CATHOLICS | MINISTER | MUYINGO

KAMPALA - Higher education minister Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo has asked Catholic Bishops to open up St. Mary’s National Major Seminary Ggaba to lay people, arguing that times and societal dynamics had changed drastically.

According to Muyingo, the changing societal dynamics require that clerical educational institutions, in particular Ggaba National Seminary, allow non-clerical students, to boost their relevance and quest for self-sustenance.

St. Mary’s National Major Seminary Ggaba has for the last 50 years been an exclusive clerical formation institution where major seminarians from various Catholic dioceses in Uganda are taught Theology for four years, before being ordained to the priesthood.

Muyingo also put it to the Catholic Bishops to work towards making the seminary a fully-fledged university.

The minister of state for higher education, Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo (in a kneeling posture) receives a blessing from Bishop Robert Muhiirwa. This was after the commemorative lecture of the 50th anniversary of St. Mary's National Major Seminary, which took place at the seminary at Ggaba (in Makindye Division). Standing right is the Rector of the seminary, Fr. Dr. Lazarus Luyinda. (All Photos by Mathias Mazinga)

Although the guidelines for teaching seminarians emanate from Vatican, Catholic Bishops of Uganda (who own the seminary) can sit and decide on certain issues governing the training institution.

Muyingo and other catholic church members made the call to make Ggaba National Seminary an all-inclusive educational institution during the seminary’s silver jubilee lecture at the seminary located in Makindye division, Kampala, recently.

“Ggaba National Major Seminary offers certificates, diplomas and degrees, but it is just affiliated with other universities. I think after 50 years of existence it should become a fully-established university, offering its own degrees.

“It should also be good to consider admitting lay people to the seminary. New courses can be introduced and the laity who opts to do them can be asked to pay some money. The laity can study with the seminarians outside the seminary after which the seminarians can return to the seminary,” Muyingo proposed during celebrations to mark 50 years of the seminary in Ggaba, Kampala, recently.

Muyingo’s concerns were later echoed by the academic registrar of Uganda martyrs University, Nkozi (UMU), the Rev. Fr. Prof. Joseph Buchana Kisoga, who further proposed that Ggaba National Seminary partners with reputable universities such as UMU to deliver joint academic programmes.

In his remarks, Muyingo asked the staff of Ggaba National Seminary to revitalise the founding prelates’ objective of fostering national unity and peaceful co-existence.

A spectacle of clerics and major seminarians during the commemorative lecture of the 50th anniversary of St. Mary's National Major Seminary Ggaba.

“We want priests who are enthusiastic about a united Uganda. Our priests should be ardent promoters of reconciliation and national consciousness,” said Muyingo.

The need for strengthening clerical national consciousness was strongly emphasized by Msgr. Silverio Twinomugisha, a pioneer student and former teacher at Ggaba National Seminary.

“By founding Ggaba National Seminary, the bishops wanted a seminary with a national character. They wanted a national seminary belonging to the nation, a seminary that produces priests that are fully equipped to serve in solidarity with other priests. They wanted to see priests who move in the same direction, national clergy who live in unity and solidarity,” Twinomugisha said.

The former head of the laity of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kampala, Chevalier Antony Mateega (who spoke on the role of the laity in the training of priests), called for the strengthening of the family institution, which he said is the domestic church, where children are taught Christian values. He also called on the lay faithful to ensure that needy seminarians are given the due support they need to complete their training.

Fr. Joseph Buchana Kisoga remarks during the commemorative lecture of the 50th anniversary of St. Mary's National Major Seminary, Ggaba.

The Rector of National Major Seminary Ggaba, the Rev. Fr. Dr. Lazarus Luyinda said the proposals and ideas that the discussants put across would help them to design a strategy that will enable the seminary to remain relevant, self-reliant and true to its mission of training the ministers of the Church.

The lecture, which was also graced by the Vice-Chairman of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Robert Muhiirwa, was one of the precursor activities of the seminary’s golden jubilee celebration, which will take place at the seminary on November 12, 2022.

The lecture ran under the theme: St. Mary’s National Seminary Ggaba at 50 years – Scores and Prospects.