{"id":122,"date":"2016-01-22T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/uganda-uec-holds-thanksgiving-and-ge\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T09:40:33","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T09:40:33","slug":"uganda-uec-holds-thanksgiving-and-ge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/uganda-uec-holds-thanksgiving-and-ge\/","title":{"rendered":"UGANDA: UEC holds thanksgiving and get-together celebration for the successful visit of Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bishop Franzelli (left) Archbishop Odama and <\/i>
\nthe Prime Minister of Uganda cut the <\/i>
\nthanksgiving cake as other dignitaries look on<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Following
\nthe successful historic visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Uganda in
\nNovember last year, the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) hosted a colorful
\nappreciation celebration to acknowledge the contribution made by the various
\norganizing committee members, government officials and sponsors towards making
\nthe event an unprecedented success.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe
\nthanksgiving and get-together event, which was held on Tuesday 19th January
\n2016 at the Uganda Catholic Secretariat premises, attracted over 400 invited
\nguests who included members of various organizing committees, top government
\nofficials and sponsors among other people. The event kicked-off at exactly 5.45pm
\namid jubilant songs, traditional and folk dances upon the arrival of the Chief
\nGuest, Prime Minister of Uganda. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Archbishop Odama hands a gift to the Prime <\/i>
\nMinster of Uganda as Msgr Kauta looks on<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nHon.
\nRuhakana was ushered in at the venue by the Chairman of the UEC and the
\nArchbishop of Gulu, Most Rev. John Baptist Odama, the Bishop of Lira, Rt. Rev.
\nJoseph Franzelli, the Bishop of Masaka, Rt. Rev. John Baptist Kaggwa, the
\nSecretary General of UEC, Msgr. John Baptist Kauta, Minister in Charge of
\nGeneral Duties\/Office of the Prime Minister. Hon. Kabwegyere Tarsis and other
\ngovernment officials.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nArchbishop
\nOdama told the guests that the Holy Father wrote to him a letter expressing his
\ngratitude to all Ugandans for their warm welcome during his visit.<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe whole
\nevent was a success which gave the Pope a great joy. The crowd that accompanied
\nhim was a sign that people are yearning for Christ. It would not have been
\npossible without the fervent hard work put in by everyone involved thus we are
\ngathered here to celebrate that,\u201d said Archbishop Odama adding, \u201cThe visit left
\nus with a very important lesson that the Church and the state can be partners
\nin promoting the common good.\u201d <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A section of the invited guests at the function<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe also
\nconveyed his thanks and sincere appreciation to the office of the president,
\ncabinet ministers, police, other religious faiths and local authorities for
\nproviding tight security and amenities such as water in all the locations.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe
\nArchbishop told the guests that the visit made all Ugandans proud and urged
\nthem to keep that pride all the time to maintain unity, hard work and consultation.<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe
\npresence of the various leaders from different political parties and religions,
\nthe shaking of the hands of the two presidential candidates in 15 years was
\nproof that the visit knew no religion or political background but it was a
\ndemonstration that Uganda only shared oneness,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAddressing
\nthe guests, Hon. Ruhakana said that many memorable things took place in the
\nnation because of the Papal visit.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe Holy
\nFather ignited national cohesion in practice. We were used to the presidential
\ncandidates hitting at each other but it was not a common sight to see the
\nwarmth of the handshaking at Namugongo thus we should follow the Pope\u2019s example
\nof unity,\u201d said Hon. Ruhakana adding \u201cUnity, solidarity and ecumenism was
\nanother example from the Holy Father. He first visited the Anglican Shrine,
\nprayed and meditated there. It showed that we have no choice but to follow his
\nexample in spite of variation in religion.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nArchbishop
\nOdama later handed over a gift to the Prime Minister, other government
\nofficials and dignitaries present. The event concluded at 10pm with the cutting
\nof the cake.<\/div>\n
\nVarious
\ndishes and refreshments were served to the guests who couldn\u2019t hide their joy,
\nexcitement and gratitude throughout the evening.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy Jacinta W. Odongo; Media
\nOfficer, Uganda Episcopal Conference<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bishop Franzelli (left) Archbishop Odama and  the Prime Minister of Uganda cut the  thanksgiving cake…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}