Namirembe Cathedral Diocese is the oldest diocese in the province of the church of Uganda and it’s centrally located. The cathedral is also known as the St Paul’s cathedral. It started in 1897 as the diocese of Uganda until it acquired the Name Namirembe Diocese in 1960.
It covers the districts of Wakiso, Kalangala and parts of Kampala city. It is comprised of 1 cathedral deanery, 6 Arcdeaconaries, 60 parishes and 342 local churches. The Cathedral was constructed in 1890 and the biggest protestant church in Uganda. The modesty of the cathedral is meant to command respect and grace.
It was built in 1890 on the Namirembe/Mengo hill one of the major hills of the Kampala city. Kabaka Daudi Chwa ll presided over the ground breaking ceremony of the Namirembe cathedral as well as the consecration ceremony. The traditionally western architecture is impressively finished with wonderful stained glass.
The history of this church is not far from the history of the Anglican faith. After the coming of the first group of missionaries, in response to Stanley’s call to spread the gospel in Uganda, many Ugandans were receptive to the gospel and this saw the baptism of the first Anglican in Uganda on 18th march 1882.
Thereafter the Christian faith was faced with a number of challenges that included the murder of three young men on January 31st, 1885 for their faith. Marko Kakumba, Nuwa Serwanga and Yusufu Lugalama died at Busega.
In 1974 The Most Rev. Janani Luwum was ordained as Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo-Zaire but was unfortunately murdered in February 1977 by President Idi Amin Dada.
The following decade was a terrible chapter in Uganda’s history, but the church constantly grew and developed with many new dioceses being formed each day.
This pattern of growth has continued to the present day with the latest Diocese of North Karamoja being inaugurated in 2007
Inside this church are the remains of Bishop Hannington who was murdered in October 1885 just before the gospel of Mathew was printed in Luganda as well as the cooks who begun Mengo hospital.
The diocese is headed by a bishop, Most Reverend Stanley Ntagali, who was enthroned on 16 December 2012, as the 8th archbishop of the Church of Uganda.
The ceremony was attended by an estimated 3,000 people, including several other luminaries from the Anglican Communion, including The Most Reverend Robert Duncan, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, and The Most Reverend John Sentamu the Archbishop of York in the United Kingdom.
Other attendees included Archbishops from Burundi, England, the Indian Ocean, Kenya, the Middle East, Nigeria, Rwanda, Scotland and Sudan. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of Uganda, was also in attendance.
You can drop in for the English services at 06:45 and 08:30 or 10:00 o’clock service in Luganda on Sunday. The worship here is great.
Lakato Safaris » Lakato Safaris Blog » Namirembe Cathedral
