UGANDA: Archbishop Kiwanuka Eulogized as an Educator to Young People

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), the AMECEA chairman has mourned the late Archbishop Emeritus of Tororo, Uganda, Most Rev. Denis Kiwanuka Lote as an educator who inspired many especially the young people.

In a statement shared with AMECEA Online, the Chairman Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde of Solwezi Diocese, Zambia expressed that the death of Archbishop Emeritus has left a big gap in Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC).

The chairman also noted that during his long service as first Bishop of Kotido Diocese where he served for over 15 years, and later as Archbishop of Tororo for about seven years, Archbishop Kiwanuka “Gave his best to the Church as educator to so many young people who went through his hands in different schools and seminaries in the country.”

Archbishop Emeritus died on Sunday, April 25, at St. Francis Nsambya Hospital in Kampala at the age of 84.

“Even as we mourn, we give thanks to the Lord who has shown us His goodness through the life and example of his humble servant,” Bishop Kasonde in a statement signed Wednesday, April 27, adding in reference to Eucharistic Prayer III, that the Risen Lord will “transform his lowly body after the pattern of His own glorious body.”

He continued addressing the President of UEC Bishop Joseph Anthony Zziwa, “We pray that the Lord who chose to call him on the day of His Divine Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) may receive his soul in his eternal life.”

The late Archbishop was ordained a Catholic priest on 19^th December 1965 and 26 years later appointed Bishop of Kotido Diocese then later the Archbishop of Tororo where he served until the required retirement age of 75 in 2014.

The late Archbishop Kiwanuka was laid to rest in the Uganda Martyrs Cathedral of Tororo Archdiocese on Thursday, April 28.