A Jubilee of faith, friendship, memory and joyful thanksgiving
The road from Nairobi to Kigali is a long one, but for the Kenyan delegation that travelled to Rwanda at the end of July, the distance was well worth it. Led by Frs. Francis Anyanzu and George Macharia and Sr. Maria Nzilani Wambua, the group travelled through Uganda to join family, friends and the Jesuit community in celebrating Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, and several other Jesuits marking significant milestones in their lives and ministry. Their presence was itself a gift to a friend and colleague whose twenty-five years in the Society of Jesus had brought him into the lives of many people across countries and communities.
The principal celebration took place at Centre Christus, Remera, on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Presiding over the Eucharist was Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, the Archbishop of Kigali, Rwanda who reflected on the life and enduring legacy of the founder of the Society of Jesus and the continuing contribution of the Jesuits to the Church in Rwanda. He spoke of the courage required to dedicate one’s life to God in a world where religious commitment is not always understood, and highlighted the Society’s contribution to the formation of priests, religious and lay faithful committed to serving both the Church and society.
Among those present was Fr. Fabien Gasigwa, SJ, Provincial of the Rwanda–Burundi Province, whose presence at both the Jubilee Eucharist and the homecoming added a significant expression of the Jesuit community’s support for the jubilarians.
The celebration brought together several generations of Jesuit commitment. Fr. Olivier Kayitare, SJ, professed his Final Vows, while Mgr. Alexis Habiyambere, SJ, Fr. Théoneste Nkeramihigo, SJ, and Fr. Augustin Karekezi, SJ, celebrated fifty years of priesthood. Alongside them, Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, and Fr. Jean Paul Mukunzi, SJ, marked twenty-five years of Jesuit religious life. It was a day in which different stages of vocation converged in one Eucharistic celebration of thanksgiving.
For Fr. Marcel, the occasion provided an opportunity to look back on a quarter of a century in the Society of Jesus. His reflection, however, was less a catalogue of achievements than an acknowledgment of God’s presence throughout the years. He recalled his formation, studies, communities, missions, friendships and the many people who had accompanied him, including those whose presence in his life had been brief but significant. Through all these experiences, he said, he had come to recognize God’s faithfulness.
Fr. Marcel’s journey into Jesuit life began with his entry into the Society and the years of formation that followed. His academic path later brought him to Hekima University College in Nairobi, where he began his Bachelor of Theology in 2009. He subsequently pursued advanced theological studies at Boston College, culminating in a PhD in Systematic Theology, and later obtained an MBA in Leadership and Management from York St John University. His work in theology, education and leadership has remained closely connected to questions of faith, memory, reconciliation and the Church’s response to a wounded society. He currently serves as Principal of Hekima University College in Nairobi.
His academic interests are inseparable from his personal history. Questions about how individuals and communities live with suffering, remember difficult histories and move towards reconciliation have featured prominently in his scholarship and ministry. For Fr. Marcel, these are not merely subjects for theological discussion; they are realities that have shaped his own life and vocation.
This became particularly evident in his Jubilee reflection on the theme of wounds. Drawing from the story of St. Ignatius, whose life was radically changed after being wounded at Pamplona, Fr. Marcel considered how experiences that appear to destroy one’s future can sometimes become the beginning of a different calling. He spoke of personal, family and historical wounds and the possibility of allowing God to transform them rather than allowing them to define one’s life.
His words were simple but profound: “God does not waste our wounds.”
Those words acquired a particular resonance when the Kenyan delegation visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial during their stay. After the warmth and anticipation of the Jubilee celebrations, the visit offered a sobering encounter with Rwanda’s past. Photographs, names, testimonies and personal stories brought the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi into painfully human focus.
The experience was difficult. Behind the statistics were families separated, children deprived of parents, parents mourning children and communities devastated by violence. The silence of the Memorial seemed to invite visitors not merely to learn about what happened, but to confront the human consequences of hatred and division.For those accompanying Fr. Marcel, the visit carried an added significance. He survived the genocide as a young teenager and lost close family members. The themes of memory, loss, reconciliation and healing that have informed his theological work are therefore rooted in experiences that are deeply personal.
The delegation later toured Kigali’s Central Business District, offering a very different view of Rwanda. The busy streets, modern buildings and everyday activity of the city presented a striking contrast to the solemnity of the Memorial. It was a reminder that Rwanda’s story is not confined to its painful past. The country continues to remember while rebuilding, and to carry its history while looking towards the future.
There was a certain symbolism in moving from the Memorial to the streets of Kigali. One encounter demanded reflection on what had been lost; the other revealed something of what had been built. For visitors travelling through Rwanda, the two experiences offered complementary glimpses of a country that continues to wrestle with memory while embracing life.
The Jubilee celebrations themselves provided a different kind of encounter. At the homecoming at Fr. Marcel’s family residency on 1 August, solemnity gave way to laughter, music and dancing. Family members, Jesuits, friends and colleagues gathered around Fr. Marcel in an atmosphere that felt less like a formal reception and more like a family reunion.
It was here that the significance of the Kenyan delegation’s journey became especially clear. Fr. Marcel recognized the sacrifice involved in travelling from Kenya and expressed his gratitude to those who had made the journey. Looking at the delegation, he told them:
“You did all this because of Love. If Heaven existed, then you are Heaven and this is Heaven.”
The words captured the spirit of the homecoming. The long journey had become an expression of friendship and affection, and Fr. Marcel received it as such.
Throughout his Thanksgiving speech, he returned to the people who had helped shape his life: his parents and family, Jesuit companions, teachers, students, friends, benefactors
and many others. He acknowledged that a vocation is never the achievement of one person. Behind every religious vocation are people who pray, encourage, sacrifice, accompany and sometimes quietly allow someone they love to belong to a larger mission.
That sense of being accompanied was also reflected in his understanding of the Jubilee itself. Twenty-five years gave him plenty to remember, but he did not present the occasion as a conclusion. Instead, he looked towards the future with the same openness that has characterized his understanding of Jesuit vocation.
In his reflection, he returned to the words of Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” After twenty-five years, he said, he did not want to approach his vocation as something completed. He asked instead for the grace to continue loving, serving, forgiving and walking humbly with God.
That attitude is perhaps best captured in the prayer with which he concluded his Jubilee reflection:
“Lord, I still hear you. Lord, I still love you. Lord, I still desire to follow you. Send me again.”
For those who travelled from Kenya, the Jubilee became more than an occasion to attend a ceremony. It opened a window into Rwanda’s history and present, brought them closer to Fr. Marcel’s story and allowed them to share in a moment of genuine communal joy.
It also revealed something important about jubilees themselves. They are occasions to look back with gratitude, but they are equally invitations to look forward with renewed purpose. Fr. Marcel’s twenty-five years in the Society of Jesus have been shaped by formation, scholarship, ministry, relationships and experiences that have tested and deepened his faith. Yet he remains available for what comes next.
As the celebrations drew to a close, the dancing and laughter offered a fitting expression of gratitude for a life that has brought many people together. The journey from Nairobi to Rwanda had begun with a desire to celebrate Fr. Marcel; it ended with a deeper appreciation of the road that had brought him to this point.
Twenty-five years later, the invitation remains open.
“Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” “Send me again.”
Ad multos annos, Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ. AMDG.
Geoffrey Obatsa
Admin Assistant | JHIA
