Who is Fr Gabriel Ngendakuriyo, the New Provincial Superior of the Salesians in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda

In a joyous celebration held on Thursday, August 15, 2024, Father Camiel SWERTVAGHER presided over the installation ceremony of the new provincial during a mass in the public chapel of Gatenga, coinciding with the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The Rector Major, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, with the consent of the other members of the General Council, on 26 June 2024, appointed Fr Gabriel Ngendakuriyo Superior of the St Charles Lwanga Vice-Province of Africa Great Lakes (AGL) for the 2024-2030 period.

Born on 3 July 1954 in Mugongo Kabarore, in the territory of the diocese of Ngozi, Burundi, Fr Gabriel Ngendakuriyo is now 69 years old. He joined the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1978, making his novitiate in Butare, Rwanda, and professing his first vows on 9 September 1979. He then made his perpetual profession on 22 July 1984 in Kicukiro and was ordained a priest on 11 August 1987 in Lubumbashi.

Fr Ngendakuriyo held several positions of responsibility for the Salesian Congregation, including Rector of the Theological Studentate in Lubumbashi (1999-2005), Rector of the Provincial House in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2005-2006) – when the territories of the current Vice-Province were still part of the Province of Central Africa (AFC); he was also Vice-Provincial of AFC (2005-2006) and then first superior of the new AGL Vice-Province from 2006 to 2012.

Subsequently, he continued his service to young people and his AGL confreres as Rector of the Bujumbura-Buterere community (2013-2015) and of the Blessed Michele Rua community at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome (2015-2021).

A polyglot, Fr Ngendakuriyo speaks Kirundi, French and Italian fluently. He has extensive experience in the formation and animation of Salesian communities.