UGANDA: Catholic Church supports the initiative of Strengthening Peace Studies Program at the Catholic Institutes of Higher Learning.

The Catholic Church in Uganda and her sister agencies have embraced the various initiatives with full support that aimed at reviewing, strengthening and promoting peace studies program at the Catholic Institutes of Higher Learning.

This was said by Archbishop John Baptist Odama during the opening ceremony of a three-day institute on Peace and Justice Studies Program Development within the Catholic Social Tradition held at Imperial Botanical Beach hotel, Entebbe, Uganda from 7-9, November, 2017.

Archbishop Odama who is the Chair of Uganda Episcopal Conference, said that he will share the aim of the conference with his brother Bishops and urge them to support the efforts as they explore ways on how these academic programs can learn from and contribute to the peace and justice work of the wider Catholic community and the wider society.

According to Archbishop Odama, the initiative of the conference originated from the recommendations of the Catholic Episcopate of the Great Lakes region on peace and reconciliation which gave birth to the Proposal for Research in Education for Peace which was approved by the General Assembly of the Association of Catholic Universities and Higher Institutes of Africa and Madagascar in 2014, in Johannesburg.

“It is great joy to see this positive evolvement that gives us so much hope that together we can do more and that we can invite each other to pave steady roads to peace and development. One of the achievements that the Catholic universities and Catholic professors of Justice and peace would be to link the Catholic tradition to their scholarship,” he said.

He said, “Having lived in conflict times for quite a long time and having dedicated much of my pastoral life in working for reconciliation, peace, and justice, I wish to share this with you that I feel particularly honoured to be part of this important meeting and I wish that I continue to be part of this initiative.”

Archbishop Odama urged the participants to come up with the resolution of promoting synergy between the Institutions and the Catholic Church in the region, by initiating close collaboration between the universities, research centers, justice and peace commissions, various levels of Caritas and Social communications services.

“I sincerely believe that this conference will enable you to share ideas and experiences from your respective institutions, and thus you will be able to embed in peace and conflict programs cardinal issues of freedom, justice, and equality in the light of the Social Teaching of the Church,” Archbishop Odama said.

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By AMECEA Online News Correspondent