Christians asked to aid maintenance of local seminaries

Catholics and all people of good will have been urged to actively participate in the life and activities of the local seminaries. 

A prominent clerical don, who once served as Uganda Martyrs University vice-chancellor and previously St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary Ggaba rector the Rev. Prof. John Chrysostom Maviiri Ndidde says foreign aid on which most ecclesial institutions depended has become almost non-existent.

It is for this reason, according to him that local seminaries have to find means of self-sustenance.

“During our time, everything was for free. You would go to the seminary and find everything there. Seminaries then depended on charity, from donors and benefactors. Today, it is not the case because foreign aid is no more. We must contribute to the maintenance of our institutions. Let’s sensitise our people on this. Those who are enrolled should come knowing that there is a financial responsibility to bear," Maviiri says.

He was delivering the 50th anniversary lecture of St Mbaaga’s Seminary Ggaba at the seminary in Kampala city's Makindye Division on February 5, 2026.

Strenthening association

As one strategy of boosting self-sustenance at St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary, Maviiri called for mobilisation and strengthening of the association of the old boys, who he said are very instrumental in the maintenance and development of their former institutions of learning.

The function was also graced by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Dr Augustine Kasujja, and Kampala Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere, who also asked the Catholic faithful to continue giving St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary due assistance to enable it continue its mission of forming good priests, real shepherds of God’s flock, who are after his own heart.

The grand celebration of the seminary will take place on February 21, 2026.

Ggaba St. Mbaaga's Major Seminarians attending the public lecture on February 5, 2026. (Credit: Mathias Mazinga)

About St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary

St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary Ggaba is a major seminary of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kampala. It was started by the late Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga on February 16, 1976.
The late Cardinal started the seminary to cater for young men who received their priestly calling at a relatively mature age, without going through the preparatory/minor seminary.

At its inception, with the late Bishop Dr John Baptist Kaggwa as its founding rector, the seminary started with 16 seminarians, nine of whom, including Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere and Bishop Christopher Kakooza of Lugazi Diocese, became priests.

Today, the seminary has over 300 students/seminarians and since its inception, it has produced over 400 priest and several hundred other alumni.

Before Cardinal Nsubuga founded St Mbaaga’s Seminary, the place where it is located used to accommodate St Mary’s Major Seminary, which was being used by the Mill Hill Fathers to train their priests.

When the Catholic bishops opted to establish national seminaries, in the early 1970s, the buildings that previously accommodated St Mary’s Major Seminary Ggaba were taken over by Ggaba Pastoral Institute, which unfortunately, around 1974, had to shift to Eldoret in Kenya, due to insecurity.

The buildings then became vacant until 1976 when Cardinal Nsubuga got the inspiration to start St Mbaaga’s Major Seminary Ggaba.

Of course, since then, many breathtaking buildings have been constructed and the seminary looks much more beautiful.

The seminary has also acquired a regional/international disposition. It has students not only from Kampala archdiocese but also from other dioceses, and countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Italia, etc.