By Godwin Abedican

Arua

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in Uganda was introduced in 1973 by Fr. Roger LaBonte, Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in Mbarara.

In the same year, Fr. Joseph Kamya, Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), started prayer groups in Masaka. As the CCR expanded, a National Service Team (NST) was formed in 1981 to co-ordinate the national activities.

Fr. Norbert Deprez Missionaries of Africa became its first coordinator and Fr. Ernest Sievers Missionaries of Africa later succeeded him and this year, the catholic charismatic renewal CCR celebrates her golden jubilee, marking 50 years of its existence in the country.

The Members of the CCR movement in Arua diocese are holding their activities at Bethany prayers center.

The movement in Arua has organized events from Wednesday 5^th to Sunday 9^th July 2023 to mark the golden jubilee among which include lessons, prayers, praises and worship and celebration of masses until the last day as well as having a walk for Jesus within the heart of Arua city on Saturday before the closing of the celebrations on Sunday.

Presiding over the mass for official opening of the five days event at Bethany prayer center in Arua city, Monsignor Casto Adeti, the Episcopal Vicar of Arua Catholic Diocese appeals to those in the charismatic movement to endure the challenges as they strive to transform many lives in the diocese “50 years our sons and daughter who have embraced this renewal have offered themselves to help their fellow sisters and brothers is such a good news. Very often, we have a lot of excuses why don’t we spread the word of God. So this apostolate God has given us as Charismatics, we must reach were the people are to preach this Good News” Adeti said.

Rev. Fr. John Baptist Drabo the main facilitator for the 5 days event says this celebration is a form of thanks giving to God for what he has done to Christians in Arua diocese and beyond. “There is so much that the lord has done to us through the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for which we cannot keep quiet but come back to where we have reached, to come back and say Jesus we thank you. This is the moment we are going to renew our relationships where it did not go well, then we have to prepare ourselves to experience the power of the word afresh”.

The Catholic Bishops appointed Bishop Christopher Kakooza, who is the Auxiliary Bishop for Kampala Archdiocese to be the Episcopal Advisor to the Renewal in Uganda. In April 2013, the Uganda Episcopal Conference appointed Rev. Fr. Dr. David Byaruhanga from Kabale Diocese, the new National Spiritual Director of the Uganda Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

In the last 15 years, Uganda Catholic Charismatic Renewal has experienced a phenomenal increase in number of Prayer Groups. For example in 1995, we had 250 Prayer Groups in 12 Dioceses of the country, in 1997, 453 groups, and now we have over 2000 Prayer Groups in 19 Dioceses.

These groups have an average membership of 50 people bringing our total membership to about 100,000 regular members. Another 800,000 attend events such as Conferences, Seminars, retreats and workshops, and are not directly regular participants in weekly meetings.

Emmanuel Asutia, the Diocesan Team (DST) Coordinator for Arua diocese says despite the challenges they continue to encounter as a movement, they still aim at doing more in the diocese to help Christians grow in faith. “Catholic Charismatic Renewal has been doing a lot. Now we are coming back to evaluate. Have we done anything? Have we caught any fish? Are we going on well? And what other strategy do we need in order to go to the deep? So that we can grow the church through the catholic charismatic renewal,” he said. “Our strength in this journey has been nothing else but prayers. We have moved out to families and parishes for evangelization which is one of our goals” Asutia added.     

The golden jubilee in Arua diocese is being celebrated under the theme “Jesus said, put in to the deep for a catch taken from the Gospel of Luke 5:4”

The Vision of the CCR movement

A dynamic and mature Catholic Charismatic Renewal with a deep relationship with God; upholding Gospel values in the Catholic Church and evangelizing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Mission of the CCR movement

• To form God fearing leaders at all levels within UCCR to evangelize and disciple others in the power of the Holy Spirit through on-going formation and follow up;
• To work in synergy with existing Catholic structures and organizations;
• To motivate and empower the people of God to collectively carry on sustainable, holistic grassroots evangelization and teaching of the Catholic faith.

Core Values of the CCR Movement

• Love
• Holiness
• Team work
• Integrity
• Service

Goals of the CCR movement

• To produce motivated empowered, visionary Christian leaders at all levels.
• To engage members of UCCR into holistic grassroots evangelization and teaching of the Catholic faith.

Objectives of the CCR Movement

• To build sustainable, vibrant, strong and active Prayer Groups.
• To consolidate the functions of the existing Ministries.
• To strengthen the existing leadership structures.
• To increase the understanding of the Catholic faith in Prayer Groups in the 19 dioceses of Uganda.
• To promote the reception and the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit amongst Catholics.
• To strengthen economic self-sustainability through the use of locally available resources.

In Arua diocese, there is currently a record of over eight thousand (8000) members of the CCR movement.  

COVER PHOTO: CCR Members enter the Prayer center at bethany to commence the celebrations By Godwin Abedican