Bros. Bill and Donald have almost completed their journey to East Africa. Bro. Bill sent this posting. For more information on our school, St. Joseph Hill in Western Uganda, watch the following video!
We finally have time to do a posting. After a short drive from Kampala to Jinja, Uganda and settling into Dujarie House, we had the opportunity to visit Holy Cross Lakeview Senior Secondary School. It is a school that is a District ministry and its high academic standards have resulted in it recently being ranked 58th in the country. That evening, we were welcomed at the candidate house which included some speeches interspersed with music, entertainment and supper.
The next day, we were able to celebrate Mass in the morning with the Holy Cross Sisters, visit the property on the Nile River, Bugembe Parish, and the Philosophy Center of Jinja where the Holy Cross candidates attend school for degrees in Philosophy or Social Sciences. Bro. Alan Harrod gave us a tour of the town of Jinja which has retained its small town nature. Throughout our time in Jinja we had a number of interviews with Holy Cross religious. We finished our time in Jinja with supper and a meeting with the 34 candidates where Bro. Donald and I gave a short presentation and then answered a number of questions. It was quite impressive to see the growth of Holy Cross in Bugembe. The parish continues to grow and Holy Cross Lakeview is expanding. The candidate program is most effective. It was clear from interviews and conversations with the candidates that they are having a good introduction to religious life, are gaining insight about themselves, and are being mentored well in discerning their vocation.
The next part was driving with Alan Harrod to the western side of Uganda to Fort Portal. The trip took about seven hours to reach the Novitiate at Lake Saaka, Fort Portal. The novitiate was quite quiet; mostly because the novices were not there! The 14 novices were away for a pastoral experience and were scattered throughout the three countries of the District (Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania). We have been meeting them throughout our travels. The next day we drove for about an hour to Kyarusozi Parish. Like Jinja, it is a mixture of a parish and schools and of Holy Cross brothers, sisters and priests. The brothers are involved in teaching at St. Joseph Hill Secondary School and administering a technical school. The sisters are involved in health care and teaching in a primary school. St. Joseph Hill is expanding with more dormitories and the technical school hopes to become accredited with the government. In addition to all of this, the District owns acres of farmland.
Currently, we are overnight at Queen Elizabeth Park with Bro. Alan Harrod and the District Superior, Fr. James Burasa on our way back to Kampala, then Nairobi and the back to the US.
As we’ve said several times, the District is growing in personnel and ministry. It continues to be a good example of our founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, to have brothers and priests living and ministering together and it broadens the internationality of Holy Cross in meeting the needs of the church.
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