Brothers at Kavuma Community
“Peter Kavuma was, as far as we can tell, the first Ugandan to become a
Jesuit”, begins the short biography which was put together upon his
passing on into glory. Peter was born in Mpugwe, near Masaka in Uganda on
10th April, 1917, into a Catholic family. After his primary education, he
joined the minor seminary where he received his secondary education. He
later went to the major seminary and was ordained a priest for the
Catholic Diocese of Masaka on 7th December, 1947.
He was curate in a number of parishes and later he became a parish priest. Already a priest, he entered the Society of Jesus at Roehampton in London in 1961, where he did one year of novitiate, and for his second year he was attached to Claver House, living first at Manresa and then at Stamford Hill. He came to the then Southern Rhodesia in 1963 after pronouncing his first vows at Harlaxton. In 1971, he went to St. Bueno’s where he did his tertianship, after which he came back to Zimbabwe. Peter would later become a member of the newly established Jesuit Province of Zimbabwe.
He worked here for 33 years, during which he served in Mabvuku, Mhondoro, Mbare and Martindale before retiring to Chishawasha. Kavuma’s journey from diocesan priest to Jesuit novice required great courage and perseverance, especially bearing in mind the fact that his bishop wished him to remain a parish priest. Kavuma reportedly encouraged people to go to confession regularly and not just when in danger of death.
He encouraged sacramental marriage among couples. “There are many stories of his direct method”, attests Fr. Kapito, “How he would ask taxi drivers and people at bus stops whether they were married in church. He bore fruits in this wherever he stayed for considerable time. His persistence in this made him seem naï ve – a little bit of a ‘clown’- a source of caricature”. And how he ‘paid’ a taxi driver: “I have no money but kneel down and I will give you my blessing” (please, don’t try to
imitate him in this one!).
