Julius Nyerere: African Saint or Socialist Sinner?

Scottish Catholic Observer ^ | 1/10/20 | Ross Ahlfeld

[marshmallow]

Assessing a politician’s life often requires looking again at the contradictions they tried to resolve, finds Ross Ahlfeld as he remembers Tanzania’s first president Julius Nyerere

There are only really three essential components to create the perfect conditions for an edifying pilgrimage—an interesting destination, a decent packed lunch and a right good read for the train.

Ideally, your book should be a devotional or a breviary of some kind, especially if you are travelling to a location of some spiritual significance.

Having all three of these ducks in a row, I recently set out for Edinburgh, munching on a pork luncheon meat sandwich, drinking sugary tea from a flask while reading the new St Gregory’s Prayer Book, recently compiled by Ignatius Press for the Anglican Ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI back in 2010.

This beautiful little prayer book draws on the riches of Anglican liturgical heritage, using the exquisite Cranmerian language of the Book of Common Prayer to further enrich the panoply of our Catholic liturgy and devotion.

Texts

The text includes ancient English collects, introits, devotions and the Old Sarum prayers all in one prayer book, approved as Catholic liturgy.

At the time some Anglicans felt that Benedict’s 2011 Anglicanorum Coetibus which led to the creation of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, was somewhat predatory and opportunistic.

Hopefully, they’d now perhaps take comfort in the new St Gregory’s Prayer Book, representing what Emeritus Pope Benedict called the Anglican patrimony within the Catholic Church.

Mind you, the uptake turned out to be tiny and rather than assimilating vast swathes of Anglicans into the Church, the unexpected result of the Ordinariate has been to expose cradle RCs to the beauty of the Anglican tradition.

Certainly, the Ordinariate has been positive for the increase in unity and understanding between Catholics and.......

[Gay State Conservative]

I visited Tanzania...twice...while he was President. To call the parts of the country that I saw (including Dar Es Salaam) a cesspool would be an insult to cesspools.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Let’s see: Chicoms built him a railroad and he kicked them out Heh heh.

[CondorFlight]

A lot of the leaders of that time (Nehru, Nyerere, etc.) were educated in Britain to believe that socialism was the perfect economic system.Thus while the Empire died, it left behind
a heritage of belief in a progressive socialist future.

Alas...

[dangus]

Dictator for life who arbitrarily imprisoned opponents and ran his narion into the dirt with corruption-induced starvation and famine. Even wore a Hitler mustache.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Dar Es Salaam definitely qualified as a cesspool back then. And an unbearably hot and humid one at that.

Arusha area inland was much nicer, though.

[Gay State Conservative]

Yup,I remember Dar Es Salaam...and wish I didn't. We happened upon a fish market during one of our strolls and the stench still hasn't let my nostrils.

As for Arusha...we used the city as a jumping off point for Ngorongoro,Lake Manyara and Serengeti. I can't say that I was particularly impressed.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Did you stay at the Mt. Meru hotel? That was pretty much the only nice hotel in the area.

My dad lived in Arusha for 7 years, so we went over for a month or so every year. We actually loved it, though we had a different experience because we had our own house, servants, etc.. Weather was much nicer because of the altitude, there was a very vibrant expatriate community, and then there was obviously the proximity to Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Serentgeti, etc.. People were friendly also...unless you got stopped by some militia on the road, but that was only a risk for a relatively short period.

I actually have really great memories of it.