UGANDA: Hundreds of choir members begin rehearsal for 2018 Uganda Martyrs Day celebration
Uganda Martyrs Shrine, Namugongo
With three and a half months left to the 2018 Uganda Martyrs Day (UMD) celebration, over 250 choir members have begun rehearsal in the Archdiocese of Tororo.
The choir members have been drawn from all the 12 deaneries in Tororo Archdiocese. In addition to the 250, the Archdiocese has selected other 100 members who originally hail from Tororo Ecclesiastical Province but reside in Kampala. Tororo Archdiocese will animate the 2018 UMD celebrations on behalf of Tororo Ecclesiastical Province which comprises of the Dioceses of Jinja, Kotido, Moroto, Soroti and Tororo.
The Vice Chairperson of the Tororo Central Organizing Committee for the 2018 UMD celebration, Rev. Fr. Godfrey Okello, has confirmed that the rehearsal officially kicked-off on January 10 in Tororo Archdiocese.
“The first phase of the rehearsal kicked-off on January 10, 2018 for four consecutive days. The choir had great enthusiasm during the training thus, we now plan to do an evaluation and identify a common place where all the members from the 12 deaneries will be meeting regularly for further training alongside the additional choir members living outside Tororo,” he said in an interview during the second meeting of the National Central Organizing Committee for the 2018 UMD celebration on February 6, 2018 at the Uganda Catholic Secretariat premises.
He noted that for the hymns and readings, they took into consideration a number of things which includes the universality of the Church, the history of the Martyrdom of the Uganda Martyrs and cultural diversity of the pilgrims.
“We have already chosen the hymns and readings but, have translated them (hymns and readings) into various local and international languages to cater for everyone. Our aim is to sing better and put all the pilgrims into a pilgrimage mood,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese has also pledged to put up an information desk at Entebbe International Airport to assist all international pilgrims who will fly in, upon arrival for the 2018 UMD celebration.
“We want to assist all the pilgrims in all possible ways, therefore we will put up an information desk at the airport to assist international pilgrims upon arrival with information regarding visa application process and transportation to their respective hotels,” Fr. Okello stated.
Several activities have also been lined up in a bid to raise US$198,029 (an equivalent of 720m Ugandan shillings) that is required for the preparations and actual celebrations. The Archdiocese has so far raised $53760 (UShs 192m) as of yesterday, February 6.
The 2018 celebration will be held concurrently with the centenary anniversary of the martyrdom of the two Catechists from Paimol: Blessed Daudi Okello and Blessed Jildo Irwa, who were killed in 1918. The two Blessed Martyrs are usually commemorated on 20th of October but they will be remembered in a special way on June 3, 2018.
The annual UMD celebration commemorates the 22 Catholic Martyrs who were killed on the orders of Mwanga II the Kabaka (King) of Buganda between 1885 and 1887. Millions of pilgrims from across the globe usually throng Namugongo Catholic Shrine to celebrate this day.
Tororo Archdiocese last presided over the UMD celebrations in 1998.
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By Jacinta W. Odongo, Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference
