Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Mass planned to pay tribute to former city priest
A MASS will be held later this month to pay tribute to a former Dundee priest kidnapped in Africa.
Father Jean Pierre Ndulani and two other priests disappeared after reportedly being kidnapped by rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Father Ndulani had just returned to the country after spending six years serving at Dundee’s Wellburn House. In February 2014, the priest’s body was reportedly discovered in a mass grave but his death has never officially been confirmed.
Next Thursday, Dundee’s St Peter and Paul RC Church will hold a mass to commemorate Father Ndulani’s time in Dundee. Father Ndulani, a member of the Assumptionists Church, travelled to Dundee to learn English and to act as chaplain for residents at the now closed Wellburn Care Home.
Chancellor Malcolm Veal, of the Diocese of Dunkeld, described the kidnapped priest as a “lovely and popular man”.
He said: “It (the commemorative mass) is a chance for everyone to get together and think of him and pray for him.”
Mr Veal added there had never been “absolute proof” Father Ndulani had been killed but said the priest did suffer from health issues.
Father Ndulani acted as a chaplain to residents and the Little Sisters of the Poor at Wellburn Care Home for six years until travelling to Africa in 2012.
Former Dundee West MP Jim McGovern had campaigned for the release of the priest.
In 2014, an email sent from Congo indicating Father Ndulani had been killed was sent to staff at Wellburn.
The email stated Saambili Bamukoka, chief of the local Watalinga-Kamango, believed hostages, including Father Ndulani, had been killed by rebels.
Despite the claims, the body has never been confirmed as his.