the tree.”413

African Christianity is subject to a diversity of judgements. Along with this diversity of relationship to African culture inherited from ancestors comes, in return, a diversity of reactions by observers, ranging from praise to suspicion.414 Ngalula notes that Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa makes an impression not only through its statistics, but also through the overall vitality of its institutions: the living liturgies in all denominations, its creativity in terms of pastoral activities, and prophetic courage and even martyrdom in some places. Some researchers admire this “unruly Africa”415 that had the courage to seek institutional and doctrinal independence from Christianity as shaped in the West over centuries. The reception of the Christian message is truly very creative in Africa, as it is adapted to the matters peculiar to the continent’s path of history.416

Regarding to the suspicions of African Christianity, there is a sort of internal self-criticism by African intellectuals;417 the other a straight-out denial by non-Christian African circles. Questions about massive infatuation of African Christians are often asked, what is hidden behind the current religious fervor among African women and men? Is it faith born from the deep desire for God, or a response stirred up by extreme poverty and that risks disappearing when social conditions in Africa improve?418 Another feature deplored by those with suspicions about African Christianity is that these African “servants of God” play the business game of offer and demand,

412 Shorter, Towards a Theology of Inculturation, p. 67. 413 Shorter, Towards a Theology of Inculturation, p. 219, quoting R. Hickey, Modern Missionary Documents and Africa, (Dublin: Dominican, 1982), p. 248. 414 J. Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” International Review of Mission, 106 (Dec 2017) no. 2, p. 234. 415 Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” 2017, op. cit., quoting Achille Mbembe, Afriques indociles. Christianisme, pouvoir et État en société post-coloniale, (Paris: Karthala, 1988). 416 Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” p. 235. 417 Cf. “Are African Christians good Christians”, Le Filament, 12 ( 24 Jan. 2011); Apollinaire-Sam Simantoto Mafuta, The Hidden Face of the God of the Congolese- Word of Jesus and Revelations by Charlatans: How Can We Tell the Difference? (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2012). 418 Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” p. 235.

78 feeding their faithful with doctrines that distance them from concerns of brotherly love, honest productive work, and improvement of one’s immediate environment. And these illusions push the faithful to make many offerings in order to obtain the divine blessing that would magically change their life. As a consequence, the pastors, who yield to the temptation of simony, become increasingly rich and their faithful increasingly poor.419

Cameroonian theologian Jean-Paul Messina finds that these internal self-criticisms in the end reveal the true challenge of Christianity in Africa today:

Despite its denominational fragmentation, Christianity in the 20th century experienced

unprecedented growth here, to the point where, for some observers, the centre of

gravity of this religion has already shifted from the West toward Africa. But this

African Pentecost must not hide the weakness of Christianity on the continent,

because despite this strong growth, a major challenge remains to be taken up here:

that of a dialogue between faith and culture that will help Africans live out their faith

intimately, without relinquishing their identity. The credibility and relevance of

Christianity in Africa resides in this religion’s capacity to fulfill humankind and its

future in a social environment undergoing in-depth changes.420

Roy Wallis, presents three types of New Religious Movements; The world-rejecting new religion, the world-affirming new religion and the world accommodating new religion: In the first instance, “The World-Rejecting New Religion,” views the prevailing social order as having departed substantially from God’s prescriptions and plan.421 It is argued that humanity’s loss of touch with God and spiritual things has led to pursuit of purely material interests, which has created a polluted environment and a vice-ridden society where individuals treat each other purely as means rather than as ends, hence a world filled with conflict, greed, insincerity and despair. The world-rejecting movement condemns urban industrial society and its values, particularly that of

419 Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” p. 235. 420 Ngalula, “Some Current Trends of Christianity in Africa,” p. 236, quoting J.-P. Messina, Culture, Christianisme et quête d’une identité africaine, (Paris : L’Harmattan, 2012). 421 Cf. Roy Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” in L.L. Dawson (ed.), Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader, (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003), p. 36.

79 individual success as measured by wealth or consumption patterns. It rejects the materialism of the advanced industrial world, calling for a return to a more rural way of life, and a reorientation of secular life to God.422 The “Krishna Consciousness movement” in West Virginia is one of the examples, with uncompromising set of moral demands upon the adherent. Rather than a life pursuing self-interest, the world-rejecting sect requires a life of service to the guru or prophet and to others who likewise follow him. Through long hours of proselytizing on the street or distributing the movement’s literature, through a laborious round of devotional ritual before the deities or unpaid domestic duties for leaders or other members, the devotee will suppress his own desires and goals in expression of his commitment to the greater good of the movement, or love of God and His agent.423

Secondly, “The World-Affirming New Religion”: This lacks most of the features traditionally associated with religion - no “church”, no collective ritual of worship, no developed theology or ethics.424 The world-affirming movements emphasize the “present”, this is what Kurt Back refers to as the “mythology of the here and now”.425 They are often hostile to intellectualization and rational evaluation, seeing these as a defense against, or barrier to, feeling and experience.426 These claim to possess the means to enable people to unlock their physical, mental and spiritual potential without the need to withdraw from the world, means which are readily available to virtually everyone who learns the technique or principle provided. No laborious prior period of preparation is necessary, no ascetic system of taboos, no extensive mortification of the flesh nor forceful control of the mind.427 In world-affirming movements, the social order is not viewed as entirely and irredeemably unjust, nor society as having departed from God as in the world-rejecting case. The beliefs of these movements are essentially individualistic. The source of suffering, of disability, of unhappiness, lies within oneself rather than in the social structure.428

422 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” p. 37. 423 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” op. cit. 424 Ibid, p. 44. 425 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” p. 49, quoting Kurt Back, 1972. 426 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” p. 49. 427 Ibid, p. 45. 428 Ibid, p. 46.

Thirdly, “The World-Accommodating New Religion”: here, the religion is not construed as a primarily social matter, rather it provides solace or stimulation to personal, interior life. Michael Harper, a leader in Charismatic Renewal, says: Its main strength, and for many its attractiveness, lies in its spontaneity, and in the fact that it is so far comparatively unstructured. It is not basically a protest movement, but a positive affirmation of faith in God and His power to change people and institutions. It is a new style of Christian life.429 The Neo-Pentecostalism, or the Charismatic Renewal Movement are examples belonging in this category. Roy Wallis observes that involvement in such movements is often motivated by the desire for experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, the most obvious and characteristic sign of which was normally glossolalia, the “gift of tongues”. It would also be accompanied by enthusiastic participation in worship.430

2.2 The African Independent Churches

African Independent Churches are various and represent well over 10,000 independent Christian denominations in Africa and are found [nearly] in every country in Africa.431 John Baur has noted that central to the beginning of the African independent Church movement, is “the dream of [having] one great African Church, embracing the whole African race and being born from the encounter of the Gospel with African men and women, without the domination of European leadership and culture.”432 What comes out is the biblical name “Ethiopia.”433 This is quite similar to what Brockman and Pescantini, have observed about “The Hour of Africa.”434 Prevailing political and economic forces combined to produce the current upon which Christianity surged

429 Wallis, 2003, op. cit. p. 55, quoting R. Quebedeaux, The New Charismatics, Garden City, (NY: Doubleday, 1976), p.71. 430 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,”, p. 55. 431 Cf. F. Omollo, “A major ecumenical challenge in Africa: The mushrooming of independent Churches” Human Dignity Journal, (2014) no.1, p. 110. 432 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 405. 433 “Ethiopia” stands for black Africa, we read of the eunuch, court official of Candace the Queen of Ethiopia who reads the good news of Christ and he is baptized by Philip (Acts 8:26-40); upon his return, the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia thrived. In 1892, the first Ethiopian Church, was founded in South Africa. There are other references which point to Africa: Jesus lived on African soil in his infancy (Mt 2:13-18); Simon of Cyrene (Mt 27:32) 434 “Africa had to wait for its hour until the nineteenth century” Cf. N. Brockman, S.M. and U. Pescantini, M.C.C.J., A history of the Catholic Church, (1999), p. 160.

81 through Africa. “The nationalist fever of the century produced jingoism, a sense of cultural glorification felt by large and small nations alike.”435 Similarly, there was such a zeal in Henry Venn, secretary-general of the Church Missionary Society, the moving force behind the idea of African protestant missionaries who maintained that Africans had to take leadership of the Christian community as quickly as possible, to produce a self-ministering, self-supporting, and self-propagating church.436 From this point of view, we notice the link between Jesus and other people. Jesus belongs not only to the Jews, but to all humanity. Here comes the basis for stressing an African theology that Christ is our Proto-Ancestor. This link between Jesus and humanity, it has been argued, teaches us also as Africans to reject every kind of ethnic discrimination.437

The African Independent Churches alone accounted for 15% of the total Christian population in sub-Saharan Africa in 1981, by the year 2000, at the fast growth rate of over 1.5 million per year, the adherents of these Churches were estimated at 60 million.438 According to David B. Barret, coauthor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, there are now 33,800 different Christian denominations. “And the fastest-growing are the independents, who have no ties whatsoever to historic Christianity.”439 Wasswa M.P, distinguishes between African Independent Churches and Popular Religious Movements. He states that while the former are offshoots from the major Protestant churches, the latter are breaking away from the Catholic Church.440 For instance the “Redeemed Christian Church of God” (RCCG) is a Pentecostal Church that evolved in 1952 as an offshoot of an African Independent Church- Cherubim and Seraphim Church- started by late Reverend Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi in Nigeria.441 Kombo, notes that the African

435 N. Brockman, S.M. and U. Pescantini, M.C.C.J., A history of the Catholic Church, revised and updated by F. S. Njure, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1991), p. 160. 436 Ibid, p. 160-162. 437 Cf. Commentary on Matthew 1:3, in The African Bible, p. 1634. 438 Cf. M.J. Manala, “The impact of Christianity on sub-Saharan Africa,” paper presented at the 2013 Africa Conference under the theme, Social Movements, Religion, and Political Expression in Africa, held at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/she/v39n2/16.pdf (accessed 27.04.2021). See also: Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,” Religion and Public Life, (2 April 2015), https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/ (accessed 27.04.2021). 439 Cf. K.L. Woodward, A. Underwood, R.B. Kaiser, et al., “The Changing Face of the Church,” Newsweek 137 (16 April 2001) no. 16, p. 46. 440 M.P, Wasswa, African Christian Theology in Contemporary Context, (Kampala: Marianum Press, 2002), p. 202. 441 Cf. A. Adedibu Babatunde, “Approaches to transformation and development: The case of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Nigeria” in P. Öhlmann, W. Gräb and M.L, Frost, eds., African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development, (New York: Routledge, 2020), p. 140.

Independent Churches (AICs) as indigenous expression of Christian faith “have been around since 1819.”442

Africa’s contemporary Pentecostal-charismatic Christian landscape includes not only the African Independent churches and the classical Pentecostal churches, but also neo-Pentecostal movements that have been institutionalized as churches and whose orientations and expressions have been inspired in part by North American televangelism from the 1970s.443 Other movements within the neo-Pentecostal family are renewal movements within historic mission denominations and trans-denominational fellowships like the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI).444

Its activities consist mainly of breakfast meetings at which prominent individuals share their born-again stories followed by altar calls for others to give their lives to Christ. Some leading members have eventually formed their own Pentecostal churches but by far their greatest input to the Pentecostal/charismatic phenomenon is that they have served as conduits for renewal in existing denominations because of their responsible church membership policy.445

Asamoah-Gyadu, has noted that the general contributions of these indigenous pneumatic movements to African Christianity include the mediation of a process of enculturation in Christianity at a time when the faith looked very Western; a dynamic soteriology evident through a successful normalization of charismatic experiences in worship; their existential soteriology through the preaching and interpretation of salvation as simultaneously encapsulating eternal life, healing, well-being, employment, and human biological fruitfulness; an interventionist theology through the articulation of a practical Christian response to evil through prayer, fasting; the employment of oral theological discourses in singing locally-composed choruses and testimonies of deliverance; and an innovative gender ideology through the recognition of the leadership of

442 O. J. Kombo, “The Story of the African Independent Churches: And Its Implications for Theology,” Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology 20 (2001) no.2, p. 157. 443 Asamoah-Gyadu, 2014, op. cit. 107 444 The FGBMFI is a USA-based trans-denominational charismatic fellowship that now has branches across the continent. It aims at converting prominent members of the society such as politicians and rich business people to charismatic Christianity. For instance, the former President of Zambia, Frederick Chiluba, was a member of the FGBMFI and maintained his links with the group during his presidency. Cf. Asamoah-Gyadu, 2014, op. cit.107, quoting, Phiri 2008, 95-129. 445 Cf. Asamoah-Gyadu, 2014, op. cit. p. 107.

83 women in continuity with the recognition of women as priestesses and diviners in traditional religions.446

However, as Independent Church Movements try to perpetuate and revive elements of the African culture and African world view, the challenge posed is of a twofold: they can stimulate a dangerous form of syncretism which might lead back to the traditional religious past or they can result in a type of Christianity where the Bible and Christ have a secondary place and religious experience or the “Black prophet” becomes the prime authority.447 The independent African churches may become part of the miracle of spiritual renewal in Africa or they may become the cause of the tragic disappearance of biblical Christianity. In order to keep them within the mainstream of Christianity, the churches will have to make sure that they are not pushed aside, isolated and left alone to be overwhelmed by syncretism.

Crafford further observes that, in the independent church movement we discover the cry for self-identification- the struggle to relate the church to African culture.448 No one can deny the fact that Christ’s message must penetrate more deeply into African culture. In many cases it seems to be very superficial - a thin layer over traditional religious values. In this case, Crafford opines that Christianity does not really play a significant role in times of crisis and cannot have a lasting effect on the destiny of Africa unless inculturation fosters an Africanization in the different spheres of church life such as theology, ethics, liturgy, common law, church-structuring, catechesis, pastoral methods, preaching and religious life in general.449 Africanization is something that must be done by African Christian themselves. In doing so they must keep contact with historical Christianity and have dialogue with other theologians in order to make sure that they do not depart from essential elements in mainline Christianity.450

A progress report received by October 1985 from the regional and national Episcopal Conferences regarding African Independent Churches say that among other factors, African Independent Churches offer a sense of a family; as a result of breakdown of the structure of many communities, AICs seem to offer human warmth in small communities; they promise easy

446 Cf. J. Kwabena, Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana, (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 39-59. 447 D. Crafford, “African Christianity: a miracle or a tragedy?” Africa Insight, 12 (1982) no. 3, p. 156. 448 Crafford, African Christianity: a miracle or a tragedy?” p. 157. 449 Ibid, p. 158. 450 Ibid.

84 solutions to complicated socio-economic and spiritual problems; they employ their pragmatic and syncretistic theology in the quest to satisfy people’s search for answers and solutions to complex problems both material and spiritual; they appear to offer wholeness to people who are broken; they seem to offer cultural identity, recognition, the need of participation and involvement. In the field of song and music, independent churches have taken the lead in the creation of modern African hymnology making use of traditional patterns of African singing. This is one of the very attractive elements in the life of these churches, but other elements like healing, dancing, drums, prophets, among others must also be carefully examined.451 However, the recruitment and training skills of the African Independent Churches are not without a lace of poison since they use a combination of affection and deception.452 The danger in this movement lies in the continuity with traditional religion in respect to dreams and visions, ecstatic dancing, the recognition of ancestor spirits as mediators between man and God, sacrifices, the struggle against sorcery, the near deification of the church leader among others.453

Many of the African Independent Churches make healing a cardinal objective, and most often promote it above other aspects of the gospel. This, as will be seen later, was independent of experiences of Pentecostalism and faith healing that began in the early part of the last century that had Azusa Street event as its watershed.454 Anderson argues that the newer Pentecostal and charismatic churches dotting the African religious landscape are a continuation of the Holy Spirit movements and the so-called “prophet-healing” and “spiritual Churches” of the African Independent Churches. Among other teachings upheld by these churches is a theology of success. However, with the situation in Africa, Paul Gifford asks: How can the theology of success be maintained in the face of circumstances in which so many obviously don’t indeed cannot prosper?455 At a Winners church in Nairobi on New Year’s Day 2007, worshipers were urged to buy Winners bumper stickers for their cars and other stickers for house windows, and to prophesy over the stickers every day in order to get a car in the year ahead. “If you want to own ten cars, buy ten stickers, and prophesy over them every day.” But it seems obvious that most of the people

451 Crafford, “African Christianity: a miracle or a tragedy?” p. 158. 452 Cf. Regional and National Episcopal Conferences Progress Report, Sects or New Religious Movements: Pastoral Challenge, (Kampala: St. Paul Publications Africa, Oct. 1985), nos. 8- 14. 453 Crafford, “African Christianity: a miracle or a tragedy?” p. 158. 454 A. H. Anderson, “The Newer Pentecostal and Charismatic churches: The Shape of Future Christianity in Africa?” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies, 24 (2002) no. 2, p. 1-18. 455 P. Gifford, “The Prosperity gospel in Africa: Expecting miracles,” Christian Century, (10 July 2007).

85 who attend that church on the edge of Kibera, Africa’s biggest slum, will not own one car, much less ten, by the end of 2007, Gifford wonders “what will the faithful think then?”456

Furthermore, in Africa, most pastors of African Independent Churches are not trained properly, some are simply struggling to survive financially, their historical roots are not profound enough, and they have more pressing issues like quelling internal leadership wrangles than engaging in ecumenism.457 Shorter, in his study of these Religious movements, found out that some of them arose partly as a protest to colonial oppression and the missionaries’ inflexible style of worship.’ These Christians manifest religious enthusiasm and exuberant celebrative worship styles which engage all present in prayer, song, clapping or dancing. Healing services too are an integral part of their worship. Religion is used to combat human misery such as; failure, poverty, sickness and barrenness. And in return material benefits are promised as a result of diligent observance of the prayer patterns.458

Besides the Orthodox Churches, there are Christian communities emanating from the divisions which occurred in Christianity in the 16th century. In addition, Africa has become a fertile ground for the proliferation of new Christian bodies often called “African Independent Churches.” There are also Evangelical Groups some of whom are on the borderline of sects; sects in opposition to Christianity coming for the most part from North America; western, non-Christian philosophies of life and movements of Islamic inspiration.459

In Africa alone, the collapse of European expansionism half a century ago has seen the wild proliferation of “indigenous Christian cults” inspired by personal prophecies and visions. A case in point is the “white garment sect” commonly known as the “Celestial Church of Christ” in Nigeria founded by Samuel Bilewu Oshoffa. Quite similar in “ritual regalia” to the “Bisaka sect” in western Uganda, adherents are called “Celestians”- the name claimed to come from Dt 26:15- deducing the “white garment congregation” to the “Celestial Church of Christ,” which the founder claims to have seen in the vision (in 1947), of “what true believers should wear and why they

456 P. Gifford, “The Prosperity gospel in Africa: Expecting miracles,” p. 24. 457 Cf. F. Omollo, “A major ecumenical challenge in Africa: The mushrooming of independent Churches’ Human Dignity Journal, (2014) no.1, p. 111. 458 Cf. A. Shorter, New Religious Movements in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2001), p. 19. 459 Cf. Synod of Bishop 1994, Special Assembly for Africa, Lineamenta, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994).

86 should go barefoot during services.”460 The other case is the “Kanungu sect” in western Uganda dabbed “movement for the restoration of the ten commandments” which vanished in March 2000.461

The above notwithstanding, I am aware of a counteracting observation which James A. Beckford, terms as “massification and demonization.”462 “The fact that members of some minority religious movements choose to order aspects of their lives in accordance with different priorities makes them objects of suspicion because, among other things, their non-conventional ways of living imply that something is wrong with the machinery of “normalization.” The public sense of fear and outrage is all the more intense because it is widely believed that late modernity is a time of great individualization and that non-conventional religious practices are therefore unnecessary. But permissible individualization is mostly confined to the choice of such things as dress, leisure activities, language, and sexual relations.

Departures from the expected patterns of education, employment, and consumption are grounds for suspicion and, in some cases, demonization. It is therefore acceptable to “shop around” for religious ideas, alternative therapies, or spiritual experiences; but it is not acceptable to follow a religious path which involves a break with the publicly approved life course…in these circumstances, claims that new religious movements brainwash their recruits or exploit them unfairly can be interpreted as reactions against the exercise of free will in a register to which the accusers are deaf. Beckford contends that allegations of brainwashing are the modern equivalent of late medieval accusations of witchcraft and demonic possession.463 In an attempt to elucidate that the above argument may not always apply in all instances, I would like to discuss the case of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG) sect in western Uganda.

460 Cf. KL. Woodward, A. Underwood, et.al. “The Changing Face of the Church,” Newsweek 137 (16 April 2001) no. 16, p. 46. 461 J. Walliss, “Making sense of the movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,” Nova Religion: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 9 (2005) no. 1, p. 46-66. 462 J. A. Beckford, “The Continuum Between ‘cults’ and ‘Normal’ Religion,” in Lorne L. Dawson (ed.), Cults and New Religious Movements, 2003, Op. cit. p. 27. 463J. A. Beckford, “The Continuum Between ‘cults’ and ‘Normal’ Religion,” in, Lorne L. Dawson (ed.), Cults and New Religious Movements, 2003, Op. cit. p. 28. Quoting Anthony and Robbins (1980); Robbins (1988).

2.3 Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

In Uganda, in 1989, a group of people formed what came to be known the “Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God” (MRTCG).464 This movement started in Mbarara Diocese but later found land in the rural area of Kanungu, in Kabale Diocese, south- western Uganda bordering with the Democratic Republic of Congo.465 Percentages derived from random sampling reveal that majority of the members of this movement had broken away from the mainstream Christian churches and a few from Islam: Catholic 80%, Protestant 19%, Muslim and a few believers in the African Traditional Religions 1%.466

The top leaders were Joseph Kibwetere,467 Keredonia Mwerinde and Dominic Kataribaabo.468 These claimed heavenly visions that instructed them on a course of religious action for the Church and the believers. It would appear that the phenomenon of visions with its claimed heavenly messages, attracted people to join this movement, in addition, they prayed a lot, fasted more than once a week, and lived poorly in a spirit of fraternity; at first, this style of life may have appeared genuinely serious in search for a deep friendship with God. Besides, people whose partners had died of HIV/AIDS were at that time avoided, isolated or abandoned, these people found a community which received and accepted them.469 This brings to light the importance of witness of action. Today more than ever, the church’s evangelizing mission and her social doctrine will gain credibility more immediately from witness of action than as a result of its internal logic and consistency (cf. EA no. 21).

Pope Francis argues in Evangelii Gaudium that, if part of our baptized people lack a sense of belonging to the Church, this is also due to certain structures and the occasionally unwelcoming

464 Cf. N. Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy: Details of related discoveries about the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2016), see also J. Walliss, “Making sense of the movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,” Nova Religio: The journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 9 (2005) no. 1, p. 46-66. 465 At that time, it was a sub-district but today, it is a fully fledged district. 466 Cf. N. Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, op. cit. xiii. 467 Joseph Kibwetere had previously been a schoolteacher and an inspector of Catholic schools in Mbarara Diocese, south-western Uganda. He was seen by many to be a ‘good Catholic’, this seems to explain why he attracted some Christians to join his movement. 468 Dominic Kataribaabo and Joseph M. Kasapuraari were previously priests who cut themselves off from the Catholic Church. Fr. Dominic Kataribaabo [b.1936] studied in the United States (1985-1987) and had earned a Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Loyola Marymount University in California. Cf. Jean Francois Mayer, op. cit. p. 205. 469 N. Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, vi, p. 91.

88 atmosphere of some of our parishes and communities, or to a bureaucratic way of dealing with problems, be they simple or complex, in the lives of our people. In many places as administrative approach prevails over a pastoral approach, as does a concentration on administering the sacraments apart from other forms of evangelisation (cf. EG no.63). Therefore, every one suitable of the name Christian is responsible for the progress of the Gospel that is proclaimed.

Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder in light with this mention of Type B theology, which focused on the Jesus of history, on his perfection as the ideal human being and on his teachings as important moral principles for authentic human life – “the mirror into which he takes us too in faith.”470 Contemporary society is said to be impervious towards and tired of listening. The witness of life is an effective method of preaching and evangelization as noted by Paul VI (EN, no. 41).

2.3.1 Message propagated by the “MRTCG” Sect

2.3.1.1 HIV/AIDS Pandemic

The core of the message preached by the Kanungu MRTCG, was that the people should follow the commandments of God more seriously. They claimed that HIV/AIDS was a punishment from God because of moral breakdown especially sexual morality. They claimed that “God had commissioned them to tell people to repent and stop sinning; otherwise, HIV/AIDS would become disastrous.”471 Some observers have pointed to a possible link between the rapid growth of mushroom churches and movements in the 1980s with the emergence of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Africa during the same period.472

As infections escalated during this time onwards, this created social-economic insecurities prevailed. This led to an increase in poverty levels and the growth of sexual and economic vulnerability of women. In the face of such incurable diseases as AIDS, the promise of healing preached by some pastors in the Pentecostal churches attract many patients to join them.473

470 S. B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, Constants in Context, A theology of Mission for Today, (New York: Orbis Books, Maryknoll, 2004), p. 52. 471 Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, p. vi. 472 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 116. 473 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 117.

2.3.1.2 Millennialism

The leaders of this movement “seem to have gradually developed millennially naïve ideas under which, towards the year 2000, they began to preach the end of the world on 31 Dec. 1999!”474 They preached of the future millennium following the second coming the of God’s son (cf. Rev 20:1-5) and promised their adherents of a future period of ideal peace and happiness. Some of the local councils arrested and imprisoned some members of the MRTCG in Rugyendo Sub-County475 for making house-to-house visitations and spreading religious ideas which the local councils thought were strange and dangerous, but the top sub-district leadership condemned the arrests which had included Keredonia Mwerinde and her niece, Ursula Komuhangi. This is comparable to the world-rejecting movement which upheld that the millennium will shortly commence, then a new world-order will begin, a simpler, more loving, more humane and more spiritual order in which the old evils and mistakes will be eradicated, and utopia will have begun.476

A people whose present hopes and aspirations are shuttered, are likely to be despondent and easily swayed by certain teachings which promise “a heaven on earth”. The Catholic bishops of Uganda in 1986, observed in the pastoral letter “With a new heart and a new Spirit,” the root causes of this predicament in Uganda: “When Uganda attained political independence, we were filled with hope of a wide spread growth of peace and prosperity. We have to admit that in the years since independence many of our dreams and hopes have not been fulfilled. Rather we have witnessed a growth of exploitation, corruption, robbery, violence, tribal strife and hatred which has led to the loss of moral conscience, a collapse of the economy and a life of indescribable suffering for a large number of our population.”477

Attempts at dialogue between these people and the local bishops, especially the bishop of Mbarara Diocese where the two priests and Joseph Kibwetere came from, did not bear much fruit as they claimed to “speak directly with Jesus and his mother.”478 However some people heeded the call of the bishops and returned to their respective mainstream communities of faith. Paul Ikazire, a priest who had initially joined the movement decided to leave and re-join his diocese; he

474 Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, 2016, op. cit. vii. 475 Kanungu Sub-district, under Rukungiri district, western Uganda, by then. 476 Wallis, “Three Types of New Religious Movement,” p. 38. 477 Pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops of Uganda, “With a new heart and a new Spirit,” 1986, no.12. 478 Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, 2016, op. cit. vi-vii.

90 was happily received back into the priestly ministry. Such was the case with other people after him.

2.3.1.3 Detachment, sacrifice and generosity

The members of the MRTCG, were required to disconnect themselves from the world. Hence by selling off whatever they owned and bringing the money to the leaders. In turn they were promised special blessings from God and “a life hereafter” of abundance. This practice has a semblance to the “Gospel of Prosperity,” the only difference being that whereas many people living in the context of abject poverty find a compelling reason to join churches that preach this doctrine in hope of alleviating their plight of poverty, with this teaching of a promise of an imminent life of great peace joy and abundance; could draw many people to join the movement more especially those troubled. This teaching attracted some people, who were experiencing challenges in their families but it also deterred others as Msgr. Bagumisiriza has observed: “some tough conditions as selling property and giving the money to the camp, and separation of spouses made some to leave the movement.”479

Monsignor Narcisio Bagumisiriza, who was then the diocesan pastoral coordinator of Kabale Diocese where the MRTCG had settled, gives a straightforward narration of the findings about the inferno on 17 March 2000 and the related discoveries in which more than 800 people perished:480

The majority of those interviewed said that the leaders organised the killings mainly on several grounds: Firstly, they had told the people to sell all their property and bring the money to the movement, which the majority, if not all had done. Secondly, the leaders had taught the people that the world was ending 31 Dec 1999. Most embarrassing to the leaders, however, the year ended, and the universe remained intact. The world did not cease to be! And yet people had already sold off their property, including land which is a source of livelihood. Thirdly, there was no food at the camp. Cultivation for daily food such as potatoes, vegetables, beans, sorghum, cassava and all other varieties of food had not been grown. In general work had ceased in April 1999. There was a dilemma. People could not return to their homes because they had sold their property.

479 Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, p. 49. 480 Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, p. 81-82.

If they stayed, there was no food to eat. It appears tension began to build up between the people and the leaders. At the same time, embarrassment befell the leaders on account of unfulfilled prophecies about the end of the world. Tension and frustration, embarrassment and the influence of the devil seem to have engulfed the leaders and they resolved to kill all the members of the movement without delay.

Towards the same year, 2000, Makerere University (department of religious studies) also published a work entitled: The Kanungu Cult Saga: Suicide, Murder or Salvation? In bid “to bring the Kanungu cult saga to the academic level; to critically evaluate human behaviour and attempt to delineate the way forward for the future”481 Jean Francois Mayer from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and a researcher on areas linked to emergence of new religious and apocalyptic millennialism who has travelled to Uganda twice to investigate about the Kanungu tragedy, says that the ‘Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God’ (MRTCG), emerged out of a wider milieu of Ugandan popular Catholicism; the turmoil experienced by Uganda and the spread of AIDS gave an added impetus to Marian visionary activities and apocalyptic predictions. From its very beginning, the movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God showed suspicion towards the mainline Roman Catholic hierarchy and was characterized by a selective traditionalism.482

Such is related to the November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, South America in which 922 followers of a religious movement [The People’s Temple] perished through a ‘revolutionary suicide’ and the case of the Solar Temple. Jo Di Mambro’s centre for preparing the New Age founded in 1973.483

The Bishop of Kabale Catholic diocese (the location of this incident) released a statement the day following the news of the tragedy. It was a source of guidance for Christians after this sad event; it read:484

481 Cf. Dr. S. Kabazzi-Kisirinya, “Forward”, in S. Kabazzi et al. (eds.), The Kanungu Cult-Saga: Suicide, Murder or Salvation? (Kisubi: Marianum Press, 2000); G. Banura, ‘A Critical Evaluation of Kanungu Tragedy,’ in S. Kabazzi et al. (eds.), The Kanungu Cult-Saga: Suicide, Murder or Salvation? (Kisubi: Marianum Press, 2000), p. 47-55. 482 J. F. Mayer, “Field Notes: The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,” Nova Religion: and Emergent Religions, (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2001) 5, no.1 p. 203; see also: Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, p. 88. 483 J. F. Meryer, conference proceedings, Apocalyptic Millennialism in the case of the Solar Temple, University of Virginia, 1999, p. 4. 484 Cf. Bagumisiriza, The Kanungu Tragedy, p. 8.

The victims of the horrific event that took place on 17 March 2000 are innocent adults and children. They were misled by obsessed leaders into a form of religiosity completely rejected by the Catholic Church. Their promoters have constantly rejected warnings and pieces of advice repeatedly given to them. These innocent victims are mostly baptized Christians who should be the object of our prayers to the merciful God who is the sole judge of all human frailties. Prayers should be encouraged to accompany the parents and relatives of these victims. And all forms of Christian compassion should be expressed to the bereaved families and friends. May the souls of the departed rest in eternal peace.

The Catholic Bishops of Uganda at the same time issued a Pastoral letter “to the Catholic Community and people of Good will in Uganda following the Mass Suicide of Kanungu.”485

2.4 The Bisaka sect – “the Faith of Unity” (FoU)

The Faith of Unity based in western Uganda (Bunyoro region) was founded by one Owobusobozi Bisaka.486 Before his death on 13 January 2021, Bisaka lived “a reclusive but lavish life”487 winning followers to his faith of unity sect.488

Bisaka, a former Church follower, abandoned it in 1980.489 Historically, the present Bunyoro is the remnant of the early 15th century Bunyoro-Kitara Empire renowned for its feudal

485 Catholic Bishops of Uganda, ‘A Message to the Catholic Community and People of Good will in Uganda Following the mass suicide of Kanungu,” AMECEA Documentation Service, 516 (2000), p. 3. 486 Cf. Nation Africa, “Self-proclaimed Ugandan god, Owobuzobozi Bisaka, dies in Kenya,” Daily Monitor, (Sunday 24. Jan. 2021). 487 Cf. Francis Mugerwa, “Owobusobozi Bisaka: The self-styled god in Bunyoro region,” Daily Monitor, (Saturday 12 May 2012). 488 There is some literature about him which shows his influence on church and society: M.P. Ateenyi, New religious movements in post-independent Uganda, PhD thesis, (Department of Religious Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 2000); J. Akugizibwe, Social impact of Owobusobozi Bisaka’s religious movement on Nyoro culture: A case study of Muhorro sub-county, Kibaale district, (BA dissertation), Department of Social Anthropology, Makerere University, Uganda 2012); F. Mugerwa, “Owobusobozi Bisaka: The self-styled god in Bunyoro region,” Daily Monitor, (Saturday 12 May 2012); Kusosha, I and I. Musinguzi 2018, “Museveni hails Bisaka,” New Vision (Kampala), 11 June 2018, among others. 489 Born to Petero Byombi and Agnes Kabaoora on 11 June 1930, in Buyanja Country, Kibaale District [Uganda], Bisaka grew up under the care of his grandparents, Alifonsio Wenkere and Malita Nyakake, who were catechists. Bisaka served as a catechist at Bujuni Catholic Parish. In his biography published in 1987, he served as a teacher at Muhorro Primary School and choirmaster in Muhorro Catholic Church and also as secretary and chairman of the Muhorro Parish council. The former Roman Catholic Church follower, who abandoned it in 1980, claims he “experienced special powers and heard a loud voice from God that kept directing him to start healing people back in February 22, 1980.” Although the claim cannot be verified, it has brought him many people. His followers think “he has powers to see the good and bad person.” Before a person joins this faith, they are required to list all their sins

93 system of governance under a hereditary king (Omukama), who combined both sacred and secular functions in his person.490 The prosperous kingdom went into a sheer decline because of its encounter and confrontation with the British colonialists, who perceived the kingdom “as a bastion of the slave trade and Islam and a threat to peace and civilization.”491 Ukah Asonzeh seems to suggest that the experience of horror, conflict, violence and religious intolerance at the time during the reign of Kabaka Mwanga II king of Buganda (1884-88; 1889-97) must have left an indelible mark in the mind of the young Bisaka to influence the emphasis on religious unity which is the distinctive doctrine of the FoU.492

Secondly, momentous in Bisaka’s future ambition was his musical gifts and skills which led to his appointment into Catholic diocese of Hoima’s liturgical committee. As the choirmaster of the parish in Muhorro, he was a composer of liturgical hymns for the church beyond the parish level, this brought him recognition and popularity but also a grudge.493Among his hymns is Nkaikiriza Ruhanga Murungi (My God is good) composed in 1975. Lyrics of this song indicate, it is theologically meaningful and cheerful.494 Since in Africa religions, music, singing, drumming, and dancing act as an important prelude to a healer going into trance or possession and gaining access to the sacred, through music the sacred is invoked or awakened, and fresh revelation about the causes and remedies for specific illnesses is revealed, Bisaka just like in the history of the African Independent Churches (AICs), many of those who started off as composers of church music ended up having followers and founding Churches. 495 The organisation, formally called the Faith of Unity Religion, used to call itself in the official Runyoro language, Itambiro ly’Omukama Ruhanga Owamahe Goona Ery’Obumu (‘The Association for the Healing Place of

which he wants Owobusobozi to cleanse,” (Francis Mugerwa, Daily Monitor, Saturday May 12, 2012; F. Mugerwa, interview with Omukwenda Kusemererwa May 2012). 490 Cf. M.S.M. Kiwanuka, Bunyoro and the British: A reappraisal of the causes for the decline and fall of an African Kingdom, The Journal of African History 9, 4: 603- 619. 491 S. Doyle, “Population decline and delayed recovery in Bunyoro, 1860-1960,” Journal of African History 41(2000), 3: 437. 492 A. Ukah, “Emplacing God: The Social worlds of miracle cities: Perspectives from Nigeria and Uganda,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, (2018), p. 15. 493 Bisaka claims that the Catholic diocese of Hoima made use of his hymns in its rituals without adequately remunerating him for it. Cf. Bisaka, O., The book of “God” of the age of oneness: We are one in the Lord God of Hosts-Disunity has ended, Kapyemi: Faith of Unity Press, 1987, 8-10. 494 A. Ukah, “Everything is Plastic: The Faith of Unity Movement and the Making of a Post-Catholic Religion in Uganda,” Journal for the Study of Religion 31 (2018), no. 2, p. 145. 495 Isaiah Shembe of Nazareth Baptist Church was at first a composer of Church Music. [Ibid, 145].

God of All Armies’), since then, it has transmuted from an ‘association’ into a full-fledged original African religion’496

“Bisaka sect” was banned in 1980’s by Government of Uganda over fears that its practices were dangerous. Twenty-two years later, his fold has continued to grow and now politicians too, seek his help. He alleges to have transcendent powers, a claim contended by many leaders in the mainstream Church.497 He does not only run a secondary school at his home but “hosts hundreds of visitors daily, who come to seek prophecy, healings and bring various prayer requests, some as petty as keeping beauty intact to more serious requests like winning elections for political office.”498

Hundreds of people regularly flock to Kapyemi Hill -the headquarters of “Faith of Unity sect”- seeking blessings, healing, jobs and guidance.499 The group does not believe in Jesus’ existence and in the Bible[sic!], but use “the book of the faith of unity” authored by Bisaka himself. This book spells out cleaning courtyards, grazing animals, washing and hunting, donating, smiling at friends and praying to God as deeds that can give one eternal life. His followers put on white garments and go barefoot during services. The “Faith of Unity” congregates every second, 12th and 22nd day of the month, while leaving the rest of the days for each follower to develop a list of good things they hope for. It has followers in other countries such as Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan.500

As Ukah Asonzeh highlights:501

The FoU frames its message and product as ‘good news,’ the message of salvation from disunity which sickness and disharmony bring, a message to prepare humanity for the end time. Bisaka is an apocalyptic figure with a new ethical vision and practice for humankind. For the FoU and its founder, religion and the quest and desire for the

496 Cf. A. Ukah, “Everything is Plastic, The Faith of Unity Movement and the Making of a Post- Catholic Religion in Uganda,” Journal for the Study of Religion 31 (2018), no. 2, p. 141-2. 497 The Vicar General Hoima Catholic Diocese, Msgr. Mathias Nyakatura representing the local opinion of the Catholic Church on Bisaka and his FoU, claims that Bisaka was after self-enrichment. “He wanted money because he was not paid well. He tricks people to get money, but we pray for him and his followers to repent.” Cf. F. Mugerwa, “Owobusobozi Bisaka: The self-styled god in Bunyoro region,” 2012, op. cit. 498 Cf. F. Mugerwa, “Owobusobozi Bisaka: Daily Monitor, Saturday May 12, 2012, op. cit. 499 Ibid. 500 Ibid. 501 A. Ukah, “Everything is Plastic: The Faith of Unity Movement and the Making of a Post-Catholic Religion in Uganda,” Journal for the Study of Religion 31 (2018), no. 2, p.156.

supernatural present a template of religion that frames and materializes what normality is; it shows that the deviance/normality conundrum is relative to society and the sacred. One reason why the FoU has defied serious academic study until recently, is its entrenched and pervasive public perception as a cult, a dangerous, deviant, even mysterious and risky organization with religious vestiges and pretensions…The history of the FoU indicates that even in the presence of deviance or unorthodoxy of faith, is salvation, a redemptive rethinking and reorientation to human destiny and the myriad of things that threaten order and meaning in human experience.

However, the FoU is beginning to dwindle following the evangelisation efforts by the mainline churches and due to some unprecedented circumstances. In November 2019, at least 780 followers of Faith of Unity in Kagadi district were reported to have abandoned the cult following the death of leader Desteo Bisaka’s son.502 More followers are likely to abandon the sect following the death of its founder.503 From this discussion on the Faith of Unity (FoU) sect, the author has noticed that religion is used to combat human misery, failure, poverty, sickness and barrenness. In return material benefits are promised as a result of different observance of the prayer patterns. This is a great disparagement of theology which the Catholic Church has to counter. It is not enough that the Gospel is seldom preached from the pulpit whereas infrequently lived by Christians. While there are obviously many biblical doctrines that impinge on the evangelistic mandate of the Church, the following stand out as central to the task: the sinfulness of man, the grace of God, the nature of regeneration and conversion, and the basis of assurance. The Church is the reign of God’s sacramental presence in the world and so is intimately, inextricably bound up with humanity, history and cosmos. Its presence, if it is participating in God’s mission authentically, is always in a particular context, always seeking to communicate the gospel in terms of a particular age.504

Whereas Uganda advocates for freedom of worship as enshrined in the constitution505 and the Church cherishes individual liberty of religious belonging, the above findings are pointers to

502 S. Ainganiza, “Self-Proclaimed god Bisaka Loses 780 Followers after Son’s Death,” The Kampala Post, (4. Nov. 2019). 503 Desteo Bisaka is reported to have died from Nairobi Hospital on 13. Jan. 2021, a day to Uganda’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Cf. Alex Tumuhimbise, “Dark cloud, somber mood hover over Kapyeemi as Bisaka’s body arrives,” Daily Monitor, (Monday 25. Jan. 2021). 504 Cf. S.B. Bevans and R.P. Schroeder, Constants in Context, A Theology of Mission for Today, (New York: Orbis Books Maryknoll, 2004), p. 396-398. 505 The government of Uganda allows religious groups to obtain legal entity status under the Trustees Incorporation Act. The Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, and the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council registered

96 the crucial need for vigilance and positive action by both the Church and state for safety and diligent authentic spiritual progress for all people. That a new religion attracts and retains adherents suggests that its unique message resonates with the believers who pledge to its worldview, who participate in it, and in so doing reproduce and sustain it.506 Contrary to what Paul VI highlights in Evangelii Nuntiandi, that the very purpose of evangelisation is to bring the good news to all strata of humanity and proclaim total liberation to God’s people (cf. EN 18), there are “mushrooming sects” and many other new religious movements in Uganda, which appear to focus more on “prosperity” as property acquisition and quick riches (EBINTU), at the expense of the dignity of every human person.507 It is not surprising that the media in Uganda is afloat with reports of “pastors” fighting over property and encouraging masses to “sow seed” [pay money], buy “special miracle water”, “holy oil” or “holy rice” for “big blessing.”508 The reception of the messages as well as material cultures of new religions address how concrete social anxiety is in a society to which the religion targets its discourses and performances of making sacred.”509

The government of Uganda has continued to monitor the activities of 20 registered NGOs that it perceived to be cults, including the Serulanda Spiritual Foundation in Rakai District, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Kanungu District, the Abengeri in Hoima District, the New Heaven Church in Gulu, the Rwengwara Healing Church of All Nations in Kabarole, and the Enjiri groups in Mbale and Luwero districts.510 Furthermore, the government of Uganda continued to refuse to register the New Malta Jerusalem Church, citing national security concerns. In 2008 police in Padar detained Severino Lukoya and three of his

under this provision; however, evangelical and Pentecostal churches opted to register with the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO) Board, which requires yearly registration renewal. Most religious organizations are granted legal status. Registration with NGO Board provides certification that allows churches to access donor funding. In response to alleged cult activity, the government now requires district officials to recommend to the NGO Board local religious organizations seeking to register for the first time. In public schools, religious instruction is optional, and the curriculum surveys world religious beliefs rather than one particular faith. Private schools offer religious instruction and are common in the country. The government observes the following religious holidays as national holidays: Good Friday, Easter Monday, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Christmas. Cf. https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/171644.pdf (accessed on 26. Jan. 2021). 506 Cf. A. Ukah, “Everything is Plastic: The Faith of Unity Movement and the Making of a Post-Catholic Religion in Uganda,” Journal for the Study of Religion 31 (2018) no. 2, p. 140. 507 Cf. Mugisa, “Prosperity Gospel” in Remuneration and care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal diocese in Uganda, Licentiate dissertation, Warsaw, 2020, p. 38. 508 Cf. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy, p. 40. 509 A. Ukah, “Everything is Plastic: The Faith of Unity Movement and the Making of a Post-Catholic Religion in Uganda,” Journal for the Study of Religion 31 (2018) no. 2, p. 140. 510 https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/171644.pdf (accessed 26. Jan. 2021).

97 employees for two weeks for operating the church. Lukoya is the father of Alice Lakwena, the former leader of the now defunct Holy Spirit Movement. During the 1980s Lakwena led an armed rebellion against the government, and the Holy Spirit Movement was a precursor to the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony, Lakwena’s nephew.511

Current studies about cults show that the recruiting techniques and intensive indoctrination are potential dangers to followers; in many instances, recruits are taught to surrender their material possessions in exchange for “salvation.” They are promised instant miracles and cures. Leaders of cults rule with unquestionable authority, they deprive followers of their freedom and the capacity to think, thus making them totally dependent.512 Such blind belief, unawareness, and deception by dubious leaders have led many cult followers to tragic ends and mysterious self-destruction. There is need to take keen interest in religious movements that emerge from nowhere so as to prevent “fires before they burn people”. In addition, there is need to have trained personnel who can study behaviours and trends of people that charismatically claim heavenly visions and outright heavenly authority that drives them to override ordinary Church authority. Pope Francis highlights that the God of Christian Revelation is God “who calls for a committed response which is outside the categories of the marketplace,” who “calls human beings to their full realization and to freedom from all forms of enslavement” (cf. EG 57).

As Welbourn F.B and Ogot B. A observe, the durability of Christian faith in Africa will not depend on its network of schools and parishes, hospitals and other institutions. Economic strength and even political support will not guarantee its future. The permanence of Christianity will stand or fall on the question whether it has become authentic African: whether Africans have made Christian ideas part of their own thinking, whether Africans feel that the Christian world vision of the life fulfills their own needs, whether the Christian world view has become part of authentic African aspiration.513

511 Cf. https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/171644.pdf, accessed (26. Jan. 2021). 512 Cf. A. Shorter, New Religious Movements in Africa, (Nairobi: Pauline Publications Africa, 2001), p. 11. 513 F.B Welbourn and B.A Ogot, A Place to feel at Home: A Study of two Independent Churches in Western Kenya, (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), quoted by J.M Waliggo ‘Making a Church that is authentic African’ in Waliggo J.M., Crollius A.R., Nkeramihigo and Mbinda, J.M (eds). Inculturation: Its meaning Urgency, (Kampala: St. Paul’s Publications, 1986), p. 13.

