TANZANIA: Bishop Nkwande celebrates 25 Years of Priesthood
Archbishop Renatus Nkwande with25 candles
Sarah Pelaji, Mwanza
The Archdiocese of Mwanza has celebrated the 25th jubilee of Most Rev. Renatus Nkwande’s priesthood.
At the same time, they commemorated 30 years since the arrival of Pope John Paul II at Kawekamo in Mwanza Archdiocese.
Bishop Nkwande was ordained a priest on July 2, 1995 by Archbishop Anthony Mayala at Sumve Parish in Mwanza.
Pope John Paul II, now a Saint, arrived in Kawekamo Mwanza in 1990 and celebrated the Holy Mass.
The Jubilee was held recently at Kawekamo grounds attended by bishops of various Catholic dioceses in Tanzania, priests as well as thousands of faithful.
Delivering a homily during the Thanksgiving Holy Mass, Bishop Euzebius Nzigilwa of Mpanda Diocese congratulated Bishop Nkwande on the jubilee, marking the unification of his jubilee and the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II arrival at Kawekamo in Mwanza.
“We celebrate the gift of life of Bishop Nkwande who has been endowed with the heart to dedicate himself and serve the people without reservation.
I know him for he is my contemporary and we are celebrating 25 years of priesthood together. He has a virtue of truth; He cannot compromise truth in his life; and he is a straight forward person,” he explained.
He said in his priestly life Bishop Nkwandehe has tried to be an honest person who means what he says.
“What he says with his mouth is what he means in his heart. That is a grace and we thank God for that, asking Him to protect him more, ” he said.
The President of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference Most Rev. Gervas Nyaisonga congratulated Bishop Nkwande on the jubilee, saying that the Church of Tanzania joins him in thanking God for him.
He said that Bishop Nkwande is God’s gift to the Church of Tanzania, especially in his ministry as a priest and now a Bishop.
He also described him as a person who always stands for the truth and does not entertain shortcuts; serves the church tirelessly; loves his people; and always seeks justices both in the Church and in the society.
He thanked Bishop Nkwande for the good work he is doing in the Church and the whole community.
Bishop Nkwande thanked God for His mercy and love from birth through the journey to priesthood until now as he celebrates the Silver Jubilee. He has thanked his parents for raising him, guiding him and initiate him into the Catholic Church; and the missionaries who planted the seeds of Christianity in the entire area of Sukuma, namely Mwanza and Shinyanga in the 1880s.
Archbishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande was born on November 12, 1965; was ordained to priesthood on July 2, 1995; he studied Church Law at Urbaniana University, Rome from July 2002 – July 2005; he was consecrated as bishop of the Catholic Diocese Bunda on February 20, 2011; serve as Apostolic Administrator of Geita Diocese in 2014 – 2016 and Apostolic Administrator of Mwanza on 14th September, 2018; he was installed Archbishop of Mwanza 12th May, 2019.
