In this issue:

Editorial p. 2Uganda p. 3Tanzania p. 4Zambia p. 6How to help us p. 8The Society in Africa p. 8

2015 - N°15Suggested price: R 25 - KSH 180

Zim US$ 2 - £ 4 - US$ 6

TR DITIONinfricaAC tholic

Quarterly bulletin of the District of Africa of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

Uganda: towards the sources of the Nil

UgandaTanzaniaZambia

Publisher: Father Loïc Duverger.This bulletin is offered free of charge. The price above is a suggested donation and we invite you to help us publish it by purchasing it. Once read, please do not throw it away. If you do not keep it, please pass it around.

Editorialby Rev Fr Loïc DuvergerDistrict Superior

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

In this issue of Tradition in Africa you will find an overview of the last three countries which we visit: Zambia,

Uganda and Tanzania. We have priories in five countries in Africa and we also regularly visit nine other countries. We

are unable to answer the requests we currently receive from other countries, including the Ivory Coast, Senegal and

Congo.

In Africa, more than anywhere else, the presence of a priest is necessary to ensure that the groups of faithful

remain strong and persevere. The faithful see the crisis, they understand the need to return to Tradition, but they struggle

abandoning their parish where all their family and friends usually attend. Abandon their parish means abandoning their

families and friends and cutting themselves off from a large segment of their social life, as well as leaving themselves open

to rebukes from their parish priest, who would certainly rehash the usual slander against the Society of St Pius X.

Mass celebrated in a private house, or in a rented classroom, and the occasional visits of a priest are insufficient to

strengthen and develop a group of faithful. It requires regular visits – and as often as possible – as well as the need to

purchase a plot of land so as to build a chapel, but everything takes a long time.

Purchasing land is a long procedure in Africa. For example, we have finally been able to purchase some land at

Mombasa, but now we have to wait for the building permits. It is only a formality, but it can take many months. At Nyeri,

also in Kenya, we have applied for a plot of land in a huge new allotment, but the allotment has yet to be registered with

the Lands Department, therefore the property titles have not yet been made public... we have been waiting for two years.

Elsewhere, before starting the purchasing process it is necessary to find the true owners of the properties –

clearing away false vendors with their false property deeds – and to check that the property has not already been sold

( once or even several times! ), as well as ensuring that all parties in the sale are in agreement. It is a long painstaking

process, which requires a lot of patience which must be done through competent agents, and which requires a lot of

patience...

At Soweto in South Africa, over the past few years we have unsuccessfully sought a piece of land: truly we are

looking for a rare pearl: a plot of land with easy access for the faithful to public transport. However, we continue to look

for this prize.

At Folweni, near Durban, we have received several offers of land for sale. All of them had to be rejected. Our

investigations have shown that they have already been sold to several different buyers, or that the land was being

squabbled over by several people claiming rights to the land, and one plot was a council-owned property being sold by an

unscrupulous elected member of council for his own profit. Currently, we have found a beautiful piece of land being sold

by a true property owner, but we are waiting for them to produce the title deeds...

The early missionaries did not have all these administrative issues to worry about. They built the missions with

their own hands under conditions which were certainly harder than today. We definitely have an easier task to perform

when building, but we spend so much more time and energy looking after all the administrative red tape.

The District Bursar has given me the financial report for the New Year. We have spent all the money we had in

building, renovating and extending our schools. Alas, once again the cash-box is empty – apart from the funds we have put

aside for current constructions. We dare not touch that money so as not to jeopardise the completion of these projects.

Therefore, dear friends and benefactors, I turn again to you for help. Our heavenly Bursar, St Joseph, always helps

us through your generosity. If you are unable to help us materially this time, please remember that your prayers and

sacrifices for us also help transform our meagre resources into powerful graces for the priests, brothers and nuns and help

in the sanctification of the souls that Divine Providence entrusts to us in this vast African continent.