Christianity has not grown up in a kind of culture-free vacuum but has always been in living dialogue with the surrounding culture.514 The Church needs to uncover the vital rudiments of African culture which are imprinted on the African soul.515 Kwame Bediako contends that for second century theologians and modern theologians in Africa, identity is a theological issue that touches on fundamental aspects of Christianity.516 Christian identity discussions are crucial for they are a natural consequence of the Gospel; in other words, the Gospel is universally relevant and offered to all, but always meant to be inculturated, answering cultural questions.517 Bediako defends the need for Christians to thoroughly contextualize their faith; this is reflected in his choice for an indigenization approach in his theology. For him, the Gospel is by its very nature both universal and particular: it is intended to be “translated” into each context in which it found itself.518

Once the African heritage has been clearly understood, then it can be placed alongside the biblical and patristic traditions and progress will be possible.519 Furthermore, no one could take seriously a theology which preaches the necessity of inculturation, but simply ignores the surrounding social misery.520 African Women Theologians, particularly Mercy Amba Oduyoye, emphasize the metaphors of “household of God” and “relatives of Christ” as liberative metaphors. In addition, “the circle of African women theologians” build on the experience of African women as home-makers to reflect on Church as community under God- God’s house where God is fully in charge and preventing all manner of oppressions.521 In the Johannine Gospel, Jesus says: “I

514 B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, (New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 62. 515 However, in the post-colonial era, some Africans no longer know their traditions, and this is a matter that needs redress. Many old African values are beginning to disappear. For instance, in some occasions, traditional hospitality is nowadays being considered a pretext for parasitism. But in traditional Africa, no one was allowed to become a burden to anyone else. After three days, guests were expected to help their host in the fields and in general to earn their keep. 516 Cf. K. Bediako, Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and in Modern Africa, (Oxford: Regnum, 1999), p. 31-33. 517 Cf. K. Bediako, Theology and Identity, op. cit. p. 48. 518 Cf. K. Bediako, Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience, Theology in Africa, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2004), p. 54-56. 519 We find this reflected in Bishop Tshibangu’s work Le Propos d’une Théologie Africaine, 1974, that the Bible should be transmitted from the Holy Land directly to Africa, without being first “treated” by Europe (p.37). It is true that Tshibangu thought that the magisterium of the Church should exercise control over the development of an “African” theology (see p.6) the issue here is that conventional western biblical scholarship must be looked at critically, so that the Africans can receive the Bible not as filtered through western culture, but with their own eyes. 520 B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, (New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 70. 521 Cf. M.A. Oduyoye, Introducing African Women’s Theology, (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 2001); M.A. Oduyoye, “The African Family as a Symbol of Ecumenism” Ecumenical Review 43 (October 1, 1991) no.4, p. 465-478; see also D.

99 came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) Jesus is therefore the full answer to the aspirations of not only Africans but all humanity.

2.5 Pentecostalism in Africa

Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity refers to “Christian groups - churches, movements and fellowships – which emphasize salvation in Christ as a transformative experience wrought by the Holy Spirit and in which pneumatic phenomena including ‘speaking in tongues,’ prophecies, visons, healing and miracles in general, are perceived to be standing in historic continuity with the experience of the early church as found in the Acts of the Apostles. In Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity, these pneumatic phenomena or charismatic manifestations are sought, accepted, valued, and consciously encouraged among members as signifying the presence of God and the experiences of his Spirt.”522

Similarly, there are Pentecostals, whose origin is traced to the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Churches in North America.523 These first emerged in Africa after World War II, and since then they have been spreading rapidly in African cities and towns, especially among the affluent classes.524 The growth, dynamism, influence and spread of Pentecostalism in Africa is indicative of the socio-religious strength of a stream of Christianity that is attractive to Africans because the experiential and interventionist nature of this theology has much in it that resonates with traditional African religious sensibilities and aspirations.525

From Shorter’s study on Pentecostals in East Africa, they are generally associated with more affluent groups of Christians in towns and cities, while the African Independent Churches are more visible in rural areas where they have solidarity with the poor.526 These use media (radio, TV, newspapers, to evangelize, they have belief in direct experience of God and deliverance from

Tarus, “Social Transformation in the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.” Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology 33 (2014) no. 1, p. 3-22. 522 Cf. J. Kwabena, Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana, (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 12. 523 Cf. J. Lukwata, “Pentecostals” in: Integrated African Liturgy, (Limuru: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2003), p. 62. 524 Ibid. 525 Cf. J. Kwabena, Asamoah-Gyadu, “Pentecostalism and the Transformation of the African Christian Landscape,” in Martin Lindhardt (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2014), p. 113. 526 Shorter, New Religious Movements in Africa, p. 28.

100 evil spirits, they offer full participation with vibrant singing and spontaneous prayer, there is absence of catechumenate, “the Spirit is available to all”; they share experiences of conversion through testimonies, they exercise personal responsibility and self-control, they stress the importance of the Bible and morality, they encourage women emancipation through fellowships.527

It is conceivably in this vein that Father Lombardi observes: “while Africans are experiencing the weakening of their traditional communities, the Catholic Church finds herself faced with the increasing success of Evangelical or Pentecostal Churches, which sometimes spring up spontaneously in Africa. They offer an attractive faith, and a great simplification of the Christian message: they emphasize healings, and they mix their rituals with those of the traditional religions.”528 Relatedly Fr. Lombardi’s queries brings to our study questions as: What stance does the Catholic Church adopt towards these communities, which are so aggressive towards her? How can the Church be attractive, when these communities portray themselves as festive, warm or inculturated?

In a research by Castor Michael Goliama on the Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, with Reference to the Archdiocese of Songea, Tanzania (2013) he found out that it is mostly faith healing and exorcism that attract Catholics to the Pentecostal churches, the practice of faith healing exorcism and Gospel of prosperity constitute the most attractive elements of the Pentecostal churches but in the prosperity Gospel churches, the sharing of material resources with the less fortunate people is not emphasized.529

From his work, there are elements which have informed our current study especially from the point of view that; Tanzania and Uganda belong to the same East African community with quite related experiences among the people, and the hierarchy under the auspices of the Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) share something in common. However, this study is different because it discusses both the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry in African Pentecostalism but in the context of Uganda.

527 Shorter, New Religious Movements in Africa, p. 28. 528 Cf. Fr. Lombardi, Interview of Pope Benedict XVI during the flight to Benin: Papal flight, Friday, 18 November 2011. http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2011/november/documents/hf_ben- xvi_spe_20111118_incontro-giornalisti.pdf (accessed 16.04.2021). 529 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 18.

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Pentecostalism in Africa has become core in the discourses about African Christianity.530 African Pentecostalism is the label given to the wide variety of new religious movements multiplying in Africa since about 1980s.531 Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, often identified as “the form of Christianity in which believers receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” is rapidly spreading and can be counted as one of the great success stories of the current era of cultural globalization.532 Its origin can be traced to early twentieth-century developments within Christianity in the West, particularly in North America.533

Barrett and Johnson have noted that despite its originally western provenience, just a hundred years after its birth, two thirds of Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity’s 525 million adherents live outside the west in areas such as Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania, comprising the fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world, second in size only to Roman Catholicism.534

Literature on Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity presents a paradoxical picture of the cultural dynamics accompanying its spread. The number presented in the Status of Global Christianity, 2021, in the Context of 1900-2050, estimate the number of Pentecostals/Charismatics at 655 million in comparison to Evangelicals at 393 million by mid-2021.535 Some scholars as Allan Anderson, claims that Pentecostalism is, “flexible and resilient enough to adapt to and be at

530 Some scholars like Joel Tishken consider Pentecostalism as marking the third stage of “African Reformation of the twentieth century”; while others like Ogbu Kalu consider it as “Africa’s new Christianity”; others like Paul Gifford, claim that the current dramatic Christian resurgence in Africa is mostly attributed to the growth of Pentecostalism, while still others like Marc Sommers, see Pentecostalism in line with urbanization as the most significant demographic trends that are reshaping the African continent today. Cf. Joel E. Tishken, “A Brief History and Typology of the African Reformation,” Nova Religio, The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 13 (August 2009), no. 1, p. 8; Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism, An Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 24; Paul Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 8 (Nov 2008) no.4, p. 280; Marc Sommers, “Young, Male and Pentecostal: Urban Refugees in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,” Journal of Refugee Studies, 14 (Dec 2001) no.4, p. 347-370. 531 Cf. C. M. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism: A Theological and Pastoral Challenge to the Catholic Church- with Reference to the Archdiocese of Songea, Tanzania, (Wien: Universität Wien, 2013), p. 75. 532 J. Robbins, “The Globalisation of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), p. 117. 533 A. Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 39. 534 D.B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, “Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission: 2003,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 27 (2003), no.1, p. 24-25. 535 A. Gina Zurlo, Todd M. Johnson and Peter, F. Crossing, “World Christianity and Mission 2021: Questions about the Future,” International Bulletin of Mission Research, (Jan 2021). See also: https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Status-of- Global-Christianity-2021.pdf (accessed on 11.03.2021). 102 home with both modernity and its elusive successor, post-modernity,”536 however such a claim fails to account for the effects of other factors as modernization, industrialization, urbanization, rationalization, among others on individuals’ religious decisions. As noted by some scholars, Pentecostalism exhibits a great variability537 while some are moving towards a specialization in ministry, others tend to specialize in healing, financial break-through and exorcism.538 The importance of the Holy Spirit is emphasized above biblical doctrines.539

The following features are mostly emphasized in Pentecostalism: the requirement for an experience of conversion,540 biblical literalism and divine inspiration of Scripture, but the core Pentecostal teaching often described as “fourfold,” “foursquare,” or “full gospel” theological pattern are: i) Jesus offers salvation; ii) Jesus heals; iii) Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit; iv) Jesus is coming again.541

Before the advent of classical Pentecostalism in Africa, the manifestation of the spirit to heal the sick had been prominent in the lives of some persons, often referred to as “prophets,” and churches that sprang up from the historic churches.542 Among these “prophets” include, William Hade Harris of Liberia,543 Simon Kimbangu of Congo,544 Joseph Babalola of Nigeria,545 and

536 A. Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity, 2004, op. cit. p. 285. 537 African Pentecostalism exhibits a lot of theological and liturgical differences, that some commentators like Elisabeth Isichei, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Otago have suggested that we better speak of “Pentecostalisms” rather than “Pentecostalism” Cf. E. Isichei, The Religious Traditions of Africa: A History, (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2004), p. 215. 538 Cf. G. O. Folarin, “Prosperity Gospel in Nigeria: A Re-examination of the Concept, Impact, and Evaluation,” African Journal of Biblical Studies, 23 (Oct 2006) no. 2, p. 83. 539 It is believed that the baptism in the Holy Spirit will lead to signs and wonders, this includes, speaking in tongues or glossolalia, exorcisms and miraculous healings from illnesses, diseases and possessions from evil spirits. (cf. Acts 2:1-12, Acts 3); Pentecostalism is more understood as a movement concerned primarily with the experience of the action of the Holy Spirit and the practice of spiritual gifts. Cf. B. Meyer, “Christianity in Africa: From African Independent to Pentecostal-Charismatic churches” Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), p. 452. 540 Partially to achieve this, Pentecostals take as important aggressive evangelism, strict moralism and a dynamic worship style. They also offer room for prophetism, dreams and visions hence the anticipation for miracles is common among them. 541 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 75; J. Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” p. 121. 542 O. Onyinah, Healing: a Pentecostal Perspective, p. 322. 543 G. Mackay Haliburton, The Prophet Harris: A Study of an African Prophet and His Mass-Movement in the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast, (London: Longman, 1971). 544 Marie-Louise Martin, Kimbangu: An African Prophet and His Church, trans. D. M. Moore, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975); Walter J. Hollenweger, Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide, (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1997), p. 58-9. 545 C. Olubunmi Oshun, “Apostle Babalola: The Making of a Contemporary Prophet,” Christian Presence and West African Response through the Years, in S.O. Abogunrin, ed., (Ibadan: West African Association of Theological Institutions, 1983), p. 238-55.

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Joseph Appiah of Ghana.546 What resulted from these prophetic movements was the establishment of the African Initiated Churches (AIC).547

2.6 Pentecostalism in Uganda

Pentecostal sector of Ugandan Christianity had a challenging existence, because under the British Protectorate Pentecostal churches were discouraged by the colonial administration in preference to the Anglican, Catholic, and the much smaller Orthodox Churches.548 Gifford opines that even with such an attitude towards Pentecostal Churches and movements by the colonial administration, some Pentecostal denominations that had already been established in neighboring Kenya were introduced in Uganda and managed to take root.549

2.6.1 Origin and growth of Pentecostalism in Uganda

The introduction and growth of Pentecostalism in Uganda was unintentionally facilitated by British Anglican Church missionary George Pilkington,550 who sowed elements of Pentecostalism in the 1890s under the Revival Movement, an offshoot of the British Keswick holiness movement within the evangelical wing of the British Anglican Church.551 As Hastings and Kalu have observed, the Revival Movement carried a powerful message of personal and spiritual witness, emphasizing that the traditional ways of being church were no longer adequate and consistent with the gospel message.552 Although the Revival Movement members continued to operate within the structures of the Anglican Church in Uganda, the local name of the members of the Revival Movement Balokole, or “the redeemed,” has been adopted to refer to all members

546 B. Christian Goncalves Kwami, Prophetism in Ghana: A Study of “Spiritual Churches,” (London: SCM Press, 1962), p. 6-7. 547 Sometimes, this acronym AIC, can mean African Initiated Churches, African Initiatives in Christianity, African Indigenous Churches, African Instituted Churches, African Independent Churches. Cf. John S. Pobee and Gabriel Ositelu, African Initiatives in Christianity: The Growth, Gifts and Diversities of Indigenous African Churches, (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1998), p. 4; D.A. Shank, “African Independent Churches, African Theology and Western Co-Workers in the Missio Dei in Ministry in Partnership with African Independent Churches: Papers Presented at the Conference on Ministry in Partnership with African Independent Churches, Kinshasa, (July 1989) D.A. Shank, ed. (Elkhart: Mennonite, 1991), p. 4. 548 Cf. P. Gifford, African Christianity: Its public role, 1998. 549 Cf. P. Gifford, Christianity: Its public role, 1998, op. cit. 550 For a full biography of George Lawrence Pilkington, refer to A. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, 2006, p. 230- 232. 551 A. Shorter, and J.N. Njiru, New religious movements in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications, 2001). 552 Cf. A. Hastings, The Church in Africa, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994); O.U. Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An introduction, (London: Oxford University Press, 2008).

104 of the Pentecostal movements and churches in Uganda, including those of Western origin that trace their origins to the Pentecostal events of 1901 at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, U.S., and the events of the 1906 Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, California, U.S.553

In spite of Uganda’s tradition of charismatic Anglicanism, Pentecostals historically, have found it difficult to win converts in Uganda.554 During the late 1940s, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada sent a few missionaries to Uganda, but an independent Pentecostal Church in Vancouver, British Colombia named Glad Tidings Temple apparently led the first sustained Pentecostal missionary efforts in the Country.555 The Anglican Church opposed the entrance of Hugh and Audrey Layzell of Glad Tidings into Uganda as missionaries for several years, but finally relented in April 1960.556 With the help of Hugh and Audrey Layzell, a number of Full Gospel Churches were formed in Uganda. Throughout the 1960s, Glad Tidings of Vancouver continued to send missionaries to Uganda.557 2.6.2 The Balokole Revival Movement

The Balokole rose in the 1930s within the East African Revival Movement which sought to renew the Protestant churches in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The members drew inspiration from the English and American revival movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. A story is told of the first Mulokole (singular), a physician, who spread the Good News of Salvation to Kitgum in Northern Uganda:558

A physician named Elia Lubowa came from Buganda to Kitgum to work in the local government hospital. On every Sunday, after the official religious services in the church, he stood up in the churchyard, blew loudly on a trumpet and together with his wife, sang Tukutendereza Yesu “We Praise You Jesus,” a song that became a trademark of the Balokole. As they sang, the couples embraced each other, which was seen as disconcerting in Kitgum, but it successfully attracted several spectators. When the crowd was big enough Elia Lubowa then began preaching the Word of God and

553 A. Shorter, and J.N. Njiru, New religious movements in Africa, 2001, Op. cit. 554 Cf. N. J. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, 2015, p. 223. 555 Cf. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, 2015, op. cit. 556 Ibid. 557 S. Kasirye, The Pentecostal Movement in Uganda: A Souvenir of the Golden Jubilee, Uganda, (2010), p. 22-3, quoted by N. J. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, p. 223. 558 Cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, op. cit., p. 59, quoting H. Behrend, Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits, War in Northern Uganda 1985-1987, (Oxford: James Currey Ltd., 1999), p. 119-120.

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thereafter called on his listeners to repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their personal Saviour in order to be redeemed themselves.

The Lyrics for the song “Tukutendereza Yesu”559 go as follows:

(Refrain)

Tukutendereza Yesu we praise you Jesus Yesu Omwana gw endiga Jesus Lamb of God Omusaayi gwo gunnazizza I am washed in your Blood. Nkwabaza Omulokozi I thank you my Saviour (Verse) Yesu Mulokozi wange Jesus my Saviour Leero nze ndi wuwo wekka yours only am I always. Omusaayi gwo gunnazizza I am washed in your Blood. Yesu Omwana gw endiga Jesus Lamb of God

This revival movement within the Anglican Church called members to have an individual encounter with the Holy Spirit and to be personally “born again”. Those who joined the movement came to be known as Balokole meaning, [the] “saved ones”. At first, these members did not leave the Anglican Church, “nor did the Church hierarchy ask them to leave despite the movement’s often harsh criticism of hypocrisy among church leaders and European missionaries.”560 The Balokole became a fragment of Anglican Church culture and helped unite Christians within a country that was, at least in the 1960s, little more than a confederation of Kingdoms. Heike Behrend observes, the Balokole helped indigenize Christianity because they separated Christian teaching from the colonial powers. The group also created a type of Anglican evangelicalism that perhaps prepared Ugandans for their initial encounter with Pentecostals.561

Nathan J. Saunders notes that “The first native Anglican Archbishops of Uganda were all balokole, and all were from outside of the geographical region historically controlled by Buganda. Archbishop Eric Sabiiti (1966-1974) came from Ankole in the Southwestern part of the country,

559 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 58. 560 Cf. N. J. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches and the Suburban Social Religion, 1960-2000, PhD dissertation, (University of South Carolina, 2015), p. 222. Retrieved from: http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3091 (accessed on 09.03.2021). 561 H. Behrend, Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits, p. 119-120.

106 and his two successors – Janani Luwum (1974-1977)562 and Silvanus Wani (1977-1983) – were from northern areas.”563 Whereas Saunders has reported so, there is no mention of Bishop Balya Aberi Kakyomya (1877-1979)564, who was the first East African to be consecrated to the Anglican episcopacy on 25.10. 1947 as Assistant Bishop with special responsibility for Western Uganda.565

The main characteristics of the Balokole Movement is the awareness of the spiritual empowerment which is expressed in their manner of worship. It includes vibrant singing, Bible reading and sharing and testimony of how God’s grace is transforming the person. The members engage in exorcism as a way of fighting the devil and evil spirits, witchcraft or sorcery. They also practice the laying on of hands for healing. The zealous group of the Balokole, follows puritanical rules which ban smoking, drinking of alcohol and disco dancing. The members publicly confess their sins as well as their experiences of conversion and radically break with their sinful lifestyles.566

2.6.2.1 Some main Pentecostal Churches in Uganda

Fred Jenga, specifies that the biggest and far the largest are the Pentecostal Assemblies of God founded in Uganda in 1935, the “Elim Church” founded in Uganda in 1962, the “Full Gospel Church” established in 1962 out of the famous 1960s Gagudde (“The burden of sin is from me”) crusades in Mengo Kampala, and the “Deliverance Church,” which traces its origins to itinerant Kenyan Evangelist Joe Kayo and Nabumali High School students in 1967.567 During the 1970s, the period when the then Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada outlawed religious groups other than the main faiths of Catholic, Anglican, Islamic and much smaller Greek Orthodox Church, all the above Pentecostal denominations almost died out. In Kampala, Pentecostal churches operated underground in the form of home fellowships or prayer cells until President Idi Amin Dada was

562 Cf. G. Piwang-Jalobo, “Archbishop Janani Luwum, a martyr of hope and healing,” Daily Monitor, (Tues, 16 Feb. 2021). 563 Cf. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, p. 223. 564 Bishop Aberi Balya, born in Eastern Toro (Western Uganda), was consecrated bishop in 1947. During this time, the Balokole movement had taken root within the Anglican Communion in Uganda. 565 Cf. L. Pirouet, Dictionary of African Christian Biography, on: https://dacb.org/stories/uganda/balya-aberi3/ (accessed 10.03.2021). 566 Cf. H. Behrend, Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits. War in Northern Uganda 1985-1987, (Oxford: James Currey Ltd., 1999), p. 119-120; Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 58-59. 567 Cf. F. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” Journal of Communication and Religion, (1 Dec 2017), p. 55; P. Musana, The historical origins and development of Pentecostal movement in Uganda, (Unpublished MA manuscript), Department of Religious Studies, Makerere University Kampala, Uganda, 1999.

107 ousted from power in 1979. The underground home fellowships re-emerged as the numerous independent, indigenous-led Biwempe (papyrus mats-built) churches of the 1980s and the 1990s, when freedom of worship for all was restored.568

Significant growth of Pentecostal churches and ministries has been witnessed in Uganda since the 1980s, and the most vibrant appear to be the home-grown ones under indigenous pastors. Locally established, indigenous-led Pentecostal churches and ministries in Kampala include “Namirembe Christian Fellowship” under Pastor Simeon Kayiwa, the “Rubaga Miracle Centre” of Pastor Robert Kayanja, “Liberty Worship Centre” of Pastor Imelda Namutebi, the “Prayer Palace Kibuye” founded by the late “Apostle Deo Balabyekubo,” now under Pastor Gervase Musisi, “Victory Christian Centre” of Pastor Joseph Sserwada, “Christian Life Church Bwaise” of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga, “Christianity Focus Centre of ‘Bishop David Kiganda’,” the “Synagogue Church of all Nations” under Pastor Samuel Kakande, and “Global Gospel Healing Ministries of ‘Bishop Patrick Makumbi’.569

The towering authority of Ugandan pastors over their churches or ministries is captured in the public’s reference to the churches by the pastor’s names instead of the churches’ official names.570 Furthermore, there are five Pentecostal churches in Uganda which fall under the category of “megachurches,” these include: 1) Watoto (of pastor Gary Skinner, found in 1984, with an attendance of 23,000 people); 2) Christian Life Church (of pastor Jackson Ssenyonga, found in 1995, with an attendance of 22,000 people), 3) Miracle Centre Cathedral (of pastor Robert Kayanja, found in 1991, with an attendance of 15,000 people), 4) Prayer Palace Christian Center (of Pastor Musisi Grivas, found in 1988, with an attendance of 6,000 people) and 5) Light of the World (of pastor Wilson Bugembe, found in 2003, with an attendance of 4,000).571 Other churches, such as Makerere Full Gospel Church, Makerere Redeemed Church, and Deliverance Church, might fall in this category of megachurches, although there is not enough reliable proof with regard to the average weekly attendance.572

568 Regarding the Pentecostal movements in Uganda, Cf. S. Kasirye, The Pentecostal movement in Uganda, (Kampala: Glory House, 2010); R. Kayanja, The Kiwempe movement, (Kampala: Highway of Holiness International, 2004). 569 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” 2017, Op. cit. p. 56. 570 For instance, Rubaga “Miracle Centre”, founded and pastored by Pastor Robert Kayanja, is widely known in Uganda as “Kayanja’s church.” This is because of Kayanja’s towering influence over the life of this church. 571 Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, p. 225 572 Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, p. 225.

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2.7 Characteristics and trajectories of African Pentecostalism

We will discuss the main elements in African Pentecostalism but with specific reference to Uganda. These include emphasis on the action of the Holy Spirit; Evangelisation based on prophetism, dreams, visions and anticipation of miracles; the centrality of the Bible; social organisation; leaders perceived as heroes and founders; the teaching of the gospel of prosperity, modern means of social communication in evangelisation, dynamic music in worship, paradox of continuity and rupture, among others.

2.7.1 Evangelisation and emphasis on the action of the Spirit

Pentecostalism espouses egalitarianism in its doctrine.573 Pentecostals have a belief that anyone who is inspired by the Spirit can evangelise, regardless of the level of education. As such Pentecostalism legitimizes individual agency.574 Consequently, many church members are involved in the task of evangelisation and their outreach is often aggressive.575 Pentecostal- charismatic churches place paramount importance on evangelisation.576 While on one hand, they have outreach ministries which employ some delivery ministries associated with the emphasis on Pneumatological activities (Eph 1:18-20, Gal 5:18-25), some have observed that their proselytizing approach is often fraught with attitude of contempt towards other churches and a somewhat feral language.577

Members in mainline churches, narrate similar experiences in their interface with Pentecostalism, often with tensions on account of provocations from either side. Shorter writes about the stereotypes and prejudices between Protestants and Catholics in Uganda and the resultant

573 Cf. Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” p. 123-124. 574 Cf. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 92. 575 Cf. Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” p. 124. 576 “Pentecostals are notoriously conversionists. They privilege the experience of conversion as the driving force of all their teaching and practice. This means, at the heart of the faith an individual act of decision is called for. While required to treasure their own conversion, believers are at the same time encouraged to act as evangelists to convert others. Hence, Pentecostals, clergy and lay alike, are enthusiastic to proselytize nonbelievers and to hook new members from other churches” Cf. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 92. 577 One missionary expressed his concern: “Pentecostals typically invite Catholic parishioners to common prayer services, only to attack their faith, using abusive rhetoric (‘all Catholics are going to hell,’ ‘the pope is the anti- Christ’) and ‘all sorts of inducements,’ including money and other gifts such as bicycles, to encourage conversion.” Cf. T. P. Rausch, “Catholics and Pentecostals: Troubled History, New Initiatives,” Theological Studies, 71 (2010) no.4, p. 938.

109 tensions which point to need for dialogue578 and a yearning towards Christian unity for a new Christendom.579 Since Christ is the one Saviour of all; the only one able to reveal fullness of Revelation and the one to lead to God, “the universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all” (RM, no. 10).

2.7.2 Centrality of the Bible

Pentecostalism based on its roots as a biblical word from Acts 2 is basically a movement of the Holy Spirit based on experience and the expressions of charismatic phenomena.580 The emphasis on divine inspiration of Scripture and biblical literalism is very key in Pentecostalism. The Bible for the Pentecostals occupies a central position and is cherished as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for daily moral living.

As noted by Asmoah-Gyadu, in Africa, when young people started migrating from historic mission denominations into new charismatic churches and fellowships from the early 1980s, they almost without exception gave three main reasons for their move: 1) That there was good teaching (rather than preaching) of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God. The new churches tended to apply Scripture in a way that spoke very forcefully to contemporary situations. 2) That the power of the Holy Spirit was affirmed in these churches. Young people for whom infant baptism and confirmation had lost their religious meaning yearned for something more experiential and many found it in the charismatic emphases on the power and experience of the Holy Spirit. 3) That worship was enjoyable and that one could feel it. People applauded the dynamic, exuberant, expressive, and experiential nature of charismatic worship. Developments in worship have been a critique of the liturgically ordered, staid and over-cerebral and ceremonial nature of worship in the historic mission churches.581

578 It is not dialogue as such but relation: despite our differences, how can we live together? How can we work together? 579 Cf. Shorter, Cross and flag in Africa, p. 227-230. 580 Cf. J. K. Asamoah-Gyadu, “Pentecostalism and the Transformation of the African Christian Landscape,” in Martin Lindhardt (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, (Leiden Boston: Brill, 2014), p. 101. 581 Cf. Asamoah-Gyadu Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity, Interpretations from an African Context, p. 21.

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In some Ugandan cities and towns, there are “Pentecostal street preachers” who are often identified by carrying the Bible and preaching to passersby.582 Street preaching is so common on the roads of Kampala especially Jinja road, Wandegeya, Entebbe road, City square and many others.583 In some cities in Uganda, “street preaching” is considered a business, some of them are reportedly paid by prominent pastors while others benefit from the generosity of those who listen to them in these towns.584 In few years back, a section of street crusaders asked government of Uganda to come up with a policy that harmonizes preaching and interpretation of the Bible.585 In 2017, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), issued a directive banning preaching the gospel on the street.586 It was argued that the directive was intended to restore trade, traffic order, control development and noise pollution in the city, some have seen this as an infringement on the right to preach outside church.

2.7.3 Celebrity status of Pentecostal preacher(s)

As observed by Mobolaji Oyebisi Ajibabe, “many of the Pentecostal Church founders in Africa are the ‘alpha and omega’ of such churches. They are worshipped like gods with bodyguard and are difficult to be seen by the members of the church.”587 Similarly Gerson, writing about the Neo-Pentecostal denominations in Brazil alludes that in it, there is a strong leadership centred on an individual, to the point that the whole denomination would be identified with him. Using a typology of the society of the spectacle, the religious leader of a Neo-Pentecostal movement assumes a role compared to a star in a TV show.588

All other pastors work to promote the leader. The “star” concept helps to explain other two aspects of the way the leader is seen in Neo-Pentecostalism: “as an unquestionable and

582 Cf. P. Katamba, “Five years of street preaching” Daily Monitor, Thur. (10 Nov 2016). https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/lifestyle/reviews-profiles/five-years-of-street-preaching--1675334 (accessed 20.04.2021). 583 Cf. R. Natala, “Street preaching lighting the roads on the streets of Kampala”, Steemit, (2018); Phaneroo, “Street preachers have advanced, Jesus is trending on Twitter,” Sqoop, (6 Aug. 2019). 584 Cf. J. Kaahwa and Ruth Nabagirinya, Daily Monitor, (Thur. 10 Nov 2016). 585 Cf. M. Male, “Over 300 street evangelists in Uganda meet,” UG Christian News, (9 April 2019). 586 According to the ordinance, any person who makes or causes any excessive noise either by himself or herself or with any instrument or machine commits an offense and is liable to two months in jail or a fine or 400,000 UGX or both. 587 M. Oyebisi Ajibade, “The role of Pentecostalism in sustainable development in Nigeria,” 2020, op. cit. 588 G. L. Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? (American Theological Library, 2016), p. 345.

111 incontestable leader and as a shown man.”589 Fred Jenga, writing on Uganda’s context observes that besides pastors owning broadcast media houses590, they also run Ugandan versions of what would be referred to in the U.S as megachurches.591 These Churches have weekly attendances that number in thousands. The broadcasts serve the purpose of extending the walls of the pastors’ real- life churches.592

2.7.4 Teaching centered on divine blessings and people’s needs here and now

Gerson L. Linden notes of “offering of varied programs (the “show”) to attract people- “consumers” of spiritual goods in the religious market.”593 Using Karla Patriota’s concept of “spectacle society” her thesis is that “this new kind of organization of Neo-Pentecostal religious activity turns the theological discourse into carefully packaged merchandise which is offered through TV spectacles.”594 A discourse packed in the form of a spectacle loses its effect in daily life when the spectacular element is lacking.595 Such disenchantment needs to be compensated by new enchantment, i.e., the continuity of the spectacle, which happens in the form of new religious products.596 A triumphalist view of faith constitutes much of what prosperity theology proposes.597

589 Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? p. 345, quoting Patriota, “Show da Fé,” p. 292-93. 590 Among the broadcast media houses owned by Pentecostal pastors in Kampala include: Impact FM 98.5 owned by Pastor Joseph Sserwada (Pentecostal), Alpha FM 102.1 owned by Pastor Joseph Sserwada (Pentecostal), Power FM 104.1 owned by Kampala Pentecostal Church, Kingdom FM 93.0 owned by Christianity Focus Ministries of ‘Bishop’ David Kiganda (Pentecostal), Family Radio 105.3 owned by Family Broadcasting Service of Pastor Stephen Ssebyala (Pentecostal), Record FM 97.7 owned by Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Pentecostal), Top Radio 89.6 owned by Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga (Pentecostal), Kampala FM 99.6 owned by Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga (Pentecostal), Dunamis FM 103 owned by Prayer Palace Ministries (Pentecostal), Community Radio 104.5 owned by Pastor Tom Sembera (Pentecostal), Life TV 11 owned by Pastor Tom Sembera (Pentecostal), Channel 44 owned by Pastor Robert Kayanja (Pentecostal), Record TV 42 owned by Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Pentecostal), Lighthouse TV 22 owned by Lighthouse Television (Pentecostal), Top TV 28 owned by Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga (Pentecostal) 591 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 61-62. 592 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 62. 593 Gerson L. Linden, “God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is it a Matter of Pleasing Consumers?”, Lutheran Mission Matters, 25 (Nov 2017) no. 2/ 51, p. 347. 594 Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? p. 347. . 595 It appears that the concept of religious “mission” is being left aside in order to achieve better results in terms of numbers. Others have termed this “a cult of the person”, since the religious leaders that occupy time of mass media have their discourses legitimized by media, though their contents suffer a significant marketing suitability. The concept of the society of the spectacle promoted and sustained the transformation of several churches, classified as Christian churches, into huge communication companies. Cf. Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? 347, quoting Patriota, “Show da Fé,” p. 23. 596 G. L. Linden God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? p. 347. 597 Edir Macedo for instance uses the language of debt that God has to those who faithfully tithe. In his book, Vida em Abundancia (Abundant Life), he challenges the believers to tithe and then to charge God to fulfill His promises: “To tithe is to become a candidate to receive unmeasured blessings….when we pay tithe to God, He becomes

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In Neo-Pentecostal preaching, real faith means success understood as improvement in life. Christ’s sacrifice, death, and resurrection, become the guarantee not only of reconciliation with God, but on victory against problems in finances, in family life, and in health issues.598

Following the radically laissez-faire stance that the new Pentecostal movement has assumed, there has been an obvious shift of the doctrinal emphasis from ‘holy living’ to earthly mastery of the prosperity gospel. Most programmes by many Pentecostal Churches and messages from their pulpits are now designed to teach the prosperity, without as much as teaching the stewardship principle by which prosperity can be channeled strictly to divinely ordained purposes. In this regard, it is difficult to exempt any type of Pentecostal or Charismatic Church, especially in this milieu. This, however, appears to have bred fortune hunters in the church, whose spiritual goal terminates at applying the prosperity doctrine to make their millions, without much concern for how to make heaven while making the millions.599

2.7.5 Utilization of Religious Broadcasting

Uganda’s national radio station was established in 1954, and the national television station was established in 1963. From the time of their inception, the two national broadcasters (Radio Uganda and Uganda Television) always set aside broadcast time for the three major faith groups in the country (Islam, Catholicism and Anglicanism).600 The national broadcasters allotted each of the then three major faith groups half an hour every week for each faith to have one of its ministers to teach or preach, and quarter an hour every week for each faith to play songs or hymns.601 In later years, hour-length ecumenical programs were added where ministers from Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches discussed a theological topic. The atmosphere in such ecumenical broadcast programs was cordial, respectful and non-confrontational.602 With the liberalization of

obligated (because He promised this) to fulfill His word, rebuking the devouring spirit. Macedo attributes to those spirits every disgrace in human life, including diseases, accidents, vices social degradation, and any suffering that afflicts the person in his daily life. Cf. G. L. Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? p. 346 quoting, R. Mariano, “Os Neopentecostais e a Teologia da Prosperidade,” Novos Estudos, 44 (1996) no. 44, p. 35. 598 Linden, God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is It a Matter of pleasing Consumers? p. 348. 599 M. Oyebisi Ajibade, “The role of Pentecostalism in sustainable development in Nigeria,” in P. Öhlmann, W. Gräb, and M.L. Frost, (eds.), African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development Churches, (New York, 2020), p. 154-155. 600 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 56. 601 This came to be popularly known “Half Hour” and “Quarter Hour” on Radio Uganda. 602 Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 56, quoting Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, Faith Matters, (1958-1997). 113 the media in 1994, private individuals and faith-based organizations set up private radio and TV stations or purchased broadcast time on already established private commercial stations.603

Ugandan Pentecostalism and its media practice provide evidence to illustrate the influence of traditional African religious beliefs and practices over the Pentecostal pastors’ message and use of the broadcast media. Pentecostalism seems to tap into the social-cultural beliefs and practices of many Ugandans from different ethnic backgrounds.604 Beliefs in curses, spirits and spirit possession, witchcraft, and the attribution of misfortunes to evil forces and the need to deal with such matters through divination, is a worldview that is still held even among some practicing Christians. Pentecostal broadcasts with emphasis on breaking curses, evil spells, protection from witchcraft and misfortunes, prophecies, and healing, speak directly into people’s real-life concerns given their cultural worldview.605

The Pentecostal pastors through their broadcasts are reinforcing the indigenous worldview clouded in mystery and danger, while at the same time presenting themselves as a source of protection and safety. Through the pastors’ “word of prophecy,” “word of wisdom,” and claims of the ability to break curses and turn them into blessings, ability to conduct deliverance from evil spirits, and claims of ability to heal diseases and cure infertility, the pastors, in essence, present themselves as Christian version of indigenous diviners, spirit mediums, and herbalists. Jenga has noted that the transformation and elevation of the pastors to the level of traditional spiritual leaders is giving pastors great authority and power over local Ugandan audiences.606

Furthermore, in a study by Fred Jenga on Pentecostal Media and Pastors in Broadcast Media, it was found that there were 20 Christian affiliated radio and television station in Kampala, and of these broadcast stations 16 (80%) were affiliated with Pentecostal faith groups.607 Among Christian radio stations, Top Radio (Pentecostal), Impact FM (Pentecostal), Radio Sapientia (Catholic), and Kingdom FM (Pentecostal) were reported to be the most preferred.608 However, there are other Catholic radio stations which were not considered in the study. The case in point is Radio Maria 103.7FM (Catholic), Jubilee Radio 105.6 FM (Catholic) in Fort Portal, which have a

603 Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” op. cit. p. 56. 604 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” op. cit. 605 Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 68. 606 Ibid. 607 Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 61. 608 Ibid.

114 wide listenership. As Jenga has observed, “indigenous Pentecostal pastors such as Jackson Ssenyonga, Joseph Sserwada, David Kiganda and Robert Kayanja, who own broadcast media houses, seem to dominate religious broadcasting in Kampala because their flagship programs were most highly rated by the audience surveyed.”609

2.7.6 Autonomy of Women

The perception that Pentecostalism empowers women is one reason that has made it gain support. Women can ascend ladders of leadership even becoming pastors and preach on the pulpit. Some have observed that “women are said to resort to Pentecostalism as a way of escaping from subjugated positions to which they are relegated in the traditionally gendered roles. They find Pentecostalism remarkably appealing since it appears to offer them individuation and autonomy within such traditionally gendered roles.”610 Women may also decide to seek refuge in Pentecostalism after being subjected to frequent acts of domestic violence, while others after being weighed down by problems in their situation as single mothers or widows.611 Furthermore, Pentecostalism is largely an urban phenomenon, migration to cities expose some women to Pentecostal proselytizing.

Moreover, like any other urban dwellers, to cope with the changes in their new city environment, women will often seek membership in Pentecostal communities since “they usually promise their members tangible material assistance and solace in time of need.”612 Goliama has noted that “At the hands of the traditional healers and exorcists, women frequently become victims of exploitation, both in terms of material resources and even sexually.”613 Healing in the context of church rituals is appealing to women. About 80 and 90 percent of those who seek healing and exorcism in the Pentecostal-charismatic churches are women. Most of them are girls in secondary schools and colleges, followed by the cohort of women under the age of between 40 and 60 years. Most of these, have personal challenges or problems related to family or child-bearing.614

609 Cf. Jenga, “Pentecostal Broadcasting in Uganda,” p. 61. 610 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 103, quoting A. Shorter and Joseph N. Njiri, New religious Movements in Africa, op. cit. p. 29. 611 C.M. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 103. 612 Ibid. 613 C.M. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 105. 614 Ibid.

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The Catholic Bishops of Uganda issued a pastoral letter in August 1996 with the title: Be my Witnesses: The vocation and mission of women in Church and Society Today. They reiterated the recommendation of the African Synod in Rome (10th April to 8th May 1994); that: “woman be given quality formation to prepare her for her responsibilities as wife and mother, but also to open for her all the social careers from which traditional and modern society tend to exclude her without reason.”615 Ugandan Bishops want to see women being fully involved in decision-making within the church and to assume positions of leadership within the church. New ministries for women in the church were recommended and just wages to women workers and women pastoral agents were emphasized.616

It is clear, that the demands of both contemporary society and church teaching are on the side of women equality and empowerment. The challenge is to women themselves to see how they interpret these welcome “signs of the times” and effectively use them for the greater service of the church and society.617 There are families headed by widows, single mothers and single women with children of relatives, there are institutions of orphans and educational institutions headed by women, there are religious women living together, all these demand similar attention.618 Catholic women have been and continue to be the backbone of the small Christian communities throughout the church in Uganda.619

In addition their role was recognized in the ministries of counselling, preparing young people for Christian marriage, settling disputes among married couples, caring for the poor needy, sick, elderly, refugees and displaced, prisoners and the afflicted as well as caring for the pastoral agents, teaching catechumens, giving religious education to the young and the old as well as carrying out team-ministry with the clergy, catechists and religious where possible with Christians of other denominations.620 The fact that women cannot become ministerial priests in the Catholic Church should never be seen as limiting their full participation in all other aspects of the Church’s ministry.621

615 Bishops of Uganda, Be my Witnesses, 1996, no. 13. (Here after referred to as UEC) 616 UEC, 1996, op. cit. 617 UEC, 1996, no.14. 618 UEC, 1996, no.28. 619 UEC, 1996, no.30. 620 UEC, 1996, no.34. 621 UEC, 1996, no.36.

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2.7.7 An eschatology that locates Christian hope here and now

Gerson Linden has observed that Classical Pentecostalism began as an evangelistic and eschatological movement.622 This original emphasis however has received less emphasis in Neo- Pentecostalism today. Its teaching and preaching is much more interested in addressing current problems that people face in their daily lives (especially in terms of health and finances).623 Some authors have proposed that the irruption and rapid growth of Neo-Pentecostalism should be understood in connection with the transition from a traditional society to the modern society, with emphasis on the competitiveness of the marketplace.624 Neo-Pentecostal churches developed a theology that could assess and respond to challenges that people face in their daily lives in terms of health, employment, family harmony, poverty, among others. Two theological positions emerge: Prosperity theology and the concept of spiritual warfare. Ricardo Bitum affirms that for Neo-Pentecostalism, at least in practical terms, there was an anticipation of the Christian Parousia. He argues that the traditional future focus in the eschatology of classical Pentecostalism (and Protestantism as a whole) gave way to the anticipation of prosperity and victory against evil forces and its upshots here and now.625

The bishops of Uganda noted in their pastoral letter of 1981, that “Christianity has been in Uganda for slightly over 100 years, it has spread far and wide, so that we pride ourselves in stating that broadly speaking Uganda is a “Christian country”.626 The Church is in this world to give glory to God and eternal salvation to mankind. While the Catholic Church pursues this aim, she is aware of the existence of other religions seeking the same aim.627 The Bishops implored: “We ask other Christian denominations in the country to join us in admitting honestly before God that we have failed to put a significant imprint in our Nation, because Christians have not been true to their name. The presence of Christians as “Ambassadors of Christ” has been rather weak. At times by

622 Linden, “God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is it a Matter of Pleasing Consumers?”, p. 345. 623 Ibid. 624 Linden, “God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is it a Matter of Pleasing Consumers?” p. 346, quoting Ricardo Bitun, “Transformaçôes no campo religioso Pentecostal brasileiro: a antecipaçâo da parusia crista,” Ciências da Religiäo: Histroria e Sociedade 6 (2008) no.2, p. 203-28. 625 Linden, “God’s (and the Church’s) Mission: Is it a Matter of Pleasing Consumers?”, p. 346, quoting R. Bitun, “Transformaçôes no campo religioso Pentecostal brasileiro: a antecipaçâo da parusia crista,” Ciências da Religiäo: Histroria e Sociedade 6, no.2 (2008), p. 216-17. 626 Pastoral Letter UEC, Be Converted and Live, (Kisubi: St. Paul publications, 1981), no.8. 627 Pastoral Letter UEC, Shaping our National Destiny, (9. Oct. 1962), p. 33.

117 our silence, we have condoned evil deeds. We have failed to form strong family structures that could be the basis of a healthy nation. We have fallen short in the practice of the Gospel.”628

It is important that reconciliation among us should not be superficial but must be a true conversion of mind and heart, inspired by the Christian vision that all men and women are children of God.629 A most promising and lasting initiative took place in Makerere University Kampala, (1963 to 1976). Baur observes that a paper by Dr. Louise Pirouet explained the religious tensions in Uganda by showing how the historical background of Anglican-Catholic relations in England made a confrontation in Africa inevitable. The other, by Fr. John O’Donohue, concluded that Christians in Uganda and Africa should initiate a movement of unity that could become Africa’s mission to the rest of the Christian world.630

2.8 Conclusion

In this Chapter, another important feature in Uganda’s Christianity, namely, the proliferation of Religious Movements and Sects, has been discussed. The study underscores the need for a mutual and dynamic approach in youth ministry. Uganda has the youngest population, (with 55% of the total 40.8m being under 18 year-olds). Pentecostal movements have given attention to the youth, in colleges and universities. It is one reason that young people are joining them. Considering the religious movements that lure vulnerable members, promising people quick money or other material resources, the study argued that a genuine and effective Christian evangelisation should give rise to an authentic and active Christian community and praxis. Whereas the Church needs to be more sharply aware of the theological and missiological questions raised by the worsening socio-economic, political and religious situations, the author agrees with Welbourn and Ogot, that the durability of Christian faith in Africa will not depend on its network of schools and parishes, hospitals and other institutions, the permanence of Christianity will stand or fall on the question whether it has become authentic African: whether Africans have made Christian ideas part of their own thinking, whether Africans feel that the Christian world vision of the life fulfills their own needs, whether the Christian world view has become part of authentic African aspiration.

628 Pastoral Letter UEC, Be Converted and Live, (Kisubi: St. Paul publications, 1981), no.8. 629 Pastoral Letter UEC, With a New Heart and a New Spirit, (Kampala: St. Paul Publications Africa, 1986), no.23. 630 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 411.

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Regarding some emerging sects in Uganda, it has been noted that people join them as a means of combating their present misery, since these focus more on prosperity, quick riches and property acquisition (EBINTU). This at times, may lead to manipulation which jeopardizes the dignity of the human person (OMUNTU) and UBUNTU (humanity towards others). Cult leaders become like “gods”. In the case of the Faith of Unity (FoU) Sect, the leader was referred to as “Owobusobozi” (the powerful one). Furthermore, where leaders rule with unquestionable authority, followers are deprived of their freedom and capacity to think, making them totally dependent. Such blind belief, unawareness, and deception have led many cult followers to tragic ends and mysterious self-destruction. The followers of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG), is a case in point. Whereas Uganda advocates for freedom of worship as enshrined in the constitution, there is need for vigilance and positive action by both the Church and State for the safety of the people. Evangelisation ought to instill UBUNTU (being human towards others), more and more in OMUNTU (human person) who according to Genesis is constituted as a master of the EBINTU (all things/ goods). The study proposes Ubuntu solidarity as an antidote for too much preoccupation with material gain. Ubuntu is deeply imbedded in African spirituality- a spirituality that is central to life and transforms human relations through mutual sharing and satisfaction. Here every one’s humanness is recognized and affirmed. In Christian reality, Ubuntu is linked with the Biblical account of the early Christian community in (Acts 4:32-35), where none lacked anything. Here, the interaction and relationship among persons is highly affirmed by the Ubuntu notion. Respect for a person’s dignity irrespective of what that person has done is upheld. Everyone’s humanness is recognized and affirmed. Ubuntu proposes the idea that people are truly human only in relation to communities in the full expression of the koinonia. This understanding manifests in the Church, which is the space in which life in relation to God and to one’s neighbour finds nourishment through worship and fellowship. The Ubuntu notion bases on the inherent value for individuals and their relationships within communities. This sense of community is supported by St. Paul’s discourse on unity in diversity (1 Cor 12:12-31). Ubuntu recognizes the humanity of all as created in the image of God, thus making the imago Dei the essence of humanity’s identity. The imago Dei foundation of Ubuntu determines humanity and denies any one or any institution the right to decide the superiority or inferiority of the other.

