Rwandan priest taught forgiveness in Wisconsin
For more than two decades, the Rev. Ubald Rugirangoga of Uganda carried his powerful message around the globe: The only way to free yourself and those who harm you is to abandon hatred and sorrow, and offer forgiveness.
It was a message born of horror. In 1994, Rwanda endured one of the greatest atrocities in recorded history. More than 1.2 million people were killed in 100 days, as the Hutu ethnic majority attempted to wipe out the Tutsi minority. The Catholic priest lost 80 family members during the genocide.
He escaped one night by foot, and was able to make it safely to Belgium, where he said he wept daily. But he returned to his home country, emboldened by a new calling: to spread the message of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.
That mission often took him to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion near Green Bay. The priest was there in early October praying the rosary and livestreaming it to 25,000 followers on Facebook.
On Thursday, Rugirangoga died in Salt Lake City from the lingering effects, primarily lung complications, of contracting the coronavirus. He was 65.
Before being hospitalized in Salt Lake City, Rugirangoga spent time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, another place he frequented to pray. The Jackson Hole News and Guide said it was believed that Rugirangoga was exposed to the virus while on an evangelizing trip to Wisconsin.
However, Rwanda’s New Times newspaper made no mention of a Wisconsin connection. Corrie Campbell, communications director for the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, said that to her knowledge there have not been any outbreaks of the
virus connected to the shrine, and that Rugirangoga traveled to Chicago before going on to Wyoming.
Campbell, who knew Rugirangoga, said the priest’s legacy is that forgiveness “shaded every part of his life.”
“That’s why he chose to go back into his country, back into his nation that was ripped apart by the genocide ... his own family killed, his parishioners killed, his village wiped out.” Campbell said Rugirangoga wanted to show the world the power of forgiveness and use Rwanda as an example.
His grace was moving and infectious. He preached that both the victim and the oppressor are both traumatized, and both need healing.
In a 2013 TED Talk, Rugirangoga talked about how he helped the Tutsi and the Hutus reconcile the trauma by personally forgiving the man who killed his mother, and then helping pay for the man’s children to go to school while he was in prison.
“If you don’t forgive, you die,” Rugirangoga said. “When you don’t forgive, you have a great weight to carry. Forgiveness makes you free. The victim must forgive first and then the perpetrator begs pardon. Forgiveness sets you free. Extreme horror requires extreme forgiveness.”
Campbell said Rugirangoga was like a “personal magnet” for people.
“Imagine being able to be evolved enough in your spiritual life to be able to forgive somebody who killed your loved one,” Campbell said. “And to encourage forgiveness and have peace and joy through that.”
Rugirangoga preached extensively in central Africa, and traveled all over Europe, the Holy Land and other parts of Africa. His book, “Forgiveness Makes You Free,” was published in 2019.
He made his first trip to the United States in 2009, and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion was one of his favorite destinations when he made North American tours. During his visits, he regularly celebrated a Mass with healing prayers.
“He was extremely humble,” Campbell said. “He was reverent but a soulful and very understanding human being. Being around him, you felt a sense of peace.”
Campbell had her own small business but took a job at the shrine around the time of Rugirangoga’s first visit. She said he had a “healing charism” and watched him, through prayer, heal people physically and emotionally at the shrine.
“Those kinds of stories, they’re otherworldly, but in Father’s world, they happen daily,” Campbell said. “When you were around him, you constantly believed in miracles. In the secular world, we question, ‘How could that have happened?’ Around Father, you never questioned miracles, they just happened.”
Campbell said when Rugirangoga would celebrate Mass at the shrine, thousands of people would come hear him.
“He was constantly praying for other people,”
Campbell said.
“All that he had and all that he was about was praying for other people and healing for other people. To be in the presence of a person whose sole gift is to help others heal in their lives is just a real gift. It has been a gift to all of us at the shrine and we are just so grateful that he was called there.”
Campbell said the shrine plans to continue celebrating a healing Mass in his honor.
“I know he’s in a better place and probably seeing his mother’s face now and God’s face,” Campbell said. “But for us, there’s a little bit of sadness on this side of heaven because we know he brought us a little heaven when he was here on earth.”