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II. The Role of a Theologian in Genocide Prevention: Theology in Postgenocide Rwanda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2020

Elisee Rutagambwa
Elisee Rutagambwa*
Affiliation:
Hekima University College
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Extract

When the world came to its senses after the Second World War and reports of the horrors of the Holocaust began to spread, the international community reacted with disbelief. And when reality proved much worse than even the worst nightmare, the world community reacted unanimously with a general outcry: crimes of this magnitude must never happen again. It appeared quite clear that, in the future, the international community would never again remain inactive in the face of such appalling tragedy. Yet, the firm imperative “never again” has become “again and again,” and the same dreadful crimes have been repeated in many parts of the world.

Type
Theological Roundtable
Information
Horizons , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , June 2020 , pp. 76 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © College Theology Society, 2020

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References

15 See Des Forges, Alison Liebhafsky, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999), 21Google Scholar.

16 Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide. Published by African Union in July 2000, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d1da8752.html.

17 Mana, Kä, La Nouvelle Evangélisation en Afrique (Paris: Karthala-Clé, 2000), 85Google Scholar.

18 Kabasele-Lumbala, Francois, Le Christianism et l'Afrique, une chance réciproque (Paris: Karthala, 1993)Google Scholar.

19 Mana, La Nouvelle Evangélisation en Afrique, 84.

20 Mana, La Nouvelle Evangélisation en Afrique, 85.

21 Mana, La Nouvelle Evangélisation en Afrique, 94.

22 Aguilar, Mario I., The Rwanda Genocide and the Call to Deepen Christianity in Africa (Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 1998), 18Google Scholar.

23 Carney, J. J., Rwanda before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 28Google Scholar.

24 Cited in Aguilar, The Rwanda Genocide and the Call to Deepen Christianity in Africa, 38. For more details, also see Ian Linden with Linden, Jane, Church and Revolution in Rwanda (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977)Google Scholar and Carney, Rwanda before the Genocide, 70–174.

25 Carney, J. J., “A Generation after Genocide: Catholic Reconciliation in Rwanda,” Theological Studies 76, no. 4 (2015): 809CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 See Rittner, Carol, Genocide in Rwanda: Complicity of Churches (St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2004)Google Scholar.

27 It is only in April 2014, during the commemoration of twenty years since the genocide, that the Rwandan bishops clearly admitted the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. And later in 2016, they issued a public message that was read in all parishes apologizing for the church's failures: “We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that Church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God's commandments.” In addition, they appealed to people of Rwanda saying: “Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn't show that we are one family, but instead killed each other.” For the full article, see http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/bishops-of-rwanda-apologize-for-christians-role-in-1994-genocide.

28 See The Sacrifice of Africa, quoted by author Emmanuel Katongole himself, where he delineates the prominent forms of visions of leadership that have prevailed since the precolonial, through the colonial, and into the postcolonial era. He deplores that the church leadership has mirrored the political self-serving leadership as he states, “Church leadership has, by and large, both mirrored and radiated the same style of leadership, where the bishop, and to a larger extent, the priest, exercises unquestionable lordship over those they lead. Accordingly, Church institutions are characterized by the same (and in some cases worse) forms of corruption and opacity as the nation-state institutions.” See Katongole, Emmanuel, “The Church of the Future: Pressing Moral Issues from Ecclesia in Africa,” in The Church We Want: African Catholics Look to Vatican III, ed. Orobator, Agbonkhianmeghe E. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016), 171Google Scholar.

29 Katongole, “The Church of the Future,” 167.