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CHAPTER THREE

THE GOSPEL OF PROSPERITY

3.1 Pathways of the Gospel of Prosperity

The prosperity gospel portrays wealth and riches as the fulfillment of the divine promise to his people. It is a conviction that God wants believers to be rich and enjoy good physical health.631 The development of a “theology of affluence” called prosperity gospel in America and elsewhere in the world is partly the effort of propelling phenomenal growth in terms of membership in “prosperity churches.”632 For instance, Pentecostals, in their early period, strongly stressed the significance of terrestrial wellbeing. Elements of their fourfold preaching included: divine healing, personal salvation, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and signs of Christ’s soon coming. Consequently, they understood salvation inclusively as encompassing spiritual, eschatological, psychological, and physical aspects of human existence. In other words, one’s salvation refers to all what God did for the spirit, soul, mind, and body of men.633

From these churches arise “prosperity preachers” who “have written several books, tracts and handbills and made hundreds of audio and videocassette tapes all giving scriptural principles for prosperity, health and happiness.”634 Partly why this teaching has gained ground in Africa is because prosperity was significant in African traditional worldview, where there was a close link between material success and spirituality. As some African scholars have pointed out, prosperity was the hallmark of abundant life in traditional African society.635 “There is an obvious reason why prosperity gospel should be so readily received in Africa: African traditional religion was

631 D.J. Mumford, “Prosperity Gospel and Africa American Prophetic Preaching,” Review and Expositor, 109 (2012), p. 371. 632 Cf. D. Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity teaching in the new Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria,” Black theology 4 (2006), no. 1, p. 73. 633 Cf. K. Bowler, A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 41; see also: P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” Studia Oecumenica 20 (2020), p. 234. 634 Cf. D. Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity,” p. 73. 635 J.S. Mbiti, Introduction to African religion, (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1991), p. 62; see also: E.T. Douglas, Traditional religion in the modern world, (North Carolina: Mcfarland and Co. Inc. Publishers, 2005), p. 394.

120 primarily concerned with health, fertility, and abundance.”636 William M.R Simpson justifying the acceptance and popularity of Prosperity Gospel in Africa has noted that this brand of faith resonates with African traditional religion, which is “supposed to provide such blessings as fertility, longevity and abundance.”637 This claim, however, is disputed by J.C. Thomas who contends that the individualistic philosophy of Prosperity Gospel distances it from African traditional religion, which cherishes collective wellbeing.638

3.1.1 The Roots of the Gospel of Prosperity

The Gospel of Prosperity spread in Africa from the 1980s through evangelistic crusades conducted by American evangelists and African Pastors.639 The “Living Faith World Outreach” or “Winners’ Chapel”640 spread to thirty-eight African countries, targeting the middle-people with the motto “I am a winner”641 Furthermore, the “Fire Convention” held in 1986 by the well-known German preacher, Reinhard Bonnke, in Harare, Zimbabwe, is regarded as one of the events that marked the turning point in the history of the prosperity Gospel in this continent.642 4,000 evangelists from 41 African countries attended the conference. Kenneth Copeland,643 conducted one of the key seminars during the conference on the theme: “Evangelism and prosperity.”644

As Paul Gifford has observed, this seminar contributed to the anchoring of the Gospel of Prosperity on the African soil.645 Using the book of Deuteronomy, Copeland argued that God wants his people to choose to follow him so that they may prosper (Dt 29:9); he emphasized that God, promised Israel blessings of material prosperity, success, and abundance of every kind, on one hand, if they obeyed his voice (Dt. 28:3-13), disobedience to the Lord’s voice, on the other hand, would result into curses of every kind as sickness, loss and deprivation (Dt.28:16-68).

636 S. Brouwer, Paul Gifford, Susan D. Rose, Exporting the American Gospel: Global Christian Fundamentalism, (New York- London: Routledge, 1996), p. 172. 637 W.M.R. Simpson, “The Significance of Andrew Perriman’s Faith, Health and Prosperity in the Word of Faith Debate,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 16 (2007) no. 1, p. 68. 638 J. C. Thomas, “Poverty and Capitalism in West Africa: A Christian Perspective,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology 14 (2009), p. 49-59; Idem, “Prosperity Preaching: West African Traditional Belief, or a Foreign Import?” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology, 17 (2012), p. 163-172. 639 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, 2013, p. 150. 640 This church was founded by Pastor David Oyedepo in Lagos, 1983. 641 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 150. 642 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 151. 643 Kenneth Max Copeland (born. 06 Dec 1936) is an American speaker, preacher, author, televangelist, and gospel recording artist, he leads the Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Cf. https://www.kcm.org (accessed 07.03.2021). 644 Shorter and Joseph, N. Njiru, New religious movements in Africa, p. 34. 645 Cf. P. Gifford, “Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity,” Religion, 20 (1990), p. 374.

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Furthermore, Copeland used the three parables in Mark 4, which speak about “sowing”.646 He emphasized: “in the area of material wealth if you sow, you will reap; if you sow abundantly, you will reap abundantly. But if you sow selfishly, keeping riches for your own comfort, you cannot reap; if you have only a little and cling to that little, you will remain in your poverty.647

By sowing, Copeland meant giving resources to the Lord or giving to the work of evangelism (cf. Mk 10: 29f), contending that even God himself gave his only Son (cf. Jn 3:16), in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren (Rom 8:29).648 Copeland held that Christianity took the wrong turn with Francis of Assisi who spread the idea that there was something wrong with wealth and that Jesus was poor. Copeland objects to the teaching that Jesus was poor. Whereas Francis of Assisi is almost unanimously acclaimed both by Christians and non- Christians for his fidelity in the imitation of Christ and obedience to his teachings, for Copeland he is only “distorter of Christianity.”649 The leaders of the Faith Movement employ a specific theological distinction between the “Logos Word” and “Rhema Word”.650 The first refers to the immutable Scripture, whereas the latter to the faith expressions as glossolalia, prophecy, and the spoken word of God to believers.651 Russel Sharrock has pointed out that , faith teachers presented “their supporters physical and inner healing, freedom from demonic oppression, and prosperity resulting from the spoken ‘word of faith,’ which over and over again was a verbal confession of biblical phrases that the Lord was bound by covenant to honor to comply with.”652

Antonio Spadaro, SJ, in his work, The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,653 underlines that the “‘Prosperity gospel’ is a well-known theological current emerging from the neo-Pentecostal evangelical movements. At the heart is the belief that God wants his followers to have a prosperous life, that is, to be rich, healthy and happy.”654 For the common worshipper, the

646 Which he also termed as God’s “law of sowing,” “law of increase” or “law of prospering” Cf. P. Gifford, “Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity,” p. 375. 647 Ibid, p. 375, see also Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 152. 648 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p.152. 649 Cf. P. Gifford, ““Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity,” p. 386. 650 Cf. P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” p. 236. 651 Ibid. 652 R. Sharrock, Covenant Theology: A Critical Analysis Of Current Pentecostal Covenant Theology, (Morrisville: Lulu Enterprises, 2006), p. 45. 653 Cf. A. Spadaro, SJ. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” La Civilta Cattolica, (18 July 2018), updated (23 Sept 2020). See: https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/the-prosperity-gospel-dangerous-and-different/ (accessed 12.01.2020). 654 Ibid.

122 promise of financial prosperity through a direct relationship with the Lord is a major pull factor, while membership of a Church opens access to social and business networks within the Church community.655 As observed by Mashau and Kgatle,656 the “explosive growth of the prosperity gospel in Africa has received serious attention among researchers.”657

Kate Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut,658 hold that since the 1950s, when the prosperity gospel was first preached by Pentecostals in America, it has proliferated with astonishing speed across the Christian world, finding a particularly receptive audience in developing countries.659

Although initially limited to the Pentecostal flock, through a process of osmosis the prosperity gospel has entered the teachings of many Catholic clergymen. Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Uganda are among those nations in Africa where Neo-Charismatic movements have flourished, magnifying their message through televangelism and social media activities. Many African nations are afflicted by poverty and disease, and struggle with high unemployment rates and political instability. Given that there are limited institutional resources to resolve health problems and other difficulties, many African seek succor in spirituality. The prosperity gospel is a particularly popular option. It teaches that precariousness is a curse, and that sickness and scarcity can be overcome if one is willing to tithe generously and faithfully attend services … through the person of the priest, the Holy Spirit manifests itself, offering miracle ranging from healing to abundant wealth.660

655 Cf. M. Oyebisi Ajibade, “Pentecostalism and the gospel of prosperity,” in Ph. Öhlmann, W. Gräb, and M-L. Frost, African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development: Sustainable Development in Pentecostal and Independent Churches, 9 (2020), p. 152. 656 Cf. T.D Mashau and M.S Kgatle., “Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa: Constructing an alternative African Christian Theology of Ubuntu,” Verbum et Ecclesia 40 (2019) no.1. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v40i1.1901 657 Cf. A. Anderson, “The Prosperity message in the eschatology of some new charismatic churches,” Missionalia: Southern African Journal of Mission Studies 15 (1987) no. 2, p. 72-83; E.Z.M Gbote and S.T. Kgatla, “Prosperity gospel: A missiological assessment,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70 (2014) no.1, p. 1-10; C.J.P. Niemandt, “The prosperity gospel, the decolonisation of the theology and the abduction of missionary imagination,” Missionalia 45 (2017) no.3, p. 203-219. https://doi.org/10.7832/45-3-199. 658 Dr Kate Kingsbury is an adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta and Dr Andrew Chesnut, is Bishop Walter F Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. 659 K. Kingsbury and A. Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel” Catholic Herald, (29 Nov 2018). https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-liturgy-of-money/ (accessed 12.01.2020). 660 K. Kingsbury and A. Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel,” op. cit.

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Prosperity gospel is appealing to the masses, especially those who have been battered by poor economy and bad governance. Mobolaji opines that due to the harsh realities of the collapse of economies, the prowling poverty, lapses of the state, and failed leadership, this form of teaching becomes attractive.661 Ayegboyin gives a similar observation taking the case of Nigeria. From the 1980s a new form of Pentecostalism grew at a tremendous speed and flourished in complex varieties. This phenomenon is probably not unconnected with the country’s attendant problems.662 The high level of inflation that followed the successive devaluation of the Nigerian currency (the Naira), altered for worse the quality of life of the majority of Nigerians. This led to the increase in levels of unemployment and stagnation in wages.663 Ingenious Nigerians employed a variety of “survival mechanisms during these hard times. These included multiple job holdings, illegal activities, begging [and] ‘child labour’ and so on. It was at this time, more than ever before, that many seemed to have found in religious institutions, especially in the Charismatics, an oasis in the midst of the economic turmoil and spiritual drought that seemed to prevail everywhere.”664 This is similar to Uganda’s situation with the current mushrooming of Pentecostal churches which propagate the prosperity gospel.665

Mashau and Kgatle argue that “Prosperity gospel encourages poor people to think positively and ignite the Godly power within them to instruct their cheque books or bank accounts to yield more (abundance) or to embrace the spirit of ‘name it and claim it’ when coming to material possessions.”666 There is some similarity here with African indigenous religiosity, more especially the creative power of the spoken word especially in the understanding of moral behaviour. As Magesa has argued, the word is not only an expression of the spirit, but it is the spirit itself, or the breath. It is thus power, strength or authority.667 It is from this background that Goliama has contended that: “once the word has been expressed, be it verbally or through gestures

661 Cf. M. O. Ajibade, “Pentecostalism and the gospel of prosperity,” p. 153, 161. 662 Cf. D. Isaac Ayegboyin, “A rethinking of prosperity teaching in the new Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria,” Black Theology: An International Journal, 4 (2006) no. 1, p. 72. 663 Ayegboyin, “A rethinking of prosperity teaching in the new Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria,” p. 72; see also: P. Gifford, African Christianity: Its Public Role, (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998), p. 15. 664 Ayegboyin, “A rethinking of prosperity teaching in the new Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria,” p. 72. 665 Cf. P. Musana “Mushrooming Pentecostal churches need to be checked,” Ug Christian News, (01.01.2017). https://www.ugchristiannews.com/hard-economic-times-forcing-people-to-flock-churches-says-a-mak-university- lecturer/ (accessed 16.02.2021). 666 M.T.D and M. Kgatle., “Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa,” 40 (2019) no.1, p. 1. 667 Cf. L. Magesa, “The Spirit as a creative word in Africa”, in: Concilium: International Journal of Theology, 47 (2011), p. 436. [original in German: “Der Geist als schöpferisches Wort in Afrika“, Concilium: Internationale Zeitschrift für Theologie], see also: Goliama, 2013, op.cit. 153.

124 or merely by intention, then it can create or destroy. It all depends on the spirit with which the word is uttered, whether it is good spirit or bad spirit.”668 This context of the creative power of the word has partly been claimed to be making African Christians prone to become “literalist readers of the Bible”669 The prosperity Gospel preachers teach: “you will be what the Bible says you will be!”670 The difficulty with this kind of outlook is that some prosperity Gospel preachers may exploit the peoples trust on the creative of the word. As Deji Ayegboyin believes, it appears that in imitation of Robert Schueller’s ministry of positive living and success principles, several prosperity preachers indoctrinate by inventing a formula for prosperity. The prescriptions comprise:671

“Run after your prosperity.” “Seed into our ministry regularly” “Give a giant offering.” “Have an encounter with men/women of God.” “Press the success buttons” “Affirm three times: I am breaking financial hardships.” “Work on your mind”672 Peter Kasenene,673 similarly stresses the need to work on the mind in his book “How to prosper with integrity.”674 He considers “a prosperity mindset” as the cause of prosperity.675 He argues that for the poor to be liberated from a “poverty mindset”, they need to be empowered by a “prosperity mindset” of beliefs, values, attitudes, and thought patterns which determine one’s behaviour, the type of life one leads, and one’s achievements.676 He observes that successive governments in Uganda, since independence, have invested billions of taxpayers’ money in order to eradicate poverty in the country. In addition, NGOs, churches, the donor community, and other

668 Cf. Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 153. 669 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 154. 670 Ibid. 671 Cf. D. Oyedepo, The Force of Freedom, (Lagos: Dominion Press, 1996); D. Oyedepo, Success Buttons, (Lagos: Dominion Press, 1998); D. Oyedepo, Understanding Financial Prosperity, (Lagos: Dominion Press, 1997); D. Oyedepo, The Vision, (Lagos: Dominion Press, 1997). 672 Cf. D. Ayegboyin, “A rethinking of prosperity teaching in the new Pentecostal churches in Nigeria,” Black Theology 4 (2006) no.1, 79. 673 Professor Peter K. Kasenene, (born 1946) is a Ugandan Theology and religious studies educator. He is author of some books and has lectured in a number of Universities including: Makerere, Kenyatta, Nairobi, Brandon, Swaziland and Kwaluseni. Cf. https://prabook.com/web/peter_k.kasenene/3428845 (accessed 18.2.2021). 674 P. Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, (Kampala: Raymond Empowerment Foundation, 2008). 675 Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, p. 48. 676 Ibid.

125 agencies have put money into poverty alleviation programs. Despite those efforts millions of Ugandans are still poor. This leaves us with the question: what has been the missing link? Kasenene argues that those efforts to eradicate poverty have tended to deal with symptoms of poverty, and not the cause of it. He contends that to solve a problem, you need to deal with the cause and that if you only deal with the symptoms the problem persists. From his analysis, lack of money, poor feeding and housing, or lack of starter capital, which have been the target of those poverty eradication programs, are not the causes of poverty but symptoms of it. This is because if the inside-self sleeps the outside-self cannot stand still. Consequently, one cannot be rich when they are poor in the mind. He accentuates that the starting point for poverty eradication is mindset change.677 He explains that it is when a person is empowered mentally that the donations and loans will help them to prosper. The importance of integrity in wealth acquisition is emphasized.678

Kasenene further points on what to avoid about money and wealth: first, getting money through wrong ways,679 some people believe in “acquiring money and wealth by hook or crook.”680 In such cases we are no longer talking about money or wealth, but “dirty money and dirty wealth.”681 Money or wealth acquired in proper, transparent and honest way brings joy to the person and gives glory to God. Secondly what to avoid about money and wealth is putting one’s hope and trust in money.682

One cannot serve two masters (Mt 6:24), one will be loved and another one hated. Too much preoccupation with money can lead to idolatry and can lead one away from God (1 Tim 6:17, 18). Thirdly, regarding money as an end ought to be avoided. Money is meant to serve man, not the other way. It is a means to an end and not an end. The end should be the service it brings to people.683 This goes hand in hand with the need to avert selfishness and greed (1 Tim 6:9-10, 17-19),684 as well as indifference to the conditions of others.685

677 This includes the desire to get out of poverty and become wealthy, focusing on financial goals, self-confidence, determination, identifying opportunities, discipline, perseverance and courage among others. Cf. P. Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, p. 48-52. 678 Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, op. cit. 679 Cheating, fraud, deception, manipulation, stealing, killing, prostitution or use other unethical means. 680 Kasenene, How to prosper with integrity, p. 26. 681 Ibid. 682 Ibid., p. 27. 683 Ibid. 684 Ibid., p. 28. 685 Ibid.

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3.1.2 Lifestyle of Prosperity Gospel preachers

Popularization of the Prosperity Gospel is also partly due to the ministers of the gospel who are perceived as spiritual heroes- the “hero figure”.686 Their prominence anchors on the hope they offer to their listeners as well as the “sweetness” with which they package their message. Furthermore, the display of their alleged spiritual gifts especially healing and prophecy. The preachers of prosperity also thrive because of mob psychology- that crowd mentality that polls more followers to a preacher simply because he has a massive following. This partly explains why prosperity gospel is perhaps the most visible phenomenon on contemporary mega screen.687 Televangelists in the United States have been growing fabulously wealthy because they are taking advantage of the Federal Tax Code, as well as state and local agencies, which exempt religious organizations from paying taxes. For purposes of U.S. tax law, churches are public charities, also known as Section 501(c)(3) organizations. As such, they are generally exempt from paying federal, state, and local income and property taxes.688

Prosperity Gospel seems not to be a Pentecostal/charismatic problem alone because it cuts across the denominational divide, especially in Africa.689 Kingsbury and Chesnut further observe that since the 1990s, “the health and wealth gospel has grown in influence within Catholicism, most significantly through the Charismatic Renewal, which has adopted myriad Pentecostal beliefs and practices. Some Catholic churches in Brazil now hold “tithers’ Masses” which imitate Pentecostal fundraising tactics, albeit with a less hard-sell approach.”690 Kügler seems to indicate that the temptation to use religion as business is something that threatens all streams of Christianity.691 Africa needs a message of hope amidst the harsh socio-economic realities. What

686 In some Churches, these are referred to as: “Man of God”, “woman of God”; see C.B. Peters “The Church’s Response to Poverty: A Jungian Appraisal of the ‘Prosperity Gospel,” p. 141. 687 Cf. C. Peters “The Church’s Response to Poverty: A Jungian Appraisal of the ‘Prosperity Gospel,” p. 137. 688 Cf. F. Del Sarto, “Bergoglio and the Prosperity Gospel: An Assessment”, (17 Aug 2020). Online: https://novusordowatch.org/2020/08/bergoglio-and-the-prosperity-gospel/ (access 12. 02. 2020) 689 Do the mainstream churches (the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Orthodox Church, etc.) propagate prosperity gospel? The answer to this question can be in the affirmative, though in mild forms. Much as financial donations are key for the running of these churches, the difference is where that money ends. While many Pentecostal/charismatic pastors benefit from money given to the church, in many mainline churches, the mainstream churches channel the money to the needs of the church. 690 K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel” Catholic Herald, (29 Nov 2018), op. cit. 691 Cf. J. Kügler, “People with a future, Jesus’ teaching on poverty and the role of poor people in Christian Churches today,” in Chitando, E. Gunda M.R., Kügler, J., (eds.), Prophets, profits and the Bible in Zimbabwe, (Bamberg: University of Bamberg, 2013), p. 336.

127 should not be condemned is the message of hope drawn from the scriptures but what should be detested is the manipulation of prosperity texts and exploitation of the masses in the name of God.

3.1.3 Music as a tool to enhance the Prosperity Gospel

Music is considered one of the effective mediums of communication for any Christian movement. Prosperity Gospel preachers have used music with diverse rhythms, lyrics and tunes to propagate their message. For example, the song “My God is good” by Uche, has been sung in many Churches in Uganda, and many other places, more especially among the Pentecostals and it has found favorable use among Catholic Charismatics. The song emphasizes the goodness of the Lord who blesses his own people in double measure. (I receive blessings in double-double: - promotion, money and break-through, peace, anointing, houses, Cars, children, etc.)692 These songs promote faith as a force that actualizes Christian rights to health, wealth, and financial security in the material world.693 Additionally, the Christian hip-hop industry is slowly turning away from the evangelical message to the prosperity message.694

The representation of Prosperity Gospel in music attracts both young and old who in varying ways feel economically and socially deprived. Furthermore, in Uganda, as the Watoto Church695 grew, one of its strongest international allies became to be the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia.696 Hillsong Church has become the dominant force in American worship

692 Cf. Uche, “ Everything Na double-double” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s1LJbzRulM (accessed 28. 02. 2021); see also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3_8tWbiguc (accessed 28.02.2021). 693 Cf. S. M. Mwaomah, “Overview of Prosperity Gospel” in D.K. Bediako (ed.), Prosperity Gospel: A Biblical- Theological Evaluation, 2020, p. 12. 694 Mwaomah, “Overview of Prosperity Gospel”, op. cit. 695 Formerly known as Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) and now known as Watoto, is one of the largest churches (megachurches) in Uganda founded in 1984 by Pastor Gary Skinner, (born in Zimbabwe to Canadian parents). The Church started with seventy-five people, and it is estimated to have 23,000 people in attendance. By late 1980s or early 1990s, Watoto developed a system of small groups that helped maintain cohesion. It grouped members into cells known as “clusters” each comprising six people. Groups of clusters formed districts, of which there were five in Kampala. These cells came together for large worship services. In addition to having a strong international ally with Hillsong Church in Sydney, Watoto Church is part of the World evangelical community, as the church’s ongoing relationship to American Word of Faith preacher Joyce Meyer attests. Cf. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, op. cit., 2015, p. 225. 696 Founded in 1983, Hillsong came to dominate contemporary worship music in the English-speaking world by the early twenty-first century, with its various bands and artists selling sixteen million albums. Cf. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches, 2015, op. cit. p. 235-236.

128 music.697 Watoto uses Hillsong music, and the Watoto Children’s Choir has performed at Hillsong conferences in Sydney.698 In institutions of higher learning, the Gospel of Prosperity appeals to young people in secondary and tertiary institutions [Colleges and Universities]. This is self-evident: young people are at cross-roads as they look ahead for a bright future amidst great uncertainties: how to get school fees, how to score better grades in class, how to get good jobs, buy a car or house, and how to get a spouse and begin a family, among others. This makes young people susceptible to joining churches which promise tackling many of such related issues. As Mwaomah has observed: “for them, such music runs contrary to the grim economic and social realities of life. Thus, prosperity songs provide resilience, energize the vulnerable to fight back, sustain a sense of hope in despair, and enhance ebullient dispositions amidst despondency.”699 In many of the Charismatic Churches, there is a very high sense of participation even at regular Sunday services. The Charismatic Churches use a means of communication called “interaction” in keeping the audience’s attention.700 Prayer is every person’s prayer and “music and dance livens the worship.”701. “Since young people are always looking for easy way out of life’s difficulties, it appeals to them.”702

There is an increasing tendency of material prosperity motifs in Catholic liturgical hymns, (Offertory Hymns), in Uganda. Lukwata has observed that “Independent Churches that sprung up free of restrictions from institutional Churches spearheaded the inculturation of dance into Worship in East Africa.”703 Songs and dances are done during the liturgical processions at the Entrance, the carrying of the Book of Readings, the Presentation of Gifts, the Communion, and the Thanksgiving and at the Recessional. Whereas the Catholic Church introduced dancing in worship in the post-Vatican II era,704 it is important to emphasize the general principles underlying

697 N. J. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches and the Suburban Social Religion, 1960-2000, (PhD dissertation) University of South Carolina, 2015, p. 219. 698 Hillsong prominently features the Watoto ministry to orphans on its website as one of its major ministry partners, cf. https://hillsong.com/pb/bwc/watoto/ (accessed 09.03.2021). 699 https://hillsong.com/pb/bwc/watoto/ (accessed 09.03.2021). 700 E. Dovlo, “The Church in Africa and Religious Pluralism: The Challenge of New Religious Movements and Charismatic Churches,” Exchange, 27 (Jan 1998), no. 1, p. 61. 701 Ibid. 702 Ibid, p. 66. 703 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 158. 704 The “Oratorio of the Uganda Martyrs” and the “Misa Kiluba” in Congo were some of the attempts in creating the “Africanness” of Catholic worship with an African rhythm, beat and tonality. Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 154. See also Sylvia Antonia Nannyonga-Tamusuza, “Performing Baakisimba Dance during Mass: Negotiating, Contesting and Politicizing the “Sacred” in the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda,” Chapter 11,

129 sacred music (cf. Sancrosanctum Concilium Art. 6). The purpose of sacred music is “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.” (SC 6, no. 112). Singing is an integral part of Christian worship.705 The Christian motive for singing and dancing is the victory of Christ over sin and death. This is the basis of Christian joy that is expressed in song and dance.706

Since Pius X’s Encyclical Tra Le Sollecitudini of 1903, singing became a preferred means of communal praying as opposed to the mere mechanical “reciting”.707 To sing well, according to St. Augustine, is to pray twice. It is not just harmony with voices but also with the quality of the Christian lives: “Make sure that your life sings the same tune as your mouth. Sing with your voices, sing with your hearts, sing with your lips, and sing with your lives.”708 There is need to consider the role of singing in African worship:709

African values are promoted through oral literature and music. Music sounds, gestures, motifs, costumes and instruments are related to the diverse traditional African cultures. African participation in song goes beyond mere lyrics. It includes the melody and rhythm. A song can be embraced because of the uniqueness and beauty of its melody or rhythm. Africans are capable of singing songs from different part of the world and from past centuries.710 As Lukwata opines, “an exuberant song, ecstatic dance or an uplifting music that is experienced on an emotional, aesthetic level by the African worshiper, is not just to please or to be enjoyed. It must enhance the fixation of attention and surrender to the Ultimate Good. It shapes people’s attitudes towards God and the world in which they live. Furthermore, it points to, and leads to God, the source and goal of our worship.”711

Makerere University, (no year), p. 233- 254. http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/89697/1/B219_16- Chap_11.pdf (accessed 10. 03. 2021). 705 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 152. 706 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, op. cit. 707 Cf. https://adoremus.org/1903/11/tra-le-sollecitudini/ (accessed 10.03.2021). 708 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 34, in CCL (Corpus Christianorum Latinorum) 41, 424-426, quoted by J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, p. 152. 709 In sub-Saharan Africa, there is both traditional and modern African music, the former being predominantly folk. It is commonly associated with life events such as birth, rituals, initiations, marriage ceremonies, entertainment, and coronation of tribal monarchs, war, harvesting, hunting, worship and funerals. Modern African music makes use of western tunes and harmony, the guitar, the saxophone, the piano, the violin, among others, in addition the drum, the xylophone, the bow-harp, the tube fiddle and the notched flute. Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 159. 710 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 152. 711 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 158-159.

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Ssettuuma Jr., writing from Uganda, has observed that many missionaries did a great work in Church music which they translated into local languages, but much of it remained in foreign tone.712 The missionaries did their part and handed the work to the local clergy and laity who understood better their own culture and customs. The “Oratorio of the Ugandan Martyrs”713 was composed by Joseph Kyagambiddwa on the Canonization of the Martyrs of Uganda, 1964.714 Msgr. John Eneku composed local Church music and made sure that people sing and praise God in their own language and traditional tone.715 We find other shining examples in the persons of Msgr. Bonaventure Kasaija of Fort Portal,716 Rev. Fr. Dr. James Kabuye, Fr. Dr. Joseph Nnamukangula, Fr. Joseph Musana, among others. Their music is theologically and biblically rich but always “sweet” and inspiring. 3.1.4 Prosperity Wealth and Riches

Prosperity refers to “a balanced, happy, flourishing, and harmonious life”.717 Prosperity is manifested in a successful and flourishing life when a person’s attainment exceeds their expectations and goals in life and a person lives abundantly, spiritually, socially, economically, and physically in a peaceful environment.718

Although money and wealth are part of it, prosperity is a personal and internal empowerment which is only manifested in a flourishing life which is more than wealth and money.719 An individual is considered prosperous when they are sound in all aspects of their life including physical, social, economic, and spiritual ones. The Bible mentions “Blessedness” to refer to material blessing as livestock, land, trade and production (cf. Abraham Gen 13:2). Kasenene observes for instance that “a person with money, but who has no friends or relatives, is not prosperous, nor is a person with relatives who cannot meet his or her needs. A person who is a

712 Settuuma Jr. Coming of age in Priesthood, 2013, op. cit., p. 200. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhuV_kK9hJM (accessed 28.02.2021). 713 Cf. Solomon Kawesa, “Joseph Kyagambiddwa, the man behind the songs sang during the Martyrs Canonization,” NTV News Report, 31.05.2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWiyczGcKts (accessed 10.03.2021) 714 The text and music are in: Kyagambiddwa, J., Ugandan Martyrs African Oratorio, Rome: Casimiri-Capra, 1964. See also: Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 154. 715 Settuuma Jr. Coming of age in Priesthood, 2013, op. cit. 716 One of his songs “We offer unto you our Creator all that the day embodies” (Katukukwase Ruhanga waitu) can be found on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJL8tsOxRU4 (accessed 28.02.2021). 717 Kasenene, How to prosper with integrity, op. cit. VI. 718 Ibid. 719A person has more than economic needs and desires. In addition, a person’s life has other dimensions such as career, family, interpersonal relationships, relationship with God among others.

131 millionaire but does not live in harmony with his or her creator or neighbours is not prosperous either. A sickly person who has money will not enjoy it and she is not prosperous, nor is a person with money but who killed or robbed to get it.”720 Material blessings are a sign of God’s favour on a believer. These blessings include: prosperity in business, finding job opportunities for those unemployed, getting job promotions for those employed, buying expensive car, house, and land, among others.721

Wealth implies a large amount of money, property or valuable possessions that a person or a country owns.722 It is a term from an English word “weal” which means well-being. It is about possessions which also include non-tangible possessions such as friends, talents and skills.723 In other words, someone’s wealth is determined by the aggregate value of everything the person owns that can be exchanged for money, goods or services.

Riches refer to abundance of money and material possessions. This is having more than one needs in tangible possessions namely money and property.724 A rich person is one who has more money and property than they need. One can be rich without being wealthy, but when one is wealthy, then one is also rich. From a spiritual and moral perspective, wealth and riches are neither good nor bad, moral or immoral in themselves. Wealth and riches can be good or bad, depending on how they are acquired and used. It is also not true to conclude that one who is not rich is poor. Financial independence is used to refer, not to the abundance of money and property, but to the ability of a person to meet personal or family needs.725

With this background, the prosperity teaching can be situated within the “faith gospel” or message of “abundant life” which focuses not only on the bliss of the ‘hereafter’ but also propagates the thriving of the believer while on earth.726 It comprises of spiritual, mental and physical areas of life.727 God will reward faithful Christians with good health, financial success

720 Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, op. cit. vi. 721 Goliama, The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism, p. 132. 722 Cf. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 723 Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, op. cit. vii. 724 Ibid. 725 P. Kasenene, how to prosper with integrity, op. cit. viii. 726 Cf. Olufunke Adeboye, “A starving man cannot shout halleluyah,” 7 (2020), p. 121. 727 Since Christ came to reclaim humanity’s legal right to wealth, health and success, which had been surrendered to Satan at the inception of sin, the redeemed now take their place in Christ and through faith actualize these legal rights in their lives.

132 and material wealth ‘according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:19; Eph 1:3-14).728 On one hand, some scholars argue that the Church as a true steward is charged with “responsibility by God through Jesus and is empowered by the Holy Spirit to effectively deliver holistic development for the transformation of individuals and their communities, by alleviating poverty and other social and environmental problems.”729 On the other hand however, Christianity in post- colonial Africa is vastly influenced and shaped by the prosperity message and this requires evaluation from time to time because of the enormous nature of its influence on African Christianity, and exploitation that some Christians in Africa are exposed to as a result of its spread.730

Furthermore, it is important to ask: what is the biblical promise of wealth and health? Such should be preached especially in a country ravished by disease and poverty, not just giving mere hope but to open eyes of believers and as a fuel to their quest for social justice. Whereas the gospel of prosperity has found a fruitful ground in Africa, it continues to ‘milk and disadvantage’ the very people it seeks to serve. What the propagators of prosperity gospel have done is neglecting the heavier matters of the law, justice and mercy. This they ought to do without neglecting the message of hope. So, the authentic gospel is about mercy and challenging unjust systems and laws that shackle the marginalized in our midst. The prosperity gospel has to be open to the social justice dimension of poverty eradication also. Poverty is not only an individual fate but it is also a product of economic structure which must be changed.

Mashau and Kgatle have observed that, prosperity gospel “feeds into the culture of greed in church and society, thereby tapping into the capitalist economic global system.”731 The risk posed by money or economic transaction is raised in connection with prophecy in Christian writings.732 There, we find the idea that an individual may have mortal economic interests

728 Related Scriptural texts include: Ps 1:3, Isa 53:10; Dt 30:15. 729 Cf. D. Ajulu “Development as Holistic Mission,” in Brian Woolnough and Wonsuk Ma. (Eds), Holistic Mission: God’s Plan for God’s people, (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2010), p. 160. 730 Cf. L. Togarasei, “The Pentecostal gospel of prosperity in African contexts of poverty: An appraisal,” in Exchange 40 (2011) no.1, p. 336-350. http://doi.org/10.1163/157254311x600744 . 731 Cf. T.D. Mashau and Kgatle M. S., “Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa,” op. cit. 40 (2019) no.1, p. 1. 732 Cf. Sidonius Letters 7.9.15, quoted by Esther Eidinow, “In search of the beggar priest,” published by De Gruyter, 2017, p. 271; see also Didache 11.12; Jonathan, A. Draper, “The Didache,” The Apostolic Fathers: An Introduction, Wilhelm Pratscher, (ed.), (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2010), p. 7-26; Jonathan, A. Draper, “The Apostolic Fathers: The Didache,” in The Expository Times, 117 (2006) no. 5, p. 180.

133 characterized as being opposed to Christianity; by implication this is understood to threaten the integrity of the supernatural transaction.733 This is personified in the person of Simon Magus who tries to buy from Paul the ability to cure people miraculously (cf. Acts 8:18-24). The request for silver indicates a false prophet.734

John Paul II in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) already spoke of “structures of sin” – those structures of oppression that are the result of concrete acts of individuals who introduce them, consolidate them and make them difficult to remove. And so, they grow stronger, and become the source of other sins, and so influence people’s behaviour (SRS 39). Similarly, Gerald Arbuckle identifies the “culture of poverty” that exists under two replicas: first; “consensus culture”, where people lose all hope of getting out of their social and economic deprivation; for instance, one- fourth of all rural young people with inadequate housing, food, medicine, and educational/employment opportunities. Second is the “conflict culture” in which the more powerful, dominate and oppress individuals and groups through manipulation, propaganda and education to accept their subservient position.735 Corruption for instance tends to be a systematic problem revolving around political will, administrative reforms, “watchdog agencies”, parliament, public awareness, the judiciary, the media and private sector, among others. In an Economic Development Institute (EDI) Working Paper, Langseth, Stapenhurst and Jeremy Pope describe the approach emphasizing “National Integrity System” (NIS) as a comprehensive method of fighting corruption.736

Apart from an overview of what has been produced by economists and political scientists,737 the World Development Report 1997 provides empirical evidence of relationships between corruption and fraud, the weakness of public sector institutions and the civil society, and

733 Cf. E. Eidnow, In search of the ‘beggar priest,’ 2017, p. 217. 734 Cf. C. Auffarth, “With the Grain came the God’s from the Orient to Rome; see also: S. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal diocese in Uganda, Licentiate in Theo. Dissertation, Warsaw: 2020, p. 22. 735 Cf. G. A. Arbuckle, SM Earthing the Gospel: An inculturation handbook for pastoral workers, (Great Britain: The Bath Press, 1990), p. 57-59. 736 Cf. F. L. Leeuw, Ger H.C. Van Gils et al., Evaluating EDI’s anti-corruption initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania, Evaluation undertaken as a contract with the World Bank Economic Institute’s Evaluation Unit, 48867, [no date], 14; see also P. Jeremy, Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System, TI Source Book 2000, Transparency International. 737 Cf. World Bank, 1997, p. 14 ff.

134 makes clear how important the fight against corruption is.738 For Sub-Saharan Africa, this report states that: “most of the countries are suffering from a crisis of statehood-a crisis of capability. An urgent priority is to rebuild state effectiveness through an overhaul of public institutions, reasserting of the rule of law, and credible checks on abuse of state power. Where the links between the state, the private sector, and civil society are fragile and underdeveloped, improving the delivery of public and collective services will require closer partnerships with the private sector and civil society”739- this does not exclude the Church.

Supporters of prosperity gospel emphasize individual success but are silent when it comes to economic injustice and social marginalization that accompanies it. There is no developed systematic theological analysis to that effect.740 Mashau and Kgatle furthermore, mention of ‘paparazzi and celebrity pastors’ with the growing gullibility and abuse of ordinary and unsuspecting poor members. These are encouraged to give beyond measure for them to prosper and move out of poverty.741 Kgatle gives an instance of some “poor members who are fed grass, petrol and even snakes in their efforts to prove their faith in God.”742 Resane argues that there is need for theological scrutiny and reflection with regard to these current unconventional practices from new Charismatic churches.743

As Kate Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut observe, the benefits of global capitalism and modernity have not extended uniformity across the planet but have created spaces of exclusion, particularly in the developing world. While many people get informed via the media to a global flow of images, allowing them to consume luxury items and lavish lifestyles visually, most are unable to enjoy them in reality. Additionally, access to basic services such as healthcare is often rudimentary, meaning that many in the Global South live in great uncertainty, yearning for

738 Cf. Frans L. Leeuw, Evaluating EDI’s anti-corruption initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania, p. 15; See also: INTOSAI, Addressing Fraud and Corruption issues when Auditing Environmental and Natural Resource Management Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2013, p. 19-22. 739 World Development Report 1997, p. 14. 740 Cf. T. D. Mashau and Kgatle M. S., “Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa,” 40 (2019) no. 1, p. 1. 741 Cf. T. D. Mashau and Kgatle M. S., “Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa,” p. 1. 742 Cf. M.S. Kgatle, “The unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa: Reflection and recommendations,” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 73 (2017) no. 3, p. 1. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4656 743 Cf. K.T. Resane, “And they shall make you eat grass like oxen” (Daniel 4:24): Reflections on recent practices in some new Charismatic Churches,” Pharos Journal of Theology, 98 (2017) no. 1, p. 1-17.

135 affluence and wellbeing.744 It is in this framework that the prosperity gospel flourishes. Its maxims mimic those of 21st-century economics. Just as stocks are expected to yield dividends for the shareholder, so the believer who tithes generously, prays regularly, and proselytizes expects to see a return on investment in the form of abundant health and wealth from God.745

African Catholic clergy are appalled by pastors who promise believers that the more money they give to the Church, the more they will receive. They argue that in this version of faith Jesus Christ is seen as holding the keys to a cosmic supermarket where he gives handouts to the faithful. The Holy Spirit is regarded as a kind of supernatural servant who responds to the worldly desires of individuals.746 African Christianity must develop an alternative spirituality of liberation which taps into the African philosophy of life. In advocating for solidarity, John Paul II envisages that this will help us to see the “other”- whether a person, people or nation not just as some kind of instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited, then discarded when no longer useful, but as our “neighbour,” a “helper”, to be a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God. Thus, by excluding any forms of exploitation, oppression and annihilation of others, the vitality of rebirth of the religious awareness of individuals and peoples is made manifest (cf. SRS 39).

The prevailing culture of affluence seems to put some church members under pressure to also meet certain standards of wealth. Many who throng churches are people looking for prosperity, and being conscious of this fact, many of their ministers have turned into prosperity preachers. This is like what Mobolaji Ajibade observes:747

Following the radically laissez-faire stance that the new Pentecostal movement has assumed, there has been an obvious shift of the doctrinal emphasis from ‘holy living’ to earthly mastery of the prosperity gospel. Most programmes by many Pentecostal Churches and messages from their pulpits are now designed to teach the prosperity principle, without as much as teaching the stewardship principle by which prosperity can be channeled strictly to divinely ordained purposes…this appears to have bred fortune hunters in the church, whose spiritual goal terminates at applying the

744 Cf. K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel” Catholic Herald, (29. Nov. 2018). 745 K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, 2018, op. cit. 746 Ibid. 747 Cf. M. O. Ajibade, “Pentecostalism and the gospel of prosperity,” 9 (2020), p. 154-155.

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prosperity doctrine to make their full millions, without much concern for how to make heaven while making millions.

Furthermore, unrestrained emphasis on miracle ministrations is to the detriment of the discipleship alignment of the adherents, to the effect that, some Christians are not disciples in the Christian lifestyle but are merely sign-seekers with short-lived commitment to the faith they profess.748

3.2 Pentecostals and the Prosperity Gospel

Towards a definition of Prosperity Gospel

Prosperity Gospel is “the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the ‘sowing of seeds’ through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings.”749 Paul Gifford, emeritus Professor of Religion at SOAS, University of London and author of several works on African Christianity, defines prosperity gospel/faith gospel, or the health and wealth gospel, as a theology according to which a Christian [through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross] is already healthy and wealthy, and all he or she must do to take possession of health and wealth is to claim possession.750 From this definition, comes three separate basics: faith, wealth and health. Believers by living their faith become a means through which they can unlock or attain their wealth and health.751

Stephen J. Hunt, a British Professor of sociology at the University of the West England, further opines that “Health and wealth are automatic divine right of all Bible believing Christians and may be procreated by faith as part of the package of salvation, since the Atonement of Christ includes not just the removal of sickness and poverty.”752 Sickness and poverty are not ideal, and therefore not acceptable among Christians.

748 Cf. W. Omotoye, “A Critical Examination of the Activities of Pentecostal Churches in National Development in Nigeria,” CESNUR: Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni, 2010; Mobolaji O. Ajibade, op. cit., 2020, 155. 749 “Lausanne Theology Working Group statement on the prosperity Gospel,” Evangelical Review of Theology, 34 (2010), no. 2, p. 99. 750 Gifford, “Persistence and Change in Contemporary African Religion,” Social Compass, 51 (2004) no. 2, p. 172. 751 Ibid. 752 S. Hunt, “Winning ways: Globalisation and the impact of the health and wealth gospel,” Journal of contemporary religion, 15 (2000) no. 3, p. 333.

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Lovemore Togarasei,753 writes that, “The gospel of prosperity therefore teaches that all resources are there for people to claim them”754 At the core of prosperity gospel is the “name it” and “claim it” syndrome. For Peters, prosperity gospel, is a “gospel of human possibility…wrapped in God’s name”755 As Young observes, faith and positive confession thereof is viewed as the main condition for receiving abundance of material blessing.756 This material blessings includes areas of financial prosperity and prosperity in the realm of physical health and well-being.757 Failure to accumulate material possessions and good health can be accounted for a sign of either attacks from the devil or lack of faith [sic!!! - SM]. From this background, the true Christian, therefore, must not be poor because God at creation endowed humanity with wealth, health and victory.758

Pentecostal Churches emerged in Africa in the first half of the twentieth century, the African Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches are a post-independence phenomenon, emerging from the 1970s onward. Lindhardt argues that the Pentecostals have specialized in a preaching style that “contributes to the production of a sophisticated, successful, urbanist image with a cosmopolitan fervor.”759 Kwebana Asamoah has written that, “The New Pentecostal Churches of Africa emphasize prosperity of all kinds, wealth, health, success, and ever-soaring profits in business are coveted, cherished, and publicly flaunted as signs of God’s favor. In this new type of Christianity, success and wealth are the only genuine marks of faith.”760 Parsitau and Mwaura argue that Pentecostalism became popular in urban Kenya for example “because of its capacity for social transformation and change. Pentecostalism empowered marginalized classes and facilitated upward social mobility for several individuals through the instrumentality of the prosperity gospel

753 Togarasei is professor at the University of Botswana faculty of Humanities Theology and Religious Studies and member of the African Association for the study of religion and society of Biblical literature. 754 L. Togarasei, “The Pentecostal gospel of prosperity in African contexts of poverty: An appraisal,” Exchange, 40 (2011) no.1, p. 344. 755 C. B. Peters, “The Church’s Response to Poverty: A Jungian Appraisal of the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ Phenomenon,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology 14 (2009), p. 140. 756 Young, “Prosperity teaching in an African Context,” Journal of Evangelical Theology, 15 (1996) no. 1, p. 5-7. 757 Young, “Prosperity teaching in an African Context,” Op. Cit. p. 7. 758 Cf. I. Phiri and J. Maxwell, “Gospel Riches: Africa’s Rapid Embrace of Prosperity Gospels Offers Concern – and Hope,” Christianity Today 51 (July 2007) no. 7, p. 23; B. Idahosa, You are God’s Battle Axe, Benin City, (Nigeria: Idahosa World Outreach, 2010), p. 77; see also D.K. Bediako, (ed), Prosperity Gospel: A Biblical-Theological Evaluation, The Biblical Research Committee, (Ghana: Advent Press, 2020), p. 4. 759 M. Lindhardt, “Charismatic/Pentecostal Appropriation of Media Technologies in Nigeria and Ghana,” Journal of Religion in Africa, 28 (2010) no.3, p. 258. 760 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “Did Jesus Wear Designer Robes?” Christianity Today, 53 (Nov. 2009) no. 11, p. 38-39.

138 preached by Kenya televangelists such as Bishop Mark Kariuki, Bishop J. B. Masinde, Margret Wanjiru and Wilfred Lai.”761 These churches geared towards success and prosperity gather particularly upwardly mobile urban middle classes.762 In addition to a heavy emphasis on Prosperity Gospel, the Pentecostals also engage in ascetic forms of worship, possession of the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as glossolalia (speaking in tongues), prophecy, exorcism (deliverance) and miraculous spiritual healing.763

There is a stress on spiritual forces. More routinely, the preoccupation with spiritual forces takes the form of seeking deliverance from spirits regarded as responsible for misfortunes of all kinds. Gifford has discussed in part some of these cases.764 In some occasions, these churches organize weekly prayer vigils, where congregants pray, not only for themselves and their individual prosperity but also for the country’s deliverance from poverty.765 One of the prominent features of new Pentecostal Churches is its “twin theology” of spiritual warfare and the health and wealth gospel popularly known in “Pentecostal parlance” as “Prosperity Gospel”.766 As observed by Gukurume, messages preached can be like:767

The devil wants you think that you cannot make it, you cannot be successful, that’s a lie-the devil is a liar, God blesses the works of your hands start something and it shall multiply and prosper. I prophesy into your life that you will be a success, you will prosper. I declare success in your business, more profits and more breakthroughs.

