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Uganda: Kabale Diocese hosts faith formation workshop for pastoral agents
The National Executive Secretary of the Doctrinal Commission at the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC), Fr. Peter Debo, recently facilitated a two-day joint workshop for the Diocese of Kabale and the Archdiocese of Mbarara. The formation workshop was held under the theme: “Growing Together in Faith: Strengthening Catholic Identity through Local Faith Groups.”
Sr. Stella Watsema, OLGC – Vatican City
The workshop held at Rushoroza Pastoral Centre in Kabale was attended by participants from Kabale Diocese and Mbarara Archdiocese. In attendance were diocesan clergy, religious men and women, catechists, religious education school teachers, and other Catholic lay leaders from the two dioceses.
Ongoing faith formation
Monsignor John Vianney Sunday, Vicar General of Kabale Diocese, officially opened the workshop. He spoke about the importance of equipping Catholics, and especially faith leaders, at all levels, with authentic and grounded formation in the Catholic faith before they could teach it to others.
Participants at the Doctrine of Faith formation workshop in Kabale
“Before we can teach others, we ourselves must first be taught. What we teach is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, summarised in Canon 750 as the ‘Deposit of Faith,’ which is revealed through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium,” Fr Sunday said.
According to the facilitator, Fr. Peter Debo of the UEC, the faith workshop was the first of many others to be held for all 19 Catholic dioceses of Uganda.
Promoting faith formation
The Department of Doctrine of the Faith under the Bishops’ Conference is implementing its mandates of promoting authentic Catholic teaching, protecting the faith from contradictory ideologies, and guiding moral practice.
By going out to dioceses, the doctrinal department is spearheading the facilitation of ongoing catechetical formation for various pastoral agents of the local churches.
Fr Debo told participants, in Kabale, that rapid social changes have caused many baptised Catholics to drift away from active participation in their parish churches. When they leave, they lose a dependable source of spiritual nourishment, moral guidance, and community life. Their leaving has an impact on family life and the parish church, he said.
Practice what you teach
In particular, Fr Debo urged especially the priests to remember a part of their ordination rite, which reads: “Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
In an interview with Vatican News, the Vicar General of Kabale Diocese, Monsignor John Vianney Sunday, said growing together in faith is synodality in action. He said that one of the prime tenets of the Catholic Church is to pass on the faith within the context of community.
Paricipants engage in group discussions
Tradition and moral values
Fr. Felician Kananura, the Diocesan Executive Secretary of the Department of the Doctrine of Faith in the Archdiocese of Mbarara, emphasised the danger of faith versus secularism. He said, contrary to critics, the Catholic Church is not rigid but simply rigorous when it comes to principles, tradition and moral values that had stood the test of time and form part of Catholic identity.
A participant, Sr. Morine Birungi, a member of the Congregation of the Consolers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a secondary school teacher, commended organisers for the workshop and said the event provided an opportunity for the renewal of faith formation and that its fruit would have a lasting impact on participants in their personal lives and in their encounters with those they teach or lead. The need for ongoing faith formation could not be overstated. Catholic identity requires understanding, practice and constant renewal, she said.
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