Uganda’s oldest serving Catholic priest mourned

Monsignor Joseph Kyeyune, Uganda’s oldest serving Catholic priest, was on July 30 found dead in his bathroom, bringing to an end decades of service to the church.

He was laid to rest at Lubaga Cathedral cemetery on July 31. The late monsignor was 97 and was due to celebrate his 67th anniversary in priesthood this December. At the time of his death, he could still celebrate mass and offer sacraments to Lubaga Cathedral parishioners, whom he served.

Presiding over the requiem mass at Lubaga, the Archbishop of Kampala Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, praised the late for his dedicated service to the church, which he said resulted in him being conferred upon the title of monsignor last year by the pope, which now appears to have been a deserving farewell.

Mourners praised the late priest for his love for the country and Buganda kingdom. This explained the big attendance by the Buganda kingdom’s Nakinsige clan, to which he belonged.

“There is no way I would have failed to attend the funeral. It was from Msgr Kyeyune that I received my Holy Communion here at Lubaga Cathedral way back in 1959,” said Joseph Kato, 65, of Musigula village.

The departure of Kyeyune is a big blow to the Catholic church since he was the last of his great generation that still lived. His Katigondo seminary classmates included the late Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga. Other contemporaries included Africa’s first black bishop, the late Joseph Kiwanuka, who was a student at Katigondo 18 years before Kyeyune joined.

Other contemporaries such as Africa’s first black cardinal, the late Laurent Cardinal Rugambwa of Tanzania, was at Katigondo just four years before Kyeyune, while those that joined the major seminary after him included late Bishop Adrian Ddungu (nine years later), Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala and bishop Paul Kalanda (12 years later).

Kyeyune’s death also closes the chapter on the late Msgr Aloysius Ngobya’s protégés. Ngobya’s process of being beatified is underway. The highlight of Kyeyune’s vocation was in 1996, when he celebrated his golden jubilee with the late Pope John Paul II and other priests from all over the world, who were also marking 50 years in priesthood, in Rome on invitation of the pontiff.  In all, they were about 1,500 priests and a few arrived in wheel chairs.

The pope served them a great luncheon and gave each of them a stole. The late pope John Paul II was also ordained in 1946. Kyeyune was the fifth born in a family of six children and was the only member of his nucleus family still living.

He was born on July 15, 1916, to Mikayiri Mukasa Ssemmanda and Alexandrina Nankinga in Nalweyo, Katende parish, Mawokota county. His was a devout Catholic family that produced two priests, the other one being Msgr John Alifonsi Ssemanda (RIP) while another brother, Valerian Mayega (RIP), became a well-known organist and organiser of choir activities at Christ the King church, in Kampala.

He was ordained priest together with late Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga on December 15, 1946 at Lubaga Cathedral by missionary bishop John Reesinck. Kyeyune came from a family with people who lived long.

His mother died when she was slightly above 100; his elder brother Msgr Ssemanda died at 94 while his younger sister Maria Nalwanga, a nun, had clocked 93 at the time of her death.

rmugagga@yahoo.co.uk