Life in the Submarine - The Mill Hill Missionaries

apostolic administrator had puta brave face to it and had keptthe diocese going to the best ofhis ability. At Bonkita in 1975at the end of the school yearwe stored every piece ofvaluable equipment in thesmall chapel and sealed it off.Everyone went on home leave,except for myself, amidconsiderable uncertainty as towhat the future would bring. Istill remember the feeling ofresponsibility and considerable Bishop Matondo at ordination ceremonyapprehension when those summer holidays started – I had only been in theplace for two years.Both the diocese and the country as a whole were going through a period ofuncertain transition. As it turned out, the national campaign of ‘authenticité’and ‘zaïreanisation’ (read: mindless nationalisation) initiated around this timeby President Mobutu, largely as a political ploy, proved hugelycounterproductive in the long run and quickened the country’s headlong rushtowards economic ruin. The abolition of Christian names in the name of Africanauthenticity led to a conflict with the Catholic Church and the temporarydeparture into exile of Cardinal Malula. The latter had himself spearheaded amuch sounder form of africanisation of the Catholic Church famously stating: ”A new baby is being born here, and we can be sure of one thing: it will beblack!” The irony of the situation escaped no one.At the local diocesan level bishop Matondo’spromotion of inculturation felt real and promising.In fact bishop Matondo in his early years cameacross as hugely charismatic and inspiring. Hewould prove to be someone who would bring aboutsubstantial change in the diocese againstconsiderable odds. Most noticeable were thechanges in the way we celebrated the liturgy. Tounify the diocese and bring it in line with the rest ofthe ecclesiastical province he introduced Lingala,one of the four national languages and a linguafranca in most of the country, as the only language