The appointment of Rt. Rev. Paul Ssemogerere as the Apostolic Administrator of Kampala Archdiocese has drawn mixed reactions from a section of Catholic faithful in Luwero.
Rt. Rev. Ssemogerere was announced interim apostolic administrator of Kampala Archdiocese on Thursday by the Pope’s representative to Uganda, (Papal Nuncio) Archbishop Bianco Luigi during a requiem mass before the burial of former archbishop Dr. Cyprian Lwanga.
Ssemogerere is the substantive Bishop for Kasana-Luwero Diocese and will now have to oversee the archdiocese as its Apostolic Administrator until a substantive Archbishop is appointed. But he is a potential candidate being one of the other senior bishops from whom the pontiff may chose Kampala archbishop.
In 2014 when Bishop Muganwa Deogratias Byabazaire of Hoima Diocese died, Bishop Beinomugisha Lambert, was chosen as an apostolic administrator of Hoima Diocese until Bishop Vincent Kirabo was appointed as a substantive replacement.
Mr. Jacent Katende a member of the Kasana-Luweero Diocesan Women’s Guild says that it will be a challenge for Bishop Ssemogerere to administer two dioceses at the same time.
“I look at the duo assignment as a challenge but God will guide,” Katende says.
Erasmus Musisi, the Diocesan Treasurer for the Laity says he has hopes that although the tasks ahead for Bishop Ssemogerere are immense, he will manage them.
Margret Mukiibi Nyirabangi a parishioner in Namaliga Parish is concerned that the appointment of Bishop Ssemogerere could affect the preparations for the Kasana-Luwero Diocesan silver jubilee celebrations slated for March 6, 2022.
“The new appointment came at a time when we are preparing the activities of our silver Jubilee,” Nyirabangi says.
About Bishop Ssemogerere
Bishop Paul Ssemogerere was born on 30 June 1956 at Kisubi, in present-day Wakiso District.
He attended Kigero Primary School before joining Kisubi Boys’ Primary School. He then studied at St. Maria Goretti Senior Secondary School Katende, where he completed his O-Level studies.
In 1976, Ssemogerere and seven other young men became pioneer students at St Mbaaga Seminary at Ggaba. This was the first class of this seminary, which specialized in admitting men to train as priests when they are older than usual, and without attending minor seminary.
In 1978, the late Cardinal Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga sent Ssemogerere to the Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States, where he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1982.
On 21 November 1981, he was ordained a Deacon by Archbishop Rembert George Weakland, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He was ordained a priest on 3 June 1983 at Kampala, by Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga. He served as a priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala, until 4 June 2008.
He was then appointed Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kasana-Luweero, on 4 June 2008.
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