INTERVIEW WITH FR. DINO RUARO, SCJ,
Provincial Superior of the Congo Province

Fr. Dino Ruaro, SCJ - Provincial Superior of the Congo Province

Father, for many years, you have been a missionary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, as Provincial Superior, you direct the missionary work and the religious animation of that Province.

Could you give us a picture of the Congo Province at present?

The Congo is a country at war. It started in 1997 and has dragged the Congo into a painful and inextricable situation. Our country finds itself divided into three zones of influence, between which there is no communication; in fact there are frequent armed conflicts. Six foreign nations, in spite of what was agreed upon in the pacts of Lusaka, keep their troops in the Congo: Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. There are also numerous armed groups which increase the confusion and the insecurity of the defenseless population.

Last year, in May and in June, in Kisangani, we were spectators and victims of a bloody war which Rwanda and Uganda were fighting against each other in our homeland. The war did not conclude anything, it resolved no problems. It merely left destruction and death among a peaceful and undefended population. The people do not want war; they do not want to be occupied by foreign armies; they ask only to be able to live and work in peace and to regain the dignity which has been taken from them.

Too often words like poverty, wretchedness, oppression and death no longer provoke emotion. All the same it is opportune to remember that from the beginning of the war in the Congo it is estimated that 2,500,000 people have been killed, and over 2,000.000 are still war refugees. The injustice, the intimidation, the pillage by the administration, above all by the military, spread poverty, anguish and insecurity among the population.

To this suffering, one must add the frustration caused by a national sentiment which has been wounded and humiliated by an overbearing foreign occupation; by the systematic pillage of the nation's wealth; by the awareness of the internal divisions which impede the establishment of cohesion and understanding which alone can lead to a lasting solution of the country's problems. But, one must also be aware of the fact that the excessive suffering and the daily struggle for survival, often make it difficult for the people to find the time and the lucidity which would allow them to become clearly aware of their situation.

In this context, the Church's first role is to help its own children not to despair, but to continue to believe in God and to respect their brothers, whoever they may be. Present in the midst of our people, like brothers who believe and like shepherds, we try to help them to become aware of their dignity as persons, as community, as people. The fact of having stayed beside them, even in the most difficult moments of the war, and of continuing to live alongside them in a situation which is always one of emergency, gives them strength and helps them not to feel abandoned to themselves.

"Thank you for remaining." "Thank you for coming back." We have heard these words spoken by many in the sad days of the immediate post-war period. We are with the people in parish ministries, where every day we are called upon by the wretchedness of so many; in visits to the Christian communities in the interior, isolated by distance and by the impracticability of the roads and above all by the forgetfulness of so many; in the running of our schools, which not only continue to survive in spite of everything, but at times show unexpected developments in these difficult times, and which amaze and comfort above all the most poor ("The priest thinks of us"); in service to the handicapped, to the "children of the streets", to people in prison. This is a very simple but efficacious way to give them back a sense of their dignity.

Dignity has a right to be recognized and respected and, precisely because of this there is a need to accord respect to every human person. Evangelical nonviolence in vindicating one's own dignity and one's own rights, the abandonment of hatred and of revenge with regard even to those who oppress, refusal of war as a means of resolving problems: these are not spontaneous attitudes, nor easy ones, not even for us Christians. To try to acquire them ourselves and make our people acquire them demands reflection, prayer, dialogue, persuasion and, above all, the concrete example of respect offered to every person.

Our Congolese Province today numbers nine Congolese priests and approximately forty religious, students and brothers, How is SCJ spirituality being lived in the Congo?

In our Province the first attempts to receive young Congolese in our Congregation, sharing our charism with them, took place during the years immediately preceding the independence of the country (1960). In 1964, when the rebellion broke out, we had 3 Congolese priests and 7 or 8 Congolese religious. During that dramatic period, full of disorder and violence, our religious were dispersed and, when the war ended, not one of them returned to the community. This experience left a negative impression on the spirit of many of our members, who came to the conviction that the religious life was not made for the Congolese; or was it that we were incapable and unprepared to propose it to them?

Fortunately the Holy Spirit acted and, in 1978, a young Congolese was accepted into the novitiate and in 1985 we had the first priest of the "new generation."