761 S.D. Pastau and P. Njeri Mwaura, “God in the City: Pentecostalism as an Urban Phenomenon in Kenya,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae 36 (2010) no. 2, p. 95-112. 762 Cf. D. Helga, Religion and Attitudes towards Life in South Africa: Pentecostals, Charismatics and Reborns, (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2012). 763 G. Ganiel, “Spiritual Capital and Democratization in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of a Progressive Charismatic Congregation,” Democratization, 16 (2009) no.6, p. 1172-1193; Donald E. Miller, “Progressive Pentecostalism: An Emergent Trend in Global Christianity,” Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education, 30 (2009) no. 3, p. 275-287. 764 Cf. P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” p. 280-283. 765 Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in Harare, Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 276. 766 Cf. S. Gukurume, “Singing Positivity: Prosperity Gospel in the Musical Discourse of Popular Youth Hip-Hop Gospel in Zimbabwe,” Muziki 14 (2017) no. 2, p. 36- 54; P. Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy, (London: Hurst, 2004); Van Wyk Ilana, “Prosperity and the Work of Luck in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, South Africa,” Critical African Studies, 7 (2015) no. 3, p. 262-279; Haynes Naomi, “Pentecostalism and the Morality of Money: Prosperity, Inequality, and Religious Sociality on the Zambian Copperbelt,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 18 (2012), no. 1, p. 123-139. 767 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in Harare, Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 274.

139

The other important form of deliverance from poverty and underdevelopment is the deliverance of the mindset or transforming the mindset. Such messages have an impact on changing the mindset of the congregants for success in the near and distant future. Rather than passively accepting their miserable conditions, congregants can change their situation through action, self-belief, self- reliance, industriousness, sobriety, and self-discipline. With the right mindset on the way they perceive the world, congregants can develop themselves, their community, their country and their continent.768

There is an emphasis on success. As Gifford has observed, “in this Pentecostal-like Christianity, a Christian is a success, if not, something is very wrong.”769 Cars in many African cities display bumper stickers like “Unstoppable Achiever,” “With Jesus I will Always Win,” and “Your success Is Determined by Your Faith,”770 Followers are encouraged always to “sow seed”. “Seeding” is framed as “the fuel that propels one to upward mobility and success.”771 Some argue that the more money one sacrifices to the church the higher the chances of making financial breakthrough and progress.772

To stand a chance to be prosperous and wealthy, members are told to pay huge amounts of money and gifts as sacrifices to the church- a practice known as seeding in Pentecostal parlance. This form of practice also called “seed faith” urges ‘born again Christians’ to expect miracles and financial breakthrough and returns for the money sacrificed to the church.773 Similar instances are reflected in summons of Pentecostal preachers; for instance, Okonkwo,774 publicizes a seminar called “Financial intelligence” through his book “Controlling Wealth God’s way” he postulates: “[M]any are ignorant of the fact that God has already made provision for his children to be wealthy

768 Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation, op. cit., p. 275. 769 Cf. P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 8 (2008) no.4, p. 283. 770 Cf. I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, Gospel Riches, p. 23, quoting P. Gifford, New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy, 2004. 771 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in Harare, Zimbabwe,” p. 273. 772 Cf. Ibid, p. 273, 277. 773 Cf. Ibid, p. 272. 774 He is the leader –“Bishop” of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) since 1988 and a former banker and graduate of Morris Cerullo School of Ministry in San Diego, California. Cf. I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches: Africa’s rapid embrace of Prosperity Pentecostalism provokes concern and hope” Christianity Today, (July 2007), p. 23.

140 here on earth. When I say wealthy, I mean very, very rich…Break loose! It is not a sin to desire to be wealthy.”775

These huge financial sacrifices are wrought as pre-requisites to material prosperity, without which one’s chance of upward mobility becomes limited. Simbarashe Gukurume, writing from Harare, Zimbabwe notes of one popular Pentecostal Church in Harare the United Family International Church (UFIC) that posted a video on its social media platforms urging people to make financial sacrifices for them to be successful in the New Year (2017). The shortened transcript ran as follows:776

It may be interesting to note that number seven is a prophetic number, a number of perfection which makes the year 2017 a year of your dreams, hopes, aspirations and all your visions, if only you are willing to start it perfectly…we are to sacrifice, we are to sow seeds and we are to cut covenants with God. People who want to be blessed in 2017 should sow seeds of up to $77, $770, $7,700, $77,000 or whichever way the spirit of God leads you. Sow your seeds in the multiples of $77.

Similarly, John Lloyd, an FT contributing editor, writes about his experience on a summer Sunday morning when he went to the ‘Miracle Centre Cathedral’ in Kampala (Uganda), one of the City’s biggest Pentecostal centre run by Pastor Robert Kayanja. The Pastor there was saying: “some of us are stuck because we fail to respond to the miracles we have been given! Give…give…give and it shall be given,” he denounced beggars. As the sermon progressed, he told the Congregation to come forward with their tithes. Queues snaked up the aisles. Kayanja cited Malachi 3:10 – “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in the mine house.” Lloyd himself wonders: “I had seen people give what seemed like substantial sums to a Church whose leader flaunted his wealth, and who promised they could be rich like him- richer, even, the more they gave. They had responded as if they were uplifted; saved.”777 Such a teaching reverberates with that of Rev. Felix Omobude,778 who urges the crowd to dream big. “There are

775 I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches,” op. cit. 23, quoting Okonkwo, Controlling Wealth God’s Way. 776 S. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches,” 18 (2020), p. 272. 777 J. Lloyd, “Uganda’s controversial pastors,” FT Magazine US, (25 Oct 2008). https://www.ft.com/content/20b089e0-9f14-11dd-98bd-000077b07658, (accessed: 9.3.2020). 778 He is a pastor in Nigeria, among the facilitators during the annual “Kingdom Life World Conference of 150 prosperity-oriented churches”. Cf. Isaac Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches,” p. 23.

141 so many dream killers around” he says. “Don’t let them kill your dreams.”779 Phiri and Maxwell quote him as follows:

Omobude prophesies: ‘your tomorrow will be better than today’…the crowd is thrilled. Omobude promises that women will find husbands, audience members will buy new cars, and the barren will birth twins. To open themselves to this blessing, Omobude encourages the crowd to give N 25,000 (about $200). Local schoolteachers earn only $150 per month, so the amount is significant, yet more than 300 people swarm Omobude, who rubs oil from a bowl on their palms. Within minutes, the church nets a tax-free $60,000.780

Some scholars argue that Pentecostalism is attracting many people in Africa because its teachings “resonate strongly with African ontologies, sensibilities and realities”781 Some hold to the view that the act of converting to Pentecostal charismatic Christianity and being baptized is the first victory one scores against witchcraft, poverty and sinful life [sic! SM].782 Promotion of business and entrepreneurship plays an important role for many African Initiated Churches. In many Pentecostal Churches, prosperity gospel is not only preached from the pulpit, but is complemented by the active promotion of empowerment and business initiatives.783 Churches offer entrepreneurship trainings and support business start-ups of their members with finances and expertise.784 In some cases, they organise for bursaries, scholarships and free education for poor students, for instance the “Agape Family Care” and “send a child to school” campaign of the UFIC in which congregants are encouraged to donate money that will be used to fund their scholarship programme.785

The defining features of new Pentecostal Churches are prosperity gospel and spiritual “warfare against the demon of poverty.”786 On the other hand, justifying wealth accumulation by

779 I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches,” op. cit., p. 23. 780 Ibid. 781 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches,” p. 316-349. 782 Cf. Maxwell 1998 on converts who joined Zimbabwe Assembly of God Africa, ZAOGA; Josiah Taru, “Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity and the management of precarity in postcolonial Zimbabwe,” 19(2020), 288. 783 Cf. F. Dena, “The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of development,” in Dena Freeman (ed.), Pentecostalism and Development: Churches, NGOs and Social Change in Africa, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 1-38. 784 Cf. Gukurume, “Singing Positivity: Prosperity Gospel in the Musical Discourse,” 2017. 785 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future in urban Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 279. 786 Cf. S. Coleman, The Faith Movement: A Global Religious Culture? Culture and Religion, 3 (2002), p. 3-19; Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), p. 117-143.

142 individuals and spiritualizing poverty as a consequence of the demonic, diverts people’s attention from the root causes of poverty and inequality.787 As observed by Ukah, while Pentecostal Churches present themselves in public as philanthropic, they are in fact self-serving entities which are not necessarily interested in the common good.788 The reason brought forth is the accumulation of wealth and becoming rich at the expense of their impoverished congregants.789 While people consistently make huge financial sacrifices, not all of them succeed and become prosperous in achieving their aspirations and dreams. Many do remain in abject poverty. While Christians of all types and times have relied on God’s material provision, the kind of blessings that such preachers often promise- such as divine expectation of abundant wealth, runaway professional success, and unassailable physical and emotional health – spring from a relatively recent, American brand of religious thought.790 Proponents of positive thinking such as Phineas P. Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy, founders of the New Thought movement and Christian Science, respectively are mentioned by Phiri and Maxwell.791

As Gukurume observes, “In fact, many of them sink deeper and deeper with time. This non-materialization of wealth and prosperity is often blamed back to the people - that they lack adequate faith or that they are not sacrificing enough money for their wealth to materialize in the here and now”792 As some scholars have argued, some congregants hardly prosper in their social and economic lives, but instead their lives become uncertain and impoverished.793 In Africa, this elusiveness of what some churches promise at times lead to frustration and anxiety and often cause some believers to move from one church to another.794 While in some circumstances, other

787 Cf. R. Marshall, “Power in the Name of Jesus: Social Transformation and Pentecostalism in Western Nigeria Revisited,” in T. Ranger, and O. Vaughan (eds.), Legitimacy and the State in the Twentieth Century Africa, (Oxford: Macmillan, 1993), p. 230; see also: P. Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy, (London: Hurst, 2004), p. 382. 788 Cf. A. Ukah F. K., “African Christianities: Features, Promises and Problems,” 2007. 789 Cf. I. Van Wyk, The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in South Africa, A Church of Strangers, (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 790 I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches,” p. 25. 791 I. Phiri and Joe Maxwell, “Gospel Riches,” op. cit. 792 S. Gukurume, “Investing in the future in urban Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 273. 793 Cf. L. Van de Kamp, “Burying Life: Pentecostal Religion and Development in Urban Mozambique,” in Development and Politics from Below, Exploring Religious Spaces in the African State, B. Bompani and M. Frahm- Arp, (ed.), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 153; I. Van Wyk, The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in South Africa, A Church of Strangers, (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 794 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future in urban Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 273.

143 congregants have taken some leaders of these churches to court demanding their money back after years of sacrificing to the church without any improvement in their fortunes.795

3.2.1 How far liberating is the Prosperity Gospel

Rather frequently, the theology of wealth and poverty diminishes a critical theological reflection and emphasizes direct communication with God in a way that “absolve[s] human beings of their responsibility in creating the crisis as well as their role in its resolution”.796 This approach leaves prosperity Pentecostals susceptible to the charge that they deliberately employ middling theological reflection that only advances their self-interests.797 However, we would be wrong to take the prosperity gospel or Pentecostal attitudes towards wealth as static,798 or unchanging for Pentecostalism itself continues to evolve.799 The relationship between new Pentecostal churches and sustainable development is complex and contested. As observed by Gukurume, while new Pentecostal churches’ teachings and activities often promote the socioeconomic well-being of the people, not all of them have positive implications for development, some versions of the health and wealth discourses propagated promise spectacular and miraculous wealth and prosperity without members working hard for that. This is a kin to Cargo Cults where riches are created from nothing- a kind of “millennial capitalism” epitomized by economics of the occult.800

Being fascinated in miracles, the prosperity Gospel reproduces some façades of the millenarian cults. One of the basic characteristics of the millenarian cults, as typified by the well- known Cargo Cults of Melanesia, is the expectation of miraculous transformation of societies.801 From this background, some have argued and described the advent of such millenarian movements

795 Cf. S. Gukurume, “Investing in the future in urban Zimbabwe,” 18 (2020), p. 274. 796 Chitando and Manyonganise, “Voices from faith-based communities,” in T. Murithi & A. Mawadza (eds.), Zimbabwe in transition: A view from within, (Pretoria: The Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, 2011), p. 101. 797 V. Magezi and C. Banda, “Christian ministry and theological education as instruments for economic survival in Africa,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73 (2017) no. 3, p. 6. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4545. 798 For instance, prominent televangelist Benny Hinn has captured headlines recently for seemingly renouncing the prosperity gospel on which he built his ministry. Cf. Adelle M. B and Emily M. Miller, “Is Hinn renouncing prosperity gospel?” Century news - Christian Century, (9. Oct. 2019), p. 12-13. 799 Cf. E. Obadare, “’Raising righteous billionaires’: The prosperity gospel reconsidered,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 72 (2016) no. 4, 6. (1-8). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3571. 800 Cf. S. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation,” op. cit. 18(2020), 280. 801 Cf. L. Lindstrom, “Cargo Cults at the Third Millennium,” in Holger Jebens (ed.), Cargo, Cult and Culture Critique, (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004), p. 15-35.

144 as a result of human search for solutions through irrational fantasy.802 However, some scholars have pointed out that to turn to some millenarian solution should not be seen as merely escapist, rather, the millenarian hopes (cargoist and other millenarian hopes) should also be seen as “the instruments of a longed-for human fulfillment.”803 Possibly, even in Christianity, “the classic Christian hope climaxes in the second coming rather than in the gradual achievement of the Kingdom.804 Gordon Fee, professor of New Testament at Regent College in his book “The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels,” addresses the issues of perfect health and material prosperity. His problem with this excesses is that they fail to properly exegete the scriptures and apply an accurate hermeneutic.805 Gifford gives two characteristics of Pentecostalism as the emphasis on spiritual forces and the emphasis on success or prosperity.806 The emphasis on spiritual forces has roots in pre- Christian African religions where the physical realm and the realm of the spirit are not separate from each other.807 “Nothing is purely matter; spirit infuses everything. Although natural causality is not entirely disregarded, causality is to be discerned primarily in the spiritual realm. There is no matter or event that might not be influenced by the gods, ancestors, spirits or witches. Any enemy could use spiritual means to bring misfortune into a person’s life.”808 Religious rituals exist to preserve the proper relationship with these spirits and this world-view largely persists in this Pentecostal-like form of Christianity.809 More routinely, Gifford argues, the preoccupation with spiritual forces takes the form of seeking deliverance from spirits regarded as responsible for misfortunes of all kinds.810 All Africa’s new churches share that world-view that setbacks and misfortunes are caused by spiritual forces, and it is the function of Christianity to counter them and because the mainline churches do so little to meet them, many Churches are cropping up

802 Cf. C. Palle The Melanesian Cargo Cult, Millenarianism as a Factor in Cultural Change, (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1969), p. 86-ff. 803 Cf. H. W. Turner, “Foreword” in G. W. Trompf (ed.), Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements: Transoceanic Comparisons of New Religious Movements, (Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1990), p. xi-xii. 804 H. W. Turner, Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements: Transoceanic Comparisons of New Religious Movements, op. cit. 805 Gordon Fee, The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels, (Vancouver, BC: College Publishing, 2006), p. 8. 806 P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” p. 280. 807 Ibid. 808 Ibid. 809 Ibid, 281. 810 He gives the example of Emmanuel Eni’s Delivered from the Powers of Darkness and Abraham Chigbundu of Mark of Christ Ministries in Benin City, Nigeria, arguing that behind every bondage, trouble, confusion is witchcraft. Cf. P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” op. cit. p. 281.

145 everywhere to address these needs.811 For instance, Chigbundu used the service to destroy every blockage: I destroy you, witchcraft spirits, all deposits of witchcraft, by the blood of Jesus’. That spirit ‘responsible for stagnancy, backwardness, disappointment, non-achievement in my life, I destroy you now…The years which witchcraft has wasted, I command them to be restored tonight. Whatever they stole from you, be restored sevenfold. The spirit of greatness, I release it! I reclaim it! I reclaim the spirit of greatness tonight. Receive It! In reply all shouted, “I receive it!” The reaction of his huge congregation showed that Chigbundu was addressing issues of vital concern.812

Furthermore, “For the people the choice of past elements to which they seem to be particularly attached are in the area of the more basic ideas, attitudes and customs that are linked up with their world-view. They are attached to these because they form the basic spirituality on which the very essential coping mechanism for life itself and its success depend. Such are for instance, the important areas of belief in medicines, magic practices and rituals which give assurance for dealing with life problems of misfortune, sickness, natural disasters, and witchcraft- problems of failure or success in life, problems of death and survival…in the contact with Christian faith, the challenge is really on these issues.”813

The second feature is the stress on victory, achievement or success. In this Pentecostal-like Christianity, Gifford observes, “a Christian is a success; if not, something is very wrong.”814 One of the Churches fond of this teaching is the Winners’ Chapel (founded in Lagos in 1983).815 Although the success promised embraces all areas of life, it is material success that is paramount. Winners has developed its own ritual of foot washing, not so much a re-enactment of Jesus’ action at the last supper, as a ritualizing of (Joshua 14:9): “Whatsoever your feet tread upon shall be given

811 Ibid. 812 Cf. P. Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy, (London: Hurst, 2004), p. 100f. 813 P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” p. 283, quoting Kalilombe, “Praxis and Methods of Inculturation in Africa,” p. 45-6. 814 Ibid, p. 283. 815 By 2000, it had 400 branches in Nigeria and was in 38 African countries. Winners’ boasts in Lagos the biggest church auditorium, seating 50,400, and in in Nairobi they are constructing what they claim will be the biggest church in East and Central Africa. Cf. P. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” p. 283.

146 unto you for a possession” – hence an assurance of possession.816 The cross is not frequently mentioned, but when it is, it is more in the following vein: “Through Jesus Christ, all curses were destroyed at the cross of Calvary. This implies that every believer is a success in every sphere of life. The sons of God must now refuse completely to dwell in poverty or any form of underachievement.”817

Kaufmann observes that the economic questions of the Church cannot be adequately solved unless they are carefully examined within the context of the communion and mission of the people of God.818 Claiming this -worldly success and material well-being as signs of grace- has captured public spheres and has created African religio-scapes of prosperity. It has popularized controversial claims of this worldly success and material well-being as signs of divine grace. The doctrine attests that God wants people to be prosperous especially financially. Adherents to the ‘prosperity Gospel believe that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and the poor are poor because of lack of faith.819 John Lukwata is true to say that in period of social or political upheavals and disruptive social-economic changes, people experience acute poverty and desperation. They search for new ways of celebrating their Christian faith and of riding themselves of their burdens.820

3.2.2 Salvation is not a Theology of Prosperity

Kwaku Golo, identifies two points which are worth considering when we refer to Africa’s neo-Pentecostals and their understanding of salvation. First, radicalization of salvation and second, their imaging of the devil not only in spiritual forms but also in systems and structures that induce poverty.821 Basic to the theological framework of the “prosperity gospellers” is their understanding of salvation – what it means to be saved by Christ and what the Christian life entails.822 In African neo-Pentecostal and/or Charismatic spirituality, two basic ways of understanding salvation are prevalent: salvation as an inner spiritual experience, transformation, and change and salvation as

816 Ibid, 284. 817 Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” p. 284, quoting the presiding Bishop of Kenya Assemblies of God, Miracle Magazine, (27 Aug 2007). 818 Cf. L. Kaufmann, “The Labourer deserves his wages’: The Bishop’s Synod 1971 and the Economic problems of priests,” AFER, p. 49. 819 Cf. Mugisa, “Remuneration and care of local clergy, op. cit. p. 40. 820 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 63. 821 B.-W. Kwaku Golo, “Africa’s Poverty and its Neo-Pentecostal ‘Liberators’, An Ecotheological Assessment of Africa’s Prosperity Gospellers,” Pneuma 35 (2013), p. 370. 822 B. Kwaku Golo, “Africa’s Poverty and its Neo-Pentecostal ‘Liberators,’” op. cit. p. 371. 147 an outer material/physical experience, transformation, and change.823 Salvation thus may be understood as entailing the acts of deliverance and/ or redemption, healing, transformation, and empowerment; spiritually and materially,824- simply meaning “liberation to be rich.”825 As Oyedepo claims:826

I am redeemed to be enriched! So, I will be an abuse to redemption if I don’t actualize

that dimension of my redemption. Jesus came to lift me up… Highflyers! That’s what

redemption makes of saints…Friend you are saved to display His wealth on earth!

I agree with Kwaku’s argument that such utterances by African-Pentecostals, presuppose a rather radicalized theology of salvation that encompasses redemption from physical powers and structures that induce ill-health and poverty. Salvation wrought through Christ must also result in redemption from the shackles of ill-health and economic deprivation, which in one sense entails empowerment to prosper.”827 In this regard, one’s salvation can only be meaningful and complete when both the spiritual and physical principalities and powers are dealt with. Consequently, the radicalization of the theology of salvation renders poverty as one of the enduring principalities and powers that must be overcome by the redeemed. Therefore, liberation from clutches of poverty is needed, and this is the task “prosperity gospellers” have taken upon themselves.828

Pope Francis has often warned against the perils of this theology [of prosperity] that can “overshadow the Gospel of Christ” (EG 7, 28).829 Whereas the theologian is personally involved in the work of evangelisation, the Pope also emphasizes the connection between the doctrine of faith and the spiritual life. The theologian, open to Deus semper maior,830 prays on his knees, but includes in his or her prayer the affairs of the people; his or her reflection is on the border between

823 Ibid. 824 Cf. B. Kwaku Golo, op. cit. 371, giving reference to: Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics. 825 Cf. Gukurume, “Investing in the future generation: New Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in Harare, p. 267. 826 D. Oyedepo, Understanding Financial Prosperity, Dom, 2005, p. 16. 827 B. Kwaku Golo, “Africa’s Poverty and its Neo-Pentecostal ‘Liberators,’ p. 371. 828 Ibid. 829 In the Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis repeats after his predecessor that at the beginning of being a Christian there is an encounter with the event, with the Person of Jesus Christ. See also the concluding document, Aparecida, V General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean: We are disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ so that our nations may have life in Him. (Aparecida, 12. 243); see also: D.W. Jones – R. Woodbridge, Health, Wealth & Happiness: Has the Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ?” (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2010). 830 God is always greater.

148

Revelation and reality.831 The soul of theology is not only to listen to the Word of God, but also to consider the “hermeneutical value” of the people of God. The theologian’s spirituality must include the willingness to be permeated with the smell of the people and the street.832 Furthermore, since his pontificate, Pope Francis has been aware of the “different gospel” of prosperity theology and, criticizing it, has applied the classical social doctrine of the Church.833 The first instance was in Brazil (July 28, 2013), while speaking to the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Pope Francis singled out ecclesial functionalism that “applies a sort of prosperity gospel to the organization of pastoral work.” This ends up being concerned with efficacy, success, quantifiable results and good statistics. The Church ends up being run like a business in a misleading way that keeps people away from the mystery of faith.834 While speaking to bishops in Korea (in August 2014), Pope Francis quoted Paul in 1 Cor 11:17 and James 2:1-7, who rebuked the Churches that they lived in such a manner as to make the poor feel unwelcome. “This is a prosperity temptation, be careful, because yours is a Church which is prospering, a great missionary Church, a great Church. The devil must not be allowed to sow these weeds, this temptation to remove the poor from very prophetic structure of the Church and to make you become an affluent Church for the affluent, a Church of the well-to-do-perhaps not to the point of developing a ‘theology of prosperity’-but a Church of mediocrity.”835

As Antonio Spadaro further observes, references to the prosperity gospel are drawn from Pope Francis’ homilies at Santa Marta.836 Pope Francis said clearly that “salvation is not a theology of prosperity” but “a gift, the same gift that Jesus had received to give.” And the power of the Gospel is that of “chasing the impure spirits to liberate them, to heal them.” Jesus does not give the power to make great business.” 837 On May 19, 2016, Pope Francis repeated this same message at Santa Marta: “…in what is called the prosperity gospel, that is, God shows you that you are right

831 Cf. J. Arocho Esteves, “When it comes to prayer, there is no room for individualism, Pope says,” Catholic News Service, (13 Feb.2019). 832 Cf. S. Zatwardnicki, “A Theologian Today: Identity and spirituality of a Theologian in Pope Francis’ Statements,” Teologia w Polsce, 13 (2019) no. 1, p. 37. 833 Cf. A. Spadaro, SJ. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” L. Kaufmann, “The Labourer deserves his wages’: The Bishop’s Synod 1971 and the Economic problems of priests,” AFER, La Civilta Cattolica, op. cit. 834 Cf. Spadaro, SJ. 2018, op. cit. see also: Francis Del Sarto, “Bergoglio and the Prosperity Gospel: An Assessment”, August 17, 2020. Online: https://novusordowatch.org/2020/08/bergoglio-and-the-prosperity-gospel/ (accessed on 12. 02. 2020). 835 Ibid. 836 Cf. Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta (5 Feb 2015). 837 Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, (5 Feb 2015), Op. cit.

149 if he gives you great riches.” But that “is wrong.” Therefore, the Psalmist says: “Do not set your heart on riches” (Ps 62:10). The pope recalled the gospel passage of the “rich young man that Jesus loved because he was just”: he “was good but had set his heart on riches and these riches eventually became chains for him and stopped him from being free to follow Jesus.”838

Furthermore, the vision of faith presented by the gospel of prosperity is in clear contradiction to the concept of a humanity marked by sin with a need for eschatological salvation, tied to Jesus Christ as savior and not to the success of its own works. It embodies a peculiar form of Pelagianism839 against which Pope Francis has asked us to be alert. In his apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, there are Christians who are committed to following the path of “justification by their own efforts, the worship of the human will and their own abilities. The result is a self- centered and elitist complacency, bereft of true love. This finds expression in a variety of apparently unconnected ways of thinking and acting,” among them “an excessive concern with programs of self-help and personal fulfillment” (GE 57).840

The Prosperity Gospel also gives voice to another “heresy” of our time, namely Gnosticism.841 It affirms that reality can be changed by the powers of the mind.842 As Pope Francis write in Gaudete et Exultate, by its very nature Gnosticism wants to tame the mystery of God and his grace. Gnostics “use religion for their own purposes to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories.” Instead, “God infinitely transcends us, he is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter him.” A faith used to manipulate reality,

838 Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, (19 May 2016). See also: A. Spadaro, SJ., “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” Op. cit. 839 Pelagianism - from Pelagius (circa Ad 354-420)- designates a heresy of the fifth century/ a heterodox Christian theological position which holds that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans have the free will to achieve human perfection without divine grace. Pelagianism is considered a heresy because it departs from essential biblical truth in several of its teachings. Cf. J. Pohle, “Pelagius and Pelagianism”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911). See also: Pope Francis, “New pelagians,” in Gaudetete et Exsultate, Apostolic Exhortation on the call to Holiness in Today’s World, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Nos. 57-59). 840 Spadaro, SJ. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” 2018, op. cit. 841 Gnosticism (after gnosis, the Greek word for “knowledge” or “insight” is a name given to a loosely organised religious and philosophical movement that flourished in the first and second centuries CE. As an intellectual product, Gnosticism is grounded firmly in the general human act of reflecting upon existence. Cf. H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1958), p. 334. 842 This is particularly clear, for example, in the work and great influence of Mary Backer Eddy (1821-1910) in the Church movement of Christian Science.

150 mentally and psychically, “Presumes to control God’s transcendence” (GE 41).843 As Kate Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut observe, “Catholic clergy push back against the prosperity gospel by citing Mark 4:19, that “the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful.” Yet for those suffering economic and physical hardship, hope is the only thing that springs eternal”844

3.3 The dim side of the Prosperity Gospel

Prosperity Gospel involves the idea that God wants believers to get rich or healthy, but he cannot bless them unless they first send money known as “seed-faith” to their spiritual leader or pastor who tells them about the plan.845 As Andreas Heuser,846 has put it: “the theological construction of ‘sowing and reaping’ imaged an intimate link between divine blessing and financial contributions to God and the church; it quantifies blessings by preaching that the more you sow the more you will reap. Elaborated rituals of gift exchange with its postures on divine giving and tithing characterized the new style of Pentecostal worship.”847

This teaching, popularized by the American televangelist Oral Roberts in Tulsa Oklahoma in the USA,848 has now spread to other parts of the world, including Africa. As some authors have observed, a significant section of clergy in Africa are unjustly getting money from their diehard followers in the name of God, thanks to the generous but misguided giving by these followers. For instance, Obadare Ebenezer has pointed out that “Pentecostal churches seem to have placed an indecorous emphasis on wealth and personal accumulation. The bulk of recent criticism of the fantastic wealth of a growing number of Pentecostal pastors whose congregations remain desperately poor emerges against the backdrop of this realization.”849

843 L. Kaufmann, “The Labourer deserves his wages’: The Bishop’s Synod 1971 and the Economic problems of priests,” AFER, p. 49. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” 2018, Op. cit. 844 K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel, 2018, Op. cit. 845 Cf. E.Z.M. Gbote and S.T Kgatla, “Prosperity gospel: A missiological assessment,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70 (2014) no. 1, p. 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i1.2105 846 Prof. Dr. Andreas Hauser is Dean of research and professor for Extra-European Christianity with focus on Africa. 847 A. Heuser, “Charting African Prosperity Gospel economies,” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, 72 (2016) no. 1, p. 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i1.3823. 848 E.Z.M. Gbote, and Kgatla, S.T., “Prosperity gospel: A missiological assessment,” 2014, op. cit. p. 1. 849 E. Obadare, “‘Raising righteous billionaires,’ The Prosperity gospel reconsidered,” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 72 (2016) no. 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3571.

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3.3.1 “Prophets for profit”

In his compact research on Nigerian megachurches, Asonzeh Ukah repeatedly detects a “sacred secrecy”850 surrounding finances. According to Ukah, Nigerian megachurches have turned into mere business empires led by “prophets for profit”,851 business-minded religious entrepreneurs. There is also a selective quoting of scriptural texts and a very loose interpretation of the relevant fragments of the Scriptures for instance: Jos 1:8, Mk 10:29-30, Lk 6:38, 3 John2.852 These encompass the following biblical concepts among others: the Abrahamic covenant, the atonement, faith and prosperity which includes both health and wealth.853 The preachers successfully frame in the imagination of their followers a possible world, free of disease, poverty and suffering. The distressed are offered a guarantee from God that they need not to wait for the great eschaton to see their problems solved, but God has purposed to grant them worldly riches in this life as a sign of faith, grace and salvation.854 The Biblical teachings distinguish between Christian ministry as an instrument used for economic survival and ministry as an instrument of service from which the minister must expect to earn economic survival. There is a distinction between self-enrichment out of the ministry and being justly rewarded for being in ministry.855

Traditionally, Christian ministry did not attract people who expected financially lucrative careers. Beidelman observes that missionaries “often described their work as an act of sacrifice or as means of refining character.”856 Bosch puts it that, “In conflict with the dominant views of the time, the missionaries regarded as brothers and sisters the people to whom they felt God was sending them…The principal theme was that of empathy and solidarity, which found expression

850 A.F.K. Ukah, “Those who trade with God never lose: The economics of Pentecostal activism in Nigeria,” in T. Falola (ed.), Christianity and social change in Africa: Essays in honor of J.D.Y. Peel, (NC: Carolina Academic Press, Durham, 2005), p. 272. 851 A. F. K. Ukah, “Prophets for profit: Pentecostal authority and fiscal accountability among Nigerian churches in South Africa,” in A. Adogame, M. Echtler and O. Freiberger (eds.), Alternative voices: A plurality approach for religious studies, (Göttingen: Vandenhoekk and Ruprecht, 2013), p. 151. 852 L. Brogdon, The New Pentecostal Message? An Introduction to the Prosperity Movement, (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015), p. 103. See also: P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” Studia Oecumenica, 20 (2020), p. 237. 853 P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” p. 237. 854 Cf. B. Peters, “The Church’s Response to Poverty: A Jungian Appraisal of the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ Phenomenon,” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology 14 (2009), p. 143. 855 V. Magezi and C. Banda, “Christian ministry and theological education as instruments for economic survival in Africa,” p. 6. 856 T.O. Beidelman, “Contradictions between the sacred and the secular life: the church missionary society in Ukaguru, Tanzania, East Africa, 1876-1914,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 23 (1981) no. 1, p. 83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417500009695.

152 in compassion for others whose plight should evoke the Christian’s ‘tenderest affections’ as well as a yearning for both their temporal comfort and their immortal happiness.”857 Shorter, writing about the White Fathers in Africa, observes that: “Ministry to the sick was one of the priorities of mission work, and it was closely linked to evangelisation.”858 Many missionaries endured personal struggles in the mission field.859 “After 1907 -reports Shorter- subsidies from Rome diminished considerably. In spite of the subsidies, bishops were in a continual state of penury. In 1906 and 1907, the Vicariates of Nyanza North and Nyasa recorded deficits and were forced to limit their expenditure while looking for other sources of income. Bishop Streicher encouraged the growing of cash crops at mission stations, and Dupont found some generous private benefactors to place his vicariate on a sounder financial footing.”860

Magezi and Banda have pointed out that “missionaries did not consider their work as a means of economic enrichment, although they did expect to economically survive from it. In fact, mission was forsaking of the world and undertaking a vocation prompted by frugality and altruism to save and serve lost humanity.”861 When compared to the current ministry by the prosperity gospel pastors, there is a lot that is required for emulation. Magezi and Banda observe that “the requirement to treat mission service as a vocation and not a profession emphasized the high degree of commitment and sacrifice that accompanied it. Missionary work did not have material benefits of economic enrichment, but a life of austerity and altruism. Rather than an accruing of material wealth and self-aggrandizement, it was marked with survival with the barest minimum of resources. Furthermore, it was in order to serve and save lost humankind that missionary service was to be considered a calling and not as a job.”862

During absence of material support from the congregation, Paul’s option was not resignation to poverty. He used his extra economic skills to earn his material welfare (cf. Acts 20:34). He demonstrates a true minister, one who benefits from his ministerial work and not one

857 D.J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2004), p. 286-287. 858 A. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2006), p. 113. 859 Cf. A. Hastings, The Church in Africa: 1450-1950, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), p. 260; E.A. Isichei, A history of Christianity in Africa: from antiquity to the present, W.B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995, 77. 860 A. Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, 2006, op. cit. 116. 861 V. Magezi and C. Banda, “Christian ministry and theological education as instruments for economic survival in Africa,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73(3), 2017, 2 [1-9]. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4545 862 V. Magezi and C. Banda, 2017, op. cit. 2.

153 who seeks to profiteer out of ministry. As Oliver puts it, involvement in ministry should not be prompted by financial or material gain, but by service that transforms and heals the broken world. (cf. 1 Tim 3:3; 1 Pt 5:3, Mt 6:24).863

3.3.2 The Abrahamic covenant is interpreted as a means to material entitlement

The teaching of the prosperity gospel distorts the significance of the Abrahamic covenant, when insisting that the primary purpose of God’s promise given to Abraham and subsequent generations is material prosperity. As Piotr Kopiec has noted, prosperity gospel teaching holds the Abrahamic covenant as a deal of material wealth made with God that needs to be activated by the words of faith.864 Kenneth Copeland expresses this thought of the prosperity preachers: “Anything God taught Abraham or his descendants about operating financially will work just as well today as it did several thousand years ago. If you don’t believe it, you’ve never met a Jew!”865

3.3.3 The teaching that “Jesus’ atonement extends to the sin of material poverty”

Another theological challenge of the prosperity gospel arises from the misinterpretation of the atonement. It is grasped as espousing one’s financial and health wellbeing. To approve their claim, the prosperity preachers usually employ 2 Cor 8:9 “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” As Piotr Kopiec says, “Obviously, it strikes how they ignore the biblical context of these words of Paul and a common theological understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ.”866 Given that Uganda is witnessing a period of economic upheaval,867 the promise of untold riches finds a willing audience among subjects experiencing acute deprivation and general uncertainty. Obadare has observed that: “Pentecostal approach to wealth (accumulation) as seen in the prosperity gospel is a perversion of authentic Christian understanding of

863 E. Oliver, “Theology: Still a queen of science in the post-modern era,” die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi 50 (2016) no. 1, p. 1. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i1.2064 . 864 P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” p. 237. 865 K. Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974), p. 16, quoted by Piotr Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” 2020, op. cit., p. 237. 866 P. Kopiec, “The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion of the Fundamental Evangelical Tenets,” p. 238. 867 Cf. World Bank, “Uganda Economic Update, 14th Edition Feb. 2020,” p. 1-43. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/571011581515307951/pdf/Uganda-Economic-Update-14th-Edition- Strengthening-Social-Promote-Inclusive-Growth.pdf (accessed 26.02.2021); S. Ssewanyana and L. Bategeka, “Global Financial Crisis Discussion Series Paper 21: Uganda Phase 2” Feb. 2010, p. 1-27.

154 prosperity.”868 Although Africa and Uganda in particular needs a message of hope amidst the harsh socio-economic realities, the manipulation of prosperity texts and exploitation of the masses in the name of God ought to be condemned.

The affirmation of the power of the Holy Spirit manifesting in the growth of the Church must not accept an automatic and manipulative meaning of God’s grace that is regarded as an instrument of human desires.869 God’s blessings (spiritual and material welfare) ought to be accepted, but simultaneously rejecting identification of them (either as a sign of blessing or poverty as a sign of God’s curse).870 God has given the human beings resources that facilitate human activity, but the idea that “positive thinking,” and the notion that “success in life is entirely due to our own striving, wrestling, negotiation or cleverness” should be avoided.871 The message of prosperity should be a right theological answer for the poor and excluded people and hence it needs a holistic biblical hermeneutics that does not distort or manipulate the biblical message especially in the soteriological aspect. Popularity is no proof of truth; and people can be deceived in great numbers.872

There is also need to guard against theological syncretism by a proper contextualization of the Gospel message in Africa. The Lausanne statement,873 discerns a threat of false dependence that links the faith with misleading expectations of material wellbeing and that leads many to leave the church and Christianity.874 Furthermore, the various examples of personal behaviour of the prosperity leaders that grievously distorts their calling to ministry, including: “flamboyant and

868 E. Obadare, “‘Raising righteous billionaires,’ op. cit. p. 6. 869 Cf. The Statement on the Prosperity Gospel issued by the African Chapter of the Lausanne, see Piotr Kopiec, 2020, op. cit. p. 239- 240. 870 Ibid, p. 239. 871 Ibid, p. 239. 872 Ibid, p. 240. 873 The Lausanne statement is one of the more influential modern statements of Christian faith, a longer document including a specific reaffirmation of the Nicene Creed and an elaboration of fifteen beliefs: 1)The purpose of God; 2) The authority and power of the Bible; 3) The uniqueness and universality of Christ; 4) The nature of Evangelism; 5) Christian social responsibility; 6) The Church and Evangelism; 7) Cooperation in Evangelism; 8) Churches in Evangelistic partnership; 9) The urgency of the Evangelistic task; 10) Evangelism and culture; 11) Education and leadership; 12) Spiritual conflict; 13) Freedom and persecution; 14) The power of the Holy Spirit; 15) The return of Christ. It was written and adopted by 2,300 evangelicals from 150 nations at the International Congress of World Evangelization held in Lausanne, Switzerland. It commits the Christian Church by applying the Gospel in relevant ways (evangelism, education, edification, transformation) in a rapidly changing world. Cf. https://www.lausanne.org/content/covenant/lausanne-covenant#cov (accessed 07.03.2021). 874 Cf. The Statement on the Prosperity Gospel issued by the African Chapter of the Lausanne, see P. Kopiec, 2020, p. 240.

155 excessive wealth and extravagant lifestyles; unethical and manipulative techniques; constant emphasis on money, replacing the traditional call to repentance and faith with a call to give money; covetousness which is idolatry; living and behaving in ways that are utterly inconsistent with either the example of Jesus or the pattern of discipleship that he taught; ignoring or contradicting the strong New Testament teaching on the dangers of wealth and the idolatrous sin of greed; failure to preach the word of God in a way that feeds the flock of Christ; failure to preach the whole gospel message of sin, repentance, faith and eternal hope; failure to preach the whole counsel of God, but replacing it with what people want to hear and replacing time for evangelism with fundraising events and appeals.”875

3.3.4 Faith is perceived as a self-generated spiritual force that leads to Prosperity

Prosperity gospel also relates to the meaning of faith. It regards faith as neither an act of will nor an attitude of trust to God; it is rather a spiritual deal with God, with an omnipotent eternal “Donator”. For Kenneth Copeland, “Faith is a spiritual force, spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function…There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.”876 Hence faith is merely a spiritual entitlement to access to the endless gifts of God.

Furthermore, Cardinal Anthony Olubunni, Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Church Archdiocese of Lagos, expresses worry. While immorality and crime are increasing, the church founders and General Overseers are getting richer. This is the misgiving the prelate voices when he refers to the mushrooming churches as ‘business centres.’877 The Prosperity Gospel according to Miebara Jato “has become conflation of greed and corruption that is rampant in our public sector and politicians. The flamboyant lifestyles and prosperity mentality of the pastors is making people to ascribe profit motive to pastor’s actions, including branching out.”878 This form of mentality is partly because prosperity preaching identifies tithing as a central dimension in Christian faith, and

875 Ibid, p. 240. 876 Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, p. 15. 877 Cf. Miebara Jato, Nov 15, 2017: “The Prosperity gospel that is behind the mushrooming of churches?” online: https://medium.com/@miebarajato/the-prosperity-gospel-that-is-behind-the-mushrooming-of-churches- c29348672212 (accessed, 31-10-2020). 878 Ibid.

156 rituals of tithing occupy large and at times spectacular sections of services. One could claim that such investment in “tithing” binds much of innovative energy in prosperity-oriented churches.879

In September 2018, at a theological congress in Ivory Coast, clergy lambasted Africa’s prosperity gospel preachers. Bishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, president of the Ivory Coast bishops’ conference, urged Catholic leaders to confront the “heresies” promoted by “communities which mushroom everywhere by roadsides claiming to be Christian, but which deny the centrality of the cross, and preach that prosperity could come like a magic wand.”880 Fr. Donald Zagoré, a priest of the Society of for African Missions, describes what happens when Catholics adopt the so-called “prosperity gospel”: “After the post-communion prayer which should mark the end of the Liturgy of the Eucharist- and evidently the end of the whole Mass, save the closing rites- another liturgy starts, sometimes even longer than the Liturgy of the Eucharist: the liturgy of money.”881 He further argues that this practice - where the congregation is urged to make donations, [the greater the gift, they say, the greater will be the divine reward] - is sharply at odds with traditional Catholic theology (cf. Mt 6:24). “No one can deny the fact that money is necessary for the wellbeing of all structures, but making it the centre of our liturgical celebrations, is frankly, exaggerated.”882

Correspondingly, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ. has noted that “this type of Christianity places the well-being of the believer at the center of prayer, and turns God the Creator into someone who makes the thoughts and desires of believers come true.”883 With this form of “religious anthropocentrism” which puts humans and their wellbeing at the centre, comes the risk of transforming God into a power at our service, “the Church into a supermarket of faith, and religion into a utilitarian phenomenon that is eminently sensationalist and pragmatic.”884 Spadaro links this image of prosperity and well-being to the so-called “American Dream” - the vision of a land and a society understood as a place of open opportunity.885 The prosperity gospel “mechanically

879 A. Hauser, “Charting African Prosperity Gospel economies,” 2016, p. 4. 880 Cf. K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel,” Catholic Herald, (29 Nov 2018), op. cit. 881 Cf. K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel,” Catholic Herald, (29 Nov 2018). 882 Zagoré as reported in K. Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “How Catholics are falling for the Prosperity Gospel” Catholic Herald, (29 Nov 2018). https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-liturgy-of-money/ (accessed 12.01.2020) 883 Cf. Spadaro, SJ. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” La Civiltà Cattolica, 18 July 2018. 884 Ibid. 885 Throughout the ages, this has been the push factor behind many economic migrants to leave their own land and set out for the United States to stake a claim to a place where work produces results that were unreachable in their world. Cf. A. Spadaro, SJ, “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” op. cit.

157 translates this vision into religious terms, as though opulence and well-being were the true signs of divine delight to be conquered magically by faith.”886 3.3.5 Prayer is a tool to “force” God to grant Prosperity

Prosperity theologians overemphasize meaning of prayer as an instrument to achieve personal benefits. They convince that if one asks God for even sheer material gains, they will be granted with this gain. Obviously, it brings about egoistic, selfish thinking about God and faith as permanent source of prosperity.887 Furthermore, the concept of the gospel of prosperity can be exemplified by an “offering Prayer” found on the website of the 9000-member Bathel Church in Redding, CA, in which members of the congregation implore God to pay them back for their tithes and offerings, which reads like a veritable litany of money:888 As we receive today’s offering, We are believing the Lord for: 889 Jobs and better jobs Raises and bonuses. Benefits Sales and commissions Favorable settlements Estates and inheritances

Interests and income Rebates and returns. Checks in the mail. Gifts and Surprises Finding money Debts paid off. Expenses decrease. Blessing and increase

Thank you, Lord, For meeting all of my financial needs That I may have more than enough To give into the Kingdom of God And promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!!

886 Cf. A. Spadaro, SJ. “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” L. Kaufmann, “The Labourer deserves his wages’: The Bishop’s Synod 1971 and the Economic problems of priests,” AFER, La Civiltà Cattolica, 18 July 2018. 887 P. Kopiec, 2020, op. cit. 241, quoting David W. Jones, Russell S. Woodbridge, Health, Wealth, and Happiness: How the Prosperity Gospel Overshadows the Gospel of Christ, (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2017), p. 40ff. 888 Cf. Offering Readings: https://www.bethel.com/offering-readings/ (accessed 12.03.2020). 889 Offering Readings #1: https://www.bethel.com/offering-readings/ (accessed 12.03.2020).

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3.3.6 Prosperity Gospel thrives in a community with a faith in crisis

The majority poor and oppressed are hyped with a message of hope in the middle of their distressing and disturbing life situations and are given spiritual wealth formulas. Such a message cuts across the poor as well as the middle class and the super-rich. These are promised an expansion of their business empires as well as a message of healing which cuts across all social classes. In addition, the ‘performance of miracles’ explains why such preachers in Africa and in Uganda in particular have a great following. Such miracle incidents are followed by testimonies and the place of giving is craftly interposed as a reagent for the miracle. In Uganda for example, the prosperity preachers have made huge amounts of money through sale of miracle water, oil and some rice dabbed as “holy”.890

Furthermore, Ukah has rightly observed that in order to mobilize the public for patronage, the new Pentecostals employ “marketing drives and strategies in the range of their advertisement in both print and electronic media.”891 They sell their “wares and products” but also ideas and services: deliverance sessions, retreats for “singles” (spinsters and bachelors), marriage seminars, counselling sessions, assembly for “those waiting on the Lord for the fruit of the womb,” “Rebecca” retreats for “those waiting on the Lord for partners,” monthly crusades, and annual conventions at big stadia.892

Connected to this is the portrayal of new-Pentecostal pastors as “high-class religious entrepreneurs with their exhibition of signboards and posters. These compete favorably in magnitude, caliber and decoration, with signboards of commercial enterprises and firms. As Ukah has noted, the designs and appeal of these signboards portray the ministers as professionals who are fashionable, modish and current in “their acquisition of the latest technology necessary for services, healing, deliverance, prosperity and total successful living.”893

890 The New African magazine reported of a prominent Kampala [Uganda] pastor selling “holy” water for as much as UGX 500,000 (approximately £105) per 500ml plastic bottle. Another sells the rice he grows on his farm, branded as “holy”, at ridiculously high prices. cf. E. Ojulu, ‘Born-again pastors under scrutiny,’ New African, 23.03.2019. Online: https://newafricanmagazine.com/20201, (accessed 3.11.2020). 891 Ukah, “Religion and Mass Media: A Sociological Perspective” (M.A dissertation, Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan, 1997), p. 12; Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching,” op. cit. p. 76. 892 D.I. Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching,” p. 76. 893 Ukah, “Religion and Mass Media,” 30, See also: D. Isaac, Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching,” op. cit. p. 76.

