“You must open the door to your heart so that Jesus can come inside and bring peace and healing. This door unlocks only with the keys of forgiveness and mercy.”

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of Rev. Ubald Rugirangoga, founder of the Center for the Secret of Peace in Rwanda, and author of Forgiveness Makes You Free.

Fr. Ubald died in Utah on January 7, 2021, from complications of COVID-19. He had been in the United States for almost a year because of quarantine restrictions.

Fr. Ubald traveled the world performing healing masses, which many attribute to their personal healing from major illnesses. He directed the Center for the Secret of Peace as a way to foster healing and reconciliation following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He lost more than eighty of his family members and more than 45,000 parishioners during the genocide. Calling himself “a shepherd to these sheep that have run away and are afraid to follow the shepherd’s voice,” Fr. Ubald helped many of those who perpetrated the genocide reconcile with and find forgiveness from the families of those they killed. He said, “I preach it here in Rwanda, and I preach it wherever the opportunity arises elsewhere. For there are other sheep, all over the world, who need to hear this message, that forgiveness is the secret of peace.”

An ecumenical memorial service is planned for early February at Our Lady of the Mountains in Jackson, Wyoming, which was his home base in the United States. Later in February, Most Rev. David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay will preside at a service at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah. Fr. Ubald’s body will be present for the service. His body will be returned to Rwanda sometime in March and he is expected to be buried at the Center for the Secret of Peace.

May Fr. Ubald rest in the Peace of Christ and may those who need healing and forgiveness find it through his intercession.

“To decide to forgive, or to decide to beg forgiveness, is often very difficult. On our own, it can be impossible. There is only one sure way to find the strength to forgive those who have wounded us, and that is to decide to live for Jesus. Jesus is the one who gives us strength to forgive the impossible.”

Read more about Fr. Ubald in this beautiful tribute.
To read more about Fr. Ubald’s work, visit his website: https://frubald.com.