AMECEA: The Late Bishop Wandera Eulogized as “Wise Advisor,” AMECEA Chairman
BISHOP ERASMUS DESDERIUS WANDERA
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The Chairman for the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has eulogized the late Bishop Emeritus Erasmus Desderius Wandera of Uganda’s Soroti Catholic Diocese as a wise advisor in the region.
The Bishop who passed on at the age of 92 on Thursday, December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, served the people of Eastern Uganda for 27 years.
In his message addressed to the President of Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) Bishop Joseph Anthony Zziwa of Kiyinda- Mityana Diocese AMECEA Chairman Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde said the death of Bishop Emeritus cannot be an easy one to bear especially for the Catholic community in Uganda, the priests and members of the immediate family who watched him slowly going the downhill of life.
He noted that even in his retirement (Bishop Wandera), “he stayed among us as the wise advisor so much that losing him is a painful experience and difficult to accept.”
“The Church in AMECEA region joins you in mourning his death and praying that our loving Father in Heaven may grant him eternal rest,” the Zambian Prelate Rt. Rev. Kasonde highlighted in his message on behalf of the region and continued, “What an honour to Bishop Wandera that God chose to take him from this world on the Solemnity of Our Lady!
“I pray that our Mother Mary, the Queen of Africa who was Immaculately Conceived may intercede for our brother so as to be granted eternal rest in the bosom of Abraham our father,” he said.
The late Bishop was laid to rest on Tuesday, December 13, at Immaculate Conception Church Soroti, Uganda.
