In Pace Christi

Fr. Giovanni Fortuna sr., or rather Father John, as he was usually called, was a true ‘gentleman’: gentle in his manner, pleasant, always welcoming and a good listener.
Born in Castelgomberto, in the diocese of Vicenza, he took his first vows at Venegono and was ordained a priest in 1934. From 1935 to 1939 he worked in South Sudan. Sent to England to learn English, he was interned as a prisoner of war (1940-1944). From 1944 to 1946 he worked again in South Sudan, especially as a teacher in Mupoi. Then, after two years in Gozzano, Italy, in 1959 he left for Uganda, where he remained for 38 years, till 1997.
In East Acholi (Patongo, Kalongo, Namokora, Kitgum) he was to all a person to whom one went for counselling, pastoral work and individual confession.
He liked things to be done well. In particular he liked music, liturgical singing and to get people involved. Some of the songs he composed are still popular today.
He went through some hard time and unpleasant encounters with the rebels, who were spreading destruction and death among the people and kidnapping children and teenagers whom they took along with them.
In Kitgum, in his advanced years, Fr. Giovanni looked after the sick of the nearby hospital with great care and kept up to date the archives and the church registry.
In 1997 Fr. Giovanni went back to Italy and asked to be allowed to remain there, though still enjoying fairly good health and able to work. He wrote: “I feel that I am becoming ever weaker and it is not good that I come back to Uganda, because I feel that I will soon be a burden to everyone”. He was then assigned to the Italian province, first to Thiene and then to Verona, where he remained till his death.
Fr. Giovanni was a person well loved and respected by all confreres and by the people.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 222 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile 2004, pp. 26-36.