By Temiteo Okwakol
A total of 600 Christians were today confirmed into the Catholic Faith as St. Ann Catholic Parish celebrated the 73rd anniversary in Katakwi district.The day was celebrated under the theme, ‘Rooted in Faith, Growing in Grace’ (Eph. 3:16-17, 14:15-16.
The Sacrament of confirmation exercise was presided over by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Oliach Eciru, the Bishop of Soroti Catholic Diocese at an event held St. Ann Catholic Church in Usuk Parish, Usuk Sub County, Usuk County.
The event was graced by various political leaders including the Vice president Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo who also doubles as Woman MP for Katakwi district. It also saw ten couples taking the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
Bishop Eciru in his summon, urged the confirmands majority of whom were pupils and students to continue seeking God’s guidance to enable them to proclaim Christianity and to be witnesses of Jesus Christ.
He told Christians to always pray and fast whenever they feel there’s a problem as the Bible says. “We need to be serious with our faith because the Bible has all the guidance, answers to any query,” the Bishop said.
He counselled the newly wedded couples to always consult each other to ensure peaceful marriages. “Men have to respect their wives. There’s need for mutual understanding between man and woman in order to have a respectable family,” the bishop said.
Vice president Alupo congratulated the confirmands and couples by urged them to love each other like brothers and sisters for peace to prevail. “Christians should be truthful, modest, respectable and value other people,” she said.
She urged the Christians to preach the gospel of wealth creation so that communities embrace government programmes like Emyooga and Parish development Model to create wealth and alleviate them from poverty.
She explained that through the Parish Development Model for example, agriculture will be transformed from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. She encouraged the congregation to embrace and actively participate in all wealth creation programmes to eradicate poverty in our households.
The Vice President assured the faithful that the Government will continue to ensure maintenance of peace and security in the whole Country; construction of the necessary social and economic infrastructure including roads, hospitals, schools etc, as a way of facilitating and attracting local and foreign investments, to create jobs and incomes for Ugandans.
She thanked the Catholic Church for maintaining a cordial relationship and partnership with the NRM government, in working towards the socio-economic transformation of Ugandan society.
The vice president urged communities to plant trees to avoid the end times of climate change. She also tasked the population to utilize the rains to avoid losses in future.
The vice president also made a further contribution of Shs30m towards the construction of Reginal Caeli Cathedral. She congratulated St. Ann celebrating their 73rd anniversary.
Bosco Okiror the MP for Usuk County called upon Christians to uphold peace, unity and reconciliation in families as they follow in God’s ways as Jesus also urged his disciples to live in peace after his resurrection.