We thank you in advance for whatever help you can offer and we assure you of our daily prayers through Mary

Immaculate. ■

History of our apostolate in Uganda A group of Catholics used to meet

regularly to pray together in Kampala, the capital

city of Uganda, in the house of Mrs Pritchard

Tumuhairwe. In her house she had arranged a

room as a chapel and the Cardinal had given her

permission to keep the Blessed Sacrament. Some

diocesan priests used to come regularly to

celebrate the New Mass. This group heard about the SSPX and through the mediation of some of the faithful in Nairobi, a visit was

organized in November 2004. Fr Christophe Nouveau visited them and gave a conference on the crisis in the Church,

the revolution of the Second Vatican Council, the dangers of the New Mass, and the necessity to defend the genuine

Catholic Faith. The group then decided to follow Catholic Tradition and to promote its development in Uganda. After

the visit, Mrs Pritchard was summoned by the Archbishop of Kampala and asked to explain. She told the Archbishop

clearly that no pressure would make her change her decision. From now on, her group will support the SSPX.In the beginning they were visited every other month, and from September 2007 the visits were every month. Discretely

the ties with the diocesan clergy were dropped and now only the Tridentine Mass is celebrated in the chapel. Mrs

Pritchard extended her house, adding a small apartment for the visiting priests.

Introduction to UgandaUganda is located in East Africa, between Lake Victoria in the South, Sudan in the North, DR Congo in the West and Kenya in the East. It is a country of 241, 550 Km² with a p o p u l a t i o n o f 3 4 , 1 3 1 , 4 0 0 inhabitants. On top of their tribal languages, many people speak Engl ish. In the countr y the population is 85% Christians, 10% Muslims and 5% other religions.U g a n d a i s f a m o u s f o r i t s courageous martyrs who were slaughtered or burnt alive for their Christian Faith by the king Mwanga

rdaround June 3 1886. Namugongo, t h e p r i n c i p a l s i t e o f t h e i r martyrdom, is a very famous place of pilgrimage for East African Christians.

Cathedral Church of Kampala, in Uganda

UgandaCountry of the Martyrs and of the White NileBy Rev Fr Etienne Demornex

Namib Desert

TanzaniaBy Rev Fr Etienne Demornex

Some general information about Tanzania

Tanzania is located in East Africa. It is bordered by Kenya and Uganda in the North, Mozambique and Malawi in the South, the Indian Ocean in the East and Zambia, DRC Congo, Burundi and Rwanda in the West. It is a large country of 945 087 sq. km having many natural resources and attractions, like the famous Serengeti National Park. The current population is estimated to be 49,250,000.

th The country was formed in April 26 , 1964 following the unification of two countries: Tanganyika (which had become independent in 1961) and the Island of Zanzibar. Hence the name of Tan (Tanganyika)-Zan (Zanzibar)-ia. The political capital of Tanzania is Dodoma, a city located at the centre of the country. However Dar Es-Salaam remains the administrative and economic centre, being its largest city. Tanzanians (usually nicknamed by their neighbours as the “TZ (Te-Zed)”) use Kiswahili as their national language, English is a second language.

Religious statistics show that 62% are Christians (30% Catholics and 70% Protestants: Lutherans, Anglicans and Evangelicals), 36% are Muslims (99% of the Zanzibar population are Muslims, and on the mainland Muslims are mainly along the coast), and 2% are pagans. The Evangelical Protestants enjoy many conversions from other protestant churches and from the Catholic Church, especially due to the changes that have taken place in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council over the past four decades.

