Africa-Press – Uganda. “Go and vote responsibly, it is your right to vote, vote responsible leaders, so that we can get good national leadership, I don’t care even if I am killed now, after all I have served and completed 25 years of my episcopate. May the Lord be with you!” late Bishop Emeritus of Masaka Diocese John Baptist Kaggwa said in his sermon during Mass to celebrate his Silver Jubilee as bishop on June 24 last year.
This shows how the deceased prelate was passionate about good governance and social justice.Fr Ronald Mayanja, the Masaka Diocesan communications director, said Bishop Kaggwa died at Mulago National Referral Hospital intensive care unit on Wednesday evening where he had been admitted after contracting Covid-19 .
“He [Bishop Kaggwa] was treated and healed, but he continued experiencing lung complications and this is what caused him difficulty in breathing and led to his death,” he said on Thursday.
Having been born on March 23, 1943, Bishop Kaggwa was about to celebrate his 78th birthday in March.Last month, his successor, Bishop Serverus Jjumba, was also admitted to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital after contracting the virus. He was later transferred to the Intensive care unit at Mulago Hospital, but after days of treatment, he was relocated to the general ward and later discharged. At least six senior catholic priests in the diocese also contracted the virus, but many have since recovered after receiving treatment.
Bishop Kaggwa will always be remembered by the people of Masaka Diocese where he served as bishop for decades and where he had chosen to live even after his retirement in 2018 at the age of 75.
Even after his retirement, Bishop Kaggwa continued to do his priestly duties under the leadership of Bishop Jjumba who allocated him different assignments in the diocese. As a member of the Mbogo clan, he had joined his fellow clansmen in Mityana District to pray together when some unruly police officers sprayed tear gas at them at the beginning of the recently concluded presidential campaigns.
The police later apologised to him and the entire Catholic Church and he forgave them, but he went ahead to always speak his mind on pertinent national issues.
He was among the opinion leaders that proposed the extension of presidential and parliamentary elections until Covid-19 would be brought under control so that Ugandans could conduct free and fair elections. He has been hospitalised for most of the time of the campaigns and he has indeed left just before the elected president is sworn in.
Projects established
Bishop Kaggwa was often filmed doing the interpretation of Pope Francis’ messages into English for our Ugandan local audience during the recent Papal visit to Uganda. He is going to be so remembered for promoting social and economic development in Masaka Diocese and elsewhere.
It was under his leadership that Masaka Diocese constructed a shopping mall on Ben Kiwanuka Street in Kampala (Masaka Jubilee House), a shopping mall (BAFU) in Nyendo in Masaka City and the building housing Centenary Bank in Masaka City.
Today, Masaka Diocese has its own radio known as Centenary FM and it is the brain child of the late Bishop Kaggwa. He is also said to have been behind the establishment of Centenary Bank branches in Sembabule and Lyantonde Towns-all of which are under Masaka Diocese. This is in addition to the expansion of health services that included opening of new Catholic Church-run health centres, maternity centres and clinics as well as schools. On retirement, Bishop Kaggwa left a more vibrant Masaka Diocesan Development Organisation (MADDO), which supplies hundreds of Friesian cows to farmers and promotes agriculture, food security, and household incomes.
Fr Anthony Kakumba, the Parish Priest of Kitovu Cathedral Parish, said: “We have lost an important spiritual director, who served our diocese with so much devotion. He was behind the big face lifting of Kitovu Cathedral which he did within the first years of his consecration and the establishment of new parishes in the diocese. We remember him for establishing Bishop Kaggwa Foundation Forum, which will always continue to support the needy. He has left behind a solid and a more financially empowered diocese.”
Bishop Kaggwa will also be remembered for his immense humility —- a leader who always thanked those that he led for supporting him and helping him to accomplish whatever he did. “I am happy to have made my small contribution during my time as Bishop of Masaka. But I want to thank all the people who have assisted me to make that contribution,” he told the media soon after handing over the mantle to Bishop Jjumba on July 6, 2019.
Mr Augustine Buteera, the chairperson of Bishop Kaggwa Foundation Forum, said: “We have lost our greatest hero, mentor, director, preacher and entrepreneur of our generation. I first met Bishop Kaggwa in 1982 when he was the Rector of St Mbaga Seminary and I learnt so much from him. We met again in 1995, he assisted me to start Masaka Catholic Diocese Teachers Association (MACADITA). We will always remember him as a humble and a focused patron.”
VP eulogises Kaggwa
Vice President Edward Ssekandi said Bishop Kaggwa has been a strong pillar of unity and icon of development in Greater Masaka. ‘‘He has been a symbol of respect and stood above all social ,economic ,cultural or ethnic demarcations wherever he served the Church. He has died at a critical time when the country, especially the people of this region needed his counsel and wisdom remarkably after the tensions experienced during the elections and this Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Education, Service
Bishop Kaggwa was born on March 23, 1943 in Bulenga Village, Wakiso District. He started his pre –primary at Sumbwe in Wakiso from 1950 to 1951 before joining Lubaga Boys (1952 to 1957). He then joined Kisubi Minor Seminary (1958 to 1962).
He studied Theology and philosophy at Katigondo Major Seminary in 1963 before the Late Archbishop, Dr Joseph Kiwanuka, sent him to Urbano University in Rome in 1965 where he obtained Masters Degrees in Theology and Philosophy. He returned as a deacon and worked briefly at Busubizi Teachers College before he was ordained priest at Rubaga in 1971 by the late Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga.
After his priestly ordination Kaggwa was posted to Nswanjere Minor Seminary in Mityana where he taught English, History, and Civics. He was also the sports master at the seminary. In 1975, he was transferred to St Mbaaga Ggaba Major Seminary in Kampala untill 1982 when he was posted to Kisubi Minor Seminary to teach Latin. In 1985, he apointed the Parish Priest of Christ the King Church in Kampala and in the same year, Cardinal Nsubuga sent him back to Rome in Italy for his doctoral studies in Theology and Canon Law before he was appointed Vice Rector of the Pontifical College of St Paul, Rome, for five years.
He returned to Uganda in 1990 and was appointed the first rector of Ggaba National Major Seminary in Kampala. In 1995, Rome appointed him Bishop Coadjutor of Masaka Diocese as the late Bishop Adrian Ddungu prepared to retire. He was consecrated on June 24 1995 and officially retired in April 2019. He will be laid to rest today at Bukalasa Minor Seminary cemetery in Kalungu District.
