Augustine Ndeliakyama Shao

Augustine Ndeliakyama Shao was born in Rombo District, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania,[1] on 25 September 1951[2] the youngest child of Lusia Manyange and Mwaleli Mabolio Malamsha. His mother died when he was 9 and his father, a coffee farmer and polygamist, when he was a teenager.[3]

Despite family opposition, he studied at Usambu seminary in Kenya and Uru seminary in Moshi, Tanzania. He was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (known as the Spiritans or Holy Ghost Fathers) on 4 June 1983. He was initially assigned to the Diocese of Monze in Zambia and then worked briefly in the diocese of Livingstone. He studied missiology in Germany at the University of Bonn while engaged in youth ministry in Knechtsteden from 1986 to 1989. He worked in the United States at the University of Duquesne until he was elected to two terms as his order's provincial superior for the East African Province, serving from 1990 to 1996.[3][4]

He then returned to Duquesne and was teaching there[3] when Pope John Paul II named him bishop of Zanzibar in Tanzania on 30 November 1996.[5] He received his episcopal consecration on 27 April 1997[2] from Polycarp Pengo, Archbishop of Dar es Salaam, assisted by two members of the Spiritans, Bishops Bernard Ngaviliau, his predecessor in Zanzibar, and Dennis Durning, Bishop Emeritus of Arusha.[3] As his episcopal motto he chose "Pax et Unitas" (Peace and Unity).[3]

In 2000, he described the role of a 21st-century missionary:[6]

Today the missionary must sink into the culture of the people.... The missionary must be patient enough to sit down and learn why the people do what they do.... The missionary must be willing to be a student now and then.

On another occasion he explained the evolution of the missionary's appreciation of African culture: "Africans were seen as an empty tin: you had to pour water to fill it... not true. Africans knew God before any missionaries came."[6]

On 20 June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.[7]

At the Synod of Bishops special assembly for Africa in October 2009, he advised that the Catholic bishops of Africa needed to:[8]

...change our mind set about our own cultures, traditions and taboos used and practiced by African traditional religions. The language and the names given to these groups do not at all encourage dialogue and openness. The names like pagans and animist do not allow one to tell the truth about his/her faith. As a result you have Sunday Christians and African traditional religion practice the other six days of the week. The Church in Africa should in every way struggle to harmonize and bring at peace the consciences of the African faithful who seek to be true disciples of Christ, but find themselves on the cross roads.

In a 2010 interview with Vatican Radio, he addressed the question of enculturation of the Catholic faith in Africa, calling for a deeper appreciation of culture based on an examination of local traditions and a detailed understanding of local religious beliefs and practices, which would allow them to be embodied according to Gospel truths.[9]

His principal challenge as bishop has been violence against priests on the part of Muslim terrorists.[10]

• Shao, A., "Interreligious Dialogue in Zanzibar" in Spiritan Horizons, February 2020[4]

Additional sources

• "Rt. Rev. Augustino Shao, CSSp., Bishop of Zanzibar, celebrates the Silver Jubilee of his Episcopate in a colourful ceremony at Amani Stadium". Catholic Diocese of Zanzibar. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

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• Bishop Augustine Ndeliakyama Shao, C.S.Sp. on Catholic-hierarchy.org