159

3.3.7 Prosperity Gospel supports Neoliberalism

Similarly, Mary Wrenn, has observed that the Prosperity Gospel supports and sustains neoliberalism;894 the Prosperity Gospel is an institution which provides refuge to individuals from the exigencies of the market as well as a set of social practices which reinforce individual responsibility and fault. The Prosperity Gospel thus offers a spiritual version of neoliberal self- governance. And the formula offered is simple – if you do not like your life, change your lifestyle. Faith is the catalyst which ignites prosperity- and it is not blind faith, for it is proven in the health and wealth of its truly devoted. Faith activates invisible forces to bring the believer tangible returns. The Prosperity Gospel is the American Dream reshaped and given clear instructions- through devotion to God, patience, and belief in his blessings, prosperity will follow.895

J. Lloyd has noted that [the] successful pastor strives day after day to hold the attention of actual or television audiences by the force of personality and display of emotion. With that charisma, especially in churches where wealth is lauded, go allegations of corruption.896 Some peddlers of the Prosperity Gospel have even faked miracles so that they can attract more followers.897 The focus on “therapeutic preaching”898 in order to meet emotional needs lead to Pastors stopping to teach about difficult subjects like sin and judgement and instead “shade the message, subtly equaling the ‘abundant’ life with middle-class affluence.”899 As noted by some, astonishingly, many followers of prosperity gospel remain unwaveringly royal to errant pastors even when it is evident, they are being led astray. Partly to consider as an explanation to this is that the African spiritual orientation and socialization gives little or even no room at all for constructive criticism of anything done in the name of God- the respect of the sacred in African

894 Neoliberalism teaches through the socialization process that everyone should be accountable to him/herself and in so doing, each individual’s responsibility to others and to the collective is eroded. Society is then comprised entirely and solely of self-interested, atomistic individuals seeking to forward their own agendas. The emphasis on individual accountability and responsibility naturally segues into the power of the individual acting alone. Cf. M. Wrenn, “Agency and Neoliberalism,” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39 (2015), no.5, p.1231-1243. 895 M. V. Wrenn, “Consecrating Capitalism: The United States Prosperity Gospel and Neoliberalism,” Journal of Economic Issues, 53 (June 2019) no. 2, p. 431. 896 Cf. J. Lloyd, “Uganda’s Controversial Pastors,” Financial Times Magazine, (24 Oct 2008). https://www.ft.com/content/20b089e0-9f14-11dd-98bd-000077b07658 (03.09.2021). 897 Nalunkuma Diana, a resident of Kasangati a Kampala suburb in Uganda, reports of her encounter with a certain “Pastor” Yiga to fake total blindness. Of which she would be healed. cf. https://youtu.be/iYQD2toz-BA (accessed 07.11.2020); 898 Cf. Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches and the Suburban Social Religion, 2015, p. 199. 899 Saunders, 2015, op. cit.

160 thought frame.900 It becomes hard for many Christians to question about what they hear from their spiritual leaders hence taking their word as the word from God, which is not supposed to be questioned.901

Pope Francis in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (the Joy of the Gospel) observes that this is a challenge to the Catholic faith of many people today. Some of these new religious movements, lean towards fundamentalism, while others seem to propose a spirituality without God. On one hand, it is a reaction to a materialistic, consumerist, and individualistic society, but also it is a means of exploiting the weakness of people living in poverty and on fringes of society, people who make ends meet amid great human suffering and are looking for immediate solutions to their needs. These religious movements, with a certain shrewdness, come to fill, within a predominantly individualistic culture, a vacuum left by secularist rationalism (cf. EG 63).

The Washing Post reported of an American Pastor Robert Baldwin, accused of distributing a poisonous “miracle drink” to thousands of Ugandans including infants. Purportedly a cure for many diseases, including cancer, malaria, and HIV/AIDS, it turned out that the substance consists of sodium chlorite and citric acid, which combine to create chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleach. The U.S. Embassy in Kampala condemned the distribution of the substance.902 The Daily Monitor, a Ugandan Newspaper reported of one, “Pastor Obiri Konjo Yeboah” arrested and interrogated at Entebbe Airport after he attempted to clear a machine which police say, “he has been using to deliver electric current on unsuspecting worshippers during Church services”903

As Ssettuuma Jr., notes, actions as manipulation of people’s piety by deceit or use of electric gargets, are driven by greed, love for money and excessive desire for power by the so- called pastors. This is coupled with exaggerated mysticism, superstition, extravagance of several pastors in holding expensive weddings and buying ultra-expensive vehicles, show that religion is

900 Though there was no demarcation between sacred and secular in traditional worldview as Orobator A.E opines, there was a special respect of that which was considered transcendent like special objects, sites, mountains, caves, and ancestors. Cf. A.E. Orobator, Theology brewed in an African pot, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008), p. 142; J.S., Mbiti, Introduction to African religion, (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers,1991), Chap 3 & 7. 901 Sometimes, these leaders quote the scriptures, for instance “touch not my anointed one and do my prophet no harm.” Some of these texts which are regularly quoted deactivate the critical mind (Psalms 105:15). 902 Cf. L. Weber, The Washington Post, (22 May 2019). 903 Cf. M. Ssebuyira and Z. Nakabugo, Daily Monitor, (Wed, 3 Oct 2007). https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/688334-791328-cqo1a3z/index.html (accessed: 9.3.2020).

161 partly being commercialized in Uganda.904 The very purpose of evangelization which is to bring the good news to all strata of humanity and proclaim total liberation to God’s people has been greatly compromised (cf. EN 18). This calls for the need to go back to the simplicity of the Gospel, putting the human being at the centre of every act of evangelisation. (cf. RH 1-17). In giving a theological summary of the prosperity teaching, there are difficulties, partly because it does not present itself as a written theology, but rather a rhetorical and experiential teaching in which the appeal is as much tied to the language used and the personality of the proponent as to the theological content.905

Uganda’s situation is not different from other parts in Africa and elsewhere. In Kampala “there is a giant covered stadium called the Miracle Centre Cathedral, which cost 7 Million dollars to build; it is the fruit of the work of Pastor Robert Kayanja, who has also developed a vast movement with a strong media presence.”906 The Christian Life Church in Kampala of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga founded in 1995, is estimated to have twenty-two thousand people in attendance; the Prayer Palace Christian Center of Pastor Musisi Grivas in Kampala founded in 1988 is estimated to have six thousand people, while the Light of the World Church of Pastor Wilson Bugembe founded in 2003 is estimated to have four thousand people in attendance.

Additionally, in Nigeria, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has grown from a storefront in Lagos half a century ago to a Church that lists more than 300 centres in the British Isles, half of them in London. It claims roughly similar number in the US.907 While Pentecostalism in addition to prosperity, stresses miraculous healings as well as extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit’s presence, such as uncontrollable body tremors, paralysis, and holy laughter,908 many of the themes of the RCCG include stress on worldly success, and on efficiency, sermons and uplifting messages that stress achieving one’s potential- here and now. Similarly, thousands of miles north, of the Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden, is where pastor Ulf Ekman built a

904 B. Ssettuuma Jr., “The state of religion and culture in Uganda 2008,” The Waliggo Journal of Holistic Theological reflection, Kampala, 2 (2009), no.1, p. 162. 905 S. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal diocese in Uganda, (Licentiate dissertation, Warsaw, 2020), p. 41. 906 Cf. Spadaro, SJ, “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different,” op. cit. 907 J. Lloyd, “Uganda’s controversial pastors,” FT Magazine US, Oct 25, 2008, op. cit. 908 Cf. N.J Saunders, Crabgrass Piety: The Rise of Megachurches and the Suburban Social Religion, 2015, p. 231.

162 megachurch quite alien to Swedish Lutheran traditions, this has in turn founded branches all over the former Soviet Union.909 Ekman is close to the Texan televangelist Kenneth Copeland, of the Word of Faith movement, whose “Prosperity Gospel” – like that of Kayanja’s – embraces self-enrichment and (in his case) the possession of a £10m Cessna executive jet. Copeland is, in turn, a disciple of the late Kenneth Hagin – the figure seen as the guru of the enrichment doctrine – who died in 2003. In a tract entitled “One word from God can change your finances”, Copeland cited John 3:2- “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” – to argue that “as the seeds of prosperity are planted in your mind, in your will and in your emotions…they eventually produce a great financial harvest.”910

This has been viewed with considerable concern by the established Churches especially because it is perceived that many of those that are attracted to the teaching are coming from the membership of these Churches. There is a feeling that this teaching is flawed, but there has not been a response to it as it occurs in the context. “Prosperity Gospel” centres mainly on speech acts surrounding faith, wealth and victory, combined with ritual enactments around secondary evidences of divine blessings.911 Jesse A. Zink observes that, there are aspects of Christianity that appeal to converts independent of the social situation in which they find themselves. In examining religious change, therefore, it is important to pay attention not simply to the process by which people convert but also to the form their new religion takes- the modes of worship, indigenous literatures, and forms of church they create in new circumstances.912

In today’s world of rapid social and economic change, the Church’s mission especially in Africa requires rethinking to the challenge of new situations. Not much effort has been done in ensuring that the missions are self-sufficient regarding finances. This has become a permanent problem to the Churches in Africa, so much so that Pope Paul II in Ecclesia in Africa had to make it an imperative for the local Churches in Africa (EA 104). The economic questions of the Church cannot be adequately solved unless they are carefully examined within the context of the

909 Cf. J. Lloyd, “Uganda’s controversial pastors,” op. cit. 910 Ibid. 911 Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy, p. 41. 912 J. A. Zink, “Religion and Civil war in Sub-Saharan Africa” in: Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan, (Texas: Baylor University Press, 2018), p. 5.

163 communion and mission of the people of God. Pope John Paull II underscores the importance of training, motivation, and empowerment- each according to their specific role (cf. EA 53, 54, 75).

As Ayegboyin has observed, “Prosperity teaching accentuates selective theology. Even though new-Pentecostal churches thrive among the poor, prosperity teaching is, to a large extent, a theology for the rich rather than the poor.”913 We find this reflected in Rev. Benny Hinn “reflections” with Stephen Strang, narrating the moving experience he had in Manila. “He confessed that he could not preach ‘prosperity nor teach seed sowing’ in Manila as was his custom in America because there: ‘God opened my eyes to see the poor suffering saints of the Word…those saints who were destitute and afflicted.’”914

If prosperity and “seed sowing” cannot be preached everywhere, then it is not universal. I agree with the argument of Ayegboyin that “in Africa, what we seem to need is a theology of hope.”915 Prosperity preachers ought to join hands with government to address issues as alleviation of poverty and the need to confront social evils as exploitation and alienation of the poor, ethnic conflicts, health problems and child labour among others. The Church must be seen to be in solidarity with the poor and not to add to their burdens.916

Prosperity Gospel focuses on wealth-oriented preaching, selective application of biblical texts which tend to be appealing; it is against suffering and pain, anchors on leaders who tend to be imposing and sometimes fanatical; faith tantamount to giving –“sowing seed”; prayer tends to be more magical; suffering or poverty is seen as a curse, there is no enough spiritual formation and while leaders are getting rich, the flock tends to be poorer.917 This seems to be against what Pope Francis advocates in Evangelii Gaudium, namely “the inclusion of the poor in society” (cf. EG 185). The unacceptable double taxation in some corners of the Churches must be denounced as

913 Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching,” p. 83. 914 Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity teaching,” p. 83, quoting, S. Strang, “Benny Hinn Speaks Out,” Charisma, (Aug. 1993), p. 26-28. 915 Ibid. 916 The Church’s contribution to health and education is well known. In Uganda, there are now four public universities and 18 recognized private universities. Of these 18, eleven are Christian institutions. Christian bodies (NGOs) are also involved in relief and development. Examples include: Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), Catholic Relief Services, World Vision International, MIVA, the Lutheran World Federation, DanChurchAid, Cordaid (Holland), Trocaire (Ireland), Misereor, Bread for the World (Germany), among others. Cf. Gifford, “Trajectories in African Christianity,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 8 (2008) no. 4, p. 276. 917 Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy, 2020, p. 39.

164 anti-Christ and anti-gospel. There is need to go back to the simplicity of the Gospel and to put the human being at the centre of every act of evangelisation as emphasized by John Paul II in Redemptoris Hominis (cf. RH 1-17).

The originality of African Christian thought is most apparent in the popular religious movements variously termed “separatist, messianic, nativistic, syncretic or independent.”918 None of these labels is much good because each suggests a specific limited way of looking at phenomena so many-sided as to defy such characterization. African movements disguised politics, personal opportunism or resurgent superstition during the colonial period.919 Later they retained the political emphasis, though with the value changed from negative to positive, in the concept of “religions of the oppressed.” The colonial presence was not the only factor at work, the leaders of movements had other concerns in addition to their experience of oppression, and their theologies and rituals are not reducible to the simple motive of protest.920

The “Christo centricity,”921 of any movement is so difficult to evaluate that scholars easily reach different conclusions. In any case, it may have no particular importance as a feature of the movement unless one takes it for granted that genuineness of conversion is necessary either to the soul’s health or to the progress of history and therefore must be considered first. The real question is not whether someone’s profession of faith is genuine but why, in a given context, one should make it at all.922 In his life on earth, Jesus demonstrated precisely almost those qualities and virtues which Africans like to attribute to their ancestors in daily life. This presents to us the vitality of a Christology “from below” for the African setting.923

As P. Hoffmann observes, “Theology can only speak of God in human terms, and Jesus himself described God in terms drawn from human experience.924 Christianity meets people in their context and communities, and transforms them within and from that setting.925 Throughout

918 Cf. W. Mac Gaffey, “African Ideology and Belief: A Survey,” African studies Review, 24 (1981), no. 2/3, Social Science and humanistic Research on Africa: An Assessment (Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 242. 919 W. Mac Gaffey, “African Ideology and Belief: A Survey,” op. cit., p. 242. 920 W. Mac Gaffey, “African Ideology and Belief: A Survey,” p. 242-243. 921 Cf. D.B Barrett, 1968. 922 W. Mac Gaffey, “African Ideology and Belief: A Survey,” p. 243. 923 B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, (New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 80. 924 Cf. P.Hoffmann, “Er weiss, was ihr braucht“ (Mt 6:8). Jesu einfache und konkrete Rede von Gott, (Stuttgart, 1981), quoted by B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, p. 80. 925 Cf. K. Bediako, The Theology and Identity, The Impact of Culture Upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and in Modern Africa, (Oxford: Regnum, 1999), p. 10, 427, 428, 431-32, 434-36.

165 his varied publications, J.S. Mbiti asserts a form of Christianity that is “indigenous,” “traditional,” and “African,” for it is that form of Christianity, according to him that “holds the greatest potentialities of meeting the dilemmas and challenges of modern Africa.”926 Prosperity teachers have not paid actual care to some important features in the early Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles, and for that matter, there must be a rethinking of their theology if it is still worth being called a Christian theology.927 The “blessings,” which ought to be shared by the body of Christ, should not become the personal preserve and privilege of the leadership. If new-Pentecostal churches are part of the body of Christ, they must follow the “examples of sharing and democratic ethos, which were characteristic of the early Church.”928 Similarly, Benedict XVI underscores that it is very important that the Church’s charitable activity maintains all of its splendor and does not become just another form of social assistance.929

“The only lasting form of Christianity in Africa is that which results from a serious encounter of the Gospel with the indigenous African culture when the people voluntarily accept by faith the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”930 Bujo observes that independent churches and sects of modern Africa reveal elements from old tradition, such as belief in the power of the spoken word, or the role of women (the latter which he cites is remarkable in the Kimbanguist Church). He remarks that Christians of good standing have been known to have recourse to diviners and sorcerers in times of crisis.931

Benedict XVI, observes that these communities [which are evangelical and Pentecostal in nature] are a worldwide phenomenon, found in all continents, although they have a strong presence in different forms, in Latin America and Africa.932 The characteristic elements are minimal institutional character, few institutions, lightweight teaching, a straightforward message, simple, easily grasped, apparently concrete and a participative liturgy with the expression of personal emotions and of the native culture, with combinations of different religions, sometimes in a

926 J.S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, p. 271, in J. Mbiti, “Christianity and African Culture,” p. 390. 927 Ayegboyin, “A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching” p. 84. 928 Ayegboyin, op. cit. p. 84. 929 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (25 Dec. 2005), no. 31. 930 J.S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy op. cit. 931 Cf. B. Bujo, African Theology in its social context, (New York: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 69. See also Bukasa-Tulu- Kia-Mpansu, L’impact de la religion Africaine sur l’Afrique d’aujourd’hui: Latence et patience, in: Religions africaines at Christianisme, p. 20-32. 932 Benedict XVI, Response to Father Lombardi, in Interview during the flight to Benin: Papal flight, (Frid. 18 Nov 2011).

166 syncretic way. In answer to what attracts people to these sects, the following are most common: healing and care of the sick; belief in prophecies and tongues; ability to deal with evil spirits and witches; search for palpable salvation; desire to know scripture and Word of God better; adherents are quickly given challenges and responsibility; attractive and persuasive preaching; attachment to a charismatic leader; quest for spiritual experiences of another kind; thirst for “knowledge”; strong sense of community and brotherhood; mutual help of a material kind given in a spirit of solidarity and an inculturated liturgy which gives free expression to feelings in prayer.

All this, on the one hand, guarantees success, but it is also instability. Benedict XVI elucidates that “we also know that many people come back to the Catholic Church or else migrate from one of these communities to another. Hence, we must not imitate these communities, but we must ask what we can do to give fresh vitality to the Catholic faith…it is important that Christianity should not come across as a difficult European system that others cannot understand and put into practice, but as a universal message that there is a God, a God who matters [to us], a God who knows us and loves us, and that concrete religion stimulates cooperation and fraternity. So, a concrete message is very important.”933

Furthermore, Benedict XVI emphasizes that the institution should never be too heavy, the initiative of the community and of the individual should be predominant. A participative but not emotional liturgy is needed: it must not be based merely on the expression of emotions but should be characterized by the presence of the mystery into which we enter, by which we are formed. It is important for inculturation not to lose universality. “I would prefer to speak of interculturalism, rather than inculturation, that is, a meeting of cultures within the shared truth of our humanity and our era, giving rise to a growth in universal fraternity; we must not lose the great gift of catholicity, meaning that in every part of the world we are brothers, [and sisters], we are a family, knowing one another and working together in a spirit of fraternity.”934

As Pope John Paul II already said to the leaders of other Christian Communities in his Address at Nairobi (Kenya) in 1980: “we stand together before the world of today with a common responsibility which stems from obedience to Christ. This common responsibility is so real and so important that it must impel us to do all we can, as a matter of urgency, to resolve the divisions

933 Benedict XVI, op. cit. 934 Ibid.

167 that exists between us, so that we may fulfill the will of Christ for the perfect unity of his followers.”

3.4 Biblical implications of the Prosperity Gospel

The Bible in many ways endorse holistic prosperity- spiritual, material and health wellbeing. The Gospel of Lk 4:1ff can be said to be Jesus’ strategy or manifesto and a motif of prosperity. He has come to bring - good news to the poor, freedom to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed. Hence prosperity is biblical, but exploitation is not. The gifts of God or gifts of the Spirit are not for sale. Within the Church, the apostles and other Christians may call on God by praying and laying on of hands; to grant this gift (vv. 15-19; 9:17; 13:3; 19:6). But it can certainly not be obtained by payment (Acts 3: 6).

There are several examples of prosperous people in the Bible much as there are also others financially poor. St. Paul writing to the Corinthians refers to Jesus who “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). Hidden in the poverty of Christ are the infinite riches of God. [He] is not only the teacher, but also the spokesman and guarantor of that saving poverty, which corresponds to the infinite wealth of God and the inexhaustible power of this grace (cf. Redemptionis donum, 12).935 Living the good news of the Gospel “means living in a way that reflects the poverty of Christ, whose whole life was focused on doing the will of the Father and serving others”936. Jesus did not have a place to lay his head (Mt 8:20), he sent his disciples out as penniless itinerant workers (Lk 9:3), his mission was good news to the poor (Lk 4:18), he told the rich young man to give up his possessions else he would not make it into the Kingdom (Mk 10:17-31), Zacchaeus volunteered to give half of his money to the poor (Lk 19:8), Jesus told the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, to the Pharisees who loved money (Lk 16:19).

Prosperity in the Old Testament is not restricted to the Patriarchs Abraham (Gen 13:2), Isaac (Gen 26:13) and Jacob (Gen 30:43) or even Joseph (Gen 39:3). Job was twice as prosperous after his suffering as before (Job 42:10); Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and

935 Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, “Economy at the service of Charism and Mission,” Guideline, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2018), p. 16. 936 Pope Francis, Homily during the Mass with the Bishops, Priests, and Religious on the occasion of the Apostolic Trip in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, Manila (16.01.2015). 168 wisdom (1 Kings 10:14, 23). Furthermore, the blessings of obedience, especially in the Old Testament are material prosperity (Deut. 28:1-14) and Psalm 144:12-15 is considered a prayer for prosperity. Prosperity gospel preachers often advocate for the theology of the seed, where the faithful member must plant a seed, in order to experience a divine intervention. Giving to the church is equated to giving to God and the givers are expected to big measures of financial and health breakthroughs.937 The following Biblical reference is always quoted (cf. 2 Cor 9:6-11):

The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully

will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not

reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to

provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by all ways having enough of

everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written, ‘He scatters

abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed

to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and

increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your

great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.

In the New Testament, we find outstanding wealthy believers who gave generously to those in need. Art Lindsley in his discussion of Acts 2-5, mentions the following: Joseph, called Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37), Dorcas (Acts 9:36), Cornelius (Acts 10:1), Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:6-12), Lydia (Acts 16:14-15), Jason (Acts 17:5-9), Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3), Mnason of Cyprus (Acts 21:16), Philemon (Philem 1).938 Moreover, some have held that the widow of Zarephath (1 King 17:7-24) was saved from nearly starving to death because she emptied her last food reserves on the prophet of God.939 The example of Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37) and the counterexample of Ananias

937 Cf. L. Togarasei, “The Pentecostal Gospel of Prosperity in African Contexts of Poverty: An Appraisal,” Exchange, 40 (2011), p. 341. 938 A. Lindsley, “Does Acts 2-5 teach socialism?”, Institute for Faith, work and Economics, 2012, p.1-6. 939 V. Magezi and Banda, C. op. cit.,p. 4, quoting Urbert, Angel, God’s get rich quick scheme: Secrets to the quickest way of getting rich God’s way, (N.P., Singapore: Spirit Library, 2013), p. 87.

169 and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) shows that nobody is forced to give away their property; all contributions are free (cf. 2 Cor 9:7).

Whereas Biblical teachings and examples show church ministers as having a right to economic survival from their ministry (cf. Mt 10:10; 1 Cor 9:14; 1 Tim 5:17-18), they are forbidden from turning ministry into a channel of amassing wealth. Ministers in the Church are stewards. Stewardship is the grateful response of a Christian disciple who recognizes and receives God’s gifts and shares these gifts in love of God and neighbour.940 In this way, the Christian minister is essential in empowering Christians to respond to poverty meaningfully.941 Living in a hostile world, Christians of the first century were mostly concerned about their Christians in need. The contributions of Church members for the maintenance of public worship and relief of the poor were originally voluntary gifts.

For instance, Macedonia and Achaia shared their resources with the poor among the “saints” at Jerusalem (Rom 15:26). The disciples were also determined, each according to their ability to send aid to the believers in Judea (Acts 11:29) and we find an account about the directions concerning collections (1 Cor 16ff). In the Christian community, the prophecy of Deut 15:4 is being fulfilled: “There will be no poor among you.” The ideal and practice of the community of goods in the early Church have had lasting effects in Church history. As noted by Victor Zinkuratire and Angelo Colacrai, this is a message that needs to be heard by many African societies where great wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.942

The Prosperity Gospel preachers base their teaching on four patterns, namely: material prosperity, divine healing, sowing seeds of prosperity and positive confession.943 They uphold the teaching that “God has met all the needs of human beings in the sufferings and death of Christ, and every Christian should now share the victory of Christ over sin, sickness and poverty. A believer has the right to the blessings of health and wealth won by Christ…”944 By material prosperity, getting rich is perceived as God’s will and an outward sign of divine blessings. “God

940 S. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy: the case of Fort Portal diocese in Uganda, (Licentiate dissertation, Warsaw: UKSW, 2020), p. 22. 941 V. Magezi and C. Banda “Christian ministry and theological education as instruments for economic survival in Africa,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 73 (2017) no. 3, p. 2. 942 Cf. Comment on “Acts 4:32 ff – The Church’s social life,” in The African Bible, Victor Zinkuratire SSS and Angelo Colacrai SSP, (General Eds.), see also: S. Mugisa, Remuneration and care of local clergy, p. 19. 943 Cf. P. Clarke (ed.), Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements, (London & New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 453. 944 P. Gifford, African Christianity: Its Public Role, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), p. 39.

170 rewards faithful Christians with good health, financial success and material wealth ‘according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:19).”945 Poverty, on the other hand, is perceived as being outside divine providence. Poverty is thus attributed to the devil from which Christians should strive to be healed.946 To have faith in God through Jesus Christ is considered an assurance for wealth. To substantiate this, the following scripture texts are often quoted: Deut 8:18 ff, Mal 3:10 ff, Jn 10:10; Gen 13:2; Gal 3:14.

Furthermore, prosperity is understood in terms of well-being (health). Sickness or poor health is attributed to the evil. And thus, healing prayers and exorcisms are performed for the ill and demonically possessed members.947 “Sowing seeds” of prosperity is considered a way through which members are assured of their right to the blessings of health and wealth. Many quote 2 Cor 9:6-11 to emphasize faithful and generous payments of tithes and offerings. In addition, “positive confession of faith” is also stressed as a pre-condition for divine blessings of health and wealth. By positive confession of faith, we mean the belief that what you say is what you get.

As Kalu has argued, true faith is not a mere belief, rather it is “acting on the word, speaking into reality what does not exists, and dreaming and envisioning the desired goal.”948 As Peter B. Clarke maintains, the assumption on the authority of the spoken word is drawn partly from the doctrine developed from Rom 10:8 that, “whatever is spoken by faith can address and have an influence on all situations.”949 For the propagators of the Prosperity Gospel, faith is a creative force that Christians can use to shape our world.950 In addition, it is held that faith can shape prayers suitably in accordance with the desired type of prosperity. In this case as Ogbu Kalu claims, prayers of any kind “are only efficacious when used appropriately to access the blessings once promised to Abraham.”951

Whereas wealth could be a sign of God’s favour, a reward from God (cf. Deut. 29:9; Josh 1:8; Prov 8:20-21) and an answer to prayer (cf. Jn 14:13-14; 1 Tim. 6:17, 18), there are biblical texts which reveal that God loves the poor and wants his people to demonstrate a compassionate

945 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, p. 202. 946 Cf. Togarasei, “The Pentecostal Gospel of Prosperity in African Contexts of Poverty: An Appraisal,” p. 339 ff. 947 Cf. R. Andrew Chestnut, “Born Again in Brazil,” in The Pentecostal Book and the Pathogens of Poverty, (New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, 1997), p. 23. 948 Cf. Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 257. 949 Cf. P. B. Clarke, Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (ed.), op. cit. p. 454. 950 Cf. Goliama, “The Gospel of Prosperity in African Pentecostalism,” p. 145. 951 Cf. Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction, p. 255.

171 and sympathetic heart towards them. There is a call to make provision for the poor (Lev 19:9-10), there are direct expectations which the Bible points out: “do not pervert justice”; “do not show partiality to the poor” (Lev 19:15); help the poor among you (Lev 25:35-36; Deut. 15:7-8); the Israelites were expected to treat the sojourners among them with dignity and respect and the same level of respect was to be shown to any Israelite who became poor (Isa 49:6); “there will always be poor among you” (Deut. 15:10-11; Mt 26:11); “uphold the cause of the poor” (Ps. 82:3-4), the Lord secures justice for the poor ( Ps 140:12; Lev 25:35-36); oppressing the poor shows contempt for their maker (Prov 14:31, Prov 17:5); kindness to the poor is like lending to God (Prov 19:17); hearing the cries of the poor (Prov 21:13); “do not exploit the poor in court” (Prov 22:22-23, Prov 29:7); true worship includes providing for the poor and the least (Isaiah 58:6-10; Mt 25:40); serving those who cannot repay (Lk 14:12-14); “do not discriminate against the poor” (Jas 2:2-4); responding to the needs of others (1 Jn 3:17-18).

3.5 Conclusion

In this this Chapter, it has been underlined that Prosperity Gospel, emerged from the Neo- Pentecostal movements, and has spread in many areas in the world, including Africa and Uganda in particular. The megachurches of the word of faith movement, have advocated a unique interpretation of the Bible, underlining the worth of positive thinking and mind change to consider opulence and well-being as true signs of divine delight to be conquered magically by faith: “All that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours” (Mark 11:23-24). A triumphalist view of faith constitutes much of what Prosperity Gospel proposes: real faith means success understood as improvement in life; in that, Christ’s sacrifice, death and resurrection, becomes the guarantee not only of reconciliation with God, but on victory against problems in finances, in family life, and in health issues. This tends to equate salvation to prosperity, health and wealth. In the Ugandan milieu, the Prosperity Gospel is more associated with the urban communities, although it is spreading in the rural areas through the mushrooming of Neo- Pentecostal and Neo-Charismatic Movements. The Prosperity Gospel originating from the USA, has a reductive interpretation with the American Dream, a vision of a land and a society understood as a place of open opportunity. Just like many economic migrants leave their land to set out for the United States (understood as a place where work produces results that were unreachable in their world), young people in Uganda today migrate to cities and major towns looking for opportunities.

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Some end up converting from mainline Churches to Pentecostal movements which promise them Prosperity. This Chapter has explained that this is enhanced by the attractive nature of the Prosperity Gospel, how it appeals to young people; the selective application of interesting Biblical texts; the avoidance of a theology of the cross (suffering and pain), and the focus on prayer and miracles. This is in contrast with the people’s glaring poverty and the desire for economic survival here and now; the reality of sickness especially HIV/AIDS and the promise for healing and wholeness. Prosperity Gospel is also pushed by the “celebrity” Neo-Pentecostal pastors; some of whom display riches and seem to be the “alpha and omega” of their Churches, to the extent that the whole Church or Ministry is identifiable with them. This Chapter underscored that such imposing hero- figures, may lead to manipulative behaviour where the flock only takes what the pastor says without any query. The fact that some of these pastors own broadcast media houses while others compose and record music or publish books or flyers, such avenues enhance the packaging and spread of the Prosperity Gospel message. Furthermore, it has been noted that the Prosperity Gospel teaching accentuates selective theology; to a large extent a theology for the rich; hence, the poor and suffering are neglected. If “seed sowing” cannot be preached everywhere, then it is not universal. In Africa and Uganda in particular, what we seem to need is a theology of hope and human fraternity (Ubuntu). This is what must encompass the ministry of healing a theme that will be discussed in Chapter four.

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CHAPTER FOUR

THE HEALING MINISTRY

The search for healing stems from the context of sickness, suffering, pain and death which touch the very root of human existence.952 The yearning for happiness, deeply rooted in the human heart, has always been accompanied by a desire to be freed from illness and to be able to understand the meaning of sickness when it is experienced.953 Sickness also strikes the just and this causes bewilderment among people. The biblical figure of the just man Job (cf. Job 2:7), could attest to this. His suffering has the character of a test.954 In illness, people experience powerlessness, limitation and finitude. Every illness can make people glimpse death. Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping them discern in their life what is not essential so that they can turn towards that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.955

For instance, “the Association of Christian Therapists (ACT) began in August 1975, at Mount St. Augustine Apostolic Center in Staten Island, New York, as a group of healthcare professionals gathered to pray, study the Word of God, and share Holy Eucharist, they received a vision for the consecration of their disciplines to God. This vision also called for a fellowship of men and women in the physical, mental and spiritual health care fields to make a radical commitment to the person of Jesus Christ and his mission for wholeness and holiness through prayer in the healing professions.”956 The Association embraces all disciplines of the health care professions as well as associates in healing ministries. Amid this diversity as health care professionals and as Christians, ACT members are united by believing in the healing presence and power of Jesus Christ, and by acknowledging the patient/client as a spiritual human being made in the image of God. They have been on the leading edge of developing and integrating Christian spiritual healing into their clinical professional work as medical doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychotherapists, counsellors, pastoral ministers, and allied health clinicians.957

952 Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris, 1984, nos. 5-6. 953 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on prayers for healing, Rome, September 14, 2000. 954 Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris, 11: AAS 76(1984), p. 212. 955 Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1500-1501. 956 D. W. Schoeninger, et al., (eds.), A Primer for Christian Healthcare Practice, (Degnon Associates, Inc. McLean, VA, 2001), p. i-ii. 957 D. W. Schoeninger, et al. (eds.), A Primer for Christian Healthcare Practice, op. cit., p. iii.

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Healing is central in the African context as it is one among the key values typical of Africans. J. Baur has noted that missionaries, in their evangelisation effort in Africa, were at times influenced by some prejudices.958 While unaware of ancestor and fertility cults, and of the African distinction between protective and harmful magic and between medicine man and witch, they rejected everything as Satan’s service.959 “All fetishes had to be burnt or buried. Consequently, medicine men became their great adversaries, to be pursued mercilessly until they submitted.”960

Pope Paul VI in Africae Terrarum (29 Oct.1967), enumerates four typical values in Africa: Africa’s spiritual view of life, centered on the perception of God permeating the whole of existence; respect for the dignity of man; the sense of the family and the African tradition of community life.961 Africans have a peculiar notion of man and human fulfilment. Man is not just a soul; he is also a body. Therefore “he longs not just for holiness but for wholeness, which includes freedom from all forms of misery and oppression.”962 Prayers, sacrifices and offerings are elements considered central to an ethical life and feature prominently in the practice of African Religion.963

John Mbiti characterizes the practice of prayer as “One of the most ancient items of African spiritual riches.”964 In African tradition society, healing is done through specialists in medicine, known as herbalists or medicine-doctors.965 The power of nature in medicine is also important. From a religious point of view, such medicine underlines the interconnectedness of, and interdependence between humanity and the rest of creation. Roots or leaves or parts of animals or birds boiled in water or pulverized in fire form the basic ingredients of medicine.966 The Church

958 Africans were perceived as a primitive people without religion; Ps. 96:5 saying: “All gods of the gentiles are devils”, meant a ruthless attempt to root out all superstitions due to the axiom: “There is no pact with the devil.” Many fetishes were replaced with Christian sacramentals, such as the rosary, crosses and medals. Africans were largely regarded as the “cursed sons of Ham,” hence polygamy and trial marriage were understood as symptoms of unbridled sensuality; the instruction from Rome was most restrictive; customary marriage was to be regarded as concubinage. Cf. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 67. 959 Cf. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p.70-73. 960 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 66. 961 Paul VI, Africae Terrarum, 1967, nos. 8-12. 962 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, “A survey of African Christology,” Extracto de la Tesis Doctoral presentada en la Facultad de Teologia de la Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, 1997, p. 39-40. 963 L. Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, , 1997), p. 177. 964 J.S. Mbiti, The Prayers of African Religion, (, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books1975), p. 2. 965 Cf. E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), p. 387-539. See also: M. Gelfand, Witch Doctor: Traditional Medicine Man of Rhodesia, (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1964), p. 169-77. 966 L. Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, 1997, p. 189.

175 welcomes the sick not only as the recipients of her loving care, but also by recognizing that they are called “to live their human and Christian vocation and to participate in the growth of the kingdom of God in a new and more valuable manner.”967 “Prayer for the restoration of health is therefore part of the Church’s experience in every age.”968

4.1 Healing as presented in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the ministry of healing is espoused in the book of Sirach 38:1-15. The healer gives much time and personal attention to the patient, enabling him or her to penetrate deeply into the psychological state of the patient. The cause of disease is often interpreted against a psychological, religious, or spiritual background which is beyond the immediate physical cause.969 The healing process goes beyond the physical and chemical process; it touches the soul and the spirit of the individual patient involving also the social dimension, that it to say, the community in which the patient lives (cf. Sir 38: 9-15).

There was a strong link between faith and healing among the ancient people just like in the ancient East. Faith was put in deities who could heal and provide protection. The deity who could heal and protect was the powerful one and at the same time viewed as healer, Saviour and deliverer. Some deities who were praised for their healing and protective deeds among the Babylonians and Assyrian Pantheon were Marduk; the lord of life, and Gula, the lady of life; Asklepios was the most prominent healing deity in ancient Greco-Roman pantheon.970 It is in light with this that there is the Old Testament use of the term Yahweh-Rapha (Exod. 15:26).971 This encompasses sin, sickness and infirmity (cf. Ps. 103:3; Ps. 41:3; Ps. 147:3; Isa 30:26; Jer. 33:6; Hos 6:1), as well as, healing from mental affliction (Jon 2:5-7), spiritual fatigue (Ps.23:3) or emotional suffering (Ps.

967 Cf. Instruction on prayers for healing, 2000. 968 Ibid. 969 Comment on Sirach 38, by V. Zinkuratire, SSS and Angelo Colacrai, SSP, (General Editors), The African Bible: Biblical Text of the New American Bible, (Paulines Publications Africa, 1999), p. 1160. 970 Cf. M.L. Brown, Israel’s Divine Healer, (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1995), p. 53, 55, 60. 971 “I, the LORD, am your healer.”

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147:3). The experience of Israel in the Old Testament mysteriously linked illness to sin and evil,972 while faithfulness to God according to his law would restore life (cf. Ex 23:25-26).973

In the Old Testament, the primary requirement for healing and health was covenantal obedience, with emphasis on loyalty to Yahweh alone (cf. Ex 23:24; Deut. 7:1-16), keeping his commandments (Ex 15:25-26), and walking in godly fear and humility (Prov. 3:7-8). Obedience resulted in divine blessing, not the least, good health and long life (Deut. 28:1-14), while disobedience resulted in curses, such as terrible sickness and premature death (Deut. 28:15-68). The disobedience of the covenant people sent them into captivity. The prophets began to speak of the restoration of Israel and the establishment of the kingdom of God. Prophets by using significant imageries longed for the time that the Lord would bring healing to his people (cf. Isa. 5:25; Jer. 14:19; Ezek. 5:14-15, Dan. 9:16). The beginning of the restoration and the coming of the Kingdom of God were to begin with the coming of the servant of the Lord, the Messiah (cf. Isa. 35:4-6; 42:6- 9; 61:1).

Consequently, in the Old Testament, God revealed himself as healer in many ways. Barrenness and infertility are healed; we have examples of such women as: Sarah (Gen. 21), Samson’s mother (Jud. 13) and Hannah (1 Sam. 1). Old Testament also presents us dead people brought to life; examples include: the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17 the son of the Shunammite woman in (2 Kings 4). Again, in the Old Testament, physical diseases such as leprosy were healed. By means of the witness of an Israelite maidservant, Naaman was healed of leprosy and converted to the belief in the God of Israel (2 Kgs. 5:17-18). Thus, as Opoku Onyinah observes, “Power was associated with the servants of the Lord; they could bring the power of God to heal barrenness, physical illnesses and restore dead people to life.”974

A number of Psalms also ask for healing (cf. Ps 6; 37; 40; 87). God is the principal source of healing, but he works also through human agents as prophets, priests, healers, doctors; among others. The prophets in the Old Testament speak of liberation from sufferings: “Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will

972 Sickness has a prominent place among the punishments threatened by God for the unfaithfulness of the people. (cf. Dt. 28:21-22, 27-29); however, the sick man who implores God for healing confesses to have been justly punished for his sins. (cf. Ps 37, 40, 106: 17-21.) 973 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1502. 974 O. Onyinah, “Healing: A Pentecostal Perspective,” One in Christ, 47 (2013) no.2, p. 313.

177 meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and morning will flee” (cf. Is 35:10); “For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy” (Bar 4:29). Isaiah proclaims that God will usher in a time for Zion when he pardons every offense and heal every illness (Is 33:24).

4.2 Perspectives of healing in the New Testament

The Old Testament hopes are fulfilled in the New Testament; here the Messianic age begins, the kingdom of God breaks into human history and brings about miracles, powerfully displacing demons and healing diseases (Mt 4:23-24; 9:35; Mk 1:21-23; Lk 6:6-11). Although rarely referred to in the Old Testament, demons are frequently mentioned in the Gospels. Their leader is Beelzebul (or Satan: Mk 3:22). People possessed by demons display such symptoms as dumbness (Lk 11:14), epilepsy and strange behaviour (Mk 9:17) Matthew (4:24; 10:1, 8) clearly distinguishes between demon-possession and ordinary physical or mental sickness. Jesus was in constant conflict with evil spirits. He shared his victory over demons with his followers, giving them power to cast them out (Lk 9:1; 10:17). The command to test the spirit in 1 Jn 4:1 shows that some false teachers could speak under possession.975

4.2.1 Christ as a Healer

Healing was one of the preoccupations of Jesus. “Christ’s compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a brilliant sign that “God has visited his people and that the kingdom of God is close at hand.”976 It was an important part of the mission of Jesus and the apostles.977 Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins, he came to heal the whole man, soul and body.978 Jesus healed many through miracles; these miraculous healings are signs of his messianic mission (Lk 7:20-23). These healings manifested the victory of the kingdom of God over every kind of evil and became the symbol of the restoration to health of the whole human person, body, and soul (Mk 2:1-12; Jn 5:2-9, 19-21, Jn 9). Jesus’ process of healing is always connected with faith (Mk 5:21-34), and sometimes sins are forgiven before healing (Lk

975 Cf. Commentary on Mt 4:24 in Victor Zinkuratire, SSS and Angelo Colacrai, SSP, (General eds.), the African Bible, Biblical Text of the New American Bible, (Paulines Publications Africa, 1999), p. 1640. 976 Cf. Lk 7:16; Mt 4:24; CCC, no. 1503. 977 S. C. Bate. “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 144 (Nov 2012), p. 69. 978 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1504, 1505, 1507, 1509.

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5:17-26). By fighting against all kind of illnesses, Jesus liberates from all evils and in so doing contributes to a better quality of life.

In the New Testament, taking the gospel of Mark alone, we find the following: Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit from a man in the Synagogue (Mk 1:21-28); Simon’s mother-in-law is healed of fever (Mk 1:29-33); Jesus heals a leper (Mk 1:40-45); a paralytic carried by four men is healed by Jesus (Mk 2:1-13); a man with a withered hand is healed by Jesus (Mk 3:1-6); Jesus casts out an unclean spirit from a man out of the tombs in the country of the Gerasenes (Mk 5:1- 20); Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5:21-24, 35-43); the daughter of a Gentile woman of Syrophoenician origin is healed (Mk 7:24-30); a deaf man is healed by Jesus (Mk 7: 31-37); Jesus casts out a dumb spirit from a man after the disciples were unable to cast it out (Mk 9:14-29); Jesus heals Bartimaeus a blind beggar (Mk 10:46-52).979

The goal of Christ’s redemptive and ancestral mission was to restore the original peace and harmony disturbed by the sinful separation between God and men. The consequence of this separation included man’s spiritual and bodily disturbance and the dominion of the devil. Hence, in combating these evils as he did during his earthly life, Jesus was fulfilling his soteriological mission to re-establish the original happy condition of mankind by removing the unhappy consequences of the fall.980 Indeed, he is a Healer.

4.2.2 Christ as a Liberator

From the Gospel, Jesus was not neutral to the condition of the poor, the sick, and the alienated. In his inaugural sermon (Lk 4:16-30), he stated that his ministry was one of preaching the good news to the poor, heralding freedom to the captives, sight to the blind and liberty to the oppressed. Such a message, when related to the African situation981, may be validly understood to mean that salvation and liberation which Jesus announced was a comprehensive package. Christ

979 Many sick approached Jesus during his public ministry, some came direct, others through relatives or friends. These sought for the restoration of health. The Lord always welcomed the requests. Whereas he was ready to heal them, he always insisted on faith (cf. Mk 9:23; Mk 6:5-6; Jn 4:48). 980 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, “A survey of African Christology,” Extracto de la Tesis Doctoral presentada en la Facultad de Teologia de l’Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, 1997, p. 43-44. 981 The face of a liberator is sought in Africa a continent full of crises like warfare, famines, epidemics, locust invasions and many changes in the weather, all of which provoke a revival of religious activities or innovation of new ones.

179 not only preached the kingdom and forgave sins, he also went around curing the sick, feeding the hungry, consoling the suffering, showing justice and mercy (Mt 4:23).

The ultimate meaning of his life centered on service; “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). Contemplating on Christ’s ministry to humanity, it follows that disease, physical and mental handicaps, are contrary to life and are included in Christ’s messianic mission as a liberator. Liberation understood in its totality982, as a removal of all that which keeps the African in bondage, all that makes him less than what God intended him to be.983

4.2.3 Christ as a Saviour

Closely related to the Christian concept of Christ as liberator is the firm belief that Jesus is a Saviour. As observed by some African theologians, Jesus as Saviour of Africans does more than procure for them an eternal destiny. Christ assumes responsibility for their total well-being. Salvation in traditional African religion implies wholeness of life.984 The gospel proclamation of a Saviour offers a true future, providing Africans with answers to their deepest aspirations.985

In the early Church, we find in the book of James, in which the mission to heal is part of the holistic ministry; it is written:986

Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters [πρεσβυτέρους / presbyterous] of the church and they should anoint the person with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save [/heal-

982 Liberation from sinfulness, physical illness, moral weakness, evil powers, external forces, distortion of one’s humanity, abject poverty and want and inferior treatment of women, among others. 983 Cf. K. Cécé, “Jesus as Healer,” in R. J. Schreiter, Faces of Jesus in Africa, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 147. 984 Cf. M. Buthelezi “Salvation as Wholeness,” in J. Parrat, (ed.), A Reader in African Theology, (London: SPCK, 1987), p. 95-102. 985 There are three major situations or forces from which the African seeks salvation or deliverance: 1) daily hardships, such as crop failure due to weather, everyday conflicts, infant mortality and female infertility, 2) evil spirits, forces and persons, such as witches and sorcerers; and 3) lack of good relationships with ancestral spirits and the divinities. When Africans are beset with any of these crucial existential problems, they have recourse to God and the spirits to beg for deliverance. Cf. Sawyers, “Sin and Salvation: Soteriology from the African Situation,” in Relevant Theology for Africa, ed., Hans-Jurgen Becken, Lutheran Publishing House, Durban 1973, 133; see also D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, “A survey of African Christology,” Op. cit. 1997, p. 41. 986 James 5:14-16 clearly indicates that prayer for healing of the sick was the heritage of the early believers. Thus, healing ministry was one of the characteristics of the early Church.

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σωσει; sosei], the sick person and the Lord will raise him up again and if he has committed any sins he will be forgiven (James 5:14-16).

In this context, the term “Sozo” (σώζω) which as earlier on noted means “to heal/ to save” also implies the whole person, not individual members of the body. The ministry of healing is not therefore about parts of the body but about the whole person.987 Furthermore, this also refers to a sacramental action: anointing of the sick with oil and prayer, an efficacious action on the sick person.988 The sacrament of Anointing of the sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age (CCC, no. 1527). The sacrament of the Anointing the Sick has as its effects the special grace of: uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church, strengthening peace and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age, forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was unable to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance; the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul; the preparation for passing over to eternal life (CCC, no. 1532).

John S. Mbiti associates the notion of “Saviour” with that of Christ: He is the one who cures all illness, expels evil spirits and frees prisoners and the oppressed. Mbiti calls for a holistic view of salvation which includes both spiritual and physical aspects. For the Gospel to be meaningful to the African people, “salvation has to embrace their total world, both physical and spiritual.”989

The quest for better living conditions, achieved by increased harvest, falls within the African’s thirst for salvation, likewise, the quest for social status through initiation, and the quest for the perpetuation of the family lineage through offspring, who keep in constant communion with the ancestors. Therefore, Christ is presented by African theologians as a Saviour who has come to rescue man from a powerless and helpless situation.990 Salvation achieved by Christ is thus a total healing or liberation. The belief that “the whole person is ill” is very prominent in the

987 Healing the whole person for salvation. Cf. Stuart C. Bate. “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” 2012, Op. cit., p. 84-85. 988 Cf. Instruction on prayers for healing, 2000, Op. cit. see also: Council of Trent, sess. XIV, Doctrina de Sacramento extremae unctionis, (cap. 2: DS, 1696). 989 J.S. Mbiti, “The Encounter of Christian Faith And African Religion,” in Third World Liberation Theologies, ed., Dean Ferm, Orbis Books, (Maryknoll, New York 1986), p. 156. 990 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, “A survey of African Christology,” p. 43.

181 healing process in Africa, and the action of Jesus is hoped for the salvation and liberation of the man. This means careful application to preaching the Gospel in Africa. In particular, it implies a prudent application to the idea of the so-called “healing” ministries, so popular among Christian and non-Christian communities.991

There are three principal Greek terms used for healing work of Jesus in the gospels: The first is iasthai (ïασθαι), healing done by a physician: This refers to the kind of healing done by a physician (iatros: ιατρός). This appears seventeen times in the Gospels, especially in Luke.992 In the Gospels, we read how Jesus healed many individuals who were suffering from all kinds of diseases. Healing is a restoration of person(s) to some level of wholeness or wellness. In the healing process, a sick individual is being aided by another in finding wholeness from their brokenness, injury and/or disease. Healing may be in the realms of physical, social, and psychological orders. Jesus listened deeply to the cries of suffering individuals of his time. For instance, the healing of a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years (Mk 5:25-30). All the Gospels portray Jesus as possessing extraordinary personal authority and charism, one who in his encounters with the sick had the ability to heal physical ailments such as cleansing skin diseases (Lk 5:12-26), restoring paralyzed and withered limbs (Mk 3:1-6), giving sight to the blind (Mk 8:22-26), healing fevers (Mk 1:30-31), releasing the afflicted from psychological disorders (Mt 4:23-25).993 The second Sozo (σώζω) – save from/healing the whole person: This implies, to deliver from, rescue, or save from. Referring to healing the whole person, not individual members of the body.994 Similarly as Werner Foerster opines, the term Sozo is based on an Aramaic term with twofold meaning: make alive and make healthy.995 Saving and healing are therefore part of the same process.

991 Ibid. 992 Cf. S.C. Bate, 2012, Op. cit., 83; see also: Albrecht Oepke, “1965: s v iomai (οιομαι)”, in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (ed.), Gerhard Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965). 993 Cf. Senior, Donald and Stuhlmueller, Carrol, the Biblical Foundations for Mission, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1983), p. 149. 994 The term appears sixteen times for healing in the gospels and thirty-five times in a less clinical sense referring to other forms of saving a person. Cf. Stuart C. Bate, “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” 2012, Op. cit., p. 83. 995 Werner Foerster, “1973: s v sozo (σώζω)”, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (ed.), Gerhard Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eardmans Publishing Company, 1973).

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The third term used for healing is therapeuo (θεραπεύω) perhaps the most common term used.996 The healing that heals our humanity is cultural and religious healing.997 “It is cultural because it affects our values and way of life. It is religious because it affects our deepest beliefs about life, death and human limitation: our deepest truths.” In the Gospels, this term is used in the sense of to heal but in such a way that the reference is not to medical treatment which might fail but to real healing. It is often translated “curing” in English translation. Bate observes that this has become problematic given the scientific definition given to this word by the medical model in Western culture. Furthermore, the disparity between the terms translated “cure” in English and the medical notion of “cure” which has little to do with the understanding of healing (therapeuo) in the Greek original.998 4.2.4 Extension of Christ’s healing power on the disciples

The disciples were sent on a mission. The missionary mandate comprised of six tasks: to preach that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand; to heal the sick/ailing ones; to “awaken (or rise up) the dead”; to cleanse the lepers and to “cast out demons”; to heal. (cf. Mt 10:7-8). Jesus transmitted this power to his disciples (cf. Mt 10:1), these after being empowered by the Holy Spirit, healed and exorcised many (cf. Acts 3:7; Acts 5:12-16; 19:12).

As it was noted, Jesus’ healings demonstrated the power and tender love of God at work within him. His works of bodily healing manifested the even greater healing work of the divine physician who is not only content to heal bodily illness only but has come to heal the spiritual sickness of sin, to sanctify souls, and to give new and everlasting life. In his public ministry, Jesus extended his healing ministry into the works of his disciples.999 The Lord called the twelve and sent them out two by two, he gave them authority over unclean spirits; the disciples proclaimed the gospel of repentance, cast out demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mk 6:7-13). In sending out the seventy-two disciples, the Lord charges them: “cure the

996 Cf. H. Wolfgang Beyer, “1973: s v therapeuo (θεραπεύω)” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (ed.), G. Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973). 997 S.C. Bate, “Responsible Healing in a World of HIV/AIDS,” in Responsibility in a Time of Aids, (ed.), Stuart C. Bate, (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster, 2003), p. 146-165. 998 S.C. Bate. “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 144 (Nov 2012), p. 72. 999 Fr. Jonah Pollock, O.P. Associate Director, Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York in his weekly series of June 29, 2016, entitled: “Christ the Healer: Jesus sends His Disciples to Heal in His Name” has elucidated on the same. 183 sick” (Lk 10:9). “The power to heal, therefore is given within a missionary context, not for their own exaltation, but to confirm their mission”1000 The preaching of the Gospel as narrated in the New Testament, was accompanied by several miraculous healing that substantiated the power of the Gospel proclamation.1001 In Samaria, Philip’s preaching was accompanied by miraculous healings of many who were previously crippled and paralyzed (Acts 8:5-7). St. Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel was characterized by signs and wonders worked by the power of the Holy Spirit. (cf. Rom 15;18-19, 1 Cor 2:4-5, 1 Thes 1:5, 1 Cor 2:4-5; Acts 14:3, 8-10; 15:12; 19:11-12; 20:9-10; 28:8-9). In the same vein, Stephen performed miraculous healing (Acts 6:8), the same with Peter (Acts 3:1-10; 5:15; 9:33-34, 40-41).

As Pope Francis has observed, “today the Church seeks to continue the Lord’s healing ministry, not only to individuals but also to society as a whole. She does this by proposing a number of principles drawn from the Gospel, which include: the dignity of the human person, the common good, and the preferential option for the poor, the universal destination of goods, solidarity, subsidiarity and the care for our common home.”1002

For Appiah-Kubi, Christ is the healer of physical sickness. He regards this dynamic understanding of Jesus as the real African contribution to Christology.1003 Cécé Kolie, underscores the African preoccupation with healing. For Cécé Kolie this grows out of this sense from which Africans seek liberation. Christ is a healer for those suffering, and he shares their pains and struggles. He not only heals, but he gives comfort. Jesus’ role as a healer quickly changes to that of being one of the sick.1004 Bénézet Bujo, mentions of Christ as the healer of healers, but he relates it with the function of the ancestors. Africans believe that their ancestors adhere to their pleadings in times of need, as Christ hears the cry of the afflicted.1005 This adherence of the ancestors is healing of the mind which the Igbo say Ntasi obi ndi no n’ahuhu (Comfort of the afflicted). Charles

1000 Cf. Instruction on prayers for healing, 2000, Op. cit. 1001 The Risen Christ promised the signs that will accompany those who believe; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover (Mk 16:17-18); Cf. Instruction on prayers for healing, 2000, Op. cit. 1002 Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 1003 K. Appiah-Kubi, “Christology,” in a Reader in African Christian Theology, ed. by Parrat J. (SPCK, London 1987), p. 69. 1004 Cf. C. Kolie, “Jesus as Healer,” in R. J. Schreiter, Faces of Jesus in Africa, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 12, 132. 1005 Cf. Bujo, African Theology in its Social Context, (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York 1992), p. 85.

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Nyamiti finds some similarities between Christ’s healing function and that of the African healer. The medicine-man not only is a doctor but also pastor to the sick person.1006

Ellen G. White1007 in her classic book, The Ministry of Healing observes that Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people.1008 She observes that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man’s necessity. He came to remove the burden of sin, wretchedness and disease. It was His mission to bring men complete restoration; He came to give them health and peace and perfection of character.1009 The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, “follow me.”1010 Since “the world is sick and wherever humanity dwell, suffering abounds,”1011 Ellen White justifies the need of coming close to the people by personal effort, offering more time for this special ministry than only “sermonizing”. Through such, she argues, “the poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled, accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, [and] cannot, be without fruit.”1012

Furthermore, she maintains, it is not God’s purpose that humanity shall be weighed down with a burden of pain, that his activities shall be curtailed by illness, his strength wane, and his life be cut short by disease.1013 Whereas Taylor seems to hold the same view when he calls for the growth of a well shielded Christian ministry of healing and exorcism,1014 Ingenoza calls for a more dynamic contextualized form of the gospel to the indigenous people urging for a holistic ministry of the New Testament in line with Jesus’ healing and ministry (cf. Mt 10:8, Lk 9:10-11).1015

1006 Cf. C. Nyamiti, Christ as Our Ancestor: Christology from an African Perspective, 55. 1007 Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is regarded the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as basis of one’s faith, writing more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. 1008 Cf. E.G. White, The Ministry of Healing, Ellen G. (White Estate, Inc., 1905), p. 12, 61-62. 1009 Ibid. 1010 Ibid, p. 143-144. 1011 Ibid, iii. 1012 White E.G., The Ministry of healing, 1905, Op. Cit. p. 143-144. 1013 Ibid. 1014 Cf. Taylor, J.V., The Primal Vision: Christian Presence in Africa, (London: SCM Press, 1963), p. 211. 1015 Cf. Ingenoza A.O, “African Weltanschauung and Exorcism: The Question for Contextualising Kerygma,” African Journal of Theology, (1985), p. 179-193.

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Stuart C. Bate, focuses on the development of a contextual theological model which can inform the healing ministry; the honorary lecturer in the school of Religion, philosophy, and classics University of Kwazulu-Natal, considers the challenge to construct a Biblical Theology from the example of Jesus and the Apostles as one among the seven challenges that must be met. The other six challenges are: The challenge to recognize the social and religious dimensions of difficult sickness, such as HIV and AIDS and difficult disabilities; the challenge to understand the cultural dimension of illness and healing; the challenge to recognize local cultural systems of sickness and health; the challenge to construct a theological anthropology based on local cultural models of sickness and health; the challenge to know and follow Church teaching on healing and the challenge to recognize the theological and ministerial value of a multifaceted healing response to HIV and AIDS.1016 He underlines the need to understand healing within the world of Jesus and its meaning in our context. The notion of miracle for instance in the world of Jesus and miracle in modernity are entirely different.1017 Whereas the former denotes the wonderful events seen by people, the latter refer to the suspension of the scientific laws of nature.

4.3 Health Care in the Ugandan Context

The health sector is another area where the Church has contributed tremendously. Since the planting of Christianity in Uganda, the Church has been involved in numerous medical and health services in general. The Catholic Church opened the first health facility in Uganda in 1879, the current Rubaga hospital situated on Rubaga hill in Kampala.1018 Nsambya hospital also started the first nursing school in Uganda in 1919, this is the same year the first midwifery school was started in Mengo hospital by the Anglican Church.1019 In 1938, there were 19 Catholic hospitals and 72 dispensaries in Uganda with four leprosy centres and a number of maternity centres.1020 By 2010, the Catholic Church in Uganda had a total of 279 health facilities under the umbrella of its technical department, the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB).1021

1016 Cf. S.C. Bate, “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 144 (Nov 2012), p. 69-91. 1017 Ibid, p. 82. 1018 J. B. Kauta, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau Annual Report (Jan- Dec 2010), (Kampala, 2010), p. 24. 1019 Kauta, UCMB Annual Report, 2010, op. cit., 24. 1020 Y. Tourigny, a Century of Trials and Blessings, the (Kampala: Uganda Episcopal Conference, 1979), p. 43. 1021 Kauta, UCMB Annual Report, 2010, p. 22

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4.3.1 Uganda’s Health Institutions since the Missionary impetus

Almost all dioceses in Uganda today have a hospital run by the Church. The apostolic vicariate of Gulu (now Gulu Archdiocese) alone, evangelized by the Comboni Missionaries, by the year 1997 had 7 large Church hospitals in terms of capacity,1022 while the three other hospitals found outside the former territory of the Comboni Missionaries are Nsambya (361 beds) and Rubaga (237) both in Kampala, and Kitovu (209 beds) in Masaka.1023 Other Church health facilities include: Villa Maria in Masaka diocese, St. Francis Naggalama hospital in Lugazi diocese, Virika hospital in Fort Portal diocese, Mutolere hospital in Kabale, southwest region close to the DRC and Rwanda, Kilembe hospital in Kasese diocese, Bujumbura Health Centre, in Hoima Diocese, among others. As noted by Rt. Rev. Egidio Nkaijanabwo, the Catholic health services network continues to register increasing demands while the resources required keep reducing in both absolute and real terms.1024

Similarly, the challenge of the absence of credit line for medicines continues to affect many health facilities. Dr. Sam Orochi Orach, Executive Secretary UCMB, reported in 2010 that: “The year has seen us go through many challenges especially the absence of credit line for medicines for a half a year. This has created a lot of stress on health facilities.”1025 In addition, many health workers continue to serve in the healing ministry when they themselves are sick and in need of support, many end up acquiring infections in the course of saving the lives of others. Others die due to infections acquired in the line of duty, while many have continued to serve even when the compensation, they get can hardly feed their families or take their children to school.1026

This seems ally with Prof. Henry Mintzberge’s statement: “Health is not business, health is a calling.”1027 Management Guru Mintzberg, says health care should be focused on treating

1022 Cf. J. Obunga, Corporate General Report of Uganda Catholic Secretariat (1996-1997), Kampala, 1997, p. 76. 1023 Ibid. 1024 E. Nkaijanabwo, “From the Chairman Health Commission of UEC [2010]” in UCMB Annual Report, 2010, p.12. 1025 Dr. Sam Orochi Orach, “From the Executive Secretary Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau” in UCMB Annual Report, 2010, 13. 1026 Ibid. 1027 Prof. Henry Mintzberge, Kampala, (27 June 2007) as quoted in UCMB Annual Report, 2010; see also: Michael Enright, “Medicine is a calling, not a business: Henry Mintzberg”, in The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio, Posted: Feb 02, 2018, online: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-february-4-2018-1.4516513/medicine-is-a- calling-not-a-business-henry-mintzberg-1.4516553, (accessed 24. 11.2020).

187 people, not on saving money or counting widgets.1028 “The three most important pharmaceutical discoveries of the 20th century- namely, insulin, Salk vaccine and antibiotics or penicillin- all came out of not-for-profit labs. We are not beholden to the pharmaceutical companies for research. We are beholden to them for development…carrying the molecule to the market.”1029 He argues that there are wrong-headed practices that must change. He further observes that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that patients are people and that populations are communities. “Communities are living things’ populations are statistics. And we react to treatment much better when we’re treated as people and not as patients.”1030

The noble work of health care is similar to Christ’s healing ministry which strives to bringing to others “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10), it also involves sacrifice- giving up one’s strength, talents, time, without reservation in order to save the life of another (John 15:13). As a department in charge of health care, all clients ought to be handled with courtesy, helpfulness, care, prompt service in bid to offer a quick solution to their problems. Whereas internal customer care is very necessary, staff cooperation with one another is as paramount as it guarantees effectiveness and team spirit.1031 As the challenges of health care increase, it is a call for all users and potential users to strive to lead the sort of life that exposes them less to the risks of diseases and ill-health. The healing ministry requires teamwork, bringing together various professions, knowledge, skills and various acts of generosity to those in dire need (Romans 12:6-8).

As observed by John Paul II in Redemptoris Missio, “the liberation and salvation brought by the kingdom of God come to the human person both in physical and spiritual dimensions” Jesus’ mission encompasses both healing and forgiving. His many healings while they showed his great compassion in the face of human sorrow, but they also signify that in the kingdom, there will no longer be sickness or suffering, and that mission from the very beginning, is meant to free people from these evils. “In Jesus’ eyes, healings are also a sign of spiritual salvation, namely liberation from sin. By performing acts of healing, he invites people of faith, conversion and the desire for forgiveness (Lk 5:24). Once there is faith, healing is an encouragement to go further: it

1028 Cf. H. Mintzberge, Managing the Myths of Health Care: Bridging the Separations between Care, Cure, Control and Community, (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2017). 1029 H. Mintzberge, op. cit. 1030 Ibid. 1031 Cf. Mrs. Kawooya Margret [Desk Officer], “Some in insight and message from the longest serving staffs” in UCMB Annual Report, 2010, p. 16.

188 leads to salvation (Lk 18:42-43). The acts of liberation from demonic possession-the supreme evil and symbol of sin and rebellion against God- are signs that indeed “the kingdom of God has come upon you. Cf. Mt 12:28 (cf. RM 14). 4.3.2 The Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB)

The Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau is the technical arm of the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) established since 1995 to coordinate the network of health facilities of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda.1032 Out of the 131 hospitals, private-not-for-profit hospitals make up 43.5% (43% bed capacity), of the hospitals in Uganda, UCMB network, makes up 23% and 28% of the hospital bed capacity.1033 Of the 57 hospitals categorized by Ministry of Health [Uganda] as Private-not-for-profit, 53 are faith-based belonging to the four medical bureau, namely: Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB) [30], Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) [17], Uganda Muslim Medical Bureau (UMMB) [5], Uganda Orthodox Medical Bureau (UOMB) [1]1034 The UCMB-accredited hospital beds account for 27.5% of national hospital be capacity. Among the 32 hospitals, there are specialized ones, Holy Innocents Children’s Hospital in Mbarara and Benedictine Eye Hospital in Tororo.1035

According to the UCMB-contribution to the UCS Corporate Report (January- December 2018)1036 the number of health facilities founded by the Catholic Church and accredited by Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB) increased from 294 in 2017 to 296 while the Health Training Institutions (HTI) remained 15.1037 The overall performance of UCMB and Catholic health network contribution to Uganda’s health sector performance mirror the coordination and technical support efforts of the department. Health facilities comprised of 32 hospitals, 8 health centres level IV (HCIV), 198 health centres at level III (HCIII), and 58 health centres level II (HCII). Each of the 19 dioceses has a Diocesan Health coordination Department managed by a Diocesan Health Coordinator. In addition, the Catholic health facility infrastructure constitute 25% of the hospitals and 8% Lower Level Units (LLUs) in Uganda.1038 The UCMB also coordinates 15 Health Training

1032 Kauta, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau Annual Report (Jan- Dec 2010), Kampala, 2010, p. 22. 1033 Calculated from the Ministry of Health (MoH) data of 2009; cf. J. B. Kauta, Op. Cit. p. 22. 1034 Kauta, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau Annual Report, 2010, Op. Cit. 1035 Cf. UCMB-Contribution to the UCS Corporate Report- January -December 2018. 1036 Cf. UCMB, https://www.ucmb.co.ug/publication/view/ucmb-corporate-report-for-2018-revised (accessed 6.10.2020). 1037 UCMB-Contribution to the UCS Corporate Report- January -December 2018, Ibid. 1038 UCMB-Contribution to the UCS Corporate Report- January -December 2018, Op. Cit.

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Schools (HTS) “for human resource production of nurses, midwives, laboratory personnel and theatre assistants”1039

4.4 Healing and the early Missionaries in Uganda

Long before the coming of the Missionaries, the indigenous people in Uganda had their system in which they would cure diseases using indigenous medicine. The White Fathers found themselves among rural dwellers in Africa, people whose oral traditions were interwoven with references to the flora and fauna of the African countryside.1040 There were special people within the community with distinct roles: medicine people (abafumu) or bakumu [Lubwisi]; herbalists, skillful bone- setters (abamungi) or abayungi and diviners.1041 The medicine people successfully treated different kinds of diseases. With the help of herbs, colored soil, leaves of plants, birds’ feathers (amoya), plant leaves and roots (emizi), reptiles. The diviner’s job was to find out whether a sickness was caused by natural causes and could be healed by herbs, or by witchcraft or evil spirits1042 and hence to be treated by the witch-doctor or exorcist.1043 As observed by Byaruhanga Akiiki, a medicine person (omufumu) claimed to apply protective medicine to people endeavouring to secure jobs, or to strengthen relationships, or to protect them against possible danger either physical or spiritual, visible or invisible, even to protect them against death.1044

However, these medicines were ignored by western doctors and some missionaries who did not understand them.1045 Livingstone though, had himself treated by an African herbalist.1046 The initial suspicion was “the popular belief that the efficacy of a medicine depended on some supposed magical powers of the medicine-man ranked of superstition and fraud. Besides, many natural diseases were attributed to witchcraft1047 and ‘healed’ by dubious means.”1048 A similar case appears among the independent movement the Bamalaki, it was based on an erroneous

1039 Ibid. 1040 Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa, 2006, op. cit. p. 159. 1041 J. N. Ndyabahika, 1997, p. 96; quoting, T. Tuma and Mutibwa, Phares, A Century of Christianity in Uganda, 1877-1977, (Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1978), p. 90. 1042 Cf. L. Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, p. 57. 1043 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, 2009, op. cit. p. 373. 1044 Cf. Byaruhanga-Akiiki, A.B.T. (ed.),Healing and Protecting Medicine, (Botswana: Print World, 1995), p. 2. 1045 Ndyabahika, 1997, op. cit. p. 96. 1046 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, 2009, op. cit. 373. 1047 Cf. L. Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, 2014, op. cit. p. 165. 1048 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, 2009, op. cit. p. 373.

190 interpretation of Deut. 18:11 as forbidding the use of medicine. John Baur notes that “it began in 1914 and gathered 100,000 followers on account of the wide-spread suspicion against cattle inoculation and the permission to have four wives. With growing education, it was reduced to insignificance and disappeared under the Amin regime.1049

Uganda people owe a lot to the missionaries. It is they who introduced Christianity, formal education, modern health services and new ideas from the western world.1050 In 1914, the Missionaries of Africa could count two hundred thousand baptized Catholics in its vicariates (two- thirds of them in Uganda, and an equal number of catechumens.1051 In Buddu province of Buganda alone, over 150 candidates had been baptized and thirteen couples married by end of 1891, while between two to three thousand catechumens were under instruction.1052

4.4.1 Distribution of free medicine

Among the motives for conversion in Uganda (Buddu), was that “several were attracted by Streicher’s personality his free medicine especially for eye sickness and his free distribution of religious objects.”1053 At that time, that was the convenient way to help the suffering and sick people when health centres offering western medicine were not yet many. This is different from contemporary health systems and the standard operation procedures among medical practitioners and patients. It was not in any way intended to destroy the system of administering treatment as we may know it today. It only demonstrates the need to subsidize or offer essential medical services to the poor and vulnerable when it is possible. This can be in areas of vaccination or the free distribution of antiretroviral treatment (ARVs) to the vulnerable young people and poor.1054

1049 Ibid, p. 347. 1050 Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala, interview, 22 June 2012, in Benedict Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, (Kampala: Angel Agencies Ltd., 2013), p. 121. 1051 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 236. 1052 Cf. Villa Maria Baptismal and Marriage registers for 1891; see also J.M. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, 1879-1925, (Kampala: Angel Agencies Ltd., 2010), p. 64. 1053 Cf. J.M. Waliggo’s interview with Veronika Munnakutanyiga, 3 March 1973 reveals that Streicher was widely known in early years as an expert on eye related trouble; Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 64. 1054 Cf. Policy proposals for youth engagement in HIV/AIDS prevention: https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=0b02324e-6947-592b-25a6-d926e3c2c1b1&groupId=252038, see also: A. Hardon, et. al., “From access to adherence: the challenges of antiretroviral treatment studies from Botswana, Tanzania and Uganda,” World Health Organization, 2006: https://www.who.int/medicines/publications/challenges_arvtreatment15Aug2006.pdf, (accessed 11.03.2021)

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It was not only for the craving for free medicine that the first converts flocked the mission houses or churches. J. Mary Waliggo reports that, a few converts came to the mission merely out of curiosity, many came desiring to identify themselves with the new religion which also meant identification with the new political order.1055 The fear of hell dominated those who insisted on quick baptism but majority of Buddu people had simply followed their immediate overloads in choosing their new religion. The young were ready to follow whatever was fashionable, the traditionalist chiefs realized they would have more to gain from accepting a European’s initiative for friendship than by rejecting it.1056

Bishop Streicher’s approach in supplying medicine to the people he evangelized is similar to other missionaries for instance Adrian Atiman (c. 1866-1956), in Karema, western Tanzania.1057 After being ransomed for three hundred francs in a slave market in northern Algeria by a Missionary of Africa, he was taken to Algiers where he met Cardinal Lavigerie, who baptized him (1882) and arranged for his education. Adrian Atiman was sent to Malta to study medicine. Atiman began his medical apostolate within days of his arrival at Karema. In 1894, he personally welcomed the White Sisters (MSOLA) to Karema and worked with them closely in the medical apostolate. He also trained nurses to help him in his Karema clinic.1058

Atiman used western medicine, but also experimented successfully with traditional remedies. During 1907, he was engaged in the treatment of victims of sleeping sickness, and a year later cured Brother Antoine (Joseph) De Leyer (1874-1953), in the same year, he gave eye treatment to Jean Marie Robert (1879-1966).1059 Atiman’s contribution in the field of health care made him to be hailed at Karema as “our devoted and learned doctor catechist.” In addition of being the first African to be honoured with the British Wellcome Medal in 1955, Atiman was awarded the papal medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice on his silver jubilee and many other decorations as Legion of Honour from the French government and the papal Bene Merenti medal.1060

1055 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu, p. 64. 1056 Ibid, p. 65. 1057 Cf. J. Kabeya, Daktari Adriano Atiman, (Tabora, TMP Book Department and Arusha: Eastern Africa Publications, 1978); Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, Op. Cit. p. 126-127. 1058 Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 127. 1059 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 127. 1060 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 127.

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Furthermore, Father Achte (Pere Acti) writes on 2nd December 1895:1061

Kuruga mpikire Toro Since I arrived in Toro Tinkoosaga kugabira abarwaire emibazi I have never missed supplying medicine to the sick Kandi nibagenda nibakanya and their number keeps increasing Haihi n’ewema yange near my tent. Omubazi gwange ogwa aiyodini gukehere my iodine treatment has reduced Ha kiro kya hati haizire abarware 182 182 sick people came today Abaine ebihooya ebibi muno with severe wounds Ebyaleesirwe enjunza resulting from jiggers. Habweki abantu b’omu kikaali Therefore the King’s courtiers Nuho baanyetiire omuntu omukopi have nicknamed me a peasant Kakuba nazairwe abantu b’ekitiinisa was I to be born of honorable people [they say] Tinkwikiriize kujanjaba I would never have accepted to treat Ebihooya ebirukwingana aho wounds of such a magnitude.

Father Achte (Pere Acti) and Father Toulze (Pere Toulze) were sent by Bishop Guillermain to start a new Catholic mission in Toro further west reaching the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains. Father Achte reached Toro on 17th November 1895 and pitched camp at Virika. This was about two kilometers from the King’s palace at Kabarole, and now lies within Fort Portal Municipality.1062 Achte made his foundation despite considerable penury and hostility from the native authorities, who had pledged to become Anglicans.1063 On meeting with King Kasagama of Toro on 26 November, the king sarcastically told him [in the local Rutoro language]: “Manyeki, Ediini yanyu erasomwaho abantu bakebake abakopi, baitu itwe n’abanyoro bange twine Ediini eyaitu.” (Perhaps a few peasants will join your religion, but as for me and my chiefs, we already have ours).1064 The King had a friend Apollo Kiveebulaaya (a deacon/ Canon in the Anglican Church), who used to instruct him and his palace officials in the Anglican tradition.1065 The fact that Catholic missionaries during the early years of evangelisation in Uganda served mostly among the peasantry populace with limited health care facilities at the time, the quest for healing was dominant.

1061 Cf. Katuramu, Ediini Omu Uganda (1879-1979)- [Religion in Uganda]- (Kisubi: Marianum Press, 1979), p. 85 1062 Mugisa, Cultural Perceptions of the Vocation to Priesthood in Uganda, op. cit., p. 131. 1063 Ibid. 1064 Cf. Katuramu, Ediini Omu Uganda, p. 83. 1065 While in Kampala, King Kasagama Kyebambe continued to be instructed and was baptized by Rev. Millar on 15 March 1896 and was given the Christian name ‘Daudi” (David). Cf. Katuramu, Ediini Omu Uganda, Op. Cit. p. 90.

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4.4.2 Devotion to Virgin Mary and “Religious articles of Healing”

On their arrival, having been well received by King Muteesa, the White Fathers solemnly dedicated the whole Uganda mission to the Immaculate Virgin Mary on 21st November 1879, the feast of the Presentation of Mary.1066 The founder of the White Fathers, Lavigerie was devoted to Mary.1067 He put them under Mary’s protection: Que Notre-Dame de la Garde vous garde veritament de tout mal!1068 In his letters and instructions to his missionaries, he insisted on this devotion.1069 “Never fail above all to invoke the help of the immaculate Virgin” he insisted in his farewell speech to the first caravan; “…only she can erase all the errors”1070.

This is similar to what Kenneth Scott Latourette, the twentieth Century’s towering figure in American missiology and world Christianity,1071 affirms: “From the outset, the mission [in Uganda] had been placed under the special protection of the Virgin Mary, and the Christians accordingly showed marked devotion to her.1072 In Buganda, the devotion, respect and love the people had for the queen mother, was used to explain the Marian devotion. As Waliggo has observed, “people needed little effort to understand it. The queen mother (Namasole) was ‘king’ in her own right, ruling a kingdom within a kingdom. She was the most effective door for those seeking special royal favours (Naluggi), she was the ardent upholder of the purity of the nation’s traditions- full of surprise (Nnabijjano). All these qualities were attributed to Mary with very little theological consideration.1073

1066 The Lubaga “White Fathers” Mission diary (21 November 1879); J. M Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 75. 1067 Partly reflected in the shrines to Mary and St. Anne he had built in Algiers and his pilgrimages in Jerusalem, and shrines of Mary at Nancy, Lyon and Lourdes. 1068 “May our Lady of the Guard truly keep you from all harm”, Lavigerie to missionaries departing for Uganda, 16 April 1878, (White Fathers Archives, B.17); see also, Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 75. 1069 To the first caravan to Uganda, he had given liberty to modify the habit if the East African climate so necessitated, but the long Muslim-like rosary had to be kept, it was to be as “ a proper shield to our small society” Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 75. 1070 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, Op. Cit. p. 75. 1071 For a biography of Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884-1968), Cf. W.R. Hogg, “The Legacy of Kenneth Scott Latourette,” Occassional Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2 (1 July 1978) no. 3, p. 74-81, https://doi.org/10.1177/239693937800200301 (accessed 11.03.2021). 1072 Cf. K. S. Latourette, The Great Century in the Americas, Australasia, and Africa, (A.D. 1800- A.D. 1914), Vol V., (New York, and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1943), p. 419; M. Hallfell, Uganda, Eine Edelfrucht am Missionsbaum der Katholischen Kirche zu Ehren der Seligen Ugandamärtyrer, (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder & Co., 1921), p. 202-230. 1073 Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 76.

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Waliggo further observes that the Marian devotion turned out to be so significant because it was accessible to all groups of Catholics: postulants, catechumens and neophytes and was similar to the practice of mediation in traditional religion.1074 The “medal with the red thread” came to be known as “a shield against the devil” (Kitala kya Sitani),1075 it also greatly appealed to women as a beauty adornment.1076 The catechumens who were sent out of the church after the gospel or homily were told to stand 100 yards away from the church and recite their rosary. Recitation of the rosary was the most frequent penance after confession.1077 A family rosary became a daily practice. It came to be that religion dominated not only the mission stations and chiefs’ enclosures only, but also ordinary families.1078 For the ordinary Catholic, each day, week and season of the year was to be given a Christian character. Prayer in the morning, at midday with Angelus [Malaika wa Mukama] and in the evening before going to bed. The more Catholics went to confession every Saturday. Feasts of popular devotions were numerous and had special attractions.1079 Those far from health centres and others looking for looking for treatment could find support.

When Bishop Hirth sent Father Augustine Achte (Pere Acti) and Father Houssin to start a mission in Bunyoro, these set off in April 1894, they met with hurdles as the local chief Kikukule could not allow them to evangelize his subjects in Bugangaizi (one of the lost counties of Buganda). After negotiations between Pere Achte and the local chief, in May the same year, the chief allowed the two missionaries to begin preaching the Gospel in the area. In addition, the chief gave them land big enough to establish a mission station church, banana plantations and water springs. The area was previously called Kasaka but from then on, the missionaries named the Parish: Bukuumi bwa Maria (protection of Mary).1080 The mission station officially started in May 1894 with fifteen young men being instructed in religion. After one month, Pere Achte distributed free religious medals to one hundred of those who had learned the key prayers: Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father and the Creed.1081

1074 Ibid, p. 77. 1075 Ibid. 1076 Tereza Katwekambwa (Baptized at Bikira in 1894) in an interview with J. Waliggo [6 March 1973), says that boys began to sing, “The girl without a medal, whom will she marry?” [‘Omuwala atalina mudaali alifumbirwa ani?’], see Ibid, p. 77. 1077 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 77. 1078 Ibid, p. 73. 1079 Ibid. 1080 Cf. A. Katuramu, Ediini Omu Uganda, op. Cit. p. 72. 1081 A. Katuramu, Ediini Omu Uganda, op. Cit. p. 72.

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The distribution of religious objects to those who came to the mission also had religious value connected to healing.1082 Religious objects were assisting the faithful in encountering the mysteries of the Christian faith,1083 hence this would enhance devotion. Devotion is a term used to describe various external practices, for example prayers, hymns, observances attached to times or places, insignia, medals, habits or customs, animated by an attitude of faith. “Such external practices manifest the particular relationship of the faithful with the Divine Persons, or the Blessed Virgin Mary in her privileges of grace and those of her titles which express them, or with the Saints in their configuration with Christ or in their role in the Church’s life.”1084

Furthermore, as Waliggo has observed, the crucifix was the symbol that distinguished the baptized from the rest.1085 It was an elitist symbol and it became more so after 1892 when influential chiefs and catechists, the Christians who had professed their faith despite the religious wars, were given bigger crucifixes than the rest. In many cases, crucifixes were used in the same way as medals in times of danger or need [healing].1086 The same was true with holy water which had traditional significance. In pre-Christian days, the master of the house could sprinkle water early in the morning in all the four directions to keep away evil spirits.1087 Holy water began to be drunk to cure or heal diseases, or to be sprinkled on children to bless and protect them. It was used at the time of planting to ensure a rich harvest and protect the crops from evil charms, and those traveling used it to have a safe journey.1088 One point stands out distinct, never was there any instance that holy water was sold.1089

1082 These were understood as instruments of prayer - “prayer is a shield against evil’ (Ephesians 6:10-17). Recourse to magic, witchcraft, or anything other than Christ for protection against evil was sinful. The medal was a sign of commitment as catechumen to trust in the goodness and power of God. 1083 Cf. Congregation for Divine worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety, Principles and Guidelines, 17 December 2001, no. 18. 1084 Cf. Congregation for Divine worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety, Principles and Guidelines, 17 December 2001, no. 18. 1085 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, Op. Cit. p. 79. 1086 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, Op. Cit. p. 79. 1087 In Buganda, it was known that the head-wife (Kaddulubaale) could sprinkle water in the four directions whenever the husband was away at war or at the capital. Cf. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 80. 1088 Ibid, p. 80. 1089 Unlike reports in Uganda today, some church ministers seem to ‘commercialize religion’. The New African magazine reported of a prominent Kampala [Uganda] pastor selling “holy” water for as much as UGX 500,000 (approximately £105) per 500ml plastic bottle. Another sells the rice he grows on his farm, branded as “holy”, at ridiculously high prices. cf. Epajjar Ojulu, ‘Born-again pastors under scrutiny,’ New African, 23/03/2019. Online: https://newafricanmagazine.com/20201, (accessed 20.04.2021).

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Such became a background for which the “White Fathers” translated the Christian faith in Uganda. Since they had no scripture books to read and since Lourdel’s catechism1090 was to be memorized, right from the time of the Fathers’ self-exile in 1882, the self-reliant Catholic community which had stayed behind found consolation in the devotion to Our Lady.1091 In addition to Catholics being sacramental and missionary, devotional life had become one of their basic characteristics from the beginning.1092 Those who escaped to Buddu after the war attributed their safety to Mary and as such medals and rosaries were widely owned.1093

4.4.3 Facing straight the stereotypes and prejudices

Catholic devotions and the use of articles often encountered stereotypes and prejudices from the protestant missionaries.1094 As Shorter has pointed out, “Protestants1095 regularly attacked the Catholic custom of wearing religious medals.1096 They denounced medals as “charms,” and frequently confiscated them. Stolen medals were even sometimes attached to the necks of dogs.”1097 Hearing of the devotion to Mary in Buddu, Pilkington1098, the Anglican minister, wrote in 1893 the booklet ‘Anonya Alaba’ (He that Seeketh Findeth). It was addressed to “our friends of

1090 In 1881, Lourdel’s catechism and the ‘syllabaire pour la langue Ruganda’ was out. This was the catechism that the early converts and Uganda martyrs learned and used during the Father’s absence from Buganda. Of the ten chapters of the catechism, only the first one on God, built on what the indigenous people knew. In Buganda, the term Katonda (creator) was chosen for God, ggulu (sky) for heaven. The other nine chapters taught simply from revealed truth. The Trinity (obusatu), created the most difficulty in understanding was presented as ‘a mathematical puzzle’ Cf. Syllabaire pour la langue Ruganda, 22-4, White Fathers Archives; see also; J. M. Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu Province of Buganda, 1879-1925, 2010, Op. Cit. p. 130. 1091 This was intensified during the religious wars and after their defeat. One explanation by Simeo Makumbi was that many of those who had religious books lost them, there was also absence of priests. Cf. J. M. Waliggo, 2010, Op. Cit., p.75 [interview 6 April 1974]. 1092 For further discussion on Devotions, Stations of the Cross, images & statues, cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, Op. cit., p. 117-120. 1093 Cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, op. cit. 1094 Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 228- 229. 1095 “Protestant” derives from “protest” and there was inevitably an element of protest against Catholicism in the teaching of the Protestant missionaries. Shorter observes that “Unfortunately, this protest was sometimes inspired by ignorance and prejudice, rather than theological principle, although it was also accompanied by acts of kindness from Protestant ministers towards Catholic missionaries” (cf. A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, Op. cit. p. 299). 1096 Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 229. 1097 Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 229. 1098 For his life history see: “George Lawrence Pilkington” in A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 230-232.

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Lubaga (Catholics).”1099 His message did not reach all the Catholics in Uganda.1100 This is partly, as Shorter has observed, “In Pilkington’s hands, however, publishing became a polemical weapon.”1101 “From mission diaries and above all from interviews,” observes Waliggo, “one basic fact emerges, that whether rightly or wrongly used, these religious articles did work the expected miracles in several cases.”1102 “The difference between superstition to be condemned and acts spontaneously coming from simple faith of Christians was hard for the Fathers to determine. In his annual report,1103 Streicher assured Rome that the Christians did not use religious objects or church sacraments superstitiously.”1104 As J. Lukwata observes, an image, icon, statue, painting, piece of sculpture, et cetera, are all revelatory.1105 Images of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the angels and saints are expressed in various forms found in stained glass windows and wall frescoes with the aim of enhancing the devotion of the worshiping community as these speak vividly to the minds and hearts of the people.1106 The making of a graven image which was originally forbidden in Exodus 20:4-5 and Deuteronomy 4:15-16, refers to sculptures of God.1107 It is the same God who ordered Moses to have images of cherubim crafted on the tabernacle in Exodus 25:18-20. The temple and the synagogues were decorated with artistic splendor. The same was true of the catacombs, which the early Christians decorated with symbols such as bunches of grapes, fish, sheep, the shepherd all which had biblical allusions.1108

1099 George I. Pilkington, Anonya Alaba [He that Seeketh Findeth], London 1899, p. 95; See also: Waliggo, 2010, op. cit., p. 78. The book read in part on page 95 : “The Mother of Our Lord, Mary who was blessed, if she sees what is taking place in this country now, wouldn’t she be very surprised, wouldn’t she shed tears, to hear the words of our friends of Lubaga, seeing how they adore her, a thing she does not like at all, and which is not hers...” Pilkington’s book did not inspire Catholics. There is need for understanding the term Worship as distinct from veneration. The original Greek is Latreuo (Λατρευω); it reminds us of Latria (Λατρεια), the worship accorded to God alone. Dulia is applied to the veneration according to Saints and Angels. Hyperdulia is the veneration accorded to the Virgin Mary. See: Commentary on: Rev 7:15- Worship, in The African Bible, 2106. 1100 The book was put on Catholic ‘Index’ in Buganda; cf. Lubaga diary (30 March 1897). 1101 “His vernacular works included the tract He Who Searches Finds, which contained a string of attacks on the ‘religion of Rubaga’. The Missionaries of Africa were also saddened by his vernacular version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, with interpolations against the pope as ‘the butcher of humanity’ and an illustration of the pope seated on a heap of corpses and skulls” Cf. A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. Cit. p. 231. 1102 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 78. 1103 Lubaga Mission Archives (LMA, A 4), 1925. 1104 Cf. Lubaga Mission Archives, 1925, see also: J. M. Waliggo, 2010, Op. cit. p. 77. 1105 The beauty of art is to evoke awe and to draw the People of God into a deeper awareness of their Christian faith and responsibility. Cf. J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, Op. cit., p. 119. 1106 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 119. 1107 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 119. 1108 When a group of Roman antiquarians, the Accademia Romana degli Antiquari, began to explore the early Christian catacombs in the fifteenth century (before the Reformation), they began to uncover a very different story

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It is in the same spirit that the Fathers of the Church saw images and works of art as a way of learning theology for the illiterate, a vivid representation of Christian revelation. In the 8th century, iconoclasts wanted to destroy all images due to the dualist tendency which regarded matter as evil. The supporters of icons (iconphiles) and images such as John Damascene used the Incarnation of Christ as the theological basis for images and artistic representation. When Christ took on human nature, He became the visible image of the invisible Father (Col 1:15).1109

There were different reactions to images during Reformation. While insisting on justification by faith, grace and the power of the Word of God, Martin Luther defended ecclesiastical art for its didactic purposes. 1110 He considered images as enhancing the Word and the works of God. John Calvin on the other hand opposed images asserting that any image representing God was a corruption of God’s glory.1111 He saw a danger of worshipping the object rather than what it represented. The Anglican tradition adopted a middle way, often referred to as the Anglican via media. This was a middle position between the Calvinistic (puritanic) austerity and the vivid works of art of the Catholic Church. The English monarchs denounced iconoclasm and supported a careful watch over excessive Church ornamentation.1112 In the 16th century, the Puritan wing of the Anglican Church demolished monasteries and destroyed cultic objects, statues and crucifixes.1113

about the use of images. Scientific study of these sites began when Antonio Bosio (1575-1629), the “’Christopher Columbus’ of Roman catacombs” and author of Roma sotteranea, which appeared in 1632, described the catacombs and their art known at his time. Modern archaeological work on Christian sites began in the middle of the nineteenth century, when Giovanni Battista de Rossi (1822-94), started his work on the Saint Callixtus catacombs (the oldest dated from the middle of the second century) in Rome. Together with twentieth-century studies, this accumulated archaeological work provides convincing evidence to contradict the long -held conviction that early Christians lacked images or artifacts with a distinct iconography. This aniconic theory now appears to be largely a construct of the Reformation and of nineteenth-century scholars who followed the reformers’ lead. (cf. Brenda Deen Schildgen, “In defense of Images: Christian Church and Religious ‘Art’” in B. D. Schildgen, Heritage or Heresy, 2008, p. 57, 58, ff) 1109 By becoming human, Jesus transformed and ennobled human nature and the material world. It is on this background that the Council of Nicea (787 A.D), thus confirmed the validity of venerating icons. 1110 Cf. J. Lukwata, 2003, Op. cit. p. 120 1111 J. Lukwata, 2003, Op. cit. p. 120 1112 Cf. J. Lukwata, 2003, Op. cit. p. 120. 1113 Cf. Irvine, C and Dawtry, A., (eds.), Art and Worship, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2002, p. 2ff.

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African Traditional Religions (ATRs) have from time immemorial used various articles infused with spiritual powers to tap into ‘mystical power’1114 to heal, protect people from evil spirits, drive away evil spirits, bring people good luck and success among many other purposes. In critiquing the role given to magical charms in ATR, Nyamiti points that: “the African ideas of God and our own relationship with Him have been influenced by superstition…God’s unique role among people has been usurped by the medicine man, the spirits, and superstitious objects.1115 Hence recourse to God is rather rare, and in most cases the general attitude is almost ‘practical atheism”. Magezi et.al, observes that anointed objects are considered of immense spiritual value because they mediate the presence of God which breaks the power of the evil spiritual realm.1116 Many African Christians use anointed articles because of fear of evil spirits and the retributive reaction of ancestral spirits they abandoned when they embraced Christianity.1117

Furthermore, some scholars as Collium Banda have argued that the practice of giving anointed objects to believers as a means through which they could experience the healing, enabling and protective powers, is more informed by African Traditional Religion (ATR) beliefs.1118 Mbiti states: “Charms, amulets, medicines drunk or rubbed into the body, articles on the roof or in the fields, cuts, knots, and many other visible and invisible, secret and open precautions, are used in all communities for seriously religious intentions, to secure a feeling of safety, protection and assurance.”1119 For Catholics however, the medal was a sign of commitment as a catechumen and was intended to replace the charm. Possibly the missionaries were naïve about this, but they were also aware of the dangers of syncretism and avoided multiplying medals.1120 The Carmelite

1114 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, African religions & Philosophy, (Heinemann Educational, Gaborone, Botswana, 1990), p. 16. [For a detailed understanding of spiritual insecurity among African Christians see Mbiti, 1990, op. cit., p. 1-5, 227- 228. 1115 C. Nyamiti, ‘The doctrine of God,’ in J. Parratt (ed.), A reader in African Christian Theology, (London: SPCK, 1997), p. 57-64. 1116 Cf. Magezi et al., ‘Healing and coping with life within challenges of spiritual insecurity: Juxtaposed consideration of Christ’s sinlessness and African ancestors in pastoral guidance,’ HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73 (2017) no. 3. 1117 For a detailed understanding of spiritual insecurity among African Christians see: Magezi & Magezi, “Healing and coping with life within challenges of spiritual insecurity: Juxtaposed consideration of Christ’s sinlessness and African ancestors in pastoral guidance,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73 (2017) no. 3, p. 3-4. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4333; Mbiti, African religions & Philosophy, p. 1-5, 227-228. 1118 Cf. C. Banda, ‘Managing an elusive force? The Holy Spirit and the anointed articles of Pentecostal prophets in traditional religious Africa,’ Verbum et Ecclesia, 40 (2019) no.1, p. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v40i1.2025 1119 J.S. Mbiti, African religions & Philosophy, 1990, Op. Cit. p. 196. 1120 A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. Cit. p. 229.

