UGANDA: “The Mission of the Church is Capital-intensive,” says Uganda PMS Director Ahead of Vocations Sunday

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

The National Director of Uganda’s Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) Fr. Pontian Kaweesa has expressed the need for immense support towards mission work which requires large investment for realization of its successful services in the Church.

Ahead of the 58^th World Day of Vocations (WDV), shared with AMECEA Online WDV in a video clip on Friday, April 23, Fr. Kaweesa encourages all Christians and the people of good will to generously contribute towards mission work of the Church both financially and spiritually.

“We continue praying for vocations to priesthood, Religious and married life: together let us contribute,” the cleric highlighted adding that “Mission is capital-intensive.”

The WDV which is annually marked on the Fourth Sunday of Easter normally falls on Good Shepherd Sunday when Christians reflect and compare Jesus Christ to a good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

Basing his sharing on Pope Francis’ message for 2021’s WDV themed St. Joseph: the dream of Vocations, Fr. Kaweesa noted that the saint who did ordinary things extra ordinarily by responding to the dream that God wanted him to have “is so close to our human experience just as he was as a father in the family.”

He acknowledged that St. Joseph was a quiet man and not much is attributed to him in the Scriptures “but his actions, response and fidelity to God’s call is outstanding,” no wonder Pope Francis calls him the “Saint next door.”

According to the PMS Director, St. Joseph “is highly recommended to be a pattern and the model of all vocations not only because of his services to the Son of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also for serving God with fidelity.”

Meanwhile, the National Secretary for the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle, Sr. Stella Maris Niwagira echoed the Director’s message that it is the responsibility of Christians and people of good will to support formation houses including seminaries and novitiates.

“It is our duty that we accompany those in formation on their journey,” Sr. Sr. Stella Maris a member of the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver (SSPC) said in the Friday video clip adding that “this is the essence of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.”

The nun explained that the contributions received on Vocations Sunday is normally sent to a universal solidarity fund in Rome which the Holy Father uses to support the Church in mission lands, seminarians and novices in formation and also “for building formation houses and for renovation.”

Sr. Stella Maris encouraged the clergy and Religious to remain faithful to their call quoting Pope Francis’ 2021 message on fidelity which reads, “I pray that you will experience this same joy, dear brothers and sisters who have generously made God the dream of your lives, serving him in your brothers and sisters through a fidelity that is a powerful testimony in an age of short-lived choices and emotions that bring no lasting joy.”