By Jeff Kenney Citizen editor
Taking up the mantle as parish priest at Culver’s St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church (and priest to Culver Academies’ many Roman Catholic students) is a man who brings two attributes to the parish which are firsts for the Culver community. He is, first of all, the first parish priest at St. Mary’s to hail from Africa (specifically, the country of Uganda). He’s also officially a monsignor, an honorary title bestowed by the pope himself, though Fr. Thaddeus Balinda is quick to ask to be called “Father,” as is typical of Catholic priests, and not “Monsignor,” and for that matter would prefer to be simply, “Father Tad.”

The youngest of eight children born in a country village in western Uganda, Balinda was actually born at the Roman Catholic parish at which his father was head catechist over other catechists (teachers of the Catholic faith). Most of the priests at the Fort Portal parish of Balinda’s childhood — when he says he received his calling to be a priest — were white priests from Canada working as missionaries in Africa.
After attending high school locally, Fr. Balinda spent six years in minor seminary, ending in 1985 when he took his first phase of major seminary (in philosophy, in his case), ending with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, to which he added one year of work in a Catholic parish to prepare him for that part of his upcoming work. Earning a theology degree in 1992, Fr. Balinda was ordained a priest that same year, assigned a rural parish for a year before being sent by his bishop to Rome to earn his master’s degree in canon law — with a special emphasis on marriage cases — which he then began to teach in the seminary.
Starting in 1998, Fr. Balinda was appointed to be Judicial Vicar of his diocese, which meant he was head of the Catholic tribunal which hears church members’ marriage cases. For five years during that time, he was also chaplain in a Catholic high school and from 2004 until his arrival in America in 2008, was rector of the minor seminary in his diocese as well as the Vicar General of the entire diocese.
A Roman Catholic bishop, notes Balinda, has no official assistant, so the Vicar General acts as a sort of assistant to the bishop (“vicar” being one who “stands in the place of”); it’s by virtue of that office that Fr. Balinda wears the monsignor title, as a result of a request typically made by the local bishop and granted by Rome.
“I don’t like to be distinguished,” adds Balinda hastily. “I like to be part of the rest of the priests and be simple enough to be close to my people, so (the title) remains in official writings, but I prefer to be called ‘Father.’ It’s that I was ordained, and I’m proud of it.”
Fr. Balinda came to America as a result of an ongoing relationship between the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend – of which St. Mary’s in Culver is a part – and a request by this diocese’s Bishop John D’Arcy. Fr. Balinda is the fourth Ugandan priest in this diocese.
“My own bishop thought I needed a change of place, to be fresh and new. I know there is a lot of work here.
“Another reason is…the benefit I have to work in the United States to get more experience in my pastoral ministry. The more you work with a cross-section of people, the more experience you get. I have to learn the way to greet people in America, in Culver. And at the Academy I’ll be dealing with the youth of America. It’s both challenging and enriching…this is a different experience (than I had in Uganda). It’s more pastoral and less office work.”
Fr. Balinda arrived in Fort Wayne in January, 2009 and was surprised to hear he was being assigned his own parish after just six months in America.
“The bishop told me this (St. Mary’s) is a small, strong, vibrant community. We have many Catholics at the Academy who need our attention, and that’s what I’ve seen.
“At the time of the announcement, Fr. Glenn (Khorman, parish priest in Culver for the past eight years) was there. Here was a very open priest, and he started telling me quite a lot about Culver; almost every day we talked, and he told me this and that. I found him a very good man, very open and helpful. You can imagine my situation at that time; if the pastor was closed in, it would have been a bit difficult for me! I’m finding it easy because of Glenn and Margaret (Bowersox), the church secretary, and the ladies who come take care of the (church rectory). The Knights of Columbus, the finance council — almost everyone is very helpful.”
Culver is certainly a bit different in its economic breakdown than Fr. Balinda’s past parish in Uganda, a country whose average income is still below one dollar per day, he notes. There, Roman Catholics make up about 47 percent of the population, while Protestants (mostly Anglicans) make up 35 percent, with a small percentage of Muslims and Pentecostals as well.
Fr. Balinda is aware that, at Culver Academies, he’ll be helping build “future leaders of this and different countries… I would like to share with them the Catholic faith within their age so that they experience God at their age. Together we can move towards more love for God in view that these youths are actually our future leaders who need strong faith and morals, and a clear vision about life.”
At the parish and in the Culver community, Fr. Balinda says he’s looking forward to working with the people here, and not just Roman Catholics.
“I’m a pastor of the Catholic community here,” he explains, “but I would like to collaborate with all people, not only Catholics, to be open to all people if I have the chance.
I’m looking forward to being a son of the people here…not only as their priest but as one of them.”