By CHIMPREPORTS
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called upon church leaders to take the lead in mobilizing the faithful under their stewardship to embrace the National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Wealth Creation Campaign.
President Museveni says that the clergy need to mobilize the masses to engage in income-generating activities, to work hard rather than believing in prayer and fasting.
“All they need to do is to emulate Jesus Christ,” Museveni said, adding besides fasting and praying, Jesus also earned his bread by working alongside his father Joseph.
This was in his Message read by the Vice President Rtd. Maj. Jessica Alupo during the centenary celebrations of Our Lady of Good Shepherd at Rushoroza Cathedral Parish in the Southern Division of Kabale Municipality in Kabale District.
He urged Christians to champion the fight against poverty, revealing that 39% of households in the country are still trapped in subsistence farming, working solely for sustenance. He emphasized the NRM’s message of social-economic transformation, highlighting sectors where families, individuals, and companies can create jobs and wealth to guarantee prosperity.
President Museveni says that the founding of the Catholic faith ushered positive spiritual and material transformation in the Kigezi sub-region, as it instilled good moral among the faithful, planted the fear of God in people’s hearts and cultivated the practice of good neighborliness in the community.
“When the white fathers arrived in Nyarushanje in 1909, they came with the goal of using converts to Christian faith of bringing enlightenment to Kigezi. At the time our communities still backward, that’s to say, illiterate, poor and underdeveloped. The missionaries work did not stop at spiritual conversion, but also it involved teaching the new converts how to read, write and count,” said President Museveni.
President Museveni congratulated Rushoroza Cathedral Parish on its 100 years, applauding them for advocating change in society through health, education, and economic growth initiatives.
State Minister of Finance Henry Musasizi Ariganyira led the politicians from Kigezi Subregion in a series of tributes to the Kabale Diocesan leadership and conveyed special thanks to President Yoweri Museveni for his continued financial support towards the Annual Bishop’s Annual Appeal Fund (BAAF) and the ongoing construction works aimed at tarmacking Rushoroza Road that links the Kabale Diocese Headquarters to Kabale-Katubna Road.
Minister Musasizi highlighted the active support of Christians in the region, identifying them as primary advocates for government programs, such as the parish development model.
David Bahati, the State Minister for Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, commended Bishop Callistus Rubaramira of Kabale Diocese for leading the fight against ignorance and health issues by establishing health and education facilities. Bahati also urged Christians to reject sectarianism based on region and tribe, to combat poverty in the area.
Several dignitaries, including members of parliament from the Districts of Kigezi, attended the celebration. The celebrations began with a Holy Mass, led by the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Luigi Bianco, as the main celebrant, assisted by Bishop Callist Rubaramira.
Bishop Rubaramira recounted the history of Rushoroza Parish, which began in November 1923. According to Rubaramira, Rushoroza parish started in November 1923 and it was Bishop Henri Streicher who took the courage and the risk to venture into the Kigezi region by sending the first catechists Yohana Ssebalija in 1909 and Yohana Kitagana in 1911.
Kitagana was sent as the providential man who started in Nyarushanje and later came to start the Christian Community of Rushoroza, assisted by Athanase Nalugumbula and the team of the many catechists that participated in the early ministry.
Remegio Byamukama, the Chairperson for Rushoroza Cathedral Parish Council, noted that the Parish has invested a lot of energy and resources to adhere to the Bishop’s campaign of reaching out to small Christian communities. He said that they are preparing a parish called Kyanamira for a future parish, and the priests’ house will soon be completed.
Sam Arinaitwe, the Chairperson of LC3 for Central Division, along with other Christians, congratulated Rushoroza Cathedral Parish on the milestone of marking 100 years.
The campaign to renovate Rushoroza Cathedral Parish and buy pews was launched during the event, with donations from various dignitaries towards the cause.
Minister Musasizi contributed 30 million, Hon Bahati 30 million, Hon Ndamira 7.5 million, Hon Prossy 1.5 million, H.E. Jessica Alupo 15 million, and President Museveni 50 million towards the cause.
In his speech, read by Vice President Rtd. Maj. Jessica Alupo on Sunday, President Museveni narrated about the 1909 arrival of the White Fathers at Nyarushanje in Rukungri to launch a spiritual and economic drive that established education and health centers, which stirred social and economic transformation in the Kigezi sub-region.
Founded in November 1923 by Henri Streicher, this cathedral stands as the inaugural Catholic Cathedral in Kigezi. Streicher, the then Catholic Missionary Bishop overseeing the Rwenzori Vicariate (now Mbarara Archdiocese), proclaimed its establishment as a means to extend the Gospel of God closer to the local communities.
Minister Musasizi used the same platform to announce that the government had successfully distributed up to 99% of the PDM funds released in the last financial year to the target beneficiaries.
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