KAMPALA | ALL SAINTS | CELEBRATE | GOLDEN JUBILEE

Hundreds of Christians will this Sunday gather at All Saints’ Cathedral-Nakasero to mark the Diocese of Kampala’s 50 years of existence.

The celebration, according to Ivan Naijuka, the Communications Officer, will start at 10:00 am at the Cathedral under the theme; Ebenezer His Mission; Our Priority (1 Samuel 7:12).

The celebrations will be led by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, who is also the Bishop of the Diocese of Kampala, the Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Mugalu Kazimba.

The Rt. Rev. Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira, the Bishop of Namirembe Diocese, will be the preacher, and over 37 bishops from different dioceses are expected to attend.

Naijuka said President Yoweri Museveni is also expected to attend as the chief guest.  
Since April, the Diocese has been involved in different activities to mark this day.

The activities included music, dance, and drama; tree planting, unveiling Jubilee projects, cleaning some of the slum areas, and compassion visits to the orphanage, prisons, hospitals, and other related unprivileged homes.

The Diocese of Kampala is one of the 37 constituent dioceses of the Church of Uganda, inaugurated on January 16, 1972. 

The archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev. Dr. Samuel Stephen Kaziimab Mugalu, is also the diocesan bishop.

The celebrations will run under the theme: “Ebenezer: His Mission, Our Priority (1 Samuel 7:12)”. 

About the Diocese 

The Diocese of Kampala was originally part of the Namirembe Diocese, and Bishop Lesile Brown was both, the Archbishop of the Province as well as the Bishop of the Namirembe Diocese. 

He presided over both, the province and the diocese smoothly because the two were together.

However, after the Most Rev. Eric Sabiiti was enthroned as the first African Archbishop, making Rwenzori Diocese the home Diocese of the Archbishop, and the Right Rev. Dunstan Nsubuga as Bishop of Namirembe Diocese, then that seamless leadership of the Province and the Diocese ceased to be.
 

“It became practically difficult for the archbishop to preside over the Provincial Office in Kampala from Fort Portal, let alone it being very expensive." Attempts were made to deal with this challenge and three proposals were mooted,” a statement by the Church states."

The proposals were; that the Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire shall also be the Bishop of Namirembe Diocese, that there shall be a Diocese of Kampala which shall be the Diocese of the Archbishop, and that the Archbishop shall be an executive office. 

Proposal 2 won the day, but it further required institutionalizing it which called for (a) the creation of the Diocese of Kampala and (b) the formulation of a new Constitution to replace that of 1961. 

Hence, the curving out of the Diocese of Kampala from Namirembe Diocese in 1972 to serve as the home Diocese of the Archbishop of the Province of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire. All Saints Parish in Kampala was elevated to become a Cathedral of the new Diocese: 

The Diocese of Kampala would become the home Diocese of the Archbishop. Namirembe Cathedral would retain a dual role of being a Diocesan Cathedral and a Provincial Cathedral. 

The demarcation of the new diocese was left to the discretion of the Namirembe Diocese, which decided to bring together Nakasero, Mulago, Bukoto, Kamwokya, Ntinda, Kyambogo, Naguru, Kisugu, Bugolobi, Nsambya, Kiwuliriza, Luzira, Makerere, and Wandegeya city suburbs to become the Diocese of Kampala.