During a
Memorial Mass for the deceased President Julius Nyerere in the Catholic
Church at Butiama, Tanzania in December, 1999 many of the Maryknoll
priests and Sisters recalled a special moment or anecdote in our long
relationship with Nyerere.  I mentioned arriving at my new assignment of Iramba
Parish in 1982 and visiting the retired catechist Petro Masswe who proudly told
me:  “I am President Nyerere’s godfather.”  He went on to explain that he
was the head catechist at Iramba when most of the baptisms in Musoma Diocese
took place in Nyegina Parish.  Nyerere became a Catholic in 1943 when he was 21
years old.   Since there were so few Catholics in his Zanaki Ethnic Group he
asked Masswe to be godfather and baptismal sponsor when he was baptized in the
Nyegina Mission Chapel in December, 1943.   Petro proudly recalled later being
invited to visit President Nyerere and his wife Maria and to stay overnight at
the Presidential State House in Dar es Salaam.  For a simple man from rural
Tanzania this was for Petro an “awesome” experience.