While returning to Monze in the late afternoon of 29th April 1998 after chairing a
‘Programme against Malnutrition’ meeting, a large truck veered around a bend and hit
the driver’s side of his car. He was killed instantly but a passenger escaped almost
unharmed. The driver was Bishop Paul Lungu S.J. and his age was 51.
Bishop Paul was born and grew up in Kabwe, Zambia. Fr Nowicki S.J. (aka Chimokoshi)
became a great friend of his and even at primary school detected and fostered Paul’s
aspirations to the priesthood. Paul went to Canisius for secondary school and then
entered the Jesuit novitiate in Lusaka in July 1969. After vows, he went to Kinshasa,
Zaire, for Philosophy. From 1974 to 1976, he taught and was boarding master at Mukasa
Minor Seminary in Choma. He moved to Rome from 1976 to 1981 to study theology where
he obtained a licentiate at the Gregorian University. He was ordained priest in his home
town of Kabwe on the 5th August 1979.
He worked in Ngungu parish, Kabwe, for two years and then did a course in Jesuit
spirituality in Rome with some pastoral work in Germany. By 1986, he had a licentiate in
spirituality and returned to Zambia to direct the Jesuit novices in Lusaka for five years.
Early on there were indications of Rome wanting him to be a bishop even before he was
posted to the novitiate. So, in 1992 he was consecrated Bishop of Monze to succeed
Bishop James Corboy.
‘He had great energy and drive. Whenever he was around, you could always hear his loud
and joyful laugh and behind it was a heart that reached out to others so that people
would constantly come to him to talk things over, ask help and advice and they knew that
they would always be welcome and made feel at home. He had a wide range of friends
both within and without Zambia. His real effectiveness was in the way he could relate to
others and help them to find the Good News in their lives. He needed to interact with
others deeply and personally but in the process he would enable them to find their own
fulfillment in the Lord. His ease and openness with people came from his own inner
freedom. The way he lived his religious life was an invitation and a challenge.
As Bishop his priority was to care for his priests, to accompany them in their pilgrimage
and to provide possibilities for on-going renewal. His skills in-formation led him to be the
Bishop appointed to oversee seminary formation in the country. He was in great demand:
he was appointed chairman of the Government Programme against Malnutrition, a
member of the Anti-Corruption Committee, was Bishop adviser to the Christian Life
Communities, and national director for marriage Encounter. His Jesuit identity always
came to the fore.
One message of condolence which came after he had been killed said, “Tennis, jogging,
CLC, retreats, picnics, Italians, Americans, Zambians, Zimbabweans – all received an
episcopal touch from you. When the well ran dry for many sisters, brothers and fellow
Jesuits, you were an oasis that many sought to drink from and be nourished by’.