From then on many things changed and much progress has been made in the sector of vocations and formation. Our Province invested a great deal in this change, both in material resources and in personnel. The different stages of formation (candidacy, postulancy, novitiate, philosophy, and theology) are now in place. A Formation Plan has been prepared, which endeavors to take into account certain cultural elements of our young men in formation: their way of living in community, their relationships with the outside world and with their family, the liturgy of vows, and so forth.

The numerical results (brothers, priests and seminarians in formation) are positive and very promising. Naturally this is not enough to achieve an in-depth inculturation of the formation proposed to our young men. This objective will be able to be pursued in a more appropriate way by our Congolese religious, on condition that the "African" and "Congolese" temperament is accompanied by a profound personal experience of Jesus Christ and a fitting preparation.

In this regard we are shortly to be gathering the first fruits of a work which began several years ago; Fr. Albert Lingwengwe is about to complete his "academic" preparation and in a few months time he will begin his service to our Novitiate at Saint Gabriel (Kisangani). After him we anticipate two other Congolese SCJs will shortly be able to start their preparation to become formation directors. This is very comforting for us and encourages us to continue in this direction.

With regard to the way of living and experiencing the SCJ religious way of life here in the Congo, it must be said that almost all of this has been done by missionary SCJs coming from other cultures. Certainly their culture is different in many ways from that which they found in the people here; but that does not prevent missionaries from getting close to the people here and loving them in a sincere, concrete and often intense way. Fidelity to their vocation and love for the people have led them to incarnate our SCJ charism in this Congolese society and to manifest it in the activity of evangelization, in the teaching of abandoned youth, and in the service of the lowest of the low. This is an essential and primary dimension for a true inculturation of our SCJ charism.

Our Province has always had an international composition. From the start this has been characterized as the mission of the Congregation: there are at least thirteen Provinces which have sent us SCJs to be missionaries in the Congo. What must be noted today, is that the number of Congolese SCJs has already increased considerably and, in a few years time, they will constitute a large majority of our community and will assume responsibilities in the Province.

What are the principle activities of the Congolese Province?

Apart from the formation sector, which I have already spoken about, I would first and foremost like to emphasize the Province's commitment to teaching. This is not new for us: for many years we have been directing two schools (Maele College in Kisangani, and the Bernardo Longo Institute in Mambasa). They are working well enough, especially when one considers the chaos in which all the schools of the Congo are to be found. To this must be added four other junior and high schools founded near our parishes and entrusted to Catholic direction.

In the present situation, if we want to do something to save our youth, there is an urgent need to invest heavily in teaching, both in money and in personnel. Many of our school buildings are in ruinous condition; there is a terrifying lack of books and equipment; we have a body of teachers who work without salaries, with no motivation, with no preparation and with no support. Unfortunately there are now only two schools that have a certain amount of external economic aid, and only one young brother is pursuing studies which will permit him to commit himself in this sector.

Our Province has also chosen commitment in the social field as a priority. Two religious are dedicated with great generosity to the service of the handicapped (at the Simama Center of Kisangani and at the Monzoto Center of Basoko), and to the service of the "children of the street" and people in prison (Saint Lawrence House of Kisangani). This is a sector for which new resources must be found, but this will not be possible in the immediate future.

Another of the Province's priorities, which requires planning and the preparation of specialized personnel, is that of the "formation of people." We must prepare laity to be engaged in catechism and other ministries. We have the Bishop Grison Center in Kisangani, but at the moment only one of our religious works there, with great dedication. Another young priest will shortly start the specific preparation that will lead to his being able to do this work.

The question of financial autonomy to support our community life and our apostolic works, is a very serious problem. Initiatives have been taken, in the agricultural and stock breeding sector, to give a certain autonomy to our formation houses. The results are still insufficient. However, we should not forget that in the current situation of the Congo (and of Kisangani in particular), there is no economic activity which is profitable. All businesses have reached the point of collapse. For the moment we have no choice but to rely on other Provinces and benefactors.

Are we hopeful? Certainly we are! Without hope and without optimism, one can neither stay in the Congo nor continue to be a missionary. Of necessity we must be animated by hope: hope in God, first and foremost, because we are certain that this is His work. The mission comes from Him, it is He who sends us to these people in the tangible situation which the Congo is currently experiencing. And we also have hope in the religious, children of this country, whom Our Lord has begun to send us. We feel not only hope, but also trust, friendliness, and an availability for dialogue and collaboration. Together we will be able to work and make the Kingdom of God progress in this country where we have implanted our SCJ Family and charism.