The Diocese of Masaka has started to mobilize Catholics to make a financial contribution to the development of the Catholic site of Bugoma into a tourist site.
The site on the main island of Buggala, Kalangala district, is where the first Catholic missionaries, Father Siméon Lourdel Pere (Mapeera) and Brother Amans Delmas (Amansi), stopped over before arriving at Kigungu landing site at Entebbe on February 17, 1879.
Addressing Christians at the Bugoma site on Sunday, the Diocesan Bishop of Masaka, Severus Jjumba, said it was disappointing that the site had remained undeveloped over the years despite the potential to attract tourists like the Namugongo shrine.
“Missionaries have done their part to bring Catholicism here, it is our turn now to publicize this important site in our religion by erecting a huge monument here like the one in Kigungu, Entebbe which can attract tourists,” a- he declared.
The Prelate said the diocese will soon come up with a clear budget for the project.
Every February, Catholics from various parts of the diocese flock to the Catholic parish of Bumangi where the Bugoma site is located, to commemorate the first mooring of the missionaries.
Mr Livingstone Njuba, one of the caretakers at the Bugoma Catholic site, said Father Lourdel and Brother Amans first moored at the Bugoma landing site to conduct prayers and repair their wrecked boat before setting off. travel to Kigungu in Entebbe.
“The stories in our records here tell us clearly that the two Catholic missionaries first landed here in Bugoma before heading to Entebbe,” Mr Njuba said.
“Like other places, Bugoma should also be considered in our history and developed by the Catholic fraternity as we have done for other sites,” he added.
The diocese is also developing the Birinzi prayer center in Kalungu district, the birthplace of Saint Charles Lwanga.
In Kigungu, where Father Lourdel and Brother Amans landed, a monument was built by the Missionaries of Africa in place of both. The monument depicts the two missionaries, in white, kneeling and humiliated in prayer. The metal sign of the memories is affixed on a concrete and half bricks and just below a cross and below the word “Thy Kingdom Come” taken from the Lord’s Prayer.
On the right is Brother Amans, humbled in prayer with a travel case beside him and right next to the bag is a hut; which perhaps protected him from the tropical heat.
The war memorials are kept in a metal hedge, on raised ground and then just below are stones that separate the lake from the monument. From this side of the lake you can see both the monument and the church. The church is covered with blue sheets, windows and embellished with small bricks. This concrete beauty is the raison d’etre of Catholicism in Uganda and the cradle of the faithful who visit this site each February from within and across borders.
