MESSAGE OF HIS GRACE PAUL SSEMOGERERE ON THE PARISH DAY OF NAGGULU PARISH

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the People of God in Naggulu Parish, accept my heartfelt greetings and congratulations as you celebrate your parish day. I call upon you, first and foremost to offer our deepest gratitude and praises to the Almighty God for the countless spiritual and material favors He has bestowed upon us all. Indeed, God deserves the glory and honor (Rev. 4: 11); for every good and perfect gift is from God, coming down from the Father (James 1: 17).

In a special way, I greatly thank you; Fr. Joseph Mary Bbuye, the Parish Priest, and all Priests with whom you serve, for your commitment, the pastoral zeal and  the fruitfulness in your entire Parish apostolate which are highly appreciated. Dear leaders, right from the Basic Christian Communities up to the leading Council of the Laity; thank you for the tremendous service of love that you are offering for our Mother Church.

Your theme of the day: “United with Love and Harmony (Col.3:14); Let us build Naggulu Parish’, rightly befits the day’s celebration.  When Jesus prayed for us in the Gospel of John, His primary desire was that we would all be one: “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name – the name You gave Me – so that they may be one as We are one” (John 17:11). I encourage you with the desire of Christ to remain one, walking together in faith as a family of God, in love of one another and in unity to build Naggulu Parish.

Unity for believers ought to begin at the level of the family before it can truly characterize the Church. God created families and wanted them to be united. He gave many specific instructions to families, but above all to love the Lord. As we strive to become better Christians let us always endeavor to always remain united in Christ our head.

I entrust you all to the powerful intercession of your Patron Saint, St. Jude to intercede for your endeavors. Finally, I invite everyone to make every effort towards being witnesses of the Gospel both in our actions and words taking the example of Saint Jude your Patron Saint. I confer my Episcopal blessing upon all of you.

†Paul Ssemogerere

ARCHBISHOP OF KAMPALA

Sun 30, Jun 2024 04:06 am

70 Years of Dispensing God’s Grace

With heartfelt joy, I send cordial greetings to you dear parishioners and well-wishers of our Lady and St. Jude Parish Naggulu. Today we are celebrating a remarkable day in the history of this place; 70 years of existence down the road is a milestone worth celebrating. Let me use the words of the psalmist, “this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” [Ps. 118:24]. Indeed we have a reason to celebrate this day as we glorify the Lord who called this parish into being. By celebrating Naggulu parish’s existential endurance for 7 decades, we are as well acknowledging God’s providential grace to His people.  He has never abandoned this place from its inception to date.

We are also celebrating the legacies of the 70 years of Catholic mission in Naggulu. So many people have been touched differently and now serving the Church and the State in various capacities. Looking at the fruits we have harvested over years, it is right to celebrate this day with great honours. In the spirit of upholding the legacies of our forefathers, let us take it upon ourselves to see to it that nothing of what was received withers in our hands. 

The year 1954 is remarkable in the history of this place. It was during this time that the concerted efforts of Bishop Vincent Billington in collaboration with Father Henry Steegmans brought about the establishment of a young Church. These were faithful custodians who through their teachings laid a firm foundation for Naggulu parish. But as you know, nature dictates that the course of our life is short; we wither and bodily life comes to an end, so it was the case with the founding fathers. At this point I acknowledge the efforts of my predecessors who picked from him (Fr. Steegmans); all parish priests and their curates who over years exercised spiritual, pastoral and moral stewardship. It was out of the tireless efforts of these animators of spiritual life that no wave has ever shook this parish to its foundations. I also acknowledge all lay leaders over years who dedicated their efforts to serve God at Naggulu parish in various capacities such as, catechists, executive committee members, sacristans, lectors, choristers and in all other capacities. However, some priests and lay people are now resting in the peace of Christ, let us unceasingly keep them in prayer.

Most of us at face value are looking at 70 years as the reason to celebrate, but here comes a question: What is the gist of this celebration? The most outstanding answer is that, we are celebrating God’s presence amidst his people. He has dwelt in the Church at Naggulu for the last 70 years, dispensing graces to His people through the celebration of sacraments by priests. The latter turns out to be the reality because Holy Mother Church basically sanctifies and teaches her children. These distinguishing characteristics draw us to the primary and sole mission of the

Church, that is, the “salvation of souls” [can. 1752]. Through the sanctifying office, priests as channels of grace have been celebrating sacraments here since 1954. All peoples regardless of the state of life have been receiving graces making them worthy to stand before God. Therefore, the gist of our celebration is embedded in the 70 years of unceasingly channeling God’s graces and love to humankind.