200 scapular, which also roused the Protestants’ ire was a widespread Catholic emblem. Shorter reports that in 1906 in Rubaga (Nyanza North), more than five thousand received the scapular.1121

Whereas a medal or a scapular was a pledge of the wearer’s faithfulness to Christian morality, it also had the practical effect of exempting the wearer from being conscripted to help build protestant churches or schools.1122 However, attacks on the Pope, on Eucharistic doctrine and on devotion to the Blessed Virgin had little or no effect on African Catholics. As Shorter observes: “They had no reason to reject the leader of their church, who had sent them missionaries and espoused the cause of their martyrs. The new practice of frequent communion, introduced by Pius X, had everywhere generated a deep faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin was immensely popular, since it corresponded to the traditional veneration paid to a mother in Africa”1123

4.4.4 Building of Hospitals, Dispensaries and Nursing Schools

Many Africans remember the missionaries with deep gratitude and admiration for being real founders of Christianity in modern Africa.1124 In Uganda’s milieu, this is linked to the third phase of evangelisation which covers the period of the great missionary expansions, from the nineteenth century to Vatican Council II. This period coincided with the abolition of the trans- Atlantic slave trade, the colonization of Africa and many African countries gaining independence. The missionary impetus came from Benedict XV’s apostolic letter Maximum Illud (Nov.1919), Pius XI’s Encyclical letter Rerum Ecclesiae (Feb. 1926), Pius XII’s Encyclical letters: Evangelii Praecones (June 1951) and Fidei Donum (April 1957); John XXIII’s Encyclical letter Princeps Pastorum (Nov. 1959) and the founding of missionary institutes specifically for the conversion of Africans to Christianity.1125

Remarkable of this phase, was the gradual move from understanding of the goal of mission as saving of souls to that of planting of churches, which included building of schools and hospitals,

1121 Ibid. 1122 Ibid. 1123 Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 229; See also Waliggo, The Catholic Church in the Buddu, p. 76-78. 1124 Cf. Synod of Bishops 1994, Special Assembly for Africa, ‘Message, ‘L’Osservatore Romano, Special English Edition, May 11, 6. 1125 Cf. S. B. Bevans, ed., A Century of Catholic Mission, (Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, Vol. 15) (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2013), p. 13.

201 and other forms of social services.1126 During the same time the Congregation de Propaganda Fide followed the rule of ius commissionis by which mission territories were assigned to specific missionary institutes to evangelize and administer.1127 Although the principal task for evangelization was no longer under the monarch but now under Propaganda Fide [which epitomized the Pope], some missionaries in mission territories non-the-less collaborated with colonial administrators representing their nations in Africa. They received finances for mission projects as: schools, hospitals, church buildings.1128

In the Catholic Diocese of Fort Portal, Western Uganda, Virika Hospital started in 1911, with the arrival of the Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (known as ‘White Sisters’ because of their former white habit).1129 By December 1911, there were 300 patients every morning, treated under rough shelters. Virika Hospital dates from 1912, when temporary constructions gave way to huts. The First World War caused a delay, during the first quarter of 1912, 10,895 sick were treated.1130 In January 1963, the Hospital was handed over to the Medical Mission Sisters, the plans for the hospital to have a nursing school was underway; in 1964, Virika School of Nursing was started to train nurses who would help in the hospital, by then the only nursing school in the region.1131 Following the tough times (from 1964-1973) that nearly led to its closure, the hospital re-opened in 1975 by the Daughters of St. Therese, locally known as Banyatereza Sisters. These Include: Rev. Sr. Rose Tindigwihura (Mother Superior), Rev. Sr. Margret Mabiiho (Senior Nursing Officer), Rev. Sr. Jacinta Kabonesa, Rev. Sr. Plaxada Kindihi; Rev. Sr. Kyahubananura Apollonia and Rev. Sr. Fabronia Bonabaana.

1126 S. B. Bevans, ed., A Century of Catholic Mission, 2013, p. 14. 1127 Propaganda Fide, AAS 1930, Instructio ad vicarios prefectosque et ad superiors institutorum, quibus a S. Sede missionibus sunt. (8 Dec 1929), p. 111-15. 1128 This however was not the case everywhere. In some places colonial masters impeded missionary activities, for instance where the education of Africans by missionaries seemed to undermine the thought pattern of colonialists and because of anticlericalism sentiments of the colonizing nation. Cf. Charles Pierre, Les Dossiers de L’action missonnaire, Vol. I (2nd ed), (Louvain: Editions de L’Aucam, 1938), p. 386; S. B. Bevans, ed. A Century of Catholic Mission, 2013, Op. Cit. p. 14. 1129 The Sisters set out from Kisubi on 12th September 1911 and they arrived in Virika on 23rd September 1911. They included: Mother Concordia (Superior), Sr. Michel, Sr. Paul-Joseph, Sr. Catherine de Sienne. Cf. Virika Hospital, “About our great Hospital-Virika” in Centenary and Golden Jubilee celebrations -Holy Family Virika hospital &Virika School of Nursing Magazine (1912-2014) sustaining quality health care delivery, (Fort Portal, 2014), p. 11. 1130 Cf. General archives, Virika Hospital, op. cit. (E 5076.5). 1131 Western region comprises most districts in the Rwenzori’s and beyond. At the moment, Virika School of Nursing graduates about 60 nurses a year, both midwives and nurses (male and female) it is one of the best nursing schools under the leadership of the Banyatereza Sisters. (Daughters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus)

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Similarly, Ives Tourigny writes about Bishop Hanlon of the Upper Nile Vicariate who invited the Franciscan Sisters (the little Sisters of St. Mary’s Abbey, Mill Hill in England) to serve in the vicariate. 1132 They included Mother Paul (Superior), Sr. Kevin, Sr. Marcella, Sr. Salano, Sr. Andrea and Sr. Alexis, who arrived at Nsambya on 11th January 1903. They started a school and a dispensary and assisted in fighting sleeping sickness and other diseases widespread at the time.1133 In November 1912, the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix (known as Blue Sisters) arrived and finally settled at Entebbe following their invitation by Bishop Streicher. The Prelate wanted to get contemplatives in the Vicariate that would support the other missionaries with constant prayer and reparation.1134 These semi-contemplatives established a dispensary and a school for girls within their enclosure. They fostered their charism of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and to treat people and educate children.1135 Elsewhere in south-western Uganda, Church hospitals were built at Mutorere, Nyakibare, Kisizi, Ishaka, Kagando, Kabarole, Kabale, Kambuga, Kitagata, Mbarara and Itojo among others with the aim of providing holistic healthcare services after Jesus’ example of wholeness healing of body, mind and spirit.1136

4.4.5 Religious as Qualified Medical Practitioners

The work of Religious in the Health Care Ministry has been tremendous since the early years of the missionary impetus.1137 In November 2020, African Mission Healthcare (AMH) awarded the prestigious AMH Gerson L’Chaim (“To Life”) Prize1138 to Dr. Sr. Priscilla Busingye, OB-GYN, and a member of the Banyatereza Sisters of Uganda for outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service.1139

1132 Cf. Ives Tourigny, So Abundant a Harvest, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1978), p. 75. 1133 Y. Tourigny, So Abundant a Harvest, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1978), p. 75. 1134 Just like how the Israelites fought their battle with Amalekites, Moses took his stand on a hill while lifting his hands in prayer and imploring God’s help (Ex 17:11), those in mission are manfully at work and require the support of prayers. 1135 Cf. B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, 2013. Op. Cit., p. 114-113. 1136 J.N. Ndyabahika, “Medical work in Ankole and Kigezi,” in The attitude of the Anglican Church of Uganda to the New Religious Movements and in Particular to the Bacwezi-Bashomi in South Western Uganda, 1960-1995, (PhD dissertation), University of Cape Town, p. 95. 1137 Cf. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 369. 1138 This initiative was launched in 2016 for outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service. The annual Prize of $500,000 is the world’s largest annual award dedicated to direct patient care; the recipient is selected by a panel of leaders in African clinical medicine. 1139 Cf. Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau: https://www.ucmb.co.ug/dr-sr-priscilla-busingye-the-first-african-and- first-woman-to-receive-the-lchaim-prize/ (accessed 11. 03. 2021); see also: Jackson Elliot, “Uganda OB-GYN Doctor Priscilla Busingye Receives Africa Mission Healthcare’s $ 500,000 L’Chaim Prize,” in Black Christian News Network One.

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Dr. Busingye’s life and work are utterly amazing. She epitomizes everything that a compassionate, community-minded person could aspire to, regardless of their faith tradition. She ‘loves the stranger’ every day in a genuine and tangible manner. It is a joy for my wife, Erica, and me, as Jews, to celebrate the work of this wonderful Christian physician.1140

These words bring in the author’s mind the observation by John Baur regarding the Sisters’ contribution: “The Sisters, influence on Christian womanhood went far beyond their immediate work in schools and hospitals. They enhanced the dignity of the African woman and hastened her emancipation. They won a place in the heart of the people, and their natural simplicity and cheerfulness brought an element of welcome friendliness among the mission personnel. Belgian missiologist Pierre Charles prophesied: “Christian Africa will be what the African Sisters will make it.”1141 There are some similar examples of dedicated persons who deserve mention: The first Church Missionary Society (Anglican) doctor to come to Uganda was Albert Cook,1142 who ran Mengo hospital from 1897 till the 1920.1143 He confined not in his pursuit to the germ-free atmosphere of academia but invested much of his time in research. Thus, he emerged as a shining example in medical service.1144 As Ward has observed, Dr. Albert Cook was a towering figure in the development of scientific medicine in Uganda particularly in sleeping sickness and venereal diseases.1145 Cook was later joined by his brother Jack, a well-qualified surgeon. “They were not only eager to win souls for Jesus but at the same time were the most renowned consultants in the whole of East Africa.”1146 From his insights, a comprehensive and efficient nation-wide medical

1140 Africa Mission Healthcare [AMH] Co-Founder and prize sponsor Mark Gerson and, his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson, cf. https://africanmissionhealthcare.org/lchaim-prize/ (accessed on 11.03.2021). 1141 J. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, op. cit. p. 368. 1142 Albert Cook (1870-1951) left England in 1896 and reached Mengo (in Uganda) early 1897. He “had given his life to Jesus Christ” as a young man and immediately after graduation with a medical degree, he offered to serve in the mission field as a medical doctor. Cf. W.R. Billington, “Albert Cook 1870 – 1951: Uganda Pioneer,” British Medical Journal, 4 (1970), p. 738-740. https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/4/5737/738.full.pdf (accessed 11.03.2021) 1143 Cf. J. N. Ndyabahika, “Medical work in Ankole and Kigezi,” in The attitude of the Anglican Church of Uganda to the New Religious Movements and in Particular to the Bacwezi-Bashomi in South Western Uganda, 1960-1995, (Doctoral dissertation), University of Cape Town, 1997, p. 94. 1144 Cf. O. Roland, The Missionary Factor in East Africa, London: Longman Green and Co. Ltd., 1952, 211. Quoted by J. N. Ndyabahika, 1997, op. cit. p. 94. 1145 K. Ward, “A History of Christianity in Uganda,” in Nthamburi Z. (ed.), From Mission to Church, (Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1991), p. 100. Quoted by J.N. Ndyabahika, 1997, op. cit. p. 94. 1146 J.N. Ndyabahika, “Medical work in Ankole and Kigezi”, 1997, op. cit. p. 95.

204 service was developed. “The main treatment centre for venereal disease, built on Mulago hill, later grew into the impressive University Hospital of today.”1147

It is in this broader sense that both government and Church hospitals have played a leading role in the provision of curative and preventive health services to the people. It was a conviction already nurtured by the religious medical practitioners that the well-being of the individual person encompasses the physical, social, mental, social and spiritual aspects which all require attention, and this required team work. Ssettuuma has observed that, Missionary Priests in Uganda understood that mission was not simply their exclusive right and that collaborative ministry and teamwork was the key to being successive in the missionary enterprise.1148 Female congregations of religious life were invited to help in health care, education and training of girls in domestic work. The White Sisters,1149 were invited to Uganda by Bishop Streicher to work together with the White Fathers. These arrived at Lubaga on 18th October 1899 with Sr. Sainte Foi as superior, together with five others: Sr. Restetuta, Sr. Mechtilde, Sr. Joachim, Sr. De L, Sparance and Sr. Dorothee.1150 These highly developed the dispensary work since they were better trained in medical field in addition to other responsibilities.1151 The dispensary at Lubaga soon developed into a modest hospital that guaranteed access to medical services and healing of the sick.

Another factor to consider was the role played by the Superiors of Congregations, who had the community they served at heart. Benedict Ssettuuma Jr., citing Mario Cisternino’s work Passion for Africa, mentions of Msgr. Antonio Vignato in the equatorial Nile Vicariate, who invited the Sisters of Pie Madri della Nigrizia Sisters (known also as Verona Sisters), founded by Msgr. Daniel Comboni who arrived in Gulu on 18th November 1918 with Sr. Carla Troenzi as superior and others as: Sr. Camilla Uberti, Sr. Amalia Lonardi, Sr. Rosalba Girlanda and Sr. Luigia Quaglia. These took on the work of education, health and catechesis among others.1152 These superiors of missions as Bishop Streicher, Bishop Hanlon, Msgr. Antonio Vignato, interested

1147 W.R. Billington,1970, op. cit. p. 739. 1148 Cf. B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, (Kampala: Angel Agencies, 2013), p. 114. 1149 “White Sisters,” were Sisters of the Society of missionaries of Africa founded in Algiers by Archbishop Lavigerie in 1869. 1150 Cf. B. Ssettuuma Jr., “proper collaboration with the religious” in Coming of Age in Priesthood, p. 114. 1151 The White Sisters also gave attention to women and girls; trained women catechists, inspired young girls to religious life, prepared children for first Holy Communion, opened elementary school for domestic training of adult women among others. 1152 Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, p. 115.

205 themselves deeply in the work of their collaborators (priests, men and women religious and lay people) they made it one of their primary concern to expand and fully develop the mission beginning from what was essentially urgent at the time as highlighted in the apostolic letter Maximum Illud of Benedict XV in 1919 (cf. MI, 11).1153

4.4.6 Tender Loving Care in Mission Stations

John Mary Waliggo highlights the contribution of Catholic women “mission women”.1154 (These women came to be called so because they stayed at the mission station). When lepers were gathered at Villa Maria and huts were built for them in two villages in 1894, several courageous women volunteered to serve and nurse them.1155 They instructed them in religion and prepared them for a happy death. When sleeping sickness victims were grouped at Kisubi and Bumangi in 1901, again Catholic women ventured to treat them, instruct them and live among them when the very relatives of the sick feared even to approach them.1156 Veronica Munakutanyiiga cooked for the sick people at the mission hospital.1157 There were many women and girls who joined the mission station after the death of their parents while others because of other reasons.1158 Not all came with an intention to stay permanently, many of the young soon found Christian husbands and married. While many mission women were attached to one place, others moved with their missionary patrons such as Streicher, Achte, Mulled and Gorju, wherever they went.1159 As Shorter has observed, “the fact remains, that Christians in Uganda discovered and developed the religious vocation for themselves even before the missionary sisters arrived.”1160 Maria Machtilda Munaku (1858-1934) was not only a confessor of the faith, but the first Ugandan woman to take a

1153 B. Ssettuuma Jr., Coming of Age in Priesthood, 2013., Op. Cit. p. 115. 1154 Though the basis was to foster female religious life; the acquisition of permanent “mission women” led the church (in Buddu) receive its permanent characteristic of large establishments of Christian villages at the mission stations which were to contrast enormously with the smaller mission stations of the protestants, secondly, the church’s financial problems were solved by the voluntary unpaid work of these mission women; they looked after the Fathers and cultivated food for resident catechumens. 1155 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, op. cit. p. 123. 1156 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, op. cit. p.123; Villa Maria Mission diary, 1905- 1911, frequent references are made to the work of women among the sick of sleeping illness. For example, entries for 12 February 1905, 29 August 1909. 1157 Ibid, p. 124. 1158 Such reasons included: Children from families opposed to their becoming Christian; separation with partners who had embraced Islam; family breakdown and wrangles due to unfaithfulness of male spouses or barrenness on the side of the women; widows; some former wives of a polygamous marriage had not been the lucky ones to be chosen as wives after the husband embracing Christianity, among other reasons. 1159 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, p. 214. 1160 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 224.

206 vow of virginity.1161 Shortly, other women, like Elisa and Nantinda, joined her in her catechetical work, in running an orphanage for girls and in forming an association of unmarried women to be cooks and matrons of the seminary.1162

4.4.6.1 Mission stations comprised of a house for the sick and aged

The work of building the mission stations was taken up fully by the catholic chiefs. Since most had been royal pages, they copied the royal departments to facilitate the work. Next to the church was the Fathers’ residence, the houses for mission catechists followed, then living quarters, two for women catechumens and neophytes and two for men. Then the audience halls for morning and afternoon instructions and finally, about a quarter of a mile from the church stood the house for the sick and aged.1163 Bishop Hirth on 10 April 1894, published a document in which he spelt out the work of village catechists.1164

The catechist presided over the local community in prayer every Sunday and every afternoon during months of devotions, taught catechumens; prepared baptized children for first confession and Holy Communion, frequently visited traditionalists to convert them, visited the critically sick to prepare them for a happy death, and the lukewarm Catholics to remind them of the faith, he conducted funeral services for converts and baptized those in danger of death, he communicated to the Christians the wishes of the Fathers and reported back the events of his village. The missionary catechists were chosen from the most trusted candidates of the Fathers who had been baptized for some years and who manifested dignity in outlook and strong conviction in faith.1165 This arrangement shows that the care for the sick and needy was always a key plan among the pioneer missionaries in Uganda.

4.5. The Present quest for Healing

The quest for wholeness has always been the desire of humanity in every age and culture. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), health is a “state of perfect physical, mental,

1161 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. Cit. p. 224. 1162 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. Cit. p. 224. 1163 Waliggo, The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, p. 69. 1164 Cf. Hirth to Missionaries, 10 April 1894, Waliggo, 2010, op. cit. p.114. 1165 Waliggo The Catholic Church in Buddu Province of Buganda, Op. Cit. p. 114.

207 and social wellbeing”1166 As noted by Aylward Shorter, “wholeness is experienced by human beings at various levels – in rapport with nature, in bodily health, in expectation of survival after death, in social and psychic integration and in the sphere of human morality and the world of cosmic forces. The ambivalent experience of health and sickness at all these levels beckons us to final wholeness proclaimed by Christ.”1167 This implies that one’s health surpasses their physical wellbeing but also with the natural and social order including the cosmic world. This belief touches all facets of human existence in Africa. The African believes strongly that the physical world of the humans is primarily influenced or dominated by the world of the spirits beyond.1168 In many instances, illness is conceived of as a kind of misfortune similar to bad luck at hunting, reproductive disorders, physical accidents, and the loss of property.1169 Africans have a peculiar notion of man and human fulfilment.1170 Man is not just a soul; he is also a body. He longs not just for holiness but for wholeness,1171 which includes freedom from all forms of misery and oppression. As Dominic Ndubuisi observes, “it is within this African thirst of human ‘wholeness’ that Christologians depict Christ and his role: as liberator, as Saviour and Healer.”1172

The emphasis on spiritual healing does accord with a deeply felt traditional religious concern, as well as facing the modern reality of a breakdown of health services. In a country where the political leaders go abroad for treatment of their illnesses- because they can afford it with

1166 Cf. World Health Organisation (WHO), The world health report 2002: Reducing risks, promoting healthy life, (New York: World Health Organisation, 2002); see also: C. Kolie, “Jesus as Healer?” in R.J. Schreiter, (ed), Faces of Jesus in Africa, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books 2005), p. 132. 1167 A. Shorter, Jesus and the Witchdoctor- An approach to healing and wholeness, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1985), p. 3. 1168 Cf. E.B. Idowu, African Traditional Religion, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1975), p. 174; L. Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1998), p. 56-59. 1169 Cf. M. Schoffeleers, “Christ in African Folk Theology: The Nganga paradigm,” in T. & O Blately (eds.), Religion in Africa: Experience and Expression, (London: Portsmouth 1994), p. 73, 77. 1170 Cf. C. Nyamiti, The Scope of African Theology, (Kampala: Gaba Publications, 1973), p. 9-11. Nyamiti has explained, “Man is regarded as intimately related to other fellow-men and beings; and the universe is conceived as a sort of organic whole composed of supra-sensible or mystical correlations or participations.” Furthermore, the African view of the universe comprise major themes as: the “sacrality” of life, respect for the spiritual and mystical nature of creation, especially, of the human person; the sense of the family, community, solidarity and participation, and emphasis on fecundity and sharing in life, friendship, healing and hospitality. Cf. L., Magesa, African Religion: The moral Traditions of abundant life, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications African, 1998), p. 55. 1171 Buthelezi, M., “Salvation as Wholeness,” in J. Parrat, (ed.) A Reader in African Theology, (London: SPCK, 1987), p. 95-102. Wholeness as a concept is found in African tradition religion. The inflexible dichotomy between the sacred and the profane, secular and the religious, the material and the immaterial is artificial. A human person is a composite of spirit and body and must be treated as such. 1172 D. Ndubuisi Nwuzor, A Survey of African Christology, Extracto de la Tesis Doctoral presentada en la Facultad de Teologia de la Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, 1997, p. 40.

208 government money, the beggar of the poor population might not have a choice other than resigning to faith healing.1173 Furthermore, the African adopts an all-inclusive approach to healing. Africans view everyday occurrences from the perspective of their religion and interprets all of life as a function of the same.1174 An illness or disease may have spiritual, psychic undertone as much as it is physical. This is partly why African indigenous churches thrive in these settings because of their claims that individual misfortunes may be traced to ancestral spirits in one’s lineage.1175 This is not only affirmed through preaching, but it is also reflected in their songs of praise. There is a growing need for healing of families and exorcisms. Among the African, psychic disturbances are partly ascribed to evil spirits, devils or demons and require an exorcism.1176

Fr. Yozefu B. Ssemakula, mentions the following as evidence of occult or demonic activity in the family: superstitions, involved in occult (witchcraft, astrology, spiritualism, divination), opening oneself to powers of the spiritual realm, such as precognition or psychic abilities, made a blood covenant with Satan or involved in satanic worship, involved with a witch or other persons involved in the occult and habitual patterns of sin in the family.1177

In traditional African societies the human intermediaries were ipso facto healers.1178 Medicine was required for protective and curative purposes.1179 Specialists in medicine, also called herbalists or medicine-doctors,1180 are people with knowledge of herbs, roots or even fruits with power to

1173 M. O. Ajibade, ‘Pentecostalism and the gospel of prosperity,’ Op. Cit. 9 (2020), p. 155. 1174 Cf. J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, (Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers 1990), p. 2. 1175 A. Iwuagwu, The New Religious Movements: Their Dynamic and Psychoanalysis, Owerri, Nigeria, 1975, p. 20. 1176 F. A Oborji, Towards A Christian Theology of African Religion- Issues of Interpretation and Mission, (Eldoret, Kenya: 2005), p. 140. 1177 Cf. B. Ssemakula Yozefu, the healing of Families: How To Pray Effectively for Those Stubborn Personal and Familial Problems, (Library of Congress, 2011), p. 309-310. 1178 Some would use human saliva or the spitting of it and fire to drive away evil spirit from people and places. Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 91. 1179 This ranges from healing broken bones, relieving neck-stiffness, making infants walk, curing spirits possession, seizing thieves of garden crops or trapped forest animals; good fortune, love, success, security of person and property; medicines against sorcery and witchcraft. Whereas all medicines contain a power that ought to be used for the benefit of humanity, it can also be put to detrimental use by immoral individuals. Such medicines show the interconnectedness of, and interdependence between humanity and the rest of creation. Cf. A. Almquist, “Divination and the Hunt in Pagibeti Ideology,” in P.M. Peek, (ed.), African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing, (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991), p.103; E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), p. 387-539; L. Magesa, Anatomy of Inculturation: Transforming the Church in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2004), p. 68-69. 1180 Cf. H. Sawyerr, “Sacrifice” in K. A. Dickson and P. Ellingworth, (eds.) Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1969), p. 65-73.

209 prevent or cure disease or other afflictions.1181 There is a need for liberation from, disease and illness as well as evil influence which is manifested in instances of spirit obsession, witchcraft, a desire for retaliation and revenge within African societies.

4.5.1 Healing Beliefs and Practices among Pentecostals

Laurent Magesa1182, writing about the activity of the Spirit and the Spirits observes that, “Pentecostalism and other spirit movements are today as we know, worldwide phenomena within Christianity. In African Christianity, the modern Pentecostal churches and gatherings attract interest from people in all walks of life. People flock to them for healing or exorcism or wealth. But it is also obvious in the spirit-oriented AICs, which emphasize spiritual healing.”1183

Pentecostals believe that all the spiritual gifts, including “miraculous” gifts continue to operate within the Church in the present age. Healing is believed to be one of the most important aspects of the gospel. As Opoku Onyinah opines, “Pentecostals’ understanding of healing has been progressive…Pentecostals generally consider Jesus among other things as Healer, alongside Saviour, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and soon coming King. Some of the reasons given by Pentecostals are that healing is reported in the Bible, Jesus’ healing ministry is included in his atonement or put another way, healing is part of salvation. It is believed that sin led to suffering, and God has alleviated human suffering through the death of Christ. The restoration does not only result in spiritual healing but also bodily healing. Pentecostals hold the view that holistic healing (both spiritual and physical) serves as a foretaste of the state of the redeemed ones upon the second coming of Christ, when his people will be completely delivered from all the consequences of the fall.”1184

1181 Cf. L. Magesa, African Religion: The moral Traditions of Abundant Life, p. 188. 1182 One of Africa’s known Catholic theologians, formerly a professor of moral theology at the Catholic Institute of Higher Education in Nairobi, Kenya and the Maryknoll School of Theology in New York and currently a Parish Priest in Tanzania. 1183 L. Magesa, Anatomy of Inculturation: Transforming the Church in Africa, (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2004), p. 282-283. 1184 Cf. O. Onyinah, “Healing: A Pentecostal Perspective,” L. Kaufmann, “The Labourer deserves his wages’: The Bishop’s Synod 1971 and the Economic problems of priests,” AFER, One in Christ, 47 (2013) no. 2, p. 311-339. [Paper presented at the third session of the sixth phase of the Catholic/Pentecostal International Dialogue meeting in Baltimore, 2013].

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John Thomas has suggested three approaches to divine healing within the Pentecostal tradition.1185 Firstly, those who perceive in every illness or disease the activity of demons and therefore believers are to use their God-given authority to rebuke demons which are responsible for ill-health and liberate all who are under the affliction of the devil. Secondly, those with the view that not all sickness or disease can be attributed to afflictions of the Satan. Natural causes are also responsible for some diseases. Creation is subject to change, aging process, destruction, decadence, and eventual death. Views expressed here are like those held by some theologians who see physical suffering and disability as part of the fallen human nature.1186 The third category are the “functional deists.”1187 These acknowledge the power of God to heal, and the malevolence of the devil in inflicting sickness, disease and sufferings on mankind, but have failed to acknowledge the will of God to heal. Their indifference towards God’s willingness to heal is drawn from particular cases they have experienced in which there was the belief or faith to appropriate healing, but healing was not effected on the sufferer.

The above shows the belief in the spirit’s influence in healing and deliverance in the traditional health systems in Uganda. Benevolent spirits bestow the good things of life, while malevolent spirits are evil, malicious and do damage to the human community. In African traditional religion, evil spirits are averted through making appropriate sacrifices to the deities in order to prevent dreadful events such as natural disasters, plagues, famine, diseases or some form of misfortune or the other, and that the lives of members of the communities may be preserved. To deny the existence and operations of the spirits influence in the world of human is a failure to understand a critical element in African worldview.

Various Pentecostal and Charismatic groups have varying beliefs and practices as far as healing is concerned. In many instances, the approach is to pray for the sick people until they are delivered or not. Others attempt to break generational/ancestral curses or evil spirits believed to be

1185 J.C. Thomas, “The Devil, Disease and Deliverance: James 5: 14-16,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 1993, p. 1-25. 1186 Cf. St. Augustine “Confessions” According to Augustine, human nature changed significantly as a result of Adam’s first sin, known as “the fall.” The fall resulted in “the bond of original sin (A-102,” which had several implications. First this bond brought death to human beings. Augustine describes Adam as “the first sinner, in whom we all died (A-226).” Second, the bond changed human nature, resulting in a proclivity toward sinfulness. The fall produced a sinful “heritage of misery (A-226)” for all humans, whereby people are unavoidably sinful from birth. 1187 J.C. Thomas, “The Devil, Disease and Deliverance,1993, op. cit. p. 1-25.

211 behind diseases; the process can be short or long.1188 Not everyone receives divine healing through prayer. It is believed that through his sovereign will God determines whom He heals or does not heal. Reasons offered on why some are not healed include the fact that healing is not always immediate, healing may not be God’s will for the individual, there may be a lack of faith on the part of the individual, God may be teaching the individual a lesson through suffering, and there may be personal sin in one’s life, although not all illnesses are caused by personal sins (Jn 9:1- 12).1189

4.5.2 Independent Churches New Religious Movements and Healing

The Independent Churches and new Religious Movements apply several symbolic activities as sprinkling of holy water, the touch of a holy staff or laying-on of hands. The one exorcising command the unclean spirits out of the aggrieved individual. As such exorcism becomes a tool to battle demonic related beliefs, confronting the fears of people in a ritually understandable manner that satisfies both religious and psychological needs. African people are living in spiritual insecurity, derived from their fundamental, traditional belief in the interrelationship between the physical and metaphysical worlds.1190

Africans believe that the metaphysical world is populated by various spiritual powers (Supreme Being, lesser spiritual divinities, spirits and ancestors) that exert negative and positive influence to their lives. The traditional African “‘concept of reality and destiny [is] deeply rooted in the spirit world, for the activities and actions of spiritual beings are believed to govern social and spiritual phenomena.”1191 Meyer relating to the Ghanaian situation for instance asserts that charismatic churches owe their popularity at least in part to the fact that they link up easily with such popular understandings and allow for an understanding of traditional gods and witchcraft as powerful though worrisome realities from which people seek to be delivered but which continuously threaten to re-possess their bodies and minds.1192

1188 Cf. O. Onyinah, Healing: a Pentecostal Perspective, p. 331. 1189 Cf. R. Mapes Anderson, Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of the American Pentecostalism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979). 1190 Cf. C. Magezi, Healing and coping with life within challenges of spiritual insecurity: Juxtaposed consideration of Christ’s sinlessness and African ancestors in pastoral guidance, 73 (2017) no 3. 1191 Cf. Y. Turaki, Foundations of African traditional religion and worldview, (Nairobi: Word Alive Publishers, 2006), p. 26. 1192 M. Birgit, “Make a Complete Break with the Past: Memory and Post-colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse.” Journal of Religion in Africa, 27 (1998), p. 316-49.

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Metu-Ikenga postulates that, in moments of misfortune, some Christians in Africa may be tempted to engage in traditional practices of averting evil or avenging enemies but still claim to believe in God.1193 The fear of evil spirits as having influence on the human being is still widespread in Africa. J. Mbiti envisages the existence of African traditional religions and maintains that as long as there is a trace of African culture, it will also have some African religion in it, although some aspects will be transformed to meet the needs of the changing times.1194 Nevertheless as Paul VI observes in Africae Terrarum, contemporary Africans are trying to give meaning and expression to the values of the traditional religious heritage (cf. AT 13). Healing services attract many people who expect physical healing and quick solutions to their problems.1195 Crusades and ‘healing Masses’ are well known in Eastern Africa; the overwhelming presence of big crowds and outpouring of fervor leave some spiritually satisfied.1196 Others are disappointed if their psychosomatic needs are not met. Another reason that some people are attracted to sects is that “adherents are quickly given challenges and responsibility.” The groups most at risk would be mainly those in some difficulty with the Church and those far removed from the presence of the priest. Youth in search of security or “knowledge” or what is “new” are particularly vulnerable, so are women and those who feel themselves isolated in urban areas and in the peripheries of cities. The attraction for women could be because of their appeal to the emotions and the fact that women are admitted to most offices. People may be attracted by their offers of healing, bodily and spiritual, or by the promises of instant solutions to all problems. For instance, the immensely popular “Healing waters Broadcast” of Oral Roberts a charismatic faith healer with an extensive network of radio stations within the United States; the faith-healing program encircled the globe via transmitters strategically located throughout Europe, Africa and India.1197 Some sects pose as channels of professional advancement and economic success. Others emphasize a narrow spiritual conversion which ignores or even rejects social and political responsibility.1198

1193 Cf. E. Metu-Ikenga, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions, (Onitsha: IMICO Publishers, 1987), p. 279-288. 1194 J.S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion, pp 191-. 1195 Charismatics for instance use spontaneous prayers of praise and thanksgiving, they speak in tongues, have counseling and deliverance services. 1196 Cf. A. Shorter, New Religious Movements in Africa, p. 65-67. 1197 Cf. A. Blanton, “The Apparatus of Belief: Prayer, Technology, and Ritual Gesture,” in D.J. Davies and M.J. Thate (eds.), Religion and the individual: Belief, Practice, and Identity, 7 (2016) no. 69, p. 93-106. 1198 Ibid.

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4.6 The Ministry of the Priest as a Healer

It is vital to combine the ministry of the priest with that of a healer.”1199 Yozefu B. Ssemakula,1200gives his personal experience about this reality: I had been interested in praying for healing because it seemed to me that if Jesus did this and we are His disciples, and He gives the power to heal the sick to His disciples, something should still be around, or are we not really His disciples? I grew up in a Catholic tradition that did not seem to believe in praying for healing – certainly not immediate healing. Yes, someone would say, especially when visiting the sick, that they would pray for them- whatever that meant- or a few times we would say some prayers at the bedside of the sick person, but not really expecting the person to be immediately healed. The prayer was more of a consolation strategy to both parties than anything else. Later, as a priest, I had to administer the sacrament of the sick, which I went about quite mechanically following the ritual provided for it. A few times I remember that someone would improve a bit more than what I had expected, but then I would think that not every sick person dies anyway, and so I supposed it was not their time…what compounded my crisis was that in the ten long years I spent in the seminary training for the priesthood, and in different parts of the world, no professor had ever walked into class and spoken about family healing prayer.1201

John Lukwata observes that though the Sacraments of the Church bring healing of varying degrees to the believers, the liturgy of the Catholic Church has not adequately met the people’s desire for healing and wholeness.1202

4.6.1 Priest as healer in the sacrament of anointing and Penance

Only priests (presbyters and bishops) can give the sacrament of the Anointing of the sick using oil blessed by the bishop, or if necessary, by the celebrating presbyter himself (CCC, no. 1530). The anointing of the sick has its base in the scriptures (cf. Jas 5:14-15). The special grace

1199 J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, (Limuru: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2003), p. 48-49. 1200 Fr. Yozefu-Balikuddembe Ssemakula (Fr. Joseph), born in 1964, and ordained to the Catholic Priesthood in 1993 in Kampala, Uganda, after few years of service in his home country, was part of a grand first Evangelisation effort in Darfur, Sudan, for 10 years. He is serving in the diocese of Pensacola- Tallahassee Florida. 1201 Cf. B. Yozefu, The healing of Families: How To Pray Effectively for Those Stubborn Personal and Familial Problems, (Library of Congress, 2011), p. 73-79. 1202 Cf. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 47.

214 of the sacrament of anointing of the sick has the following effects: the uniting of the sick to the passion of Christ; the strengthening, peace and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age; the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of penance; the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of one’s soul; the preparation for passing over to eternal life (cf. CCC, no. 1532).

Furthermore, the priest is the minister of the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation (cf. CCC.1462). This Sacrament reconciles us with God but also with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The Sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members (cf. 1 Cor 12:26; CCC, no.1469). Forgiveness is the pathway to healing.1203 It is letting go of hardness toward a person; releasing those things “held against” a person; releasing a person from bondage; but at the same time, forgiveness is a lifelong process and a moment-by-moment grace.1204

4.6.2 Priest as healer through the Holy Eucharist

Holy Mass is a means to spiritual and bodily healing. Father Robert DeGrandis, S.S.J has noted that, the more we get in touch with the power and life of Jesus within the context of the Mass, the more we will be able to receive his healing and release from bondage.1205 This is in relation with the Lord’s own word: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). At the beginning of the Holy Mass is the Penitential Rite, which is significant to healing through the Mass. It is here that the worshipping community receives God’s mercy of themselves and others by reciting together the formula of general confession: 1206

I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore

1203 Forgiveness dissolves the connection with the unlove of the past, the age-old emotions that were “buried alive” are laid to rest. 1204 Cf. DeGrandis, S.S.J, Intergenerational Healing, op. cit., 1989, p. 74. 1205 Cf. Father Robert DeGrandis, S.S.J, Intergenerational Healing, (Praising God Catholic Association of Texas, 1989), p. 72. 1206 Cf. “Penitential Act,” in The Daily Missal, p. 608.

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I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. 1207

The Eucharist as a means to spiritual and bodily healing can be also alluded from the prayer of the priest during the Communion Rite after the invocation of “Lamb of God”. It is indicated in rubric no. 131: “Then the Priest, with hands joined, says quietly: ‘May the receiving of your Body and Blood, Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to judgement and condemnation, but through your loving mercy be for me protection in mind and body and a healing remedy.’”1208

With regard to the Eucharist and its significance, in Uganda, there are perpetual adoration chapels of the Eucharist in different Dioceses,1209 where Christians adore the Eucharist 24 hours (sometimes in shifts),1210 there have been testimonies of inner healing as well as extraordinary Eucharistic miracles reported just as it has been the case in many centuries past for instance: the miracle of Lanciano in the 8th Century, the Corporal of Bolsena in the 13th century, the Hosts of Siena, Italy, 18th century among others:1211 Furthermore, the following works can expound, the vitality of the Eucharist:1212 Historically, the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharist) was an important spiritual encounter in Uganda.1213 This involved the adoration of Jesus Christ, the King of kings, present

1207 After which is followed the absolution by the priest: “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.” And the people reply: Amen. Cf. “Penitential Act,” in The Daily Missal, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002), p. 608. 1208 Cf. The Daily Missal, Paulines Publications Africa, 2012, p. 661 1209 In Fort Portal Diocese, (Western Uganda), there are 14 Perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapels located in Parishes where Christians have the opportunity to adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. 1210 However, there has been a change due to the COVID-19 situation where Christians are encouraged to observe some Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). 1211 Cf. R.A. Scott, Miracle Cures: Saints, Pilgrimage, and the Healing Powers of Belief, University of California Press, 2010; I.R. Netton, Islam, Christianity and the Realms of the Miraculous: A Comparative Exploration, Edinburgh: EUP, 2009, eBook; see also: https://www.churchpop.com/2015/06/28/5-extraordinary-eucharistic- miracles-with-pictures/ (accesses 11.4.2020); 1212 Aquinas T., Summa Theologica, translated Dominican Fathers of the English Province, (New York, NY: Benziger Brothers). Cf. Online: https://dhs-priory.org/thomas/summ/; (accessed 11.4.2020); Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, 1902; Paul VI, Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, on the Holy Eucharist- Mystery of Faith, (September 3, 1965); Inaestimabile Donum (Instruction concerning worship of the Eucharistic mystery) by sacred congregation for the Sacraments and Divine worship and confirmed by Pope John Paul II, 1980; Catechism of the Catholic Church, Eucharist by a Commission under Pope John Paul II, 1993; Redemptionis Sacramentum, Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, March 25, 2004; O’Connor J., Hidden Manna: a Theology of the Eucharist, San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2005; Patrick Lee, The Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood a reply to Kenneth Collins and Jerry Walls, Vol 18, 5(2020), p. 3-19; Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritas: Post-Synodal Exhortation on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s life and Mission, March 13, 2007. 1213 Waliggo reports that it was not as popular at first like the Marian devotion; partly because catechumens and postulants were largely excluded from it, although this is not the case presently. Cf. Waliggo, 2010, op. cit., p.78.

216 in the Eucharist. There was a synthesis of the White Fathers’ spirituality with local tradition’s love and respect for the King1214 (especially among people who belonged to kingdoms). Catholics in Buganda for example, applied the titles of the King to Jesus (God). He was ‘Kabaka,’(King) ‘Mukama,’(Lord/God) ‘Ssebintu’ (source of all things) ‘Ssemanda,’(Omnipotent) ‘Kamalabyona’ (solution to everything).1215 The term for paying homage to the King, (kukiika) was employed. Benediction was called lukiiko (in Buganda), rukurato (in Toro). Hence the same reverence was enforced in Church.1216 As Waliggo observes:

Many Catholic chiefs could pay homage [to the Eucharist] as often as possible the same way they were expected to do at Mengo [King’s Palace]. “Some would prostrate themselves before the tabernacle as before Mwanga…on Holy Thursday, they spent the entire night in Church to ‘guard’ their King. On Corpus Christi feast, Christians lined up as at Mengo, accompanying their King. At Christmas, they visited the crib, village by village, to adore. After communion, one had to thank the King and remain respectable as long as the king was one’s guest. The presence of Christ in each person’s heart after baptism was explained with the same analogy… from the same notion came the dignity of every Christian for the title ‘Christian’ was higher than that of Kabaka.1217

While Catholics are rooted in the sacramental-devotional worship, they are now discovering the complementary riches of the Word, the revival pattern of praying and the beauty of vibrant singing and preaching.1218 The New Religious Movements and Pentecostal Churches seem to appeal because of their dynamic style of worship that focuses on experience and healing. “The Catholic Church in Africa is gradually borrowing a leaf from this dynamic way of worship as well, through its “healing Masses” [Masses with a healing service] and prayers for deliverance and cleansing, as has been witnessed in recent times.”1219

1214 The traditional concept of kingship led to great reverence to the Fathers, the visible representatives of the King. From the Pope, Bishop, and the priests, reverence extended to all who had any religious duties to perform, as religious sisters, catechists, seminarians, sacristans, among others. To have a son or a daughter in the church’s service became an honour and a symbol of social promotion. It was one of the chief factors in encouraging Vocations to priesthood, evangelist mission and religious life. See also, Waliggo, 2010, p. 78. 1215 Waliggo, 2010, op. cit., 78. 1216 This was similar as the Twekobe of the King, later title of Muwonya (healer) would be added. 1217 Cf. Waliggo, 2010, op. cit., p. 79. 1218 J. Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, 2003, op. cit. p. 64. 1219 Ibid, p. 78.

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Other Christians have also been enriched by the Catholic reforms such as the arrangement of Readings in cycles, the linguistic expression in prayers, the plethora of songs both old and new, the Liturgical Calendar for the major Christian feasts and the vestments used in worship.1220 The Catholic Charismatic Movement, founded by a group of graduates at Duquesne University, Pittsburg, USA, has contributed to the rediscovery of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the vibrant manner of praying, singing and the spiritual reawakening in the Catholic Church.1221

As Shorter has observed, it is necessary to make a theological discussion about the perception of evil in Africa; Exorcism should not be trivialized and everyday misfortunes should not be demonized.1222 Whereas the missionaries through their medicines and health education greatly reduced the fear of witchcraft, they could not convince the people that incurable sicknesses, barrenness, and psycho-somatic diseases were due to natural causes. People went on attributing such cases to witchcraft or spirit possession.1223 Christians could still be heard to say: “the priest was protected by his breviary.”1224 Although healing services attract many people who expect physical healing and quick solutions to their problems,1225 healing and exorcising activities sometimes rise theological and pastoral questions for which the Church authorities have no immediate response.1226 While popular devotions might be possible vital spiritual alternatives in averting some challenges,1227 there is need for a lively collaboration between the clergy, the men and women religious and the laity. Furthermore, basic Christian communities must not act only as prayer groups, but prayer should lead to mission which hinges on solidarity with the sick, the suffering, the poor and the marginalized within the communities themselves and beyond these towards the larger society.1228

1220 Ibid, p. 64. 1221 Ibid, p. 49. 1222 Cf. Shorter, A., African Culture, an Overview, Social-Cultural Anthropology, Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1998, p. 71. 1223 Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, p. 374. 1224 Ibid. 1225 Cf. A. Shorter, Jesus and the Witchdoctor, an Approach to Healing and Wholeness, (New York: Orbis Books, 1985). [Especially on a comparative study of the phenomenon of healing in East Africa]. 1226 For instance, in 1982, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Lusaka in Zambia was removed from his archdiocese; his healing and exorcizing activities, while responding to traditional needs and concepts raised theological and pastoral questions for which the Church authorities had no immediate answer. 1227 Cf. A. Shorter, Toward a theology of inculturation, op. cit., 1988, p. 251 – 252. 1228 Cf. J. Guiney, “Comparing Basic Christian Communities in South America and Africa,” AFER 30 (1988), p. 166-180. 218

It is in light with this that Bosch proposes a paradigm shift: First, Christians should help their community liberate itself from the traditional “scapegoat theory”1229 by invoking the message of Christ, the true “Scapegoat” who bore the sins of this world once and for all. Second, Christian teaching should emphasize the co-responsibility of all individuals for what goes wrong in society, lest the tendency to blame a wizard encourages a superficial understanding of conversion. Third, a “new understanding of human suffering” should replace the philosophy that links suffering with evil deeds, with the imputation of wizardry as a result. Fourth, a “fundamental change in attitude towards magic” is required. Healing, reconciliation, and mutual service should replace the search for and elimination of the alleged cause of misfortune. Fifth, the Christian message that “evil has no future” should be proclaimed. Rather the future lies with God.1230

4.6.3 Priest as counsellor and collaborator in the healing ministry

There has been a marked revival of interest in spiritual healing within the Christian Church initially arising from an integration of liturgical and psychiatric elements, though more recently it has been given considerable further impetus by the Charismatic Revival.1231 Since the arrival of missionaries in Uganda, ministry to the sick was one of the priorities of mission work, and it was closely linked to evangelisation.1232

The English anthropologist and Catholic theologian Alyward Shorter, a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Africa, writing about the apostolate of the White Fathers in Africa observes that “Cardinal Lavigerie saw it as an apostolate of compassion that continued the mission of Jesus Christ himself: ‘cure those who are sick, and say, ‘The Kingdom of God is very near to you’” (Luke 10:9)1233 According to Shorter, “wholeness is experienced by human beings at various levels: in rapport with nature, in bodily health, in expectation of survival after death, in

1229 The African Spiritual world in popular religious thought is related to the prevalence of poverty, misfortune, and disease. In this popular understanding, these are not primarily social or physical problems, but behind them is the ontological world of spirits, witchcraft, and manipulating evil forces that need to be encountered with and dealt with. 1230 D.J. Bosch, “The Problem of Evil in Africa: A Survey of African Views on Witchcraft and of the Response of the Christian Church.” in P.G.R. de Villiers (ed.), Like a Roaring Lion: Essays on the Bible, the Church and Demonic Powers, (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1987), p. 58-59. 1231 C. Bourne and F.N. Watts, “Conceptualizations of Spiritual healing: Christian and secular,” in F.N. Watts, (ed.), Spiritual Healing: scientific and Religious Perspectives, (Cambridge University Press, New York: 2011), p. 77. 1232 Healing was an important part of the mission of Jesus and the apostles. This ministry continued throughout the history of the Church, taking many forms. Plagues, pandemics and incurable diseases have always been a challenge to it. 1233 A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. cit., p. 113.

