Arua Diocese

Rogale Chapel officiated a Eucharistic Center.

Faithfuls at Secret Heart of Jesus, Rogale, under Kamaka Parish celebrated Easter with greater joy owing to the officiation of their newly built Chapel to a Eucharistic Center.

Rogale Chapel, said to have started in 1937 was officiated as a Eucharistic Center by His Lordship , the Bishop of Arua Diocese on the 29th of April 2023.

During the occasion, the Bishop administered the Sacrament of Matrimony to 14 young couples and appointed two Eucharistic Ministers for the new Eucharistic Center.

Preaching during the service, the Bishop called on the faithful of Rogale to take the commitment to the Holy Eucharist with utmost reverence.

"And Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians is telling us that Jesus took bread and wine and offered it to God, and gave it to the apostles, the bread became his body and the wine his blood. For what? To nourish us. So let's take this commitment to be nourished by the body and blood of Jesus seriously, it is not a simple thing to understand, it is a great mystery that God has given us. Some people want to understand it in a very human way. But it is a mystery given to us by God. And God knows the only way we can understand it is by using symbols, and that is the bread and wine that we eat every day. Jesus is using something you know, to see something beyond us. The mystery of the Eucharist is so big that we cannot understand it all but God has revealed it to us to understand it and be nourished by it in the Eucharist. This is the blessing that you now have in Rogale Chapel, that Jesus is present here to nourish you every week and there is a catechist who will be here full time, or in the village every day a catechist will be able to take for you the Holy Communion." Says Bishop.

"We have heard from the gospel according to St John, Jesus gives himself as the bread of life. Every time we are receiving the Eucharist we are receiving the Lord, let us build ourselves by being united with Jesus. And through Jesus we are all united as one body, and this one body continues to grow if we nourish ourselves with the Eucharist. We are now very blessed that we can receive the Eucharist here." Continued the Bishop.

The Bishop in his teaching about marriage life called to the country to pray for the President to stand firm and not accept same sex marriage. "I am very happy that these are all young couples. Many times I come and see only elderly couples' weddings. So I call upon more young couples to see the example of these people, God is waiting for you. And if you don't wed then the love you are telling each other is not sincere, if it is sincere you would present it to God." Said the Bishop.

"Christian marriage is built on love, undivided love, if this is not there, it will not be a Christian marriage, and christian marriage is for life. Not just for some weeks, it is a commitment which is for life. We have the model of the Holy family of St.Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus. Let that be your model. You saw St.Joseph when he committed himself to Mother Mary, he was ready to look after his family. So I trust you to the hands of the Holy family to guide you through."

"Today people have a very strange perception of having children. People marry and don't want to have children. Let there be children and be ready to bring up those children in a Christian way." He continued.

"Our time has a lot of strange teachings, some are saying men can marry men, women can marry women.Let's not talk of marriage when women marry women, that is something else not marriage. Let us obey God's command. If you marry it should be out of love, if you marry it should bring forth children. If it is health health condition preventing you, look for medical help. But man to man is unacceptable, let us pray for the president to stand firm so that such things don't come to uganda. This is a christian country with the motor For God and my Country. We are a country which is God loving. We are a country with many religions all focusing on one God not pagans. Ours is a God loving country and our motor tells it all." Said the Bishop.

Hon.Denis Lee Oguzu, member of parliament for Maracha district who was present on the occasion appealed to the faithful to embrace togetherness and urged the parishioners to work together with other religious communities to ensure development of their parish. He thanked Bishop Sabino for his passionate apostolate to the people of Arua. Lee thanked the Bishop for advocating for Arua Diocese Local Donors Forum, a development programme where all catholics in Arua Diocese are to contribute one hundred ugandan shillings (100GX) on every first sunday of the month and those monthly, quarterly and annual subscription of any amount they can offer. He said the white missionaries are no more and it is time for the christians to pick up from where the missionaries have left. Lee noted that a lot can be achieved through programmes like the Local Donors Forum and called upon all to come offer their support.