Father Joseph Bragotti had just finished talking about his harrowing years as a missionary in Uganda ? years in which he was alternately shot at, ambushed and arrested. And so the question was put to him directly: ?Were you ever afraid??

He paused for just a moment.

?When all of a sudden you have 50 people running out of the woods pointing their rifles at you,? he replied, ?it has a way of getting your attention.?

Father Bragotti spent many years in Uganda and other African countries with the Comboni Fathers, an Italian-based mission community also known as the Verona Fathers. With a wide background in Church communications, he?s now at the Combonis? US provincial headquarters in Cincinnati, where he directs the mission office. But as he looks back on a mission career that began with his ordination in 1962, his time in Africa, and especially in Uganda, is rarely far from his mind.

He was there during the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin, and during the time of the despotic tribal rulers who, however briefly, would follow him.

?They almost never made the news,? he said of the string of strongmen who came after Amin, ?because Amin himself was so flamboyant and got all the attention. But believe me, they were worse.?

Amin was deposed at the end of 1978, ?wiped out?, as Father Bragotti put it, by a coalition of rebel tribes. But the harmony didn?t last long, and the short-lived rulers seemed to outdo each other in repressing not only each other but also the people they were supposedly there to serve.

?People would flock to the churches every night,? he said. ?They knew they were safe there.?

More than once Father Bragotti relied not only on his faith but also his knowledge of Uganda and its people to get himself out of hot-water situations.

In the midst of the ambush referred to above, for example, he was told by a rebel warrior to get down on the ground. The rebel was stunned when the mission priest answered him back in the warrior?s own Ugandan dialect, and further taken aback with the answer itself: ?You know that in this country people with gray hair simply aren?t told to sit on the ground!? Father Bragotti was right about that local custom - and the surprised rebel quickly backed off.

Not long after the rebels released Father Bragotti and his companions, they were apprehended by government forces who wanted to know what had been going on. The group was held in isolation for eight full days, and even though the priest was never mistreated he said the uncertainty of their fate made for a fearful situation. What helped him through, he said, was the fact that he was a priest, and that the soldiers knew it. ?In many cases,? he said, ?their years in a mission school were among the best things in life they could remember. They were always grateful to the Church.?

Serving the people of Africa appealed to the future Father Bragotti even when he was just a boy in Italy, growing up in Milan. ?The pictures, the cards, the stories about the Combonis in Africa - it all had the sound of adventure,? he recalled. Sent to the United States to finish his education, he was ordained here and soon thereafter began his mission career. He was in Kampala, Uganda?s capital city, when the Idi Amin regime was being toppled, and during the long period of turmoil and conflict that followed.

?This made an impression on the people,? he continued. ?They could see that the Church was the only organisation that didn?t pick up and leave. It affected the people, even those who were more or less distant from any religion.

?After that, in times of suffering, they always turned to the Church for safety. The Church was a symbol of security.?

Back in the US for the past decade, Father Bragotti came away from his Uganda years with many memories ? most notably involving the people themselves.

?It was their faith that always buoyed me up,? he said. ?They never let me down.?

On World Mission Sunday, Bermuda?s Catholics will offer prayers for the Church?s missionary efforts throughout the Developing World while offering financial help to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.