In November the Council of the Congregation gathered in Jinja, Uganda, East Africa.  This is an annual meeting of the superior general, his council, all the provincials, and all the district superiors.   

We gather together because we are an international congregation.  To us it means more than simply being in different countries.  It means that we share in the same mission and charisms of Holy Cross.  We support one another in prayer, work, and community.  Some of us leave our homelands and go work in another country for a short or a long period of time.  As members of an international brotherhood it is important for us to know one another, learn about one another’s culture, work, living conditions, and homes.  The Council of the Congregation is about more than just the “business” of governance.

Many of us were on the same plane from London to Entebbe.  At the airport we were met by Brother Fred Cosgrove, Father George Lucas, and others.  Brother Fred Cosgrove did a tremendous job of organizing things for all of us.  He made sure that we all got to where we needed to be, and he made sure that we all had what we needed to have: drinking water, bug spray (“Doom”) for the mosquitoes.  We were all grateful for Brother Fred’s help.  

On our way from the Entebbe airport to Jinja, we stopped for Mass and dinner at McCauley House in Kampala.  This house was just finished.  It (like the formation house for temporarily professed in Nairobi) was named for Bishop McCauley, C.S.C., who was one of the first Holy Cross missionaries to Uganda and became the first bishop of Uganda.  He is still deeply respected and loved in East Africa.  

We stayed and met at a hotel on Lake Victoria at the source of the River Nile.  There was a sign at the water’s edge that said: “Alligators in lake don’t swim.”  Punctuation is important!!  We weren’t whether it was a statement about the inability of the alligators to move around or a suggestion not to go into the water, but no one wanted to test either theory.

   

On the Sunday before the meetings started, some of us went to a secondary school for Sunday Mass, while others went to a local parish.  The music was excellent; there was dancing, with a procession with the Book of the Gospels from the front of the church up to the celebrant.  There was also dancing for the offertory procession.  Interestingly, they do not pass a basket; each person who is contributing goes up to the front and places his or her contribution into the basket there.  All the Masses lasted at least two hours.  No one seemed to fidget or leave early.