When Emmanuel Katongole was growing up in rural Uganda, his family’s life centered on a 3-acre plot of land where they grew coffee, beans, maize, bananas and other food crops. A nearby spring, accessible by a short trek down a forest path, provided ample water. Their parcel of land was small, but it produced enough to feed their family of nine and occasionally provide a surplus, which his parents would sell to earn money for school fees and other essentials.

“There was nothing romantic about this lifestyle,” said Katongole, now a professor of theology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and a priest of the Archdiocese of Kampala. “It was tough. But though it was simple, it was marked by a deep sense of belonging to family, community, the land and the nearby forest.”

Life in Katongole’s home village looks vastly different today.

Located 16 miles west of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, the village of Malube is now far more populous, with many of its young adult inhabitants looking for work. The surrounding forest has been destroyed by deforestation, the nearby spring has dried up, and the crops struggle to survive amid degraded soil and erratic rainfall.

What has happened in Malube mirrors broader challenges throughout Uganda — and much of Africa: rising poverty, youth unemployment and accelerating environmental degradation. These intertwined crises were highlighted by Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, which calls for an “integral ecology” that recognizes the deep interconnection between the health of people and the planet.

Katongole connected deeply with the document’s emphasis on the interconnected “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Its publication 10 years ago coincided with his 25th ordination anniversary, and he felt called to respond in a transformative, tangible way.

A new vision takes root

Collaborating with two fellow Ugandan priests, the Rev. Cornelius Ssempala and the late Rev. Anthony Rweza, Katongole co-founded the Bethany Land Institute (BLI), a residential ecological training center located in Luwero District, about 50 miles north of Kampala.

The institute’s goal is both ambitious and deeply grounded: to train a new generation of Ugandan leaders in sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurship and ecological restoration – all rooted in Catholic spirituality and the message of Laudato Si’. This vision of integral ecology is not just theory at BLI – it is lived, cultivated and put into practice daily on its campus.

Though progress cannot be expedited when working with the land, BLI has already seen many successes that are visible both in the regeneration of the land and its young people. Before BLI took over the care of the forest, the only natural forest within 130 miles of Kampala, its bird population had been decimated and its network of streams had run dry. (In the last 30 years Uganda has lost more than 50 percent of its forest cover to deforestation.)

Today, 270 bird species can be documented and the streams are flowing again. Notre Dame researchers and BLI staff have begun studying the soil quality and have discovered early empirical evidence that soil health is improving.

As the land has been restored, so have the dreams and goals of BLI’s trainees, called “caretakers.” Some of them return to their family’s land with their newfound knowledge and skills or pursue further agricultural education and training, while others receive short-term loans to start microbusinesses.

“When the caretakers come to Bethany Land Institute, some of them don't want to work with the land; many of them have personal problems,” Katongole said. “The training we provide takes into consideration not only the well-being of the earth, but the well-being of them as people. By the end of two years, you can see the level of confidence, the level of excitement, the level of really, passion and working with the land.”

The caretakers’ formation includes a reframing of what it means to work the land, Katongole said. Many young people in Uganda are drawn to city life, yet limited economic opportunities lead to high unemployment and deeper poverty, often giving rise to urban slums.

“There’s a pervasive idea that rural life is ‘backward’, that true progress means one has to live in a city and work in a white-collar job,” Katongole said. “But one can actually have a sustainable and beautiful and good livelihood in rural communities.”

BLI currently houses 35 caretakers, and 36 have graduated from the two-year program since its inception. While enrolled in the two-year program, the caretakers teach their newfound skills to community members in the adjacent village of Luweero, where one of Uganda’s oldest churches, Our Lady of Grace, serves as a hub.

BLI’s acreage is leased from the local Diocese of Kasana-Luweero. In addition to the forest, it also includes farmland, dormitory-style housing for the caretaker trainees, a guest house, offices and several classrooms.

Early challenges

BLI’s three founders encountered some early challenges. The original parcel of land the group had acquired was contested in court, an obstacle that unexpectedly opened the door to a critical partnership with then-Bishop of Kasana-Luweero — now Archbishop of Kampala — Paul Ssemogerere.

“People were referring to Laudato Si’, but we had not done anything about it here,” Ssemogerere said. “So I thought this was a sign that came from God — requesting me to do something in the diocese.”

