AFRICA : TANZANIA : PRIME MINISTER PRAISES CATHOLIC DIOCESE

CISA REPORT
Prime-Minister-Hails-the-Late-Rugambwa
BUKOBA, October 9, 2012 (CISA) -Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has commended the Bukoba Catholic diocese for its immense contribution in improving peoples’ lives in various sectors including health and education.
Mr Pinda hailed the church during the official reburial of the late Laurian Cardinal Rugambwa and consecration of the Bukoba Cathedral.
He also paid tribute to the late Cardinal Rugambwa, describing him as a true son of Africa and a patriot who offered his whole life to serve all Tanzanians.
He noted that the government appreciated the big contribution made by the late Cardinal Rugambwa through construction of Rubya and Mugana hospitals, which were designated district hospitals for Muleba and Misenyi respectively.
He also said the late Cardinal Rugambwa made efforts to provide girls with quality education by constructing Rugambwa Girls’ Secondary School.
Meanwhile, the Bukoba branch of the St Augustine University has been re-named Cardinal Rugambwa University College, in honour of the late cardinal. This was announced by Bukoba Catholic bishop Nestorius Timanywa during the same occasion.
Laurian Cardinal Rugambwa, who in 1960 became the first African Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, died on December 8, 1997 in Dar es Salaam at the age of 85. His elevation to the College of Cardinals was a sign of the church’s recognition of its debt to its non-European clergy, and of the growing importance of Catholic congregation in parts of the world that had once been the domain of European missionaries.
Cardinal Rugambwa was an early and active participant in the Second Vatican Council. He also stressed the importance of involving the lay community in the work of the church. “In the missions, where separation is a fact of everyday life, we have to be ready to cooperate with non-Catholics in all possible ways. The church is not a museum nor an archive, but a teacher of life,” he stressed.
Born on July 12, 1912 of an aristocratic family in Bukongo village-Kamachumu, in Muleba district, Laurean Rugambwa was baptized by missionaries when he was eight years old with the rest of his family.
After attending a seminary in Uganda, he was ordained a priest on December 12, 1943. After working as a missionary in western Africa for several years, he went to Rome in 1948 for higher studies at the Urbaniana University where he graduated with a doctorate in Canon law.
He was appointed a bishop in 1951, and upon returning to Tanganyika in 1952 he became the country’s first indigenous bishop, serving the diocese of Rutabo. He was elevated Cardinal by Pope John XX111 on March 28, 1960, becoming the first African cardinal. He was appointed Archbishop of Dar es Salaam on December 19, 1968, relinquishing those duties in 1992 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80.
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