Abstract
For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda is a fresh, inspiring, and humbling work by Catholic scholar J. J. Carney. Largely researched during his time as a Fulbright scholar at Uganda Martyrs University, the book profiles seven Catholic leaders who have made a profound impact in postcolonial Uganda. Despite facing persecution, war, and cultural barriers, these women and men have served the Ugandan people in innumerable ways. Carney’s historical research, combined with extensive ethnographic data, tells captivating stories of faith that “may spur [other believers] on toward love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24, NIV). As a Protestant Christian doing doctoral research on women’s leadership and social change in post-war Uganda, I found Carney’s research incredibly meaningful. I would commend anyone researching leadership in general, and Ugandan history, Christian persecution, and Catholic public leadership more specifically, to study this book carefully.
In the book’s introduction, Carney provides a preliminary history of Catholicism in Uganda. This richly detailed narrative orients readers to the context and carefully sets the stage for the narratives to come. The main body of the text is divided into six chapters, each highlighting one or two leaders in a helpful and consistent format (including an introduction, short biography, the leaders’ missional contributions, and some leadership lessons for the Catholic church). Chapter 1 profiles Benedicto K. M. Kiwanuka, a Supreme Court Chief Justice who “embodied an eclectic mix of sometimes-competing identities” and was eventually assassinated by dictator Idi Amin (Carney 2020: 47–48). Chapter 2 focuses on Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga, the Archbishop of Kampala diocese from 1966 to 1990—a period often marked by “political oppression and civil war” (67). Chapter 3 highlights “Uganda’s liberation theologian” Fr. John Mary Waliggo (87), who “challenged [the] separation of theology, inculturation, and politics in Uganda” (90). This chapter excels in its detailed articulation of Waliggo’s key theological themes, providing an excellent reference point for anyone interested in African liberation theology.
While the first three chapters focus on men with high political and religious status, the remaining chapters examine three women and one man on the other side of Uganda’s power equation. Chapter 4 highlights Sr. Rose Mystica Muyinza, an ex-nun who founded her own NGO in order to serve thousands of dispossessed and displaced children. Chapter 5 profiles Tonino Pasolini and Sherry Meyer, Italian and American missionaries (respectively) who have made a long-term contribution to Uganda’s West Nile region and the surrounding areas through their popular Catholic radio station, Radio Pacis. Finally, Carney introduces Rosalba Ato Oywa (also known as “Mama Peace”), a survivor of the LRA war and peace builder who is known for her “commitment to analyzing and engaging the root causes of northern Uganda’s conflicts” (151). An exemplary model for Catholic leaders, Oywa “embodies. . . the willingness to speak truth to power” and told Carney herself that “‘it is better to die for the truth than to remain inactive’” (164). In conclusion, Carney synthesizes and explores several key lessons about Catholic leadership from all seven of these incredible figures, including “embodying long-term solidarity with the poor and marginalized” (168) and “empowering others through servant-leadership” (170).
For God and My Country is passionately informative and well-balanced in terms of the vocational calling, leadership style, and gender of its subjects. While each chapter offers captivating stories of these larger-than-life leaders, Carney does not sanctify them. Rather, he includes the very human struggles and moral tensions they have faced throughout their lives, from unsuccessfully delegating authority (see Chapter 4) to the struggles of navigating politics without compromising key values (see Chapters 1, 2, and 3). While his book carries these strengths and more, Carney does have a rather limited scope of research when it comes to ethnic and regional diversity within Uganda. Of the five native Ugandans he profiles, four are from southern Uganda and only one (Oywa) is from the northern region. This is surprising, considering the fact that Carney praises the Catholic church’s extensive work in the north, “in which 70 percent of the population claims the Catholic faith” (2020: 156; Alva 2017: 51). This study would have been greatly strengthened by including one or two more leaders from the multitude of northern peoples who have persisted in faith through decades of instability and war.
Despite this limitation, For God and My Country is an excellent book with profound personal and missiological implications. While Carney primarily adopts a narrower focus on individual lives, he skillfully weaves those lives into larger stories of religion, politics, and social change in Uganda. From within the highest levels of government to the far-reaching airwaves of Radio Pacis, these leaders have demonstrated the love of Christ and their strong commitment to bettering Uganda’s future. Rather than simply telling the stories as they are and leaving all implications up to the reader’s interpretation, Carney’s leadership lessons and piercing “reflection questions” can lead to real change for those readers who are willing to ponder them and discuss with others (2020: 62). As to the book’s missiological contribution, I believe studying the ripple effect of these leaders’ “faithful witness” to God’s activity “within the course of their daily work, among friends and family, and in the face of opposition and pressures” will be an inspiration to all Christians who desire to see personal and societal change in their own contexts (Stroope 2017: 217). Scholars of mission have much to learn from Carney’s rich historical research, extensive ethnographic work, and contribution to Catholic leadership studies in a Majority world context. I highly recommend this text to anyone who desires to follow Jesus more closely through the example and witness of these faithful Ugandan leaders.