Ssemogerere offered the group access to diocesan land in Nandere — a site that had access to the highway, remnants of forest cover, and buildings that could be repurposed. The location became the foundation for what is now BLI’s 400-acre campus.

“Historically, the Church has been given land in Uganda — by kings, chiefs, and communities — for evangelization, schools and health work,” Ssemogerere said. “Using it now to protect creation and train young people to live from the land continues that mission.”

BLI’s name is inspired by the biblical village of Bethany — home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus — symbolizing prayer, work, hospitality, healing and community. These figures also serve as metaphors for BLI’s three components of formation:

• Mary’s School is situated on a farm that serves as a hands-on training space for regenerative agriculture, including composting, livestock, seed saving, agroforestry and diversified crop production.

• Martha’s Market is a business and entrepreneurship hub, where trainees learn to manage savings, run small agricultural businesses and market produce such as bananas, cassava and nuts.

• Lazarus Forest focuses on ecological restoration. Trainees help manage a tree nursery, plant trees across the campus, and lead reforestation projects in surrounding communities — bringing dead or degraded land back to life.

The village of Bethany in scripture has long served as an inspiration for Katongole’s theology. Among his many books is “Stories from Bethany: On the Faces of the Church in Africa,” which features biblical reflections from the Gospel stories that take place in Bethany and connects them to an African context.

A 10-year anniversary

This past July, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the publication of Laudato Sí, BLI hosted a three-day conference on its property. “10 Years After Laudato Si’: Where is Africa?” drew more than 140 scholars, activists and practitioners from 10 African countries, Europe and North America. Co-sponsored by the University of Notre Dame and the nonprofit group Taproot Earth, the conference featured a keynote address by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, a longtime senior Vatican official who at one time was considered a frontrunner to replace Pope Francis.

“Introducing biodiversity and conservation to a community and a neighborhood is something all dioceses can learn and must learn,” said Turkson, who spent several days touring BLI. “It’s a concrete way of implementing the message of Laudato Sí. It’s striking the success they have been able to achieve . . . from conserving forests to purifying the air to encouraging local citizens to earn a living and produce life-sustaining crops. I’ll stop short of calling it magic, but it’s an experience I will recommend to everybody. BLI is an initiative the rest of Africa can and should emulate.”

Sowing the future

Building on BLI’s early successes, Katongole and the BLI staff are looking to expand its reach. The next step is to expand the impact of integral ecology to nearby parishes, starting with a 10-square-mile area known as Nandere. There, BLI is launching what Katongole calls the Parish Integral Ecological Model — a bold experiment in transforming not just land, but livelihoods and local economies through faith-based ecological renewal.

“If we see that the ecology, the economics and the livelihoods of this community are really being impacted,” Katongole said, “then we can take this model to other parishes — not only in the Diocese of Kasana-Luweero, but throughout Uganda, and hopefully across Africa.”

He believes the Ugandan Catholic Church, with its spiritual authority and vast land holdings, can become a leader in sustainable development.

“If we take this model and implement it on church land,” he said, “the Church can actually become a model of sustainable livelihoods and ecological transformation in Africa.”

Despite the intensive demands of frequent travel between Uganda and Notre Dame, Katongole says this work is part of his vocation.

“I'm a professor at Notre Dame. I don’t have to do this,” Katongole said. “But I’ve come to believe that vocations choose us. I started by simply wanting to plant 10 acres of forest — and then one thing led to another. I realized I couldn't turn back.”

Katongole’s personal story — a journey from a small village in Uganda to an elite university and back again — reflects a theology that is not just studied, but also practiced.

“I am uniquely positioned to do this work,” he said. “If I didn’t do it, who would?”

In a region facing multiple overlapping crises, BLI is more than a training institute — it's a sign of what’s possible when love for the land, a belief in the power of community, faith, science and hope converge.

“This is not just about restoring the land,” Katongole said. “It’s about restoring lives, restoring dignity, and restoring our sense of responsibility to each other — and to our common home.”

Related videos

• Rebuilding hope: Fr. Emmanuel Katongole and the vision behind Bethany Land Institute
• Learning from the land: A student’s journey in integral ecology at Bethany Land Institute
• A summer of discovery: An undergraduate’s journey at Bethany Land Institute
• Beyond the classroom: An internship summer in Uganda

Originally published by Renée LaReau at keough.nd.edu on October 17, 2025.