St. Francis Choir - The 15 Years of Existence

On August 8^th 2003, St. Francis Choir was born. This was after the Parish Priest then Rev Fr. Muwanga Edward  agreed to answer the many calls of Christians especially the English Community, who always went to Christ the King to attend the 10.00O clock  Mass or the 11.00 O clock  Mass, which they deemed convenient after the long hard week  of work. However Many had started experiencing the inconvenience of praying from outside because of the huge numbers of faithful and the lack of Parking.

At 10.30 am, Fr. Muwanga led the Mass and two people, Hon. Zziwa and Mr. Mugerwa, were the choir. Of course after Mass, a call was made to the Parishioners to join the choir and the first 6 members came on board. (Simon, Prosy, Dorothy, Bosco, Josephine, Caboth,) and later David, Cotilda, Andama, Agnes, Edna, and Jacinta joined. The early members came with their previous experiences of singing in various Choirs. They resolved to form a Basic English Choir basing its singing on the Common English Songs both as drawn from the Hymn books of the Mill Hill Fathers and The White fathers. We compiled some of the Common English Songs and we photocopied them to make booklets. Also Fr. Muwanga  and the Parish Council purchased copies of Christ the King Hymn books   The choir started growing as also the number of Parishioners attending the 10.30 am Mass  grew. We Chose St. Francis as our Patron Saint and we named our Choir St. Francis Choir. We received a lot of support from the Parish Priest and the Parish Executive especially in terms of Stationary, and Music Instruments.

We quickly divided ourselves into voices and chose a Choir Conductor who also acted as a trainer, and those to play instruments. The Choir and the Parish at the time had no organ, so we used drums most of the time as our accompaniments. We put a humble request to purchase for us an organ, and the Parish Priest took an effort and purchased for us and the Church the first organ.   From then on the Choir grew and improved in its singing and the Parishioners   were appreciative of the efforts made.

Later that year we decided that we shall hold the Christmas Carols, and we intensified our practice. We were joined by other able members, including Daniel, Expedit, Godfrey, Verstine,  Zawedde, Goreth and others.  We were also joined by Paul who was studying Music at Makerere University who became our organist.  This made the choir real impressive in singing and at that juncture,  Eng Obonyo and his dear wife became our benefactors.   They offered to buy us our first Uniform,(cream Shirt/Blouse and Dar blue trouser/skirts). We resolved to hold Christmas Carols every Christmas period and participate / animate in other Ecclesiastical festivals. We animated in St. Jude Novenas, we sang in Wedding Masses and   other various celebrations.  We became very committed to the service of the Lord with practices every Saturday and Wednesday.

In our fifth year another Parishioner Mr. and Mrs. Lido   also became our benefactors. They supported us with many of our choir needs including a new Uniform (A Busuuti with pink and blue flowers, and pin Shirt).  From here on we formed sisterhood with St. Joseph’s Choir of 8 O’ clock  Christ the King, and this opened more opportunities for us including singing at national festivals like Christmas Carols   at Mayor’s Gardens  and at State House.  We were strengthened by Mr. Kasozi - our Choir Conductor, and Mr. Kivumbi and Mr. Pachuto as our Music directors. We have also received many other young Choristers and strong Bass Voices. 

Our Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Kyeyune and the Parish Council, headed by Mrs. Matovu Sheila, have supported us immensely. The Choir despite the many challenges likes the removal of  Naguru Housing Estate where many of our members resided, and other members leaving because of further studies, or new Employment opportunities in far areas, the Parish Council continued to support us.  Our Curate in charge of Choirs Rev. Fr. Kaseeta   is appreciated for guiding us in many aspects.   We were yet given another Uniform, (the Queen green and black jackets); they pay an allowance to our Music Directors and the organist, and have provided for us in many other ways.  We thank God for his blessing and favours throughout this time of service.

We have received a lot of support from many of you, our trustees like Prof and Dr. Nantulya, Mrs.  Margaret Kibuuka, Mrs. Kakama and family . We are grateful to the Parish Council who resolved that we should be dressed in a Uniform every Sunday and gave us our Current Uniform, Cream and Brown, (to represent St. Francis Colours). We are grateful to our sister Choirs who have complimented us whenever we call upon them. We are proud that our singing has contributed to many faithful to deepen in the love of God and to come and praise.

We pledge to continue in the service of the Lord and to maintain St. Augustine’s Powerful saying that ‘’when you sing, you pray twice”.

Our Song will always be

Count your Blessing Name them one by one; it will surprise what the Lord has done.

Yours proud Choir. St Francis Choir.

Tue 28, Aug 2018 07:08 am