219 social and psychic integration and in the sphere of human morality and the world of cosmic forces.1234

The ambivalent experience of health and sickness at all these levels beckons us to final wholeness proclaimed by Christ. For the White Fathers in Uganda, the ministry of healing underscored the ministry of the word. The White Fathers shared in this experience, contributing significantly to the process of healing. Even when the dispensary in question was no more than a box in the superior’s office containing a few simple remedies. The White Sisters joined them in 1890s to run hospitals, dispensaries, leprosaria, and hospices. Sickness was part of the missionary vocation and at times every member of the mission staff was sick in turn. The missionaries united their sufferings as a blessing and grace of conversion for the Africans.1235

Shorter further reports that by far the most common cause of death was blackwater fever, a usually fatal complication of malaria producing the massive destruction of red blood cells.1236 Advances in medical knowledge were responsible for the virtual disappearance of blackwater fever.1237 When the Missionaries of Africa first entered equatorial Africa, they believed that malaria was caused by “miasmatic vapours” emanating from swamps. In 1897-1898, the mosquito was identified as the carrier of the disease, and it was only five or six years later that missionaries began to take precautions.”1238 “The first missionary caravan to bring mosquito nets arrived in 1904, and the utility of such nets was demonstrated for the first time at the London School of Tropical Medicine in the following year.”1239

Furthermore, “in combating epidemics, the missionaries collaborated with the medical services of the colonial administration.”1240 Shorter notes that “Mission stations became vaccination centres for measles and small-pox.1241 The same was true with sleeping sickness,1242

1234 A. Shorter, Jesus and the Witchdoctor- An approach to healing and wholeness, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1985), p. 3. 1235 A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, 2006, Op. cit., p. 113. 1236 This was sometimes caused by an overdose of quinine, especially by those unaccustomed to this prophylactic. Cf. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 113. 1237 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 114. 1238 Ibid. 1239 Ibid. 1240 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, p. 115. 1241 Ibid. 1242 This disease carried by the tsetse fly affects the brain and induces fever, extreme fatigue and mental dullness, coma and eventually death. The colonial administrations set up isolation camps and quarantined areas. The great sleeping-sickness epidemic was a medical crisis, comparable in many ways to AIDS in our present day.

220 when it appeared in Uganda in 1903 along the shores of Lake Victoria, and spread to the whole of the Great Lakes region; at Kisubi (Nyanza North), the mission and junior seminary became a hospice for those dying of sleeping sickness and White Fathers built chapels in the camps, founded hospices of their own and collaborated in the administration of atoxyl, an early arsenic-based drug.1243 Whereas in equatorial Africa, the sleeping sickness was always fatal in spite of recommended vaccines, “the epidemic was the occasion for a marked increase in religious faith and fervor. Bishop Streicher ordered a three-day fast in Uganda to implore relief from the epidemic. In 1905 at Mpala, Christians held a triduum of prayer and vowed to build a hill-top shrine to Our Lady. At Baudouinville, a lady chapel was dedicated in 1906 in thanksgiving by those who had escaped infection.”1244 Here we notice some roles religious leaders can play in the event of a health crisis or epidemic and in quest for being collaborators in the healing ministry.

Van Duijl et al., writing about the dissociative disorders,1245 - in south-west Uganda1246- attributed dissociative disorders to suppressed feelings of grief and anger related to psychosocial problems such as family and ancestral relations, dowries, among others, instead of to traumatic events.1247 These scholars expected the number of persons presenting with dissociative disorders to be higher in religious and traditional healing settings because these offer explanations and treatment more compatible with the cultural and religious belief system of the clients.1248 They found out that “counseling services are rare in Uganda and most rural people will seek help from traditional healers or in religious settings to find relief for their emotional problems, often attributed to witchcraft.”1249 Thus the impact on the healing process of viewing possessing spirits

1243 Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa, op. cit. p. 115. 1244 Ibid. 1245 Dissociative disorders can be defined as “disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity or perception of the environment.” Patients who receive a diagnosis of dissociative disorders typically report previous trauma. Cf. American Psychiatric Association, 4th Edition Diagnostic and statistical manual (DMS-IV), 1994, p. 489. 1246 Uganda has experienced years of oppression and killing during the Idi Amin regime, but also of current regimes, in addition to the AIDS epidemic, the terrorist rebel groups, although the recent years of relative peace have allowed a growing recognition of the psychological and social disruption caused by war, torture, displacement, violence, rape and defilement, AIDS, and infectious diseases. Cf. Barton, T. & Mutiti, A. NUPSNA, Northern Uganda Psychosocial Needs Assessment, (Kisubi, Uganda: UNICEF Marianum Press, 1998). 1247 Van, Duijl et al., “The Validity of DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders Categories in South-West Uganda,” op. cit. 1248 Van, Duijl et al, op. cit.. 1249 Duijl et al, 2005, “The Validity of DSM-IV Dissociative Disoders Categories in South-West Uganda,” Transcultural Psychiatry, 42 (June 2005) no. 2, p. 219-241. op. cit. The general term Abafumu; a term for traditional healers, also implies both the healers using herbs and those contacting ancestral spirits. These local healers (Abafumu) can work with spirits (amahembe or emandwa), with

221 as the illness itself means that they have to be addressed directly (by having the healers call on them) or suppressed (by casting them out of the possessed person through prayers of “catching the spirit” in a herb and burying it away in the ground or wall, or through exorcism).1250 From the above considerations, we draw justification for Christian healing and exorcism as an essential fragment of the holistic ministry.1251

4.6.4 Health Care as “Locus Theologicus”

Catholic health care functions as a theological locus from which theologians can raise critical questions which can help them collaborate fundamentally in bringing about a different kind of world in the here- and-now.1252 For instance prioritizing the value of compassion and ensuring it remains a motivating objective in the administration of healthcare treatments. The theological vocation as described in Donum Veritatis1253 is the framework that has been followed by mission leaders in Catholic health care.1254 It has been observed in some places that most Catholic mission leaders serve as members of the executive leadership team and may have little time for theological reflection, much less writing.1255 Whereas creating new positions are essential, but this ought to be done in a way which attracts the type of theological talent. This can include research on mission- based issues, clinical case studies and service which may encompass learning the inside and outs of the health care system on a daily basis. McCarthy further observes that whereas the traditional concerns of abortion, contraception, and decisions at the end life will not go anywhere, there is

herbal medicine (emibaazi yekiraguju, emibazi y’enzarwa.). There is of recent a more positive way to use the term Abatambi for healers, emphasizing that healers aim at improving people’s wellbeing. 1250 Duijl et al, 2005, op. cit. p. 236-237. 1251 Some important points related to our discussion is found in Patrick B. Mubiru, Mission and healing Ministry: a missiological approach to the Christian Healing Ministry in Africa, (Rome: Pont. University Urbaniana, 2003). 1252 Cf. M. McCarthy, “A Voice in the Wilderness: Reimagining the Role of a Catholic Health Care Mission Leader” Journal of Moral Theology, 8 (2019) no.1, p.128-129. Michael McCarthy argues this point quoting Shawn Copeland, “Racism and Vocation of the Theologian,” p. 26. 1253 Donum Veritatis emphasizes the role of faith, seeking “Truth” which is “the living God and [God’s] plan for Salvation revealed in Jesus Christ” (no. 8). In this quest for truth, the document emphasizes that theologians should rely on philosophy and human sciences (no. 10). Nevertheless, “When the magisterium proposes ‘in a definitive way’ truths concerning faith and morals, which, even if not divinely revealed, are nevertheless strictly and intimately connected with Revelation, these must be firmly accepted and held” (no. 22). This seems to restrict rather than welcome dialogue, and as such this top-down description of a theological vocation has been challenged by some theologians. Cf. R. McCormick, The Critical Calling: Reflections on Moral Dilemmas since Vatican II, (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006), p. 71-94. 1254 Cf. B. E. Hinze, Prophetic Obedience: Ecclesiology for a Dialogical Church, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2016). 1255 M. McCarthy, “A Voice in the Wilderness: Reimagining the Role of a Catholic Health Care Mission Leader” 2019, op. cit.

222 ample room to expand the socio-theological purview of mission leaders that will benefit the scope of Catholic health care ministries.1256

Integrating PhD trained theologians into mission leadership positions allows for individuals to critically assess and articulate the ways in which Catholic health care participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ through its commitment to serve those pushed to the margins. Catholic health care benefits from the ability of mission leaders educated in theology, ethics, and spirituality, to speak to the theological foundations of Catholic health care and the social inequalities present in it for instance, a theological voice that aligns with those on the margins needs to be aware of the social challenges the lowest wage workers may face given the prospect of job loss.

The challenge of living out a theological vocation amid the health care landscape is presented in the tensions between a service-oriented profession, the economic reality of health care, and the immense need of patients within health care ministries. On an individual level, theological voices can help frame the suffering and interruptions that occur daily in the midst of an individual’s illness and with the whole people of God to adhere to the faith and apply it more fully in daily life.

As noted by the Congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, “hiding death and its signs” is widespread in contemporary society and prone to the difficulties arising from doctrinal and pastoral error. “Doctors, nurses, and relatives frequently believe that they have a duty to hide the fact of imminent death from the sick who, because of increasing hospitalization, almost always die outside of the home.”1257 The role of the theologian in mission leadership can point to God’s presence in the reality both inside and outside of the hospital walls. The theologian can name injustices and so draw the health care system to pay particular attention to the unmet needs of the communities in which they reside and can work collaboratively to address complex challenges in a way that reflects the mission of the Catholic health care ministries in a broken world.1258

1256 McCarthy, 2019, op. cit. 1257 Cf. Congregation for divine worship and the discipline of Sacraments: Directory on Popular piety and the liturgy principles and guidelines, (Vatican City, 2001), no. 259. 1258 Michael McCarthy, 2019, op. cit. p. 129.

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4.6.5 Evangelizers but not Exorcists: Towards finding a link

Exorcism1259- on a juridical-canonical level- presents a certain challenge since not all evangelizers in the Catholic Church are exorcists in the strict sense (cf. Canon.1172).1260 This understanding is quite different in other communions.1261 Consequently, many people need exorcism and healing. For instance, Fr. John Baptist Bashobora is a Catholic Charismatic priest known for his prayer, deliverance, and healing ministry.1262 The many people who flock his ‘faith healer’ events affirm the fact that there is a thirst for healing and deliverance amidst few exorcists.1263 Msgr. Expedito Magembe is another exorcist who serves at Mt Sion Prayer centre in Bukalango (Uganda), great numbers of Christians throng this area for deliverance prayers but mostly in an event called “Sangallo”. Other Catholic Priests in Uganda, who have been involved in this ministry include Fr. Joseph K. Bill (R.I.P), VC, Fr. Richard Potthast, CSC, Fr. James Burasa, CSC, Fr. Stanislaus Birungi, aka Stash; in Fort Portal. Similarly, Fr. Hebga, a Jesuit priest in Cameroon integrates powerful prayer, the reading of biblical passages and touching the body of a demon-possessed person with crucifix within the secluded confines of a church, among others. 1264

Many factors are at play why church must give consent for exorcism. As observed by Joseph Kimbowa and Yudaya Nangonzi, “we live in desperate times that have invited desperate

1259 Exorcism is a prayer to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit for the purpose of driving away the evil spirit or preventing the evil one from destroying the person. The Rite of Exorcism can include: The sprinkling of the possessed person and the place with holy water mixed with salt, the litany of the saints invoking God’s mercy, scripture reading and Psalm, the proclamation of Gospel, imposition of hands, invocation of the Holy Spirit, the breathing on the face of the one possessed, the recitation of the Creed or the renewal of the Baptismal commitments including the renunciation of Satan, the Lord’s Prayer, the blessing with the Cross on the forehead of the one possessed, the prayer of exorcism and final blessing and thanksgiving song. Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, Editio Typica of the Rite of Exorcism, 1999, p. 13. 1260 Article 8—§ 1 states that: “The ministry of exorcism must be exercised in the strict dependence on the Diocesan Bishop, and in keeping with the norm of can. 1172, the Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of September 29, 1985, (31) and the Rituale Romanum. Cf. Cf. Instruction on prayers for healing, 2000, Op. cit. 1261 Pastor Rebecca Namutebi, a board member of the National Fellowship for “Born-Again” Pentecostal Churches- Uganda, says no one should be limited from casting out demons; “people resort to God because they are overburdened.” Cf. J. Kimbowa and Y. Nangonzi, “Why Church must give consent for exorcism,” The Observer, (28 Oct 2014). 1262 He comes from Uganda’s Mbarara Archdiocese where he has built orphanages, founded schools and travels to many parts of the world preaching the Good News and delivering the Healing power of the Holy Spirit to those in need. 1263 Radio Poland on 7.7.2013 reported of 60,000 people who attended the ‘faith healer’ Father Bashobora event at the National Stadium in Warsaw, the largest gathering at the Stadium in comparison to the 55,000 fans who had attended the Poland-England Match a year before the event. Cf. http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/140613 (accessed 9.28.2020). 1264 L. Marthinus Daniel, “Coping with Wizardry in Zimbabwe” in Nelly Van Doorn-Harder and Lourens Minnema, (eds.), Coping with Evil in Religion and Culture: case studies, (Amsterdam- New York, 2003), p. 53.

224 measures1265. Religious groups, cliques and followings are forming every day, promising assurance, hope and belief that they can provide a good life, through prayer. Some attribute this to poverty, others to desperation and many to unemployment.”1266 The need for healing and exorcism amidst few evangelizers engaged in this ministry has also led to the growth of renewal groups in the Catholic Church as the charismatics, the Neocatechumenal way, the Focolarini and in some parish communities, the need to organize retreats for the laity, healing crusades and pilgrimages.1267 These though not originating from Africa are taking firm roots in many local Christian communities. They are expressions of a people’s thirst for spiritual nourishment and healing. Exorcism on a juridical-canonical level should be distinguished from sacramental exorcism – the liturgical practice on adult catechumens in the process of the Sacraments of Christian initiation and on children at Baptism.1268 In addition, in the liturgical tradition of the Church, exorcism is a sacramental carried out on people, on things such as water, oil and salt as well as on obnoxious animals, birds and insects.1269 In the Christian sense, exorcism involves the invocation of the Holy Spirit to possess the person anew or reawaken in the person the power to overcome evil. Prudence is exercised in discerning the possession by evil, without denying the existence of the devil and its various manifestations.1270

The challenge to know and follow Church teaching on healing arises from the fact that Christianity is a community based religion, membership of which confers rights upon Christians but also duties expressed in the teaching of the Church, which members are called on to follow.1271 Furthermore as observed by Stuart Bate, it is incumbent upon Christians to follow the laws and

1265 Joseph Kimbowa and Yudaya Nangonzi, “Why church must give consent for exorcism,” The Observer, (28 Oct 2014). https://observer.ug/lifestyle/sizzling-faith/34576--why-church-must-give-consent-for-exorcism (accessed 21.11.2020). 1266 Ibid. 1267 Ibid. 1268 Cf. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Nos. 113-118; The Rite of Baptism of Children, Nos. 49, p. 154. 1269 Cf. Editio typica of the Rite of Exorcism promulgated by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments: ‘De Exorcismis et Supplicationibus Quibusdam, Rituale Romanum Ex Decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II Instauratum Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. Promulgatum, (Typis Vaticanis: Editio Typica, 1999). 1270 Lukwata, Integrated African Liturgy, p. 91. 1271 Cf. S. C. Bate. “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 144 (Nov 2012), p. 85.

225 teachings of their churches when involved in ministry; this includes orthodoxy regarding doctrine and discipline when dealing with healing as a ministry:1272 Ministry thus always has an ecclesiological foundation. Ecclesiological problems emerge when the ministry of the Church becomes subject to the preferences and proclivities of individuals which sometimes leads to confusion and controversy. When this happens, Christian ministry can become part of the problem rather than part of the solution because of unreflective and confused approaches to people who are in need. The healing ministry is full of examples of such behaviour for illness. Some ministers make exaggerated and unproven claims of healing for the sake of effect and status. Unacceptable practices of simony increasingly creep into Christian healing practices with some charging specific amounts for healing blessings. When examples of such unacceptable behaviour perpetrated by ministers are in contradiction to the teaching of the Christian community, there is a ministerial abuse in terms of ecclesial teaching. The Church emphasizes the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all visible and invisible powers. The document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Instruction on Prayers for Healing,1273 affirms the need to pray for the healing of the sick. It reminds us that the power of the victory of sickness and death is rooted in the paschal mystery. In addition, our own experience of sickness finds solidarity with the sufferings of Christ in his passion as a result of the struggle against evil.1274 4.6.6 The Christian meaning of human suffering and sickness

There is need for a good understanding of suffering.1275 As Aylward Shorter highlights, the year 1898 with the publication of Histoire d’une âme, the autobiography of a twenty-four-year- old Carmelite, Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who had died of tuberculosis at Lisieux in France (1897)

1272 S.C. Bate. “A Theological Model of Healing to inform an Authentic Healing Ministry”, 2012, p. 85. 1273 John Paul II, at the Audience granted Cardinal Prefect Joseph Card. Ratzinger, approved the present Instruction, adopted in Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and ordered it publication, (14 Sept 2000). 1274 The messianic victory over sickness, as over other human sufferings, does not happen only by its elimination through miraculous healing, but also through the voluntary and innocent suffering of Christ in his passion, which gives every person the ability to unite himself to the sufferings of the Lord. In fact, “Christ himself, though without sin, suffered in his passion pains and torments of every type, and made his own the sorrows of all men: thus, he brought to fulfillment what had been written of him by the prophet Isaiah (cf. Is 53:4-5); in the cross of Christ not only is the redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has been redeemed…thus each man in his suffering can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Prayers for Healing, (Rome, 14 Sept 2000), Doctrinal aspects, no. 1 1275 Cf. https://ost.edu/theology-sickness-suffering-according-john-paul-ii-contribution-towards-pastoral-care-sick/ (Accessed on 10.9.2020).

226 and her canonization in 1925, led to a worldwide devotion. Thérèse had wanted to be a missionary, but this was not possible because of her poor health. She in turn offered her daily renunciation of little things within the convent for the mission of the Church. In her writings, Thérèse presented God as “sheer merciful love”. She believed that even without becoming active missionary, one can participate in Christ’s salvific presence in the world, through prayer and suffering in one’s life, and through the power and love of the risen Christ in the next.1276 “Her teachings sowed the seed of a more positive missionary outlook, and she was declared patroness of the missions by Pope Pius XI”1277

Prevention and relieving suffering by ethical means is a core medical concern but it is uncertain whether there can be a world without pain, sadness, anxiety, despair, or uncertainty. This suggests a proper religious understanding regarding suffering.1278 1) The Bible presents pain under a totally different paradigm; 2) the focus should be to witness to Christ who on suffered the cross, died and rose from the dead. 3) Church and its ministry to the sick and suffering as witnessed in sacraments and hospital or chaplaincy ministry. 4) Suffering always pushes human beings to pose difficult questions of the meaning of pain. 5) Not all suffering is a consequence of sin and with a character of suffering. (Job 1:1). 6) Suffering as instrument of redemption. 7) The mother of Jesus as living icon of the Gospel of suffering (Our Lady of Sorrows). 8) Through the World day of the sick, the Catholic Church continues to express its concern for the sick.

4.7 Conclusion

In this Chapter, it has been argued that the Church continues to extend the healing ministry of Jesus. As members of his body, Jesus’ disciples have continued to extend the healing work of their master throughout the world and throughout the centuries. The early missionaries gave a living example in their own context which continues to inspire. The present-day disciples of Jesus, no less than seventy-two whom he first commissioned, are to exercise the healing power of Jesus,

1276 Cf. A. Shorter, Cross & Flag in Africa: The “White Fathers” during the Colonial Scramble (1892 – 1914), (New York: Orbis Books, Maryknoll, 2006), p. 121-122. 1277 Ibid, p. 122. 1278 Cf. P. Boston, A. Bruce, & R. Schreiber, “Existential suffering in the palliative care setting: An integrated literature review”, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 41 (2011), no. 3, p. 604-618.

227 working to bring about health and salvation in his name. Shining examples of religious and priests have been discussed. Pentecostals’ understanding of healing has been progressive, Christian ministry can become part of the problem rather than part of the solution because of unreflective and confused approaches to people who are in need. Exaggerated and unproven claims of healing for the sake of effect and status as well as practices of simony that are increasingly creeping into Christian healing practices with some charging specific amounts for healing blessings is unacceptable.

Catholics rooted in the sacramental-devotional worship continue to discover complementary riches of the Word, the revival pattern of praying and the beauty of vibrant singing and preaching. The New Religious Movements and Pentecostal Churches with their dynamic style of worship that focus on experience and healing has partly impacted on some Catholic movements especially the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement to the effect that “healing Masses” and prayers for deliverance and cleansing, has been witnessed in recent times. Basic Christian communities must not act only as prayer groups, but prayer should lead to mission which hinges on solidarity with the sick, the suffering, the poor and the marginalized within the communities themselves and beyond these towards the larger society.

While popular devotions might be possible vital spiritual alternatives in averting some challenges, there is need for a lively collaboration between the clergy, the men, and women religious and the laity. Furthermore, it is necessary to make a theological discussion about the perception of evil in Africa; Exorcism should not be trivialized and everyday misfortunes should not be demonized. The priest in the African Ugandan context by participating in Jesus’ healing ministry, epitomizes Africa’s spiritual richness and the value placed on life. While magic is ascribed to the healing power of the African healer, Christianity totally excludes the idea of magic from Christ’s power or activity. Christ’s healings are efficacious signs of his salvation. Moreover, although there are instances where Christ healed men in answer to their petition, this was not invariably so. It is always Christ’s primary and free initiative that is the source of the miraculous healing, either by inspiring men to ask for such healing, or through gratuitous healing without any petition on the part of those concerned.

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GENERAL CONCLUSION

The central focus of this study has been to investigate how the Gospel of Prosperity and Healing Ministry as experienced and proliferated in African Pentecostalism poses a theological and pastoral challenge to the Catholic Church in Uganda regarding its holistic mission, especially its response to the scourge of poverty, exorcism and healing.

The study focused on the Neo-Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Africa and Uganda in particular, on the promises of the Prosperity Gospel in alleviating poverty and initiating socio-economic upward mobility and healing of its members. As it was said previously in the dissertation, it is held that salvation wrought through Christ must also result in redemption from the shackles of ill-health and economic deprivation. Consequently, the radicalization of the theology of salvation renders poverty as one of the enduring principalities and powers that must be overcome by the redeemed. Therefore, liberation from clutches of poverty is needed and this is the task that the Prosperity Gospel preachers have taken upon themselves.

It was explained in chapter one (the present situation of the Ugandan people), that the proliferation of the Prosperity Gospel is occurring in the context of austere poverty. What is being witnessed of recently, about Catholics switching to other denominations - especially those that propagate the Prosperity Gospel - is a pointer to the fact that believers are searching for Church denominations that answer their thirst in alleviating socio-economic problems. This is a call to devise new approaches in reaching out to God’s people. The Church is supposed to be where the poor are and totally identify with them as does the Lord Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, in chapter one, (on the subsection of deep roots of the African traditional religion) and in chapters three and four, the study noted that the socio-economic problems, beliefs in witchcraft and demonology, the need for healing, as well as the indigenous African religiosity, provide a fertile ground for the flourishing of the Prosperity Gospel teaching. Poverty is attributed to the devil from which Christians should strive to be healed! Because of unreflective and confused approaches to people who are in need, ministry of the Church becomes subject to the preferences and tendencies of some individuals and this is rising problems. This study claims that it is necessary to make a theological discussion about the perception of evil in Africa. Exorcism should not be trivialized, and everyday misfortunes should not be demonized. The priest in the African

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Ugandan context by participating in Jesus’ healing ministry, epitomizes Africa’s spiritual richness and the value placed on life. Whereas magic is ascribed to the healing power of the African healer, Christianity totally excludes the idea of magic from Christ’s power or activity. Christ’s healings are efficacious signs of his salvation. Besides, although there are instances where Christ healed men in answer to their petition, this was not invariably so. It is always Christ’s primary and free initiative that is the source of the miraculous healing.

Regarding the socio-economic problems, the study noted in chapter one, that Uganda’s peasant majority population is being affected by climate change and poor crop yields amidst fluctuating market prices. This has enhanced poverty levels. Abject poverty has affected people’s livelihoods, some can hardly afford the basic needs of life. Literacy and proper access to health services is thus affected. There are those who migrate to urban centers to ache for a living and those battered by poor economy and “bad governance.” As noted in chapter two (on the subsection of autonomy of women), Pentecostalism is largely an urban phenomenon. Therefore, migration to cities expose some women to Pentecostal proselytizing. Likewise, in chapter one (on the subsection of the Ugandan people), the study highlighted that Uganda has the youngest population (55% of the total 40.8m are under 18 years). There is widespread unemployment and HIV/AIDS. Out of these comes the need for counseling and healing, especially for widows, single mothers, orphans, and street children. In these conditions, a message that promises quick and double blessings of wealth and health, a successful future, scholarships, good jobs, and overall wellbeing, come off as manipulative of a desperate audience, where people’s motivation is on how to survive. The study has pointed out that the traditional Churches in Africa must wakeup to this challenge. The study underscores the need for a mutual and dynamic approach in adult and youth ministry.

This study maintains that whereas speaking about people’s needs is important, too much attention on Prosperity Gospel teaching as a remedy for existential challenges gives little room for profound doctrinal catechesis on faith. Preaching the Gospel from an economic perspective of needs and wants could lead Christians to see God from an economic perspective, rather than the Saviour, merciful father, and creator of all things. Some versions of the “health and wealth” discourses propagated promise spectacular and miraculous wealth and prosperity without members working hard for it. Faith as things hoped for points Christianity to the eternal things of assurance yet to come and contests prosperity preachers’ claim that faith can be used as a medium of taking

230 possession of one’s wealth and happiness. In chapter one (on the section of upsurge of prosperity gospel ministers), it was noted that emphasis of these ministers is placed on giving (sowing seed) and then on faith being the actuator of these promises. It is a type of glorified slot machine where you insert your request, and the answer rolls out. The difficulty with this kind of outlook is that some Prosperity Gospel preachers exploit the people’s trust on the creative nature of the word. Believing that the strength of a Christian’s faith towards God, is measured by the result of financial breakthroughs, be they material or good health, has the implication that, those who do not achieve financial prosperity, and bodily healing may take it that they are lacking in faith. But there are many Christians who despite being faithful believers are materially poor. The emphasis on this teaching poses a challenge of creating a weak faith among believers. For them, God is good when they are prosperous and healed. Should there be a failure or delay to prosper and get healed, then one’s faith is in question. This might lead to some shift of the faith with traditional practices which are not compatible with the one true God.

Furthermore, the research noted that popular appeal of the Prosperity Gospel does not essentially prove its efficiency in bringing about change in society. In chapter one, (the last paragraph on the sub-section “glaring poverty”), the study underscored that development cannot be seen to be an end in itself. The transcendent and spiritual realities which are premises of spiritual salvation should never be lost. Authentic human development ought to be rooted in an ever-deeper evangelisation. Here people are led to God, making them more human - by increasing their dignity - and making their situation better. This is similar to what was explained in the conclusion of Chapter two that the durability of Christian faith in Africa will not depend on its network of schools and parishes, hospitals and other institutions, the permanence of Christianity will stand or fall on the question whether it has become authentic African: whether Africans have made Christian ideas part of their own thinking, whether Africans feel that the Christian world vision of the life fulfills their own needs, whether the Christian world view has become part of authentic African aspiration.

This study highlighted in chapter two (on the subsection of liturgy and use of the Bible) that Africans are thoroughly lively and celebrating by nature. This is partly why the participatory and experiential nature of Pentecostal worship seems attractive. Considering the oral culture of Africans, where African values are promoted through oral literature and music, there is need to consider the role of singing in African worship. The study noted that the lifestyle of some

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Prosperity Gospel preachers is imposing. Some are gifted, eloquent, and deliver a persistent message of assurance, with persuasiveness and skill. To be told that you matter, that you belong at the top, that you will have what you desire, must provide incentives in circumstances in which it is all too easy to give up, hence these movements seem to be developing a winning formula, supported by delightful singers and choirs.

Music with diverse rhythms, lyrics and tune attract the youth and old alike. As noted in chapter two (on the subsection of liturgy), many of the young people are attracted by the Pentecostal-charismatic music and singing that engages the body, usually accompanied by dance or bodily movements, unlike the traditional patterns of worship. It was pointed out in chapter three, (on the subsection of music), that the purpose of sacred music is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful. It is not just harmony with voices but also with the quality of the Christian lives. An exuberant song, ecstatic dance or an uplifting music that is experienced on an emotional, aesthetic level by the African worshiper, is not just to please or to be enjoyed. It must point to and lead to God, the source and goal of worship and shape people’s attitude towards God and the world in which they live. While effort should be put to guard against sacrificing solemnity and spirituality of the liturgy, the study espouses some form of inculturation in the liturgy and the boosting of youth Masses.

The healing ministry and Prosperity Gospel instill in people the feeling of being set free. It was noted in chapter four (on the subsection of “evangelizers but not exorcists”), that Exorcism on a juridical-canonical level presents a certain challenge since not all evangelizers in the Catholic Church are exorcists in the strict sense. The challenge to know and follow Church healing arises from the fact that Christianity is a community based religion, membership of which confers rights upon Christians but also duties expressed in the teaching of the Church, which members are called on to follow. The study noted that it is not automatic that some of the promises (by pastors) come to pass. There is need to go beyond what is attractive or what is popular to what is authentic. Magical interpretation of miracles compromises the Gospel of Christ – which is a Gospel of love and the Cross. Catholic ministers can be agents of holistic evangelisation by preaching the truth all the time, regardless of the whims of the believers or even personal whims of the ministers. Here, the question of God permitting evil in His own Divine plan and providence is often

232 disregarded. This does not mean that God never heals or gives riches (prosperity). Miracles are real and they happen for the credibility of the faith, but one cannot claim to own a “miracle Centre”.

While the Pentecostals have empowered most of their flock to be evangelizers, they have also utilized the means of communication. Many pastors own Radio and Television stations. Today’s conditions in Uganda have changed. Priests, religious and catechists will not sit around the parish compound to wait for people to come. The Church today must move to the people, meet them and be in solidarity with them in their joys and sorrows. This implies another strategy, a new way of evangelisation by utilizing the available means of communication. This goes hand-in-hand with digitalization which despite its good side has fostered media manipulation, fake news, over reliance and social disconnect.

In Chapter two, on the section of autonomy of women, it was noted that the autonomy given to women in Pentecostalism enables them to have leadership roles as pastors and to preach on the pulpit. This attracts a good number of women to Pentecostalism. The author agrees with the observation of the Uganda Catholic Bishops that the fact that women cannot become ministerial priests in the Catholic Church should never be seen as limiting their full participation in all other aspects of the Church’s ministry. It should rather, make them more determined to play a leading role in all aspects open to them. The common priesthood of all the baptized believers in Christ should be well understood to enable Catholic women to exercise their priestly vocation in the fullest sense in the Christian community. The contribution of the religious sisters in the Church’s Health Institutions, schools and houses of formation has been acknowledged as well as that of lay women catechists, teachers, civil servants and leaders at various levels.

There is a strong sense of the mystery among African people. This makes it easy for people to attribute mystery even to those things which can be scientifically explained. Technology is still developing in Africa. The Pentecostal movements have taken advantage of this. They make through their preaching everything to appear as mystery and so attract to themselves many even from the mainstream Churches. Their preaching seems to indicate that, healing, riches, prosperity all come through mysterious ways. Consequently, some of the Christians have developed a negative attitude towards modern medicine as they tend to resort to prayers and fasting for healing. Some of the Christians are not active in productive work since they spend much of their time

233 praying, fasting, attending retreats, as they hope for God’s blessings of accumulated material and financial wealth.

While others have found consolation in this prosperity teaching, there are other Christians who have been disillusioned by unfulfilled miracle expectations. There is need for pastoral care to these Christians. The Catholic ministers need to know the existential situations of the people, offer proper doctrinal catechesis which presents Christian reality as not only marked by material and financial prosperity but also the fact of the cross. The example of Job and of Christ can be good in this sense. The pastoral outreach to Christians also goes hand in hand with developing relevant pastoral and social approaches. In the current social-economic context, there is need for a fresh evaluation of the Church’s social ministry in poverty alleviation as boosting the social-services and development - Caritas departments, empowering people to improve their livelihoods, as well as boosting the Church-founded Health Institutions. On-going formation centres in the fields of healing ministry, updating pastoral methods and approaches to the present time.

Furthermore, praying with the sick and encouraging them to seek modern medicine is important. In the chapter four (the third subsection about the health care in the Ugandan context), the study recognized the role of the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau in coordinating the different Catholic founded Health Institutions in the country. Additionally, the religious and their contribution in the Church’s health care institutions has been acknowledged in chapter four (on the subsection “religious as qualified medical practitioners). Both government and Church hospitals have played a leading role in the provision of curative and preventive health services. The study has also highlighted the role of the priest as presider of the Eucharist who offers sacrifice and prayers to God on behalf of believers, as a healer and counsellor, exorcist, minister of the Word, sacraments and pastoral leadership.

Whereas Prosperity Gospel preachers emphasize abundant riches for the work of evangelism, they are utterly uninterested with the issue of interrogating the structural injustice that is the cause of so much poverty in Africa. The approach used by the Prosperity Gospel preachers is more suitable to the elite and business folk who have access to resources rather than the poor and illiterate. The Church must be seen to be in solidarity with the poor and not to add to their burdens. As noted in chapter one (on the subsection “a love for the rich vis-à-vis the option for the poor”) , this study claims that there is need for religious leaders to take the side of the poor, this is

234 the witness of life. When the clergy do not just save the Good news for their public professions, but live it in their own private lives, then they gain moral authority and people listen to them willingly.

Most Prosperity Gospel preachers because of their affluence are close to the corridors of power in the nation and, because of this, they hardly censure the government on the social evils in society. The “bad news” in Africa, need to be enlivened by the Good News - the true Gospel of Christ. Jesus himself is the first Evangelizer and the Gospel can be brought to the contemporary world through the witness of life, a living preaching, liturgy of the word, catechetics, mass media, personal contact, the sacraments, and popular piety. The question that should mobilize the Church in Africa and Uganda is how to speak about God in the living conditions of the poor. To deepen the ability of the Gospel to respond to situations of poverty.

The study gives the following recommendations: There is need to boost Small Christian Communities (SCCs) since these were the base of evangelisation in Uganda, at the time the missionaries had been exiled. The few first converts and catechumens kept the faith alive for three years. Small Christian Communities provide more room for the ecclesial ministry and apostolate of the laity. They offer an occasion where the Word of God is read, meditated, and applied. In such they should be helped to have a correct interpretation of the Word of God. SCCs are also grounds for economic empowerment of the people. Income generating activities can be well prearranged at the SCCs level. It is here that people feel a sense of belonging, this fosters mutual support as seclusion and insignificance are overcome. Proper Biblical hermeneutics can be useful to the Small Christian Communities as to the: Catechist, Lector, Acolyte, special minister of Holy Communion, Exorcist, Porter, Cantor, Choir Leader, Interpreter of Signs and Languages, Counsellor, among others.

The Catholic Church through promoting the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement (CCR) and other Lay Apostolate Movements and Associations can respond to some spiritual needs of Christians. The devotion to St. Jude Patron of desperate cases and the devotion to Mary have gained appeal from many Catholics who seek help during troubled times. Likewise, the CCR Movement when well-directed and promoted can serve to retain Catholics who would otherwise shift to Neo-Pentecostal Movements. All true renewal is characterized by a return to the source. Charismatic Renewal is a return to the very beginnings of the Church: Pentecost. The Catholic

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Charismatic Renewal (CCR) movement is a way of fostering spiritual activities in the Catholic Church. In their prayer meetings, the Charismatics pray spontaneously. The Charismatic spontaneity empowers the faithful to pray without necessarily depending upon structures of prayer nor upon prayers composed by others. Spontaneous prayer fits well with the traditional African modes of praying which are not preoccupied with fixed formulae but a spontaneous outburst of the whole person, body, mind, soul and heart. This could also be adopted in the Small Christian Community prayers.

The vision of the Charismatic Renewal is the renewal of the face of the earth through the renewal of the Church, the body of Christ. As each member of the body is renewed and takes a more active role in the Church, the Church itself becomes more effective in its mission. The catholic ministers in parishes should promote the Catholic Charismatic Renewal rather than suppress it. Desirably, chaplains can be appointed to guide them. The leaders of these movements can also be well formed. Priests, religious and lay people with charismatic gifts of healing can be identified and further be formed in this ministry. These could be sent out with due permission for ministry of faith healing in communities. There can also be a team of diocesan Exorcists. On-going formation and spiritual Centers in the country should be supported.

This study contends in chapter one (of the subsection “glaring poverty”, paragraphs five and six, that the Church as conscience of the society should form the consciences of the people. No one can deny the fact that money is necessary for the wellbeing of all structures but making it the centre of all our undertakings is frankly exaggerated. Evangelisation involves the promotion of integral development, championing the promotion of social justice, peace and reconciliation. People’s development does not derive primarily from money, material assistance or technological means, but from the formation of consciences and the gradual maturing of ways of thinking and patterns of behaviours. The study underlines that in tackling the problem of poverty, truth should guide all in overcoming those elements related to greed and manipulation. Ministers in church are stewards and stewardship is the grateful response of a Christian to recognize God’s gifts and share them in love of God and neighbour.

It was noted in chapter one (the section on the reality of sickness and quest for healing and wholeness), that because of the African belief in the preponderance of evil spirits that wreak havoc in human affairs, ordinary invents in life such as accidents or natural disasters are attributed to evil

236 forces. This causes fear and insecurity and creates the need to secure protection from evil attacks or perceived enemies which has partly patronized the services of medicine men. The study emphasized the need for catechesis and the revival of exorcism as a ministry given the strong African perception of evil and evil possession. This goes hand in hand with equipping of ministers with counseling skills, in areas where proficient psychiatrics are lacking. Institutions like the Bishop Magambo counsellor and training institute located in Fort Portal can be important facilities to train Church leaders and lay people in areas of guidance and counselling.

In the chapter three (on the section “the dim side of the Prosperity Gospel”), this research emphasizes the need for proper hermeneutics and interpretation of Biblical texts. It has been argued that the Bible should not be read selectively, but in its entirety. Downplaying the importance of hermeneutical approaches to the Bible will limit the proper understanding of the Bible, its background and meaning. In discussing the Prosperity Gospel, although the message preached has some scriptural basis and therefore authentic, it is contended that there is need to stand against the manner of hermeneutics that have emerged: the literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical. Gospel values must permeate the public sphere.

The Gospel ought to be preached in its context, explained well, and the application of the message ought to be in line with the actual text. The continual attempt to manipulate the Biblical doctrine of Christ by Prosperity Gospel preachers has the potential to cause ineffectiveness and inefficiency to the fundamental teaching of the Church. Pastors of souls must be content with what they have and serve God without condition (1 Tm 6:6-10). Prosperity Gospel takes advantage of the religio-cultural and socio-economic contexts in Africa. The three temptations that Jesus encountered (cf. Lk 4:1-13), forecast the temptations that would plague Jesus’ ministry and that of his Church. Just like the people of Israel during the exodus, Jesus is tempted to doubt God’s care and provision, to gain power through false worship, and to test God’s protection. Observing how Jesus responded to the temptations can help prepare Christians today for their spiritual battles. The story can also show how the devil can use Scripture for his purpose. Scripture can be wrongly interpreted and used for selfish motives.

The study proposes the need for rethinking the matters that gave rise to the problem of the Prosperity Gospel. As pointed out in chapter two (on the subsection of “teaching centered on divine blessings and people’s needs here and how), a triumphalist view of faith constitutes much of what

237 prosperity teaching proposes. There has been a shift of the doctrinal emphasis from holy living to earthly masterly of the prosperity gospel. This appears to have bred fortune hunters in the church, whose spiritual goal terminates at applying the prosperity doctrine to make their millions. It has been observed that those who preach the Prosperity Gospel have not paid real attention to some important situations in the early Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

This prosperity teaching need some rethinking as to whether it is worth being called a Christian theology. The “blessings,” which ought to be shared by the body of Christ, should not be a preserve and privilege of the leadership. Some prosperity ministers manage their ministries as private special business. Prosperity Gospel preachers should know that Christianity is based on Christ and should be more concerned with the spiritual as with the physical. If the Neo-Pentecostal churches are part of the body of Christ, they ought to follow the example of sharing which were characteristic of the early Church. Emphasis on pursuit of financial rewards have strong foreign and unchristian foundations. Construing Prosperity simply as material achievements merited by one’s faithfulness to God is ecologically inadequate, for it tends to induce individualized greed and to undermine the holistic import of salvation. It is important to stress that the Christian notion of salvation implies community. Jesus Christ redeems humankind from the bondages of sin and from the principalities and powers and ushers redeemed humanity into – ecological – community.

Furthermore, in chapter one (section on the political situation in Uganda), the study highlighted that given its political history and recalling some recent happenings in the country, Uganda needs social and political healing and the avoidance of personal cult politics. It was noted that generally Africa has had a chaotic political life because the continent lacks true politicians and receives its leaders often accidentally and not through a duly, free, and fair electoral process. The laity by not compromising their religious principles can take up leadership positions and can transform society positively. The vision of peace building and reconciliation is to create a more humane society, promote equality and justice, preserve human rights, foster solidarity and unity of human community and create an orderly non-violent society. For this to be possible, relationships have to be built. Reconciliation also goes hand in hand with restitution as restoring seized land and other properties to their rightful owners.

There is need for dialogue between faith and culture. This could help Africans live out their faith intimately without relinquishing their identity. There is need to foster inculturation, especially

238 through active participation in the liturgy and encourage the study and interpretation of the Bible. The role of missionaries in the translation of the Bible and other Christian literature and the promotion of literacy and education in Uganda has be underlined. Religious leaders should feel that one of their primary duties is to promote religious and spiritual formation of conviction fully grounded in the love for God and neighbour, life and truth. This fosters maturity of faith so that believers do not move from one religion to another. The catechumenate should not be relegated to the periphery. Like the call of Pope Francis, there is need to foster a sense of belonging to the Church; parishes and communities have to be welcoming and too much bureaucracy in dealing with problems (be they simple or complex in the lives of people) have to be re-considered. In many instances, administrative approach has been prevailing over a pastoral approach. Christ’s example of love and compassion is not just something that is tied to a particular religion or culture, it is something that transcends time, space and nationality and involves all humanity.

Regarding some emerging sects in Uganda, it has been noted that people join them as a means of combating their present misery. It has been noted that these focus more on prosperity, quick riches and property acquisition (EBINTU), at times, this may lead to manipulation which jeopardizes the dignity of the human person (OMUNTU) and UBUNTU (humanity towards others). This study proposes that the Ubuntu solidarity can become a remedy to the insatiability that dominates Prosperity Gospel. Ubuntu draws from the theology of life, care and concern for others and solidarity and on a theology of hope and accompaniment. Prosperity Pastors need to walk with poor people in their Churches. Instead of taking from them, they need to give them real hope by being compassionate and attending to their needs. Ubuntu is derived from Nguni (isiZulu) aphorism: Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu, literally meaning: a person is a person because of (or through) others.

Ubuntu can be described in an African culture as the capacity to express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, humanity, and mutuality in the interests of building and maintaining communities with justice and mutual caring. The Ubuntu philosophy believes in group solidarity, which is central to the survival of African communities. The lack of sharing of possessions works against the African Ubuntu philosophy of life which is a survival mechanism for poor communities. It is only through such community solidarity that isolation, poverty, hunger, deprivation, and any evolving challenges can be survived, because of the community’s brotherly

239 and sisterly concern, cooperation, care, and sharing. The weak moral will of an individual towards other people and a lack of commitment to moral beliefs can in turn breed selfishness and corruption. Unlike the Ubuntu teaching, corruption is a pursuit of individual prosperity, as opposed to the common good of society. Corruption erodes the common fabric, undermines community and perpetuates poverty, inequality and underdevelopment; it leads to an increase in the unconcealed search for individual gains. The Ubuntu teaches community solidarity, caring and desisting from individualism, greed and profit achieved by sacrificing the good of other community members.

To some extent the Prosperity Gospel teaching, exhorts members to adopt a work ethic that hinges on self-reliance, diligence, budgeting, and business investment. And again, in the teaching for upward socio-economic progress, members are encouraged to abstain from alcohol, drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, gambling and wastage of time and money. Also, “sowing seeds of financial blessing” seem to be the criteria used in collecting some money. Besides instances where the proceeds benefit individual pastors and their cohorts, the tithing and generous offerings among Church members has led to some good: churches are constructed, salaries for pastors are paid, modern electric mass media equipment procured; hence the adherents of this teaching see it as a way of becoming self-supporting. This should however not be confused! The modus operandi ought not be inclined to manipulation or deceit.

The study claims that attention should be put on the motive or spirit behind the giving. For instance, from Luke’s Gospel Jesus uses the occasion of a widow’s offering in the temple to teach about self-sacrifice, renunciation, faith, and commitment (cf. Lk 21:1-4). Likewise, the Catholic Church exhorts almsgiving as a form of prayer, it is a form of fasting because it demands sacrificial giving - not just giving something, but giving up something, giving till it hurts. Parish and diocesan fundraising is an integral part of the life of Christians, and not merely a way of paying dues. Contributing to one’s church is a duty for every responsible Christian as a steward. This is not only limited to finances, but it extends to giving one’s time, ideas, skills, labour or any material support. Using the words of Aquilina, “charity begins at home, where we daily make the choice to give generously. But charity must not stop there, because for Catholics ’home’ is universal, and our family is as big as the world.”

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The Gospel of Christ who is the fullness of truth ought to help Christian evangelizers be good shepherds of God’s flock. Uganda needs to prosper with integrity. Uganda does not need exploitation and manipulation in the name of God. It needs a message guaranteed in the Word of God and embedded in the Ubuntu. Prosperity teaching accentuates selective theology. Even though some new-Pentecostal movements thrive among the poor, prosperity teaching is to a large extent a theology for the rich rather than the poor. If prosperity and “seed sowing” cannot be preached everywhere, then, it is not universal. What we seem to need is a theology of hope.

This work does not claim to have explored the theme of Prosperity Gospel in all its dimensions. Nevertheless, the study has drawn attention to the approaches employed by the Catholic Church earlier on regarding its response to poverty, exorcism, and healing.

The proposals of this study may help bishops, priests, and young seminarians in their pastoral approaches in parish communities, as well as the religious and lay faithful, since the challenge of poverty and the need for healing and exorcism is real. They can continue tracing the course of this Prosperity Gospel, reviewing its impact on the Church and society, and proposing possible answers.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary sources

The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) International Catholic Edition, Anglicized Text, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. The African Bible, Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1999.

Documents of Vatican Council II

Flannery, Austin, O.P., (Ed.), Vatican Council II, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Delhi: St. Pauls, 1992. (Here after referred to as Vatican II). Vatican II, Ad Gentes Divinitus, Decree of the Church’s Missionary Activity, (1965.10.07). Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem, Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, (1965.11.18). Vatican II, Christus Dominus, Constitution on the Pastoral Office of Bishop in the Church, (1965.10.28). Vatican II, Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, (1965.11.18). Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, (1965.12.07). Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, (1964.11.21). Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, (1965.10.28). Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, (1965.12.07). Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, (1964.12.04). Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio, Decree on Ecumenism, (1964.11.21).