Joseph Meaney, January 28-February 4, 2008

Rwanda is a lovely, even charming place.  Those were perhaps the words I least expected to write as I prepared for this trip to central Africa.  Most people associate Rwanda with the horrific 1994 genocide that left 800,000 victims dead, which is 10% of the total population.  What I found in Rwanda were very friendly people, living in the land of a thousand hills (mille collines), which is blessed with abundant rain, fertile soil, and an "eternal spring" climate that averages 76 degrees (24 Celsius) year-round.  It certainly was pleasant to arrive there from frozen Northern Virginia in late January!  Most of all, however, I was deeply moved by the way our pro-life mission was embraced by the Rwandan leaders and people we met.

One of the most exceptional aspects of Rwanda is the rapid growth of the Catholic Church.  Evangelization came late through the Pères Blancs (White Fathers) missionaries in 1900.  Within 17 years, the first Rwandan priest was ordained.  They keep a public record of ordinations, so it was easy to see that 886 Rwandans have been ordained to the priesthood so far and 33 deacons are scheduled to be ordained in 2008.  A graph of conversions showed exponential growth from zero in 1900 to over 600,000 persons in 1960.  Today the vast majority of Rwandans are Catholic.

POPULATION CONTROL PROPOSED IN PARADISE

HLI's presence is especially needed because Rwanda is a small country where population control propaganda has a long history.  During the autocratic misrule of various leaders following independence in 1962, the failures in achieving economic development were blamed on "overpopulation."  These arguments also played a role in exacerbating the ethnic rivalries between the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis.  It is really incredible that a country that lost 10% of its population through mass murder as recently as 1994 should then be subjected to population control measures.  Unfortunately, legislation for a "3-child policy" came up for debate in the national legislature as recently as last year.

The Catholic Church must take up the challenge to prevent the tragedy of the conquest of their country by the culture of death.  As part of their response, the Rwandan bishops wrote a joint letter to the government when lawmakers were considering ratifying the terrible Maputo Protocol of the African Union.  The result was positive in so far as the legislators made pro-life reservations to article 14 of the protocol on "Health and Reproductive Rights," which calls for the legalization of abortion and all forms of birth control.  Nevertheless, the proponents of killing preborn children and contracepting/sterilizing the country are actively working, which is why HLI's offer to help has received such a warm welcome from Church officials and organizations.

George Wirnkar, our Cameroonian director for Francophone African outreach, and I met with Bishop Kizito Bahujimihigo of Kibungo, who is charged with defending the family by the national bishop's conference.  He is all too aware of the flood of foreign money and pressure being applied to Rwanda to follow the industrialized nations of the world down the path of cultural and population suicide.  We also learned of a beautiful example of the Church standing up for its flock.  At a meeting with the minister of health, the government presented the bishops with a prepared text that called for condom use and immoral family planning and asked for their endorsement.  They steadfastly refused and pointed out that the meeting invitation asked for their input on campaigns to fight AIDS etc., and they wished to discuss pro-chastity measures but would not rubber-stamp immoral or anti-life propaganda.  The official was actually shamed into admitting that he also personally opposed these immoral campaigns, but he was doing the bidding of international donors.  It reminded me of a strikingly similar event in Mali as related to us by the Archbishop of Bamako.

SPEAKING IN RWANDA's SEMINARIES

We had a tight speaking schedule at the two major seminaries in Rwanda.  Our first stop was at Kabgayi, where 164 seminarians study.  The group there is excellent, and we had a lively discussion about the pro-life apostolate of priests and the Church.  The very next day we journeyed to Nyakibanda and its 186 seminarians.  I was struck by the beauty of the chapel and other brick buildings constructed in the Flemish neo-gothic style.  The Seminarians for Life International group there gave us the happy news that they are translating the pro-life papal encyclicals Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae into Kinyarwanda-the national indigenous language.  They also requested that HLI create an Internet site where pro-life seminarians can exchange ideas and information.  We plan to implement this excellent idea soon. 

OUR LADY OF KIBEHO

George and I could not leave Rwanda without making a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho.  This place of apparitions of the Virgin Mary was recognized as authentic by the Church in 2001.  Just before going, I read the Wanderer article on the November 28, 2007, Mass celebrated at Kibeho by Ivan Cardinal Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and attended by 50,000 persons.  Some of the attendees walked there from over 100 miles away!  This made me reconsider complaining about the bone-jarring 28 kilometers of bad roads on our pilgrimage.  The shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows of Kibeho is a peaceful, rural place.  The apparitions took place from 1981 to 1989, and one of the three visionary girls was killed in 1994.  Our Lady of Kibeho warned that the world was heading toward an abyss and showed one of the girls visions that were later tragically realized in the genocide.  We prayed for all the members of the HLI family in the shrine chapel and asked for strength as we continued on south to Burundi.

Despite many similarities to Rwanda in ethnic composition, climate, and geography, Burundi is in a radically worse situation.  Taking bribes is not tolerated in Rwanda, while it is a way of life for police officers and others in Burundi.  I counted 205 soldiers spread out in small groups along the road to the capital-Bujumbura.  While most goods are in short supply, AK-47 assault rifles and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signs are plentiful.  At the border, we were greeted by a billboard depicting a truck inside a condom-a not so subtle message to drivers.

The papal nuncio to Burundi met with us and confirmed our impression that the country is being over-run by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the UN.  He also said that the bishops are very interested in getting help to spread the respect life and pro-family message.  Natural Family Planning is something they want to teach widely.  He informed us that Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye of Muyinga, who is in charge of the family office, was visiting the capital and would be glad to see us.  Bishop Ntahondereye made the exciting suggestion that we arrange to return and do a multi-day seminar for all the bishops of Burundi, vicar generals, and seminary rectors.

Our other Episcopal contact in Burundi was with His Excellency Bishop Jean Ntagwarara of Bubanza.  He and George became good friends after his December 2006 visit.  We had a great discussion about defending their national pro-life culture and left a large number of books, videos, and other pro-life materials for seminarians and others, as we had done in Rwanda.  On the way back, we had to share the road with herds of cattle and men transporting large stalks of bananas on bicycles.  More ominous was the whispered warning we received that rebel troops lurked in the woods nearby.

MORE PRO-LIFE GROUPS JOIN WITH HLI

George Wirnkar flew straight back to Cameroon from Burundi, but I returned to Kigali, Rwanda, with our driver Felix on the one-lane "international highway."  The reward for backtracking was a meeting with Dr. Therese Nyirabukeye.  She is a remarkable Catholic leader who graduated from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Rome and then helped found the Francophone section of the same institution in Benin.  Now she works with the Fédération Africaine de l'Action Familiale.  This African Federation for the Family is active in 26 nations.  They do excellent work, and we are looking forward to joining their efforts.  I also met with the leaders of the Jeunes Témoins du Christ.  This youth group spreads the Gospel and has contacts with a dynamic pro-life missionary priest from France, Fr. Daniel-Ange.  They evangelize with the chastity message among the young people, especially around St. Valentine's Day.

On the 22-hour trip back to wintry Virginia, I reflected on how, despite its short duration, our pro-life mission to Rwanda and Burundi accomplished a great deal.  We spoke to our seminarians for life and the key bishops who are leading the Church's proclamation of the culture of life.  Most excitingly, we laid the basis for expanding our mission field to several new African nations.