Father Demornex chats with faithful after Mass

Present apostolate The trip from Nairobi to Kampala is done by bus (13 hours) or sometimes by plane (50 min.) depending on available finances. The current number of faithful in Kampala is about 30 to 40 people. Three times a year two other groups are also visited: one is at Mbale in the east of the country (near the Kenyan border) and the other is at Kabale in the south-west (close to the Rwandese border).Occasionally, as Providence allows, we also visit other regions so as to introduce Catholic Tradition throughout the country. Thanks to the efforts of our faithful the SSPX has been registered with the government and we

are able to obtain residence permit.Projects The main obstacle we face in the development of our apostolate in Uganda is the fact that we do not have a church. The current chapel is in a private house and is too small. Mrs Pritchard Tumuhairwe has generously given to the SSPX a large plot of land, located near the airport between Kampala and Entebbe. Unfortunately, some influential government and police officials have tried to grab that land, and currently the court case is still not yet finished. When the case is over, we intend to build a chapel and accommodation for the visiting priests. One day, as Providence will dictate, we hope to open a priory from which we will be able to extend our apostolate throughout Uganda and into the neighbouring countries: Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC Congo. ■

Kampala- the Chapel at Pritchard ’s house

The printing shop

The story of the Catholic Tradition in Tanzania really started in 2008 when a lecturer of the University of Dar Es-Salaam, Mr Pelegrin Msemwa, went to Stockholm in Sweden for professional training, and discovered our Mass center through Internet. Mr Msemwa found himself in the mist of the turmoil caused by the controversial declarations made by Bishop Williamson at that time and, together with the other SSPX faithful, he was expelled from the place used for Mass... Anyway, far from being scared away, as soon as he was back home, he emailed Fr Steven Webber, who was at that time in charge of the SSPX Mission in Scandinavia, requesting him to visit Tanzania in order to spread Tradition. Fr Webber directed him to the Society's priory in Nairobi in Kenya and that is how everything began. The first visit was done by Fr Marc Vernoy in 2009 and went quite well. Since 2010 a priest from Nairobi makes regular visits to Dar es Salaam, currently 4 to 5 times a year. The trips are usually done by bus in order to reduce the travelling costs and lasts about 15 hours, if all goes well. Certainly it is a long trip, but rather interesting and shows a diversified countryside, including the possibility to admire the snow on Mount Kilimanjaro.

The challenges

The first difficulty is the language. To hope to do any apostolate in Tanzania without knowing kiswahili is the same as to hope to do any apostolate in England without knowing English… Hence the necessity for the priests to learn the language, which is not really difficult but is structured very differently from our European languages.

A second difficulty consists in the novelty of preaching about the crisis in the Catholic Church. After the Second Vatican Council, the bishops imposed the doctrinal and liturgical changes in such a way that to speak to people under 60 years of age about the Tridentine Mass is like introducing them to a new Mass! There is a total rupture with the past. We try to inform people and explain the crisis within the Catholic Church, to make them realise what is at stake and how each and every Catholic has the duty to react in order to preserve the One, True Faith as taught by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

A third difficulty lies in the poverty of our material situation there and the scarcity of our visits. You can understand this easily with a simple question: What trust would you give to a priest who celebrates a weird Mass, without the Cardinal's permission, in a private house and who only comes once a term? It does not make sense! Fortunately God's grace is more powerful than human reasoning and is slowly working in their souls.

Developments

For the moment, our apostolate is concentrated mainly in Dar Es-Salaam. It is there that our presence must be strengthened to act as a base from which it will be easier to visit other regions of the country.

How many faithful do we have? Our beginnings were very humble: there was only Mr Msemwa with his family of seven, and an old man, Mr Peter Kapanda. Then, as time went on, others joined us and now the group consists of about 30 well-convinced faithful, who understand the problems facing the Catholic Church and the work of the Society to preserve Catholic Tradition and oppose Modernism.

On the administrative side, thanks to the efforts of Mr Msemwa, we have registered our activities under the name “Society Marcel Lefebvre”, and soon we will be able to open a bank account. This will allow us to proceed with the purchase of a plot of land and build a chapel.

Another interesting aspect of our apostolate in Tanzania is the development of Catholic publications. Apart from his work at the University of Dar Es-Salaam, Mr Msemwa runs a printing shop which he puts willingly at the service of Catholic Tradition. Among other items, we have been able to print Latin-English and Latin-Kiswahili Mass booklets.