Again as faithful stewards of the word of God, we are also celebrating 70 years of defending the deposit of faith (word of Scripture and Tradition) as handed over by the teaching authority of the Church (magisterium) headed by the Pope which gives the guidance on the doctrines to carry forward. Naggulu parish through its priests and responsible lay men and women has in union with the Holy Father defended the doctrinal positions of the Church.  It has carefully without alterations of teachings directed the people of God ably well in terms of faith and morals. The teaching function is so important especially during our time when many people more so the young generation are torn apart by ungodly mundane ideologies, policies, propaganda and doctrines. With all these facts on our fingertips we can come to a conclusion that the Church at Naggulu is well represented as a mother and teacher. She has parented many in virtues as she plants the faith. Thence, we are celebrating not only years of existence, but also the visible impact of the existence on God’s people.

I invite you in the spirit of our diocesan theme, that is “We the baptized let us journey together in communion, participation and mission” to join efforts by picking from where our forefathers left the task. No one can carry on this role individually, let us pray that we may be permeated by the spirit of love and harmony as we build Naggulu parish. The characteristic of cultural diversity which defines our parish at times may scare the onlookers, yet for us it is our strength because we exploit the richness of every culture for the good of our faith. All other trial moments should not derail us from achieving the common goal. Further still, in the spirit of togetherness, I thank my immediate co-worker, Fr. Viatory Muvunyi and the executive committee headed by Hon. Margaret Nantongo Zziwa Babu for the commendable work being done as we seek to lift Naggulu parish to greater heights. 

Finally, I invite you to dedicate your energies and zeal towards spiritual, moral, pastoral and infrastructural development of our home, Naggulu parish. It is you and me to come up with good polices, systems and structures that will bridge some loopholes which have affected us for the past 70 years. Let us unanimously revisit the drawing board every now and then whenever need arises so as to re-strategize and come to terms with modern challenges. This will enable us to establish a lasting parish which our grandsons and daughters will live to witness. 

Rev. Fr. Joseph Mary Bbuye

Sun 30, Jun 2024 04:06 am

CONGRATULATIONS UPON OUR PLATINUM JUBILEE

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady and St. Jude Naggulu; 

Allow me to welcome you all to this great day in which we are celebrating 70 years of our existence as a Parish. May the good Lord be praised!

I wish to congratulate our Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Joseph Mary Bbuye, our Curate Rev. Fr. Viatory Muvunyi, and also welcome as well as thank Rev. Fr. Kasule, who has been with us this whole month.  I would also like to use this opportunity to thank all the visiting Priests who celebrate masses with our Parishioners on Sundays, especially the 12:00 Noon Mass, the 1:30 pm Mass, and sometimes the 5:00 pm. charismatic Mass; namely: Rev Fr. Michael Abok, Rev. Fr. Camillus Chandini,  Rev. Fr. Peter Debo ,  Rev. Fr. Godfrey Guma, Rev. Fr. Angulia and Rev. Fr. Onzima.

I would also like to congratulate the New Parish leadership of which I am privileged to be one, the 18 members of the Executive Committee, and all the leaders in the Basic Christian Communities. Let us all thank God for this opportunity and pray for the Holy Spirit to enable us to ably serve the people of God and the Parish of Naggulu.

Special thanks to our former Ssabakristu Mrs. Margaret Sheila Matovu who led Naggulu Parish for over 13 years, to her Committee Members for their dedicated service and commitment towards the growth and development of our Parish and the Parishioners both spiritually and physically.

As a maturing Parish, I wish on behalf of the Parishioners, to wholeheartedly appreciate and thank our fore-runner Priests and Leaders, beginning with Rev. Fr. Henry Steegmans, the many Parish Priests some of whom were Monsignors namely: Monsignor Kanyi, and Monsignor Kamya (R.I.P).  They were pragmatic in spreading the devotion of St. Jude and established the many physical developments we currently enjoy. These Priests and Monsignors formed the foundation of the Parish on which we currently stand. Many of them have gone on ahead to be with the Lord. May we continue to pray for and remember them too.

