The History of St. Maximilian Mission Conventual Franciscan Friars in Tanzania

(since 29 October 1984 to 11 January 1998)

The first idea of founding a Mission in Tanzania by Conventual Franciscan Friars emerged as early as in 1984, when General Missions Secretary fr. Sebald Reil was on his way back to Italy after finishing the chapter of The General Custody in Zambia. It was the end of October and the beginning of November that year. He investigated the possibilities of beginning missionary work in this country.

Between 3rd and 15th of November the following year, fr. Conall Mc Hugh, Provincial of The Immaculate Conception BVM Province in the USA and fr. Philip Blaine made a mission research trip to look for a place to start a mission in Tanzania.

No further action aiming at starting a new mission was performed for the next two years. Between 5th and 10th November 1987, fr. Blazej Kruszylowicz, Vicar of the Order and fr. Mariusz Paczoski's delegate came to Tanzania to investigate a new possibility for the Warsaw Province of Poland to start a new mission here. They were accompanied by fr. Sebald Reil the General Secretary for Missions in our Order and fr. Dominic Wasilewski, a missionary working in Kenya. They focused on visiting places in the Diocese of Same. They had got permission from the bishop of Same Josephat Lebulu whom fr. Blazej and fr. Sebald had met in Rome. The General of The Order fr. L. Serrini had granted his permission too. Because the Immaculate Conception BVM Province in the USA did not have enough monks to start organizing a mission in Tanzania, the Polish Province from Warsaw whose Provincial at that time was fr. Mariusz Paczoski began work.

The idea to open a new mission in Africa by this Province evolved in 1986, when the mission in Kenya came under the management of the Polish Province in Gdansk. During trip to Tanzania mentioned above the delegation choose the parish in Mwanga. They met the first parish priest fr. Constantine O' Conor from the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. He worked in Mwanga from 11 February 1987 until the beginning of May 1988.

On 10 October 1988, on 6th anniversary of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe's canonization, the first missionary came to Tanzania from Kenya. It was fr. Dominic Wasilewski. He had been delegated by fr. Mariusz Paczoski, the Provincial of Warsaw Province to start working in Mwanga in the Diocese of Same. Two days later he talked to bishop Josephat Lebulu the bishop of Same about the arrival of two missionaries from Poland: fr. Peter Bujnowski and br. Slawomir P.

On 15 October fr. Manswetus Kimbwereza took fr. Dominic to Mwanga where he stayed for a few days in the house of the last parish priest, who is being taken care of by two students from a small seminary. On the next day they celebrated The Holy Mass in one of the classrooms of the primary school in Mwanga, which is located next to the parish site. After the Mass a meeting with the Parish Council took place and fr. Manswetus introduced fr. Dominic to parish leaders and announced our presence in this parish during the meeting. On 20 October fr. Dominic left Mwanga and went to Kilomeni for a few months in order to study the Swahili language.

On 27 November 1988 two missionaries from Poland came to Tanzania: fr. Peter and br. Slawomir stayed in bishop Lebulu's house in Same at first. At the beginning of December all three friars had a meeting with bishop Lebulu during which they discussed their work in the Diocese of Same especially in the Mwanga parish.

The three friars spend their first Christmas in Tanzania in Kilomeni, sharing wafer and singing Polish carol "Wśród nocnej ciszy…"

On 7 January 1989 the new missionaries flew to Tabora to learn Swahili in Kipalapala for a few months.

On 30 March 1989 fr. Dominic came back to Mwanga and at the beginning he was staying with the students of the small seminary to get to know the parish and to serve the parishioners… On 3 April bishop Lebulu came to Mwanga and he invited the Parish Council in order to discuss a few things concerning the parish especially the construction of a parish hall. On 16 April 1989, bishop Lebulu and fr. Dominic as well as fr. Manswetus celebrated The Holy Mass in Mwanga. After The Mass the Parish Council meeting took place during which they decided to build in Mwanga a "multipurpose hall" for social purposes on weekdays and as prayer place on Sundays. The construction would start with manufacturing bricks on the parish site. The Diocese of Same and the parishioners from Mwanga were to contribute to the project.

On 8 July 1989 fr. Peter and br. Slawomir returned to Mwanga after finishing their Swahili course. On text day fr. Dominic and fr. Peter celebrated The Holy Mass in the classroom of the elementary school. The new missionaries were welcomed by the chairman of the Parish Council Justin Njaule. They also introduced themselves in the local language.

On 25 July 1989, workers from the Diocese started building a new house for the kindergarten teacher, ignoring the border of the parish plot. They were stopped by the missionaries until surveyor Massawe arrive to show where they could start digging to lay the foundations for the new house.

On 15 August 1989 missionaries received from the Diocese an old Suzuki car which from the Diocese. According to fr. Dominic, "it served Franciscan missionaries for one year. Sometimes it would stop without any reason, but after a bit of rest, enough to say 'Si queries miracula' or 'Hail Mary' it would go on…" The next thing to do was arranging the house and preparing a pastoral program for the parish and two out stations in Kifaru and Kileo.

