St Kizito Waluleta pilgrimage cancelled over coronavirus
Children pray in front of a sculpture of St Kizito at the Waluleta shrines in Luweero District in 2018. PHOTO/ DAN WANDERA
For the last 18 years, the Catholic community at Kasana-Luweero Diocese has converged at the Waluleta shrines to pay homage to St Kizito, one of the Uganda Martyrs.
The diocese comprises the districts of Nakaseke, Nakasongola and Luweero.
However, the 2020 pilgrimage like many other public gatherings that have been brought to a standstill by government in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, will not take place.
Authorities at Kasana-Luweero Diocese have confirmed the cancellation of the 2020 annual Waluleta St Kizito pilgrimage held every last Sunday of the month of July.
The usual hive of activity that characterises the pilgrimage week is no more at the shrines.
“Residents that neighbour the shrines at Kigwe are quietly busying themselves in their gardens and claim the church has not officially communicated but their hope for the event is fading,” Mr Erukana Tebandeke, one of the residents, told Sunday Monitor in an interview.
In 2019, the pilgrimage was also cancelled as a result of the National Catholic Church Youth Conference that was hosted by the Kasana-Luweero Diocese under the Uganda Episcopal Conference.
Once again, the Catholic community and the general public who have enjoyed the annual pilgrimage at the religious tourist site will not have the opportunity to pay homage to the birth place of St Kizito, the youngest of the Uganda Martyrs.
Under normal circumstances the annual pilgrimage week is a hive of activity by both the Catholic Church under Kasana-Luweero Diocese and the different stakeholders including residents who engage in several activities at the venue, and in the sale and buying of the different items at the week long exhibition programme ahead of the pilgrimage day.
But the near zero activity at the shrines except the recent clearing of the bush at the shrine perhaps explains the postponement of the annual pilgrimage in what a section of the community and Catholic faithful have termed as unfortunate and a big blow to a site recently elevated to a religious tourist site by the Uganda Tourism Board in partnership with the Catholic church under the Uganda Episcopal Conference in 2017.
Kasana-Luweero Diocesan Bishop Paul Ssemogerere in an interview with the Sunday Monitor early this week confirmed the cancellation of the pilgrimage activities for the year 2020 but encourages christians to make time for prayer on July 26 to commemorate the great day.
“St Kizito is the patron saint for several institutions and young people within Kasana-Luweero Diocese. Just as the Namugongo June 3 martyrs day celebration was held in a way that only allowed a few accredited guests in line with the Covid-19 guidelines, we believe that the Mass can be conducted in the same way. We are now rallying Christians to take time on Sunday to pray in commemoration of St Kizito, the young martyr,” Bishop Ssemogere said.
“It is also true that our partnership with the Uganda Tourism Board to promote the Waluleta shrines as a religious tourist site has partly suffered a setback like many other important projects in Uganda and the world at large because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is our prayer that soon the country will return to normal and churches will operate normally,” he added.
Kasana-Luweero Diocese, as part of the preparations to commemorate its silver jubilee celebrations, embarked on a programme to secure all sites presumed to be historical to the church for documentation with a planned museum to be established at the diocese headquarters in Luweero Town.
“The initiative to secure many of the church established historical sites is not limited to the Waluleta shrine. We have a grand plan to boost the religious tourism initiative. This is not work left for priests alone but all Christians have the obligation. We have a natural forest at Waluleta that has survived for ages and the church is interested in securing it from possible encroachment. We now rally Christians to be ambassadors of the church in all church projects,” Bishop Ssemogerere adds.
The Waluleta shrines located IN Kigwe village at Waluleta Parish in Makulubita Sub-county, like several other religious tourist sites is cherished by Catholics in Kasana- Luweero Diocese for various reasons.
The diocese was expected to host a week-long National Catholic Youth Conference that would lead up to the 2020 pilgrimage.
The community will not only miss the pilgrimage Mass at the shrines but the other activities outside the shrines that include eats, meeting and interacting with both the priests and friends.
For Kigwe village residents, the occasion is often accompanied with activities that generate income from sale of items such as drinks, religious literature, the Waluleta marathon run, among other activities.
“I had prepared four pigs for slaughter through the week-long events that characterise the Waluleta pilgrimage. I also sell boiled cassava to my customers who buy the roasted pork. We make some good money and for the second consecutive year, we are not going to enjoy the annual Waluleta pilgrimage,” Mr Joseph Kanakulya, a resident of Kigwe village, said.
To a section of the Catholic community who claim to have a strong attachment to the shrines, the news about the cancelled pilgrimage is not good although they are quick not to apportion blame to the church for the cancelled programme but call upon government to ensure that the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown is eased and possibly comes to an end.
Mr Joseph Lwevuze, a catechist at to St Joseph Parish Katikamu, Kasana-Luweero Diocese, said: “It is true that we are likely to miss the annual Waluleta pilgrimage due to the Covid -19 pandemic that has crippled different activities in the country. I do not go to Waluleta for tourism but paying pilgrimage to a saint who is a source of blessings is an honour. That is the particular attachment that I miss but we take it upon ourselves as Christians to pray from our respective homes on that holy day,” Mr Lwevuze told the Sunday Monitor.
Preserving history
As part of a grand plan to secure and preserve the Church history for hitherto unpopularised sites, the Kasana-Luweero Diocese under the pioneer Bishop of the Diocese, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, currently the Archbishop of Kampala, in 1995 made a bold move to try and find out from elders in Makulubita Sub-county, Luweero District information regarding the descendants of the youngest of the Uganda Martyrs born in the area.
The information could easily be gathered through meeting some of the surviving descendants of St Kizito since he was born in Makulubita Sub-county.
Bishop Lwanga together with other Church leaders were able to locate the area including graves of some of the relatives of the patron saint of Kasana-Luweero Diocese at Kigwe village in Waluleta Parish.
The graves were reconstructed as a starting point. The famous Mvule tree believed to have been the resting tree shade for St Kizito before his martyrdom was quickly secured as the Church mapped out a clear strategy to have the entire place secured.
The consultation was not limited to the Catholic Church and communities in Luweero but the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church.
With approval from the Uganda Tourism Board, the Waluleta St Kizito shrines were elevated to a religious tourist site.
A replicate of the family, the Mvule tree that has now been fenced off from direct access from residents who used to break off pieces to be placed at their respective homes and perceived as source of blessings, are among the artifacts preserved at the shrines.
The Mvule tree is believed to be as old as 250 years, according to the Church leaders and elders at Kigwe village in Waluleta parish.
While Kasana-Luweero Diocese has two other religious sites that were identified but are yet to be developed including the birth place of St Antanansio Bazzekuketa, Mulajje Parish in Bamunanika Sub-county and the birth place of St Dennis Ssebugwawo located at Kiwoko in Nakaseke District, who are both among the Uganda Martyrs, the birth place of St Kizito at Kigwe village in Waluleta is decreed for annual pilgrimage.
In July 2016, the Catholic Church officially sanctified the Waluleta St Kizito shrines at a Mass attended by the Archbishop of Kampala Diocese Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, among others.