On behalf of the Parishioners of Naggulu, I extend our profound appreciation to the Archbishop and Ordinary of Kampala Archdiocese, His Grace Paul Semwogerere, for his continuous support and guidance in matters of the general development of our Parish, as was done by his predecessor Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga (RIP) and His Eminence Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala.  As our Leaders, their approval and guidance meant a great deal towards the success of many of the innovations proposed by the Parish Council and indeed The Our Lady and St Jude CITY concept which gave birth to the NEW CHURCH PROJECT FOR THE NAGGULU SHRINE.  

When the Old Church was demolished 2 years ago (in April 2022) and the foundation of the new Church was being excavated, there were emotions of happiness and fear, and it could have been compared to that time when the children of Israel had left Egypt. Happiness because it was like we were going into a new Church which we could only see a picture of and its artistic impressions, and at the same time fear because it was not physically there and we had inadequate funds to build expeditiously and complete the new church. Then there was COVID which has also taken its’ toll on us. However, as St. Paul has always encouraged us and told us not to fear, we all then poured out all that we had in our hearts and aspirations to God and prayed through St. Jude. 

We then looked at how to marshal our resources, called on Devotees, family both home and abroad, and have so far made progress with the construction and finished Phase 1 through to Phase 2, and have now initiated Phase 3. We thank God that we have made it this far.  The Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Joseph Bbuye, the Chairman of the Building Committee, the team of Engineers, the Building and Fundraising Committees are acknowledged for their resourcefulness and drive.   An update on the progress has been put in a report by the Chairman of the Building Committee. All the other committees are also herein appreciated; the Finance Committee, the Fundraising Committee and the Prayer Committees. Thank you all for your individual initiatives.

Our Parish is composed of 8 Small Basic Christian Communities namely   St. Antony, St. Balikudembe, St. Charles Lwanga. St. Gonzaga Gonza, St. Kizito, St. Jude Nakawa Market, St. Ponsiano and St. Paul. Each of these Small Basic Christian Communities (BCC) are appreciated for the extra efforts they have put in to support the construction of the New Shrine. Fundraising initiatives have been made at the family level, especially in each phase, and the Tofali (brick) “harambe”.  These garnered a lot of funds from ‘Bubondos’. (SBCC’s).  The Parish Executive has visited all 8 ‘Bubondos’ (SBCC’s) and each has made contributions towards the Church Construction, this was in addition to the Christmas and Easter collections. We thank you all for these collections.  We equally appreciate those who have made donations but preferred to remain anonymous.

The fundraising drive towards the church construction has enabled us to draw in a number of segmented teams; i.e. the Professionals, Business Community, the Parliamentarians, the Teachers, Medical Doctors and Practitioners, Lawyers, Engineers and Accountants among others. All these groups donated generously, especially during the Novena. An initiative to fundraise in the different Masses also yielded considerable funds namely; the Daily 6.30 am, the 7:00am, and the  1:00 pm masses while not forgetting the positive response to this campaign too from  the GANAL,  Mbarara Ecclesiastical,Tororo Ecclesiastical and Kampala Ecclesiastical Provinces which have all made formidable contributions, we thank YOU  all. To the specific church groups like Catholic Women’s Guild and Men’s Guild, the Choirs, and the Youth; God bless you all for your individual efforts.

The Chief guests and Special guests who were the main fundraisers on assigned dates, beginning with the Honorable Ministers and Governmental officials, your contributions gave us a big push towards completing our task. Some Parishioners celebrated their Birthdays in the spirit of Church Development by raising funds which our Parish Priest also did; the funds generated enabled us make great progress in our Church Construction.   We are confident that St. Jude, the intercessor of difficult cases, will not abandon us.

We are proud to have a strong team of St. Jude Devotees, who lead in their respective dioceses in the collection of funds and also recognize and appreciate the contribution of all our Priests who have served in this Parish namely: Rev Fr. Godfrey Kyeyune (RIP) who was our Parish Priest as we were preparing to start construction, some of our leaders and brothers and sisters who have departed but were so dedicated to the Church construction and pray for their eternal repose. We pray for Mr. F. X  Kitaka (R.I.P)  who was Chairman of the Development Committee, Mr. Euzebio Katorogo (R.I.P) a former Ssbakristu and many other Parishioners who are no longer with us.  May God grant them eternal rest as we ask that they pray for us too and ask God to give us the grace to complete our Church as soon as possible.

