In Pace Christi

Fr. Isaac Augustine Adaku was born at Arua, in Uganda, on 25 October, 1973. In 1995, after secondary school at Arua and Koboko, he entered the Comboni postulancy at Jinja where he stayed for three years. He did his two-year novitiate at Namugongo and took first vows on 14 May, 2000, at Mbuya, Kampala. In July of the same year, he was sent to study theology at the famous university of Innsbruck, in Austria for five years. He was ordained priest on 28 January, 2006, in Arua, in Uganda.

In 2006, soon after his ordination, Fr. Isaac was appointed to the mission of Kitgum among the Acholi of northern Uganda. There he showed he was capable of entering into the culture of the local people through the study of their traditions and language. The mission of Kitgum had been started back in 1915, when – on 11 February – Mgr. Antonio Vignato and Fr. Giuseppe Beduschi celebrated the first Mass there. It was the third mission to be opened by the Combonis in northern Uganda. In early June, 2013, after seven years of missionary service, Fr. Isaac was in Rome to take part in the Comboni Year of Ongoing Formation.

He was quite reserved but sociable. Always smiling and relaxed. His sensitivity made him compassionate and attentive to the needs of others; it also made him vulnerable. Isaac was very intelligent: it was not easy to make him change his views and he was able to argue well. Since he was not easily persuaded, he was given the nickname of “tablique”, a word indicating a radical Islamic group in Uganda.

While in Rome for the pleasant experience of the Course, which included a re-reading of one’s life consecrated to God for the mission, he unexpectedly passed away.

That fateful day, Wednesday, 4 December, 2013, seemed to be a day like any other for Fr. Isaac. He followed his daily routine and took an active part in the Course sessions. After lunch he took just a short walk, as he had planned a game of tennis with a confrere for 3pm. They had played a few sets when he asked for a break as he was feeling dizzy. Those were his last words. He leaned on his racket for a moment and then fell to the ground. All efforts at resuscitation including heart massage, artificial respiration and the use of a defibrillator by the medical personnel who came with the ambulance, proved unsuccessful and he was declared dead. He was just forty years old. The post mortem, standard procedure in cases of sudden death, revealed that the cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomiopathy or a similar serious heart condition that had never been detected.
Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, Secretary General for Formation, also a Ugandan, said after he had informed the family: “Humanly speaking, it is a tragedy, a reason for great sorrow, anger and confusion. It is only our faith in Jesus Christ that gives us the strength to celebrate the gift of Fr. Isaac’s life”.

The funeral was celebrated on 11 December in the chapel of the Generalate and was led by the Superior General, Fr. Enrique Sánchez González. The Ugandan embassy in Rome proved most helpful in preparing the documentation necessary for the transport of the body back to Uganda. After the Mass on 16 December, celebrated at the parish church of Mbuya, the remains were taken to Ombaci, stopping only at Fr. Isaac’s parish of Christ the King. The solemn requiem Mass was celebrated on 17 December at the mission of Ombaci, presided over by the Archbishop of Gulu, Mgr. John Baptist Odama. The body was then interred in the cemetery of the mission where the graves of other missionaries, including that of the Servant of God, Fr. Bernardo Sartori, are to be found.
Da MCCJ Bulletin n. 258 Suppl. In Memoriam, Gennaio 2014, p. 140-145.