The first celebration (since the arrival of the Polish missionaries) of The Sacrament of Confirmation for twelve young people took place on 11 February 1990. The celebration went on until evening.

On 23 February 1990 fr. Dominic and br. Slawomir went to Madira, which is close to Arusha, regarding the purchase of land from a Greek family in order to establish another mission.

Fr. Fabian Pietka, the Province Vicar arrived in Tanzania at the beginning of May and on 8 May a meeting with bishop Lebulu regarding presence of the Franciscans in Mwanga took place. Bishop Lebulu and fr. Fabian Pietka signed an agreement between our Province and The Diocese of Same.

Bishop Lebulu came to Mwanga again on 15 November 1990 and asked the missionaries to take care of Chanjale parish. Due to staff shortage, the request had to be rejected. Nevertheless the missionaries agreed to take pastoral care of two villages: Bora and Kagongo. They also reminded the Bishop also that they had taken care of the chapel in Handeni on the lake Nyumba ya Mungu.

On the next day, fr. Dominic blesses a chapel in Kiomo which was built from rods, earthenware and grass. This outstation is next to the village of Kafaru situated in the Diocese of Moshi. Further negotiations with the owner of the land in Poli close to Arusha were resumed on 22 December 1990. A lawyer was asked for legal advice on the purchase of the land by our Order through the Diocese of Arusha's mediation. When formalities had been concluded on 16 April 1991, fr. Dominic and br. Slawomir accompanied by an architect went to Poli to start designing a new formation house. On 25 March 1992, fr. Dominic and br. Joseph moved from Mwanga to the new house in Poli, taking with them a few items of furniture and the most needed equipment which was to be used in the small convent. At the same time work on the building of the new formation house continued. The first vocation retreat for candidates to our Order was held in Poli as soon as 16 November 1992. In February 1994 was accepted the proposal to take pastoral care of the parish in Poli Singisi was accepted. It had been served by the Parish Priest of Nabala until then. On 4 September of the same year, the parish was entrusted to full pastoral care of the missionaries from Poli. Fr. Dominic was appointed the first parish priest. The Sacrament of Confirmation was administered by bishop F. Lukanima for the first time in Poli Singisi on 15 January 1995. The Bishop officially announced that the parish had been taken care of by Franciscan Friars on that occasion.

On 5 February 1995, blessing of the parish hall took place. In accordance with the Bishop's decision it was to be used only as a church dedicated to Divine Mercy. The church has the picture of Merciful Jesus as well. It was also in Mwanga that deacon fr. Christopher Cieslikiewicz was ordained by bishop Josephat Lebulu on 2 July 1995.

On 13 November 1995 in Dar es Salaam, fr. Dominic talked for the first time to Archbishop P. Pengo about our presence in this Diocese. The Archbishop invited us to take pastoral care of one of the out stations in Dar es Salaam: Kipawa or Sinza, which are situated in the parishes of Ukonga and Mwenge. The decision was not easy because of the lack of personnel prepared for work in Dar es Salaam at that time.

On 26 November 1995 friars from Poli took pastoral care over an outstation in Nkoamansa which up to this time had been served by the parish priest from Usa River parish. The chapel is dedicated to Christ the King and in situated in a small building which used to be a slaughterhouse. Officially the chapel was transferred to the friars from Poli by the parish priest on 7 January 1996.

The question of the Franciscan presence in Dar es Salaam occurred again on 15 March 1996, when Archbishop Pengo gave permission to look for a proper place and he allowed us to propagate apostolate in the spirit of st. Maximilian M. Kolbe. The Franciscan were asked again a few times to come to Dar es Salaam but with the condition was we had to look for a site by ourselves.

The first Tanzanian candidate to the postulate in Poli Josephat Mmbaga was accepted on 27 July 1996. The works on the building of the formation house continued at that time. On 17 October 1997 fr. Dominic and fr. George went to Dar es Salaam to look for a site for a new mission in this town. With a few professors from the Major Seminary of Segerea they went to see two out stations. One was situated in Segerea (at present it is a parish served by Franciscans) and the other in Kinyerezi (at present time it is an out station of the parish of Segerea). Fr. Dominic reports on his first experiences in the following way: "There is a big plot, maybe 4 acres, substructure of a big church, a small house built in crude and two buildings in which at one time there were chicken coops. In one of them people pray and in the other one there is a kindergarten and firsts classes of primary school. Archbishop Pengo suggests we take this place in our care. For the time being it seems impossible due to lack of founds which would allow us to develop it into a living space."

An the end of November of the same year, fr. Dominic again went to Dar es Salaam for a few months in order to help the parish of Ukonga containing the out stations in Segerea and Kinyerezi. According to fr. Dominic's report, there were around 100 people attending the Christmas service in Kinyerezi at that time and 400 people in Segerea on the New Year Day.

(Based on The Chronicle of St. Maximilian Mission of Conventual Franciscan Friars in Tanzania, by fr. Dominic Wasilewski from 29 October 1984 to 11 January 1998.
Elaborated by fr. Mieczyslaw Bednarczyk)