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REBUILDING HOPE AND SOLIDARITY IN TO-DAYS

FAMILIES
THE EXPERIENCE OF AN AFRICAN DIOCESE
18
th
October 2014 Rome

1. INTRODUCTION
In the very first place I wish to thank the President of the Pontifical Council
for the Family, His Excellency, Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia and His Eminence
Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga for inviting me to participate at this very
important Seminar on the Family a theme that shall be treated at the coming
synod of Bishops in October 2014.
This theme comes at the time when the Holy Father, Pope Francis and the
entire Church Leadership is calling upon the entire Catholic Church in the
world to renew the Evangelization Apostolate in the Catholic Church.
In my humble opinion New Evangelization, if it is to succeed, must be
supported by three pillars namely;
a) Knowing the Faith with Humility
b) Living the Faith with Simplicity
c) Sharing the Faith with Love
These basic pillars that have to support the Family are not strong enough for
many couples, hence the bitter challenges in many of our Children
2. THE STATE OF THE FAMILY IN KAMPALA ARCHDIOCESE -
UGANDA
We have a fully-fledged Department of Marriage and Family Life co-
ordinated by a Priest Rev. Fr. Dominic Mwebe who is at the same time a
Parish Priest of a New Vibrant Parish called Nansana which is situated in a
heavily populated suburb of Kampala City.
The Department caters for the two Parents in the Family namely Husband and
Wife reminding them of their parental, pastoral and social responsibility. It
also caters for children in a Family reminding the children that they are a gift
from God to the parents in a family setting. Parents are not producers like
factories but are co-operators in Gods work of creation. They share in Gods
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work of procreation and are not just reproducers! Hence the needs for a
genuine family planning exercise in the Church.
Canon 1055 establishes that the marriage covenant is directed to the
procreation and upbringing of children and that it is elevated to the dignity of
a Sacrament. The conjugal union born of the covenant is described as a
communion of the whole life. This Canon repeats the conciliar teaching on this
subject in Granduium et Spes No.48.
The Family life Department teaches about the Biblical origin of the Family and
that marriage is a gift from God as described in the Book of Genesis 2:18,24.
The essential properties of marriage are Unity and Indissolubility (Mt.
19:3-12; Mk 10 2- 12) plus the fact that marriage is indeed the primary cell of
society with the responsibility of raising children in a decent matter; promote
a God-Fearing family community, strengthened by a strong prayer-life, guided
by a strong spirit of Love of God and neighbor with a deep respect for each
others life as stated in the Vatican II Document Gravissimum
Educationis No.3 ; Gaudium et spes No. 49, 52.
3. THE NECESSITY FOR PREPARING WELL FOR MATRIMONY
The guidelines of Church discipline in this regard is highly respected and
taught, that the 3 stages of marriage preparation are necessary namely:
(a) The remote preparation programme whereby agents of
evangelization give instructions to the youth in Schools about the
importance of marriage

(b) The Programme Proximate Preparation in each parish we have what we
call a Tuesday Class whereby 3 weeks prior to marriage a special
well prepared course is conducted for the spouses intending to marry
and this is animated by a priest together with a team of experienced
couples to those preparing for marriage. It is at this stage that these
intending to marry are taught what the Church teaches on Marriage
based on Canon Law Canons; 1055 Can 1165. It is also at this time
that the African Cultural ceremonies are taught and celebrated. We
have what we call Okwanjula whereby the future wife has to
traditionally and culturally present her future husband to her family.
This is accompanied by the exchange of gifts and also the exchange of
consent is made publically in the presence of both families of the
spouses and also the local community.
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(c) The Post-matrimonial on-going formation: This is a course
prepared by both the Diocesan and parish Team for the Marriage
Apostolate. It is an on-going cateslatial Programme on marriage and it
promotes the peoples understanding of the sacrament of marriage.

4. MARRIAGE BANNS
According to Canon Law (Can: 1067), the Bishop conference is to lay down
norms concerning the publications of marriage banns or other appropriate
means of enquiring to be carried out as a pre-requisite for marriage. When
the Parish Priest has carefully observed these norms, he may proceed to
assist at a marriage. According to pastoral tradition in the Archdiocese of
Kampala, these weeks before the celebration of the marriage on 3
consecutive Sundays, the marriage banns are announced in Church in the
Parish where the marriage is to be celebrated or in the Parish which either
of the contracting spouses has a domicile or a quasi domicile or a
months residence of in a Parish in which the spouses are actually residing.
Time and Place where Marriage is Celebrated
According to Can 1115, it is recommended that marriage has to be
celebrated in a Parish church where one of the two spouses resides.
However the ordinary or the Parish Priest may give permission for marriage
to be celebrated elsewhere.
5. CHALLENGES IN MARRIAGE
The biggest challenge of the Family to-day in Africa is extreme poverty
which underlines all other challenges e.g. the crisis of faith, H.I.V/AIDs
and other killer diseases, same sex unions

6. THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE FAMILY TODAY
i. People have lost trust in the One True God whom we preach thus resort
to looking for other gods who are propagated by witch doctors in each
village under the impression that the causes of poverty are being
addressed. This has increased African Traditional Religions were people
are just lies!
- People do not ask WHY am I poor? but WHO is responsible of
my being poor? The answer is always erroneous because whenever
one asks Who? then the answer is always a person (this causes
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Family division and distraction) but when one asks Why? then
you address the real causes!
- Child sacrifice also results from the erroneous questions!
ii. School dropouts due to lack of school fees
o Thus No future for the family and Church at large
o Child labour
o Prostitution
iii. Human trafficking; in such for employment opportunities (people are
promised high paying jobs in western countries only to reach there
and they are turned into prostitutes!)
iv. Promotion of Homosexual practices since they are well funded
v. High levels of unemployment resulting from;
o Corruption
o Fraud
vi. Drug abuse - Drinking to kill stress
vii. Selling off of ones property, mainly Land, this leads to Homelessness
and extreme poverty