May I use this occasion to thank the Governing Council, and the governmental officials who have answered our call for financial support and also acknowledge our neighboring Parishes especially Ntinda, St. Charles Lwanga, and continue to call on them not to tire of supporting us.

We assure our main Celebrant that in our 70 years of existence, we have also steadily grown in faith as depicted in the statistics represented. We have continued to register a growing number of Baptism of infants (24,624) with over 130 children baptized on Boxing Day in 2023. Many children have also been studying for their first Holy Communion, Confirmation, and Final Commitment. We have one of our sons from Naggulu ordained a Priest Rev Fr. Boniface Ochola and another is now in the Major Seminary of Alokolum in Gulu – Seminarian Denis Odiya.  We are glad that during this Platinum Jubilee celebration, we have 3 couples who have chosen to be joined in Holy matrimony and shall continue to strive for Salvation through our individual and continued service to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

HAPPY PLATINUM JUBILEO

Rt. Hon (Dr.) Margaret Nantongo Zziwa Babu

Ssabakristu , Our Lady and St. Jude Church, Naggulu.             

Sun 30, Jun 2024 04:06 am

NAGGULU PARISH AT 70

Sun 30, Jun 2024 04:06 am

THE SQUARE METRE CHALLENGE

Dear Parishioners and Devotees of St. Jude Thaddeus,

We appreciate your untiring efforts in fundraising for this enormous job. The parishioners contributed over shs 30 million for the Pillar of St Nathaniel. 

THE SECOND AND THIRD PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION

As you may have seen the banner, we are taking phase 2 and 3 at once because they complement each other, putting up the walls and roofing with Decra tiles from South Africa. The roof tiles will cost 400 m to install and the walling which include the concrete columns and the Gallery will cost 300m

In total we need to raise Shs.700m to complete these two phases.

METHOD OF RAISING FUNDS

The method we have come up with to raise funds is to enable each and every one to give something satisfactory to him/herself. You can buy:

A square metre of the roof @ Shs 180,000 or a single sheet/ tile @ Shs 80,000

A square metre @ Shs 75,000 or a cement block @ Shs 4,000.

You can secure your future in the new church if you buy a sqm of the wall and a sqm Roof at Shs 225,000. Buy for your family, parents. children etc. That’s why we have called it THE SQUARE METRE CHALLENGE.

Contributions may be made through the payment platforms displayed on the banner above. 

This phase will run until May 2024.

Thank you very much

Mrs. Grace Kariisa

Chairperson - Fundraising Committee

Tue 27, Feb 2024 07:02 am

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS PROGRAM 2024

Tue 13, Feb 2024 09:02 am

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wed 03, Jan 2024 04:01 am

ADVENT/END OF YEAR PARISH PASTORAL LITURGY PROGRAME

Tue 12, Dec 2023 04:12 am

Novena to St. Jude Thaddeus

The novena to St. Jude Thaddeus will begin on 19th October and go on up to the 27th, then on 28th October, we shall host the National celebrations of the feast of St. Jude Thaddeus. 

Tue 17, Oct 2023 09:10 am

CONGRATULATIONS AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

On behalf of the Parish Council and on my own behalf, it is with great joy and privilege that, we welcome Msgr. John Baptist Kauta, our main celebrant today, as we celebrate our 69 years of existence and mission! Giving glory and honour to God for this great stride in faith.

Thank you so much Msgr. Kauta for honoring our invitation, we are indeed happy to welcome you to our Parish! I wish to thank the co-celebrants, our Mass servers, Ushers, the choir, and you all parishioners and our special guests for honouring this day! Congratulations and Happy Birthday to you all! By God’s grace and through the mercy of our Patron Saints, that is, Mother Mary of Perpetual Succor and St. Jude Thaddeus, Naggulu Parish is steadily growing spiritually, socially and economically for the years. We have also witnessed an increase in the numbers of devotees making pilgrimages here over the past six decades, from different parts of Uganda, of the African continent and beyond.

Our Parish growth, though not immune from challenges, can be witnessed through the spirit of togetherness, the leadership positions taken on by parishioners, an increase in the sacraments received, the devotional life of the parishioners, through their daily active participation in the life of the Church. Examples of which are, the Mass Servers, Choirs, Ushers, the Good Samaritan Ministry, always reaching out to the disadvantaged, St. Jude Devotion, Legio of Mary, The Children’s Ministry, Oratorio, the Charismatic Renewal, Bible Apostolate, Xaverians, the Women’s Guild, Men’s Guild, the BannaKizito in our school, these are all pathways leading us to eternity. Thank you leaders of these devotions, for the great work you do, and I wish to encourage each one of us to join at least one prayer group to enable us enrich our faith.

