Catholic priest killed in ‘senseless act of violence’ in Nigeria

Harare, Zimbabwe, Sep 6, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- On Thursday the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe began a three-day meeting to consider the cause of canonization of John Bradburne, a lay missionary to the area in the 1970s, who could become the country’s first canonized saint.

At the Sept. 5-7 meeting, Catholic leaders will hear arguments in favor of and against the sainthood cause of Bradburne, who was killed during the Rhodesian Bush War in 1979.

The meeting began on the 40th anniversary of Bradburne’s death and will determine whether his cause for official sainthood can proceed.

Bradburne was born in 1921 in England, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He served in the British army in World War II, and he converted to Catholicism in 1947 after staying with the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey.

Although he wanted to become a monk at Buckfast, he had not been in the Catholic Church long enough, and so he became a wanderer throughout Europe and the Middle East, living out of one bag. He also became a prolific poet.

During his wanderings, he stayed at other Benedictine abbeys, with Carthusians, the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, and even tried living as a hermit on Dartmoor in England. Bradburne became a Third Order Franciscan in 1956.

According to the John Bradburne Memorial Society’s website, after 16 years of wandering, Bradburne wrote to his friend Father John Dove and asked: “Is there a cave in Africa where I can pray?”

He arrived in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) in 1962, and shortly thereafter he told a Franciscan priest that he had three wishes: to serve leprosy patients, to die a martyr, and to be buried in the habit of St Francis.

Through a Jesuit friend in Southern Rhodesia, Bradburne came to serve at the Mutemwa Leper Settlement in 1969, and would spend the last 10 years of his life there.

Southern Rhodesia declared independence in 1965, and the Rhodesian Bush War was fought from 1964 to 1979 among the white minority government, the Marxist Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army, and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

ZANU was chaired from 1975 to 1980 by Robert Mugabe, who then served as prime minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987, and as president from 1987 to 2017. Mugabe died Sept. 6.

As the war intensified and ZANU guerrilla forces approached Mutemwa, Bradburne was urged to leave, but he insisted on remaining. According to The Telegraph, even after the white Catholic priests of the area had been evacuated, the white British Bradburne “refused to leave, and continued to attend to lepers, write poetry and play his harmonium in the tin hut in which he lived.”

Bradburne was abducted, and shot and killed Sept. 5, 1979. According to the Memorial Society, during Bradburne’s funeral, a pool of blood could be seen collecting beneath his coffin. After the funeral, the coffin was opened but no sign of blood could be found. However, when it was noticed that Bradburne had not been buried in a Franciscan habit, per his wishes, a Franciscan habit was brought and Bradburne was dressed in it for his burial.

According to Independent Catholic News, two people have claimed miraculous cures through Bradburne’s intercession: a woman in South African who regained the use of her legs, and a man in Scotland cured of a brain tumor.

The Jonn Bradburne Memorial Society is supporting the investigation into his life and virtues. The group was led by Bradburne’s niece, Celia Brigstocke, until her death on August 2018. Brigstocke’s eldest daughter, Kate Macpherson, now leads the efforts.

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Christian devotees attend a prayer service at Sacred Heart Cathedral to celebrate Christmas in Lahore, Pakistan, on Dec. 25, 2021. / A M Syed/ Shutterstock

Lahore, Pakistan, Dec 28, 2022 / 17:15 pm (CNA).
Despite the continued threat of terrori… […]

Lusaka, Zambia, Jun 26, 2017 / 02:53 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The leaders of three major Christian groups in Zambia have issued a strongly worded letter on the political state of the country, calling on Zambians to “examine our conscience, seek the truth, and work towards bringing back hope to our people.”

It also accuses the current administration of being a “dictatorship.”

The June 16 letter was penned by Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu of Lusaka, president of the Zambian bishops’ conference; Alfred Kalembo of the Council of Churches in Zambia; and Paul Mususu of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia.

“If these are not signs of dictatorship, what are they signs of?” the letter said. “Certainly not of a democratic dispensation!”

The letter comes as a response to the arrest of Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the opposition party, the UPND.

The current president, Edgar Lungu, has been accused of rigging last year’s presidential election. He has been in office since January 2015.

Hichilema was arrested April 10 on charges of treason after his convoy failed to allow the presidential motorcade to pass as both headed to a ceremony in the Western Province. And on June 13, 48 members of the Zambian Parliament were suspended when they boycotted Lungu’s state of the nation address, the BBC reported.

These events mark an abrupt jump by Zambia onto the international scene, a nation that normally has a reputation for peace and stability. Zambia ranked 87 out of 176 in Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, in the company of Mongolia and Panama.

The country’s Catholic bishops had voiced their opposition to Lungu’s administration previously.

In their letter, the Zambian Christian leaders lamented Hichilema’s arrest and said, “With the current state of affairs, it is difficult to see how the UPND can easily recognize the legitimacy of Lungu’s re-election in August 2016.”

“Leadership, particularly at the national level, requires integrity, truthfulness, honesty and sincerity. We believe that the political leadership has failed on this score.”

“Institutional violence is a fundamental measure of a dictatorship,” they said. They lamented the use of dogs in Hichilema’s arrest, noting that canine forces were a frequent characteristic of the British occupation in Zambia.

“The State Police brought along dogs of the German shepherd breed that defecated in the vehicle meant to carry Hakainde Hichilema.”

Hichilema was allegedly subject to torture and kept in inhumane conditions before even receiving a guilty verdict, the leaders said. They also offered their thoughts and prayers for a number of other political prisoners being held by the government.

They also noted that outrage over the arrest had been expressed in many countries, including the US, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and in the EU. They also committed their communities within Zambia to fighting “on the side of good.”

“We are fully aware,” they stated, “that more often than not, the fight for Justice is not a path filled with many pilgrims, but is a lonely journey by courageous leaders and a small number of followers.”

The letter at multiple points quotes John 8:32, “The Truth will set you free.” Freedom of the press, according to the letter, is under assault in the country. They noted the closing or “fixing” of various major news outlets in the country, and “maintain that the presence of 80 radio stations, online newspapers and independent television stations in Zambia does not mean press and media freedom.”

They also defended their charge that the arrest shows dictatorial qualities in the government.

“It is not the numbers of the afflicted victims that count. It is the principle,” they said.

“The dictum that God knows how to count only up to one when it comes to his children is the truth that makes us realize just how each one of us is important in God’s eyes.”

At the close of the letter, the Christian leaders’ tone became outright mournful.

“Indeed, what has happened to us as a nation?” the bishops lamented. “Where are our values as human beings and as Christians? Is this what it means to be a ‘Christian Nation’?”

In concluding, the Christian leaders made a number of demands of the government, including that “we expect H.E. Mr. Edgar C. Lungu, to act as Republican President whose aim is not only to protect the good of the members of his party (the PF), but also and more importantly, be the guardian of ALL ZAMBIANS, regardless of their political affiliation.”

“We firmly believe that this nation can overcome all our current political differences through genuine dialogue aimed at true reconciliation and nation building.”

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