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Visiting priest gives glimpse of Catholic life in Uganda
COLORADO SPRINGS. Father Anthony Bingi, a priest from the Diocese of Hoima in Uganda, visited the Diocese of Colorado Springs Jan. 3-25 to raise funds for his parish and educate local Catholics about the conditions faced by the church in the African nation.
“The people have zeal for the faith, but we lack the tools to use,” Father Bingi said in an interview with The Colorado Catholic Herald.
Items such as rosaries, Bibles and prayer books are in short supply, making it difficult to catechize the residents of his village.
Uganda is in eastern Africa, landlocked by South Sudan, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.
While in Colorado Springs, Father Bingi visited Corpus Christi School and St. Peter School in Monument, speaking to individual classes and celebrating Mass. He also said weekend Masses at Corpus Christi and St. Patrick parishes. More than $32,000 was raised between the two parishes, said Cathy Kusman, who coordinated the priest’s trip to Colorado Springs.
His parish, St. John the Baptist, has almost 12,000 members but currently has no usable church or liturgical items such as chalices or a monstrance. Mass is celebrated outside under a tree, Father Bingi said.
As pastor of the large rural parish, Father Bingi must try to meet not only the spiritual but material needs of his flock — which can even include driving women who are about to give birth to the hospital, he said.
“Parishes in Uganda are the center of activity,” he said.
Father Bingi’s car recently broke down, so he currently travels by bicycle. But he is hoping to get another car soon.
Subsistence gardening carried out with rudimentary implements is the way the villagers feed themselves, Father Bingi said. Right now, his biggest priority is raising enough money to have a well installed in the village so that residents have access to fresh water. Currently, women walk four hours a day to get water, which they then have to boil because it contains bacteria and other contaminants.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has left a growing number of orphans in Uganda, and Father Bingi has taken 12 of them into his home, which consists of a bare-bones rectory with no plumbing or electricity. Priests are not given a salary in his country, so he has had to find ways to support not only himself but the children.
To provide a source of income, he has developed a program whereby orphans are taught how to raise and breed pigs. Proceeds from the sale of the pigs pay for the children’s education, and the knowledge of pig farming is a path to self-sufficiency for the orphans.
Another goal that Father Bingi has for his parish is to have an order of religious women establish a convent in the village. He said he thinks that such a presence would attract young women in the village to religious life.
“The vocations are there — very many,” he said.
While Uganda is overwhelmingly Christian and has not experienced the Muslim-Christian violence that has affected other African countries, social challenges remain.
The status of women is a big concern, Father Bingi said. Girls marry as young as 13 years of age, and only a small percentage of girls attend school. Domestic violence also affects many women, he said.
Nonetheless, Uganda Catholics have a strong faith, as evidenced by the nearly 3 million people that attend the annual celebration of Ugandan Martyrs that takes place on June 3. The celebration was featured in Father Robert Barron’s hit television series, “Catholicism.”
For those who would like to donate to Father Bingi’s parish, a bank account has been set up at FirstBank in Briargate. Donations can also be mailed to 2240 Wimbleton Court, Colorado Springs 80920. Father Bingi is currently touring Missouri and Kansas before returning to Uganda March 7.
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