The priest Tadeo Ssemanda is from Uganda, but part of his heart is already Spanish. He speaks perfect Spanish and the customs he has learned during his years in Spain have marked both his life and his priestly ministry.
This young priest of the Diocese of Kasana-Luweero did not have an easy life. His parents died when he was only two years old, but it was the dedication of his aunt, who took him into her home, that would make him know God deeply, to the point of deciding to give his life completely to Him.
«I have clearly seen that my aunt's prayer has helped me to to be a priest. She has offered every day, and still does today, the Rosary for me. And thanks to his support and prayer I have grown a lot in faith and I can be a priest,» explains Tadeo to the CARF Foundation. In fact, he tells us how from a very young age he helped him when he wanted to be an altar boy and took him to Mass at seven in the morning every day so that he could be an altar server. That seed that was sown has sprouted to germinate into a very fruitful vocation.
This process was not easy. In addition to the suffering generated by the absence of his parents, there was the economic precariousness of his family and the effort that his aunt made so that he could respond to this call.
«I have seen the hand of God in my life, I have seen the way in which he has been guiding me, making me overcome very complicated barriers and so much suffering. In short, I have perceived how God was preparing me so that I could become a priest,» he adds.
After a first few years in the seminary in Uganda, Thaddeus was sent by his bishop to study in Pamplona, University of Navarra and to train at the University of Navarra. Bidasoa international seminar, where he lived an experience that would change his life, as he has been in two stages in Navarra, first as a seminarian and then as a priest.
In this way, he points out that in Pamplona there is “a different atmosphere” to any seminary in the world due to the universality that is breathed there. «It was a rich experience because I lived with people from all continents and you see how people are and how they live their faith, and this was a great learning experience for me,» he says.
From these years he has drawn important lessons for his life, some of which are now fundamental and on which his priestly work is based. Tadeo assures that the first thing was to see the true face of the Church, where “we are all one”, to perceive a communion, both with the priests and with the bishop, because “in Pamplona I learned to be obedient to the bishop and to listen to him«.
Another lesson from Pamplona was to learn to live in a “serene and friendly atmosphere”, something he says he took back to Uganda and which has helped him later on in his coexistence with other priests and in the communities where he has served.
On the other hand, Tadeo emphasizes the fundamental value of prayer. In Pamplona,« he adds, »they taught me to value a life of prayer, to have time for God. And that has helped me a lot to live knowing that there has to be time for everything, but, above all, for God".
But he learned even more lessons from his time in the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University of Navarre. Tadeo talks about the one that perhaps helps him the most. «We were always taught to be there to serve, serving the Church, We are always serving the people for whom we are there and always living for the Church,» he confesses.
There have been many trials in which he has had to show this service. He recalls that after his return to Uganda as a priest he had neither the means nor the facilities that existed in Spain. With no money and no car for more than a year, but having to attend to widely scattered communities and villages, this experience of joyfully putting himself at the service was always very present to him. «For me, arriving in Uganda and having nothing, but being happy to do God's will, was very fulfilling,» he says.
Not to be distracted from the mission
Now he is back in Spain, specifically in Valencia, finishing a doctoral thesis in Dogmatic Theology, but even here this experience continues to help him. He is a hospital chaplain and on many occasions he receives calls in the early hours of the morning to spiritually assist a sick or dying person. When the temptation to complain arises, Thaddeus remembers that phrase, “we are here to serve”, and so he goes ready to give comfort to those in need.
Asked about the many dangers for today's priests, Thaddeus Ssemanda is clear that the most important thing is «to be very attached to the Lord and recollected in Him, because there are many things that distract us and can make us forget that we are priests. It is easier to lose our way today than in the past.
«One can be a priest and live as if he were working, as if he were a teacher or a bus driver. But our work has to be one of service, of dedication, of giving life and love».
In the face of these dangers, he encourages us to walk holding the hand of the Lord and the Virgin Mary.
To conclude, Father Tadeo Ssemanda remembers with special affection the benefactors of the CARF Foundation., He was able to receive help first as a seminarian and then as a priest to obtain a degree in theology.
«Even though I left there many years ago, I pray for them a lot. I want to encourage them to continue to do this service of supporting seminarians and priests who are trained, because in this way they can participate in some way in the work of a "prophet". Our Lord said that when you help the prophet to fulfill his mission, he also receives the blessings of the prophet. I think that by helping in this way they will receive the graces that this entails», he said.
Documentary Witnesses
The CARF Foundation works to facilitate the integral formation of seminarians and diocesan priests, with the clear objective that they return to their dioceses of origin and put at the service of their communities what they have received during their years of study.
The help The Foundation is not an end in itself. It is oriented to strengthen the intellectual, theological, spiritual and human preparation of those who have been called to the priesthood, so that they can exercise their ministry with solidity, responsibility and a sense of service.
Each seminarian and priest supported assumes the commitment to return to his local Church. There, in their own diocese, they give back in the form of human and pastoral dedication, accompaniment and formation what they have received thanks to the generosity of the benefactors.
The CARF Foundation therefore works with a long-term vision: to form today to serve tomorrow in every diocese in the world.
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