"On Monday, September 22, Br. Henry Bukenya and I left the Mityana diocese where we had been to come to the Diocese of Masaka in Uganda. We had visited this diocese in 2019 and had had a very positive experience there, so we were hoping to re-invigorate some of the Children's Rosary groups that had been started and begin new ones.
We stayed with a family not far from the city. They are friends of Br. Bukenya's and very generous to welcome us into their home, which was situated down a quiet road in the woods, secluded and peaceful.
On Tuesday, September 23, we went to the Parish of St. Jude in Lukaya. We had visited that parish in 2019 when Fr. Paul Mukasa was the parish priest. he had done much good work in establishing the Children's Rosary there but was transferred not long after. We met with the current priest, Fr. Henry Kiganda, who was very enthusiastic about re-starting the Children's Rosary groups there that had suffered during the pandemic. We decided to come back a day later to visit the children of that school so that they could prepare a reception for us. Instead, that afternoon, we went with Rose, a longtime animator for the Children's Rosary, to a few nearby schools.
First, we paid a visit to the Vision Park Primary School. The children all gathered together in a courtyard with their bright red uniforms to hear some short addresses that Br. Bukenya and I gave them, and then we worked out the details for how the Children's Rosary would start up again at their school; the name decided upon for the group was Seat of Wisdom Children's Rosary group.
On a humorous side note, I have noticed as we have made more and more of these school visits that Br. Henry is far more dynamic and energizing for the children than I am. With my accent and way of speaking English, many of the children either have not had most of their English language education yet or find it difficult to understand me. Usually, either Br. Henry or someone else translates or they provide a short summary at the end of what I said. Sometimes the priest asks a child to stand up and give a summary of what they understood, which reminds me a bit of my days in Latin class when students would be called at random to translate sentences of Anselm or Aquinas, much to the dread of everyone present.
After Vision Park, we stopped at Mustard Seed primary school, where the children were wearing (rather unsurprisingly) yellow and green uniforms. The head teacher was very nice and incredibly obliging since he gathered the children briefly for us to talk to them in the middle of the school day. This Children's Rosary group is to be called Cause of our Joy Children's Rosary group. 
Earlier in the day, Br. Henry had told me that I had an appointment in the afternoon with the education secretary for the diocese. Being unable to take me there, he asked Fr. Alex Musoke to do so. Fr. Musoke is another old friend of the Children's Rosary, someone we had visited in 2019 when he was parish priest at Kyamulibwa. It was very good to see him again. He took me to see Fr. Elia Tuwesige, the education secretary, and Fr. Simeo Makaayi, who also works in the education department. They were very supportive of our efforts with the Children's Rosary in the diocese, and we look forwards to working with them further.
.jpg)
.jpg)
As soon as we had finished, Fr. Musoke told me I was going to meet with Fr. Kasule Mbaaga Tuzinde, in charge of the diocesan radio station, Centenary radio. My mother and I had met Fr. Tuzinde back in 2019 not in Africa but at EWTN in August of that year. He was in Irondale for an internship, and my mother and I were there for an interview with Jim and Joy Pinto.
.jpg)
Fr. Tuzinde remembered our meeting in Alabama quite well, and he pulled it up on his phone immediately. He introduced me to the staff who were assembled for a routine staff meeting, and then he invited me to record a short radio spot that would air periodically with information about the Children's Rosary.
Just at the end of our meeting, Fr. Musoke informed me that he had asked if the bishop would be available to meet with me that evening and that bishop had said yes. Thus, immediately afterward, we rushed over to the episcopal residence where Fr. Musoke and I met with Bishop Severus Jjumba. We had also met Bishop Jjumba in 2019, and I remembered him as being very kind and supportive of the movement, something that was reaffirmed in this second meeting. I updated him on what had happened with the Children's Rosary since our last visit and of our renewed efforts in the dicoese, and he reiterated the support we had received at the education department.
At the end of the day, I was exhausted. This had been a particularly full day that was originally supposed to wrap up after the Mustard Seed visit. Nevertheless, I was really quite astonished at how God's providence managed to resolve the potential difficulties in our schedule. We had not been certain whether we would be able to meet the bishop or when that would be. I had not even realized the potential of recording the radio spot at the station, but due to the hard work of both Br. Henry and Fr. Alex, the Lord was able to tie together three very important developments almost before I realized what was happening.
In thinking back over the day we had spent, one moment that stood out to me was when we were visiting the Mustard Seed group and Br. Henry asked the students if they remembered when I came by the last time in 2019. Some of the older students did. For some reason, that hit me in a particular way. These children and all the children in the Children's Rosary are linked to us and to each other in very ways that we should not forget. The children at this school I had met before, but there are many groups out there I have never met, yet they are all connected to us through the bonds of prayer; we pray for them, and they pray for us. What a powerful grace that is."
To see all of Asher's dispatches from his journey click HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment