Journey
The Comboni Missionaries started their work among the Lango at Lira in 1930, long after the Protestants. These missionaries had established (a many), many schools and had a large number of catechists working among the people. Almost all the chiefs and sub-chiefs were protestant as also about 25,000 of the people. The Catholics numbered only a few hundred, most of whom had been baptized in Gulu or in the mission of the Mill Hill priests at Luala.
By a decree of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide dated December 1929, two thirds of the District of Lira where most of the Lango tribe lived, (the Kuman tribe was left to them since they had already established a mission station among them) was taken from the care of the Mill Hill Missionary Institute and given to the Comboni Missionaries. In March 1930 Fr. Pietro Simoncelli, superior of the mission with Brother Fontana, began the foundation of the mission at Ngetta, about five miles from the government offices.
When the buildings were sufficient, these two left the place to Fr. Casari, Fr. Malandra and Fr. Chiavegato. There were few catechists to help them and this was reflected in the scarce number of catechumenates. One of the first missionaries wrote: “the region has plenty of roads and two small ports (Atura and Kacung) where boats call in along Lake Kyoga. Murchison Falls blocks their passage to Lake Alberto. There are numerous swamps and so it is not a healthy place though the new mission has been built on a small hill as a safeguard.
The soil is rich here and a lot of cotton is grown. The population is dense compared to other areas and there is definitely room for more mission stations; it is a pity we could not have come here earlier. The Protestants are well established here, having come some years ago”. The Protestants had a very clear strategy: they prepared the local people to be the administrative class, helping them in all ways to enter Government service. Since the country was vast, and the British working for the government comparatively few, the government needed people to work for them everywhere.
The Langi chiefs and sub chiefs recognized that their authority was confirmed by the Protestant Protectorate Government and therefore adhered to that religion. To get on in life, they had to be Protestant. They did not therefore welcome or favour the Catholic religion. But the missionaries worked hard and their good example, spirit of sacrifice and charity, bore fruit in the following years, as they baptized many Catholics.
In Ngetta there was a catechumenate and a school by 1931 and much work was being done to prepare catechists. But in April 1933, a violent storm totally destroyed the church at the mission. There was no money available but houses needed to be built for the catechumens and the students of the school. The technical school in Gulu came to help: a new church was built, a new house for the missionaries, the existing one restructured to be a home for the Comboni Missionary Sisters who arrived in September 1933. And at the beginning of 1934, a new bigger school was ready for the boys and their former one was ready to welcome girls into their own Primary School. The parish register showed 3000 had been baptized, not many compared to the number of Protestants, but the people were becoming accustomed to the Catholic missionaries and accepted them.
Comboni Missionary Sisters in Lira
During 1933 more sisters arrived from Italy for the two new communities planned. The provincial Superior, Sr. Rosalba, went to Lira to open a new community in September of that year with Sr. Maria Mazzelli as Superior and Srs. Maria Lenna, Gesuina Tremolada and Lucidia Vidale. The sisters settled in quickly and after their coming there was an upsurge in response to evangelization among the people. The boys school already had the first four classes through the girls had only the first one: the sisters took over the care of both besides that of numerous catechumens and a busy dispensary. The girls of the area were eager to attend school and their parents encouraged them.
