Man from Uganda

The Most Rev. Joseph Kiwanuka is everything that a bishop should be. His dignity and calm inspire automatic respect, his words are simple and wise, his broad smile is warm with charity for men. But he might still be just plain Joe Kiwanuka, African tribesman, if he had not happened to be reading a book one day when a Roman Catholic missionary priest came to visit his native village.

Impressed by the fact that his mother had taught the twelve-year-old Uganda boy to read, the priest sent Joe to mission school. From there he went to a seminary run by the White Fathers, and was eventually ordained a priest at the age of 30. Only ten years later, in 1939, the Pope made him Bishop of Masaka, Uganda, East Africa.

Last August, on a visit to Rome, Bishop Kiwanuka told the Pope that there were many others in Uganda who wanted to be priests, but not enough seminary facilities to train them. Africa's other bishops, being white, had friends and well-wishers outside the country who would help support seminaries, but he knew no non-Africans to whom he could turn for funds. "Go to America and make friends there," replied the Pope. "You will find the Americans are very good, very kind, and very charitable."

Last week Africa's black, broad-smiling Bishop Kiwanuka ended a crowded four months' visit to the U.S. He was impressed by Manhattan's "forest of tall buildings" and the great bridges that span U.S. rivers. He was less impressed by a professional hockey game ("too rough"). But he was most impressed of all by the enthusiasm for himself and his cause which he found everywhere he went.

Bishop Kiwanuka did not say just how much he had been able to raise of the $250,000 he was hoping for. But apparently it was enough for a good start on the new African seminary he dreamed about. "The Holy Father was right," he mused as he boarded a plane for Europe. "I find Americans are very good, very kind, very charitable."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.