Our Projects

Our first project is to purchase a plot of land. Then we will build a chapel and a small house to accommodate the visiting priest. Further down the track, as Divine Providence will dictate, especially concerning available priests and finances, we hope to open a priory.

Also since Providence has given us the opportunity, we are developing our apostolate through various publications, which will allow people to get a better knowledge of the Faith and of the traditional liturgy. May St Francis of Sales help us! ■

ZambiaBy Rev Fr de Clausonne

Father de Clausonne surrounded by his faithful

For Christmas, Fr Lundi celebrates the Midnight Mass in Mr Chapewa ’s small chapel decorated accordingly!

Republic of Zambia:

Capital City: LusakaOfficial language: EnglishTotal Area: 752614 km2Population: 14 540 000 inhabitantsIndependance from UK: 24th October 1964Member of the Commonwealth

To organise missionary visits in Zambia from the Priory in Zimbabwe is quite natural, not only from the fact that our two countries are neighbours, but also because of their common history. Previously these territories of Southern Africa, along with Malawi, were part of the British Protectorate of Rhodesia. Zambia and Zimbabwe both

suffered from a post-colonial crisis and for a certain time were both ranked by the United Nations as amongst the poorest countries in the world according to its HDI (Human Development Index) which included life expectancy at birth, education standards and the standard of living). However these two countries made up of diverse tribes have taken different paths. Zambia, which is about the size of France, Belgium and Switzerland combined, and with a population equivalent to Switzerland and the Grand Paris, is experiencing a remarkable economic boom, while Zimbabwe remains

bogged down in its difficulties.

Our Faith helps us to understand such a difference, once we become aware that the beloved president of Zambia, loved and respected by his people and who died only recently, was a devout Catholic who assisted at Mass every Sunday and who had the courage to proclaim his country a Christian Country. He used to say that “to proclaim the name of Christ will bring God's blessing upon us” and he made it very obvious that he governed his c o u n t r y a c c o r d i n g t o t h e T e n Commandments. In only three years he repressed corruption and greatly improved his country in every respect by setting up farms, opening schools and hospitals, building roads, developing the different regions and even expanding the electricity grid, making it accessible to the poorest of his people.

A Catholic president can rapidly improve his country and make it prosperous. But it is still necessary that the Faith be developed in these countries, which are not spared from the global apostasy despite their recent conversion. This is why the work of the Society to restore all things in Christ in Zambia is of dual importance and it is now ten years since St Joseph's Priory has extended its apostolate to this country.

Organ practice with Fr. Bély

Over here everybody helps !One young faithful draws water from the well while another one does the washing up with a smile on!

The Zambeze River

It all started with Mr Chapewa, a solid Catholic from the north of the country. He used to be an altar server. He was the son of a catechist and member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. After the Second Vatican Council he was left perplexed by the modernist influences taking hold of the Catholic Church. It was through reading good Catholic books that he found Tradition. Thanks to the advice of Fr Peter Scott, then District Superior of the USA, he got in contact with Fr Daniels who was Superior of South Africa, and then with Fr Gendron, prior in Zimbabwe. The confreres therefore started to visit this family. This development was not without difficulty and their enemies did not come from areas they were expecting. The local clergy castigated the handful of devout Catholics who started to get together, calling them Satanists and threatened them with excommunication. The intimidation was such that Mr Chapewa was even arrested for 28-hours after being slandered to the police. Fortunately the priests were able to explain who we really are and thanks to a retired missionary priest (who is Fr Nicolas Bely's uncle) the reputation of Mr Chapewa was cleared. Toughened by this ordeal, which lasted for about five years, our group continued to be strengthened in the Faith. They would get together on Sundays around a makeshift altar to pray the rosary and to live their Sundays. It is this flame that we continue to support from Harare with our missionary visits, inviting them to draw strength from the Mass, and also inviting them to visit the priory in Zimbabwe as was done recently by a few who went to an Ignatian Retreat and a few other who recently received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The perseverance of these courageous faithful deserves the effort required of us for the salvation of their souls – and this includes the long bus trips, risking robbers and diseases. But in truth it is a great joy for a missionary to bring the Sacraments and Holy Mass to such devout and joyful people. They are so grateful to God and to the priests. They have a great Faith in the Priesthood and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They understand the price Our Lord Jesus Christ paid to redeem them, who in His infinite mercy wanted to provide missionaries and benefactors to come to their aid. ■

