The Caritas Commission of Uganda has today started the 15th National Caritas week celebrations hosted by Kabale Diocese. According to Fr. Vincent Byaruhanga, Director of Caritas Commission for Kabale Diocese, a delegation from all 19 Catholic Diocese of Uganda have converged at Rushoroza Pastoral Centre up to Sunday where they will be evaluating their performance but also celebrate the achievements made in the course of the year and most importantly learning from each other.
This year’s National Caritas week celebrations under the theme “Caritas Empower Communities: For I was hungry and you gave me food” (Matthew 25:35) were launched by Rt. Rev. Serverus Jjumba, Bishop of Masaka Diocese and President of Caritas Uganda with Sacrifice of Mass which he presided over the this morning in Rushoroza Cathedral.
Rev. Fr. Hillary Muhezangango, the national Caritas Director said the national Caritas week celebrations are held in Diocese in rotational form and so far this is the 15th consecutive year since it’s inception in the year 2000. He thanked Kabale Diocese for the organizations and preparations and invited other Dioceses to learn from Kabale. He also noted that this year’s theme focuses on respect for human dignity through empowerment, creating a people who are independent hence a call to everyone to action. It also focuses on sustainability of the work being done since donor funding is consistently reducing. Fr. Hillary also noted that the theme also focuses on building network with the local, national and international organizations an lastly building reserves for emergencies.
In his opening remarks, Bishop Jjumba said there is need to walk the talk and what is done by Caritas should aim at enhancing human dignity. He said there is need to involve communities in strategic planning and decision making thereby putting in place strategies that are people centred in order to enhance continuity especially in this age where donor funding is dwindling.
Bishop Jjumba also thanked Caritas commission for empowering women by creating a women’s desk in each diocese, an opportunity which has helped women to come out and start initiatives to support their families through economic empowerment.
Bishop Callist Rubaramira in his remarks on the opening day welcomed delegates from all Dioceses and thanked Caritas Kabale for the theme chose which centred on empowering communities. He said the proper name for Caritas is Social Services and Development (SSD) and and that charity is one aspect carried out by this office. He urged the members to make an evaluation and integrate charity with social development. He also reminded members to set up methodologies which are oriented towards seeking solutions to the problems that dehumanize people.
Bishop Callist noted that Uganda’s poverty levels increase day by day and according to statistics by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), poverty levels in Kigezi are at 27.3%, meaning that if people are not helped to get involved in creating solutions to their own problems other than solely relying on foreign donation. He said local people should be helped and be motivated as to why they should also be donors to support themselves instead of waiting for foreign aid especially at a time when the Trump administration has halted funding through USAID.
Msgr. John Vianney Sunday, Vicar General of Kabale Diocese who was a keynote speaker on the theme “Caritas Empower Communities: For I was hungry and you gave me food” derived from Matthew 25:35, noted that nobody should be left behind, even the marginalized and less privileged in society, hence attending to the needs of all people.
We should all journey together as the recent synod on synodality proposed, and of course being in the Jubilee Year of Hope, we have to be a source of Hope to the hopeless so that we all become Pilgrims of Hope – Msgr. John Vianney Sunday.
Jesus’ mission was dealing with life situations of the people and as Pope Francis suggests, “Catholic Church without charity does not exist; charity is the heart of the Church.” Therefore, Caritas does not just give items to people to give temporary relief, but should mainly focus on how to mitigate and remove what brings suffering.
Msgr. John Vianney Sunday outlined seven principles that should guide Caritas in its operations among which are Respect for human dignity, preferential option for the poor, principle of solidarity, principle of common good, principle of subsidiarity, principle of participation and principle of universal destination of created goods. He also noted that as foreign donation is dwindling, it was time for the Caritas commission thought outside the box and taught local people how to learn to care for each other and attend to their needs thereby becoming generous to each other.
He concluded by proposing what can be done in order to mitigate and counteract the dwindling donor funding. Imparting practical skills to people (teach people how to solve problems), train communities to use modern technology in agricultural practices, empowering communities to know how to save and invest (financial literacy), attending to traditional ways of food storage and environmental conservation, setting up organizational structures from diocesan level to the basic Christian Community (including family school level) and formation of caritas clubs.
This Caritas week involves a number of activities including exhibition of the products mader by beneficiaries of Caritas programs, making outreaches to visit projects established by farmers with help of Caritas Kabale and will be crowned with pontifical Mass on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025 and announcing the host of the 16th National Caritas Week Celebrations for 2026.