Fr. Godfrey Tuhairwe is a diocesan Catholic priest from the diocese of Hoima in midwestern part of Uganda, East Africa. His parish includes St. Julie Mission in Buseesa. Before pandemic restrictions on travel, Fr. Godfrey made several visits to California to participate in the Archdiocesan Mission Cooperative program.
Ugandan Martyr’s parish began 25 years ago, but there has never been a Church to adequately serve the growing Catholic population. The previous chapel only held 300 people. For the last ten years, Father Godfrey has been struggling to build a new central Parish Church. The current population in the entire Parish area which he serves is over twenty thousand people of which 85 % are all Catholics. Because of the rapid population growth, the existing chapel can no longer accommodate the congregation that prays there. The Parish is divided into fourteen chapels, but still, this does not solve the problem. The newly built church accommodates at least one thousand people in every Mass.
The community he is serving is extremely poor but strong in their faith. They find a lot of consolation when they gather for prayers. Their daily income is about $1 on average. The Sisters of Notre Dame were delighted to be a part of the joy-filled dedication of the new parish. You can see some of the highlights of the celebration in this Youtube video, including our own Sr. Rozaria Katusabe, SND! We rejoice with the Ugandan SNDs as they enjoy the new physical Church that supports the vibrant community of faith that has already existed.
And a special thank you to ALL of the donors towards the SND mission in East Africa.