This year marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, a human rights atrocity that left approximately one million Tutsi dead over the course of about 100 days.

Marcel Uwineza, a Jesuit priest and Boston College graduate, was a young teen in Rwanda in 1994. He was beaten and his home and all his family’s belongings were burned. His two brothers, a sister, and an aunt were killed. His mother was beaten and later died from her injuries. Fr. Uwineza and his three younger siblings were saved when a Hutu man hid them on his property.

Fr. Uwineza “illustrates the profound and enduring dynamics between the goodness and mercy of God on one hand, and the proclivity of sinful human nature to rebel against the divine call to 'Love God and neighbor' on the other” in his memoir, Risen from the Ashes: Theology as Autobiography in Post-Genocide Rwanda. He reviews the history that led to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and recounts the painful experience of being a witness to the genocide. He also writes of his journey to the priesthood and the liberating power of forgiveness—specifically, the moment when he forgave the man who killed his siblings.

Fr. Uwineza had returned to his village to pray at the burial site of his family. The man who killed his siblings had been released from jail and approached Fr. Uwineza, who was frightened and didn’t know what this man wanted from him. Then, the man knelt and asked for forgiveness. Fr. Uwineza raised the man up, embraced him, and said, “I forgive you.”

Risen from the Ashes also details how Fr. Uwineza has been using what he calls his “extra time” to be “a living bridge between the wounded in Rwanda and those who did the wounding.” He said: “I want to be a messenger of reconciliation and a way for people to reach God.”

When he was a BC doctoral candidate in 2019, he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He offered powerful personal testimony and forgave the U.N. and the international community for abandoning Rwanda in its time of need.

Fr. Uwineza co-organized a conference in Rwanda that assembled an international group of bishops, theologians, and multidisciplinary researchers to explore restoring fundamental peace and rebuilding lasting reconciliation as a Catholic Church in post-genocide Rwanda.

At the conference, Fr. Uwineza gave a talk titled “Reimagining Humanity: A Theology that Makes Sense of the Wounds of History,” where he compared the dry bones seen in the memorials in Rwanda to the country’s enduring scars, and he emphasized the theological imperative of memory.

Marcel Uwineza, S.J., a Boston College graduate and survivor of the genocide in Rwanda, is dedicated to creating a generation of peace-builders in Africa.

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