However, all these Church activities cannot progress without the support of the clergy, therefore, our gratitude goes to the priests, both current and previous who have spearheaded this mission. We also thank the parishioners, as well as friends of Naggulu Parish for the unwavering support extended to the Parish. Allow me to remember and pay a special tribute to our departed brothers and sisters, over the 69 years, who include our founder members, priests, parishioners, devotees, and friends of Naggulu. Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon them, may they rest in eternal peace. Amen

Allow me to thank in a special way our Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Joseph Mary Bbuye, his Assistants, Rev. Fr. Jude Kyekulidde and Rev. Fr. Viatory Muvunyi, our Deacons, our Head Catechist Sr. Immaculate Namakula and her team of Catechists, for the excellent evangelization work you do in our Parish thank you so much. Not forgetting the Administration and Support Staff, who maintain our Parish on a daily basis, thank you so much for your dedication.

Evangelization, however, is incomplete without the support of the parishioners, our Parish is comprised of 9 Basic Christian Communities, headed by the respective Community Chairpersons, who co-ordinate all activities in these respective families. These vibrant communities are; St. Ponsiano, St. Gonzaga, St. Kizito, St. Joseph – (the Lugbara Community), St. Charles Lwanga, St. Jude Nakawa Market, St. Balikuddembe, St. Anthony, and St. Paul (a mobile community of Christians who live outside the borders of Naggulu Parish), a big thank you, to you all for your selfless commitment and love for your Parish. The vibrancy of this diverse and unique community that is ready to serve, makes it easier to build a strong and united God fearing family. We therefore, take it as our mission and stead fast resolve to promote and strengthen unity of faith and purpose within our diversity for God’s glory and the salvation of His people. We thank the Parish Council members for their participation through the various Departments as channels of peace.

A Church is a body of Christ, our Pope Francis introduced synodality, where we all have to journey together and work together. This can be related to the function of a human body, all parts are important and work in unison, therefore, every member of this community is treasured and very important.

As we celebrate the 69 years, I would like us to remind ourselves, of the very big task we have before us, and that is the completion of our new Church. Allow me to thank you all in a special way for the support rendered towards this project, in terms of endless prayers, time invested, the finances, and continuous pieces of advice received are all very much appreciated.

In a special way I wish to thank the Building Committee headed by Mr. Michael Kyompitiira Sebalu, for their tireless efforts, working round the clock to ensure that our project is successfully completed, thank you so much for all your efforts. I’m very confident that by God’s grace and mercy a beautiful house of God will soon be unveiled, and we pray that our next celebration of 70-years will be held in that magnificent church. This, however, calls for more vigilant participation and involvement as parishioners, in terms of financial contributions. We still need a lot of your support towards this project, I therefore, call upon each one of you to keep on pushing until we achieve our goal. Do not tire, it is our Parish and we ought to be proud of it and this work can be a lot easier if we all stepped up and fully commit to the task before us.

Our Parish has great potential to grow to greater heights, if we foster peace and love with one another, embrace teamwork, forgiveness, respect for one another, openness, honesty, transparency and accountability in all that that we do. Let our Christianity be visible and felt by others through our personal actions, of love and charity towards one another, we should all be peace agents and not war mongers.

I also wish to remind you that we are into an election period of new church leaders, if elected please do not shy away, come and serve God through the various offices, Governing, Teaching and Sanctifying. Leadership is about sanctifying the people of God, and it is beautiful to serve God, because it comes with numerous blessings. You may never know this until you come in and serve and like our Theme today states, “we are called for servant leadership” – (Mark 10:45) We are not leaders to be served, but to serve God through his people. Do not expect a salary, it is all voluntary work, so please come on board and help our Parish grow, the reward is in heaven.

As I conclude, I kindly urge all of us to remain focused, true and faithful about who we are, supporting our priests to carry out their work effectively, by leading the path set out for us by the Church, which will in turn lead us to eternity. Let us embrace synodality, by journeying together and UNITED as one great family of God. Choicest blessings to you all, let us enjoy our day and continue to pray for one another, our beautiful parish, our country Uganda and the entire world for peace and respect for humanity.

Fri 30, Jun 2023 04:06 am