7. THE CHURCH S PASTORAL CARE FOR FAMILIES FACING
POVERTY
a) WEKEMBE Programme that addresses Jesus message of John 10:10
I have come so that they may have Life in its fullness
b) Prayer Centers, e.g Bukalango, Kiwamirembe etc. These centers touch
peoples anxieties and address poverty through prayer.
c) New Evangelization strategy; we are teaching people how to;
o Know their Faith and environment with Humility
o Live the Faith with Simplicity
o Share the Faith with Love
d) We have developed a new concept of the Uganda Martyrs multi-
purpose Centres wherever possible to address the 3 major areas of
poverty from which people suffer.
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Cfr. UMU research between Nabusanke and Busega Round about.
A research was carried out on 3 basic concerns;
i. How many Catholic Churches are along the Kampala Masaka
Road with particular reference to Nabusanke and Busega Round-
about.
The number of the Anglican Churches build along the same
road
The number of Mosques build along the same road
The number of African Tradition shrines in the same area
ii. Who visits the African Tradition shrines?
iii. Why they visit the said shrines? To address 3 basic peoples
concerns
Poverty eradication
Health challenges
Ancestral worship
The systematic, viable and researched responses to the said challenge
Challenge Responses
1. Poverty
eradication
To initiate at each Sub-Parish Programmes that
alleviate poverty e.g Wekembe Micro Credit,
Savings and Credit Co-operatives, Tree Planting,
Catering Services etc.
To promote commercial farming under the Central
Archdiocesan Provincial Caritas (CAPCA) and promote
coffee commercial production under the KATUKA
Development Trust.
To promote school bursaries under the Solidarity
Action Appeal Fund (SAAFU)
To promote small and medium enterprises
Train people development programs e.g Commercial
and Substance farming
Promote the culture of savings
Promote Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies
(SACCOS)

2. Health
Problems
To construct some Health Facilities at each Sub-Parish
Church where people can be treated of the killer
diseases after due examination especially malAria,
Diabetes, High blood pressure etc.

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8. CONCLUSION
In 1994, the First Synod of Bishops for Africa discussed with authoritative
clarity the specific vocation of the church in Africa as a Family of God. A few
months later, the UN International Conference on Population and
Development held in Cairo forged an alleged Global Consensus on sexual
and reproductive health and rights, an agenda which is irremediably infected
with the perspective of the Western Sexual revolution that is affecting the
health of Families.
The aggressive implementation of the Cairo plan of action in Africa to which
the international community dedicates Billions of dollars each year, confront
the Church with pressing pastoral challenges for the Families today in some
parts of the world but especially in Africa. To better access their scope, a
serious study in all our local Churches should be made to provide an overview
of the achievements of the Cairo agents in Africa.
Over the past 20 years and their strategy beyond 2014. In the face of such
deadly attacks against the family, may the Church in Africa have the courage
to fulfill its prophetic and irreplaceable mission for the good of humanity?
May all our pastoral plans in Africa be founded on the family and interpersonal
relationships taking into account the traditional family values in Africa which
should shine as a lamp to make the splendor of the truth about our eternal
vocation to the family shine in the darkness of this world. St. Pope John Paul
II in his letter to the Families of February 2 1994 Familiaris Consortio
said that human beings have the vocation to love which introduces
them as male and female into the realm of the great mystery. This
great Mystery is Gods Trinitarian Love!
As the Church is about to celebrate and deliberate on the family in the Synod
of Bishops on the family next month in October 2014, let the Family be
dedicated to the eradication of both the spiritual and material poverty via
promoting
a) Spiritual programmes;
- Preaching Gospel of the Family where we learn to live with others
- To Relate Gods Plan on the Family
- See to it that the faithful know the Biblical and the magisterial teaching
on the Family
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- See to it that programmes in all our parishes should be organised to
teach people about Natural law, natural Family planning as taught by
the church and the relevant vocation of each person in Christ
- Make sure that the faithful get educated on the sacramental practices of
the Family and the promotion of a mentality open to the gift of life
- Finally Christian initiation should make sure that parents find space in
their daily programme of transmitting faith to their Children. The
following Family rules are a guide for the on-going formation of the
Family. They are;
1. Always be honest Proverbs 12:22
2. Count your blessings Psalms 34: 1- 3
3. Bear each others burdens Galatians 6:2
4. Forgive and forget Micah 7:18
5. Be kind and tender hearted Ephesians 4:32
6. Comfort one another 1 Thes. 4:18
7. Keep your promises Rom 4:21
8. Be supportive of one another Acts 20:35
9. Be true to each other Rev. 15:3
10. Look after each other Deut. 15:11
11. Treat each other like you treat your friends Mat.
7:12
12. But most important: Love One another deeply from
the heart (Peter 1:22; 1 Cor. 13:1- 13)
b) Promote all our Parishes, Schools and Sub-Parishes as the
Uganda Martyrs Multi-purpose Centres; to address the critical
issue of Poverty alleviation. The said multi-purpose centres will
inculturate and evangelize ancestral worship via promoting our
ancestors in faith that is the Uganda Martyrs. The said Centres similar
to the African Tradition Religions shall also handle health issues and the
extreme poverty that is being experienced in many families by
promoting business enterprises, micro-credit schemes and also savings
and credit co-operatives.
May the holy Family of Nazareth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary intercede for us
all, Amen.

+Cyprian Kizito Lwanga
ARCHBISHOP OF KAMPALA