How to help us:

In American Dollars (US $), by cheque, payable to: «Society of Saint Pius X» sent to: SSPX African Missions, Regina Coeli House, 11485 N. Farley Rd, USA - Platte City MO 64079, USA

(Tax receipt sent on request for US residents)

In British Pounds (GBP), by cheque payable to: «Society of Saint Pius X» sent to: SSPX African Missions, St George's House 125 Arthur Road, GB - Wimbledon Park SW19 7DR, Great Britain

In Australian Dollars (AUD), by cheque payable to: «Society of Saint Pius X» sent to: SSPX African Missions 280 West Botany St AUS – Rockdale NSW 2216, Australia

Other currencies: Please contact: SSPX District of Africa, P.O. Box 14881, ZA - Bredell 1623, South Africa fsspx.africa.sec@gmail.com

If you wish your donation to be used for a particular house or work, please specify in an accompanying note. If not, we will use your gift for the Missionary work most in need at the time.

May God bless you for your generosity!

The Priestly Society ofSaint Pius X in Africa

District House Our Lady Queen of Africa HouseP.O. Box 14881Bredell 1623South AfricaTel: (+27) 11 396 1807Fax: (+27) 866 970 120fsspx.africa.sec@gmail.com

For information:

SOUTH AFRICAJohannesburgOur Lady of Sorrows Priory11 Amelia St. Roodepoort 1724P.O. Box 878 - Roodepoort 1725Tel: (+27) 11 763 1050 - Fax: (+27) 86 672 8789olsorrows@mweb.co.zaDurbanOur Lady of the Holy Rosary Priory12 Gum Tree Ave., off Berea Rd.Bulwer - Durban 4001P.O. Box 52009 - Berea Road - Durban 4007Tel & Fax: (+27) 31 201 6642olhrpriory@gmail.com

GABONLibrevilleMission Saint-Pie XQuartier La Peyrie - B. P. 3870 - LibrevilleTel: (+241) 76 60 18 - Fax: (+241) 74 62 15mspxgabon@yahoo.frJuvénat du Sacré-CœurQuartier Rio - B.P. 2149 - LibrevilleTel: (+241) 72 18 66juvenatsacrecoeur@yahoo.fr

KENYANairobiHoly Cross Church & Priory9 & 11 Amboseli Rd. - LavingtonP.O. Box 852 - 00502 KarenTel: (+254) 20 38 62 214holy.cross.priory@gmail.comMissionnary Sisters of Jesus and Mary:Our Lady of the Angels House19 Link Rd. - KarenTel: (+254) 20 38 83 230ourladyofangelsnoviciat@gmail.com

NIGERIAEnuguSt. Michael’s Priory15 Umukwa Street - Independence LayoutEnuguTel: (+234) 8092368418 - (+234) 8077621254sspxnigeria@gmail.com

ZIMBABWEHarareSt. Joseph’s Priory9 Jean Lane - Strathaven, HarareTel & Fax: (+263) 4 339 440sspxzim@gmail.com

List of Houses:

GabonKenya

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Zambia

Tanzania

Uganda

Namibia

Madagasc

ar

Cameroon

Ghana Nigeria

Burundiè

Réunionè

Maurit

iusè

SANCTA MARIAREGINA AFRICÆ

ORA PRO NOBIS ETCONVERTE AFRICAM

In dark, country hosting Priories

Visited from Kenya

Visited from Gabon

Visited from South Africa

Visited from Zimbabwe

Visited from Nigeria