In Pace Christi

Fr. Paolo Ottolini (29.06.1932 – 09.11.2006)
Fr. Paolo was born on 29 June 1932 at Minucciano, Lucca. He joined the Gozzano novitiate and, after his temporary profession, continued with his studies at Verona until 1953, and then at Venegono. He took his final vows on 9 September 1959 and was ordained priest on 2 April 1960. He was then assigned to the Italian province for three years and left for Uganda in 1963, where he was assigned to the diocese of Gulu. After some time spent learning the Acholi language and the pastoral method of the place, he was sent to Gulu Catechetical Centre together with Fr. Angelo Romanò and Fr. Luigi Varesco. In September 1970 he went to Corpus Christi, London to take part in an updating course to improve the quality of his service at the Catechetical Centre. In October 1971 he returned to Uganda to take over from Fr. Romanò as director of the Centre, an office he held until 1975 when he was expelled by the dictator Idi Amin, together with other confreres. Writing to him to express his sympathy and solidarity for the expulsion, the Superior General, Fr. Tarcisio Agostoni, suggested that Fr. Paolo made himself available to become formator of the Brothers at Pordenone.
He worked at Pordenone until 1879, when the Amin’s regime ended, following the invasion of Uganda by Tanzanian troops. However, he could only return to Uganda in the spring of 1980, when the superiors found a replacement for him in Pordenone.
In Uganda he was appointed parish priest of Gulu Cathedral. Life in Gulu was not easy, due to the increasing violence on the part of the so-called movements of “liberation” of Alice Lakwena, Severino Lokoya, Rubanga Won and the more widely known Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony. He was tireless in his efforts at mediation and supporting couraging whoever might help to end the pointless violence. Fr. Vittorino Cona, the provincial, wrote to him during the holidays of 1988 (letter dated 13 July): “Come back to Gulu as parish priest and superior of the community, keep contacts with the authorities and work to provide friendship and brotherhood with the diocesan clergy. Do everything necessary to break down barriers”. After coming back from his holidays, his personal file began to fill with his frequent letters to the provincial explaining all that was happening at Gulu and the surrounding area: it was nothing short of a war, especially the rebel attacks on civilians.
One successful outcome of his dialogue, thanks largely to his closeness to the people, was the reopening of the national seminary at Alokulum, near Gulu.
It was at this time that he tackled the worsening problem of AIDS, together with Sr. Giovanna Calabria and assisted by Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, the then head physician of Lacor Hospital, who died there during an outbreak of Ebola. With the help of committed laypeople of the parish, he fostered the “Good Samaritan Association”, which later took the name of “Comboni Samaritan Association”. Its aim was to respond adequately to the challenge of AIDS, as the group used to visit and assist HIV/AIDS victims. Fr. Paolo would pray with them, encourage them to Christian generosity and charity. Once a month they would pray together with the sick and many would receive the sacraments.
In 1994 Fr. Elia Pampaloni, the new provincial, assigned him to the community of Kalongo as superior and in charge of pastoral work. There, too, his commitment to justice and peace was ongoing and untiring. From 1996 to 1998 he was elected provincial councillor. His letters and reports continued to bear witness to the sufferings of a people afflicted by the martyrdom of a prolonged and futile guerrilla warfare.
At about that time the cause of the beatification of Jildo and Daudi, the martyrs of Paimol (a village-chapel in the parish of Kalongo), was initiated. This cause saw him personally committed to helping the people to understand the value of the witness of these two martyrs and its meaning for the Church of Gulu and of Uganda as a whole. As long as he was parish priest of Kalongo, he organised each year a solemn celebration on the spot of their martyrdom, at times running the risk of running into the rebels of Joseph Kony. A letter written by the Christians of Paimol, just after he left Kalongo for holidays in 2004, show how much his ministry, and especially his enthusiasm and devotion for the two martyrs, was appreciated.
In April 2004, back in Italy for a cataract operation, he received the terrible news of the murder of Fr. Luciano Fulvi. The provincial, Fr. Guido Oliana, wrote to him on 20 April asking him to sacrifice the planned rotation in Italy and to return to Uganda to take the place of Fr. Luciano. He was sent to Layibi as Youth Chaplain of the Archdiocese of Gulu. The official appointment reached him on 20 September 2004, signed by the Archbishop John Baptist Odama. However, he stayed in the post only two years, being obliged to return to Italy for and operation to his left hand.
In February he wrote to Fr. Giuseppe Filippi saying that his left hand was not getting better and his right hand was now showing the same symptoms. The operation showed how seriously ill he was. In the Summer, though still under treatment at Verona, he was improving and felt well. He was, as always, at peace and enthusiastic. He would speak of returning to Uganda in 2007, even if, given his illness, he was preparing for a different kind of journey.
He was a generous and committed missionary in the various fields of apostolate. As parish priest of Gulu and Kalongo, he had to cope with difficult times during the civil war, which made life unbearable for the Acholi people for more than twenty years. Though in great danger, he stayed at his post together with many other confreres, who shared with him the same situation. He never drew back and even at the very end with his usual courage he faced the difficult moment of having to withdraw from this world.
Towards the end, he used to say that his illness was his new mission and he deliberately offered his cross for peace in Uganda.
On Friday 10 November, a great crowd of the faithful, mostly young people, packed Gulu cathedral to thank God for this missionary who gave them hope and a reason for living. The testimonials were many, but that which counts most is the fact that the group of young men and women founded by him, also with the help of the Comboni Sisters, gave rise to the association called “Comboni Samaritan” that continues, with a missionary and charitable spirit, the work of assisting AIDS patients. They constitute a sign bearing witness to how the seed, sown with generosity, bears fruits in good time.
(Fr. Giuseppe Filippi)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 234 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile 2007, pp.48-54.