About US
Godfrey S. Batte
First Chairman
Ugandan Catholic Community in Chicago
In Fall of 2014, Rev. Fr. Dennis Kasule inspired a few Ugandan Catholics in the Chicagoland area to mobilize fellow Ugandan Catholics towards a shared spiritual journey that entailed routinely scheduled communal prayers and fellowship. The main goal was to provide an avenue for Immigrants of Ugandan descent to take care of their spiritual needs, such as celebrating or accessing the different sacraments of the Church. Many Ugandan Catholics in Chicago had not fully integrated into the Catholic parishes close to where they lived and, as such, had limited access to Catholic spiritual services when needed. When they needed a baptism, anointing of the sick or other sacraments, many of them called Fr. Kasule or any other Ugandan priest they knew.
At the time, Ugandans in Chicagoland had two registered organizations; however, these entities were not faith-based, and even though members had occasional interreligious prayers, the apparent objectives were social, cultural, and philanthropy. The Ugandan immigrant community in Chicagoland comprises many different faith backgrounds; this initiative was to engage the catholic community and non-Catholics were welcome to pray with us.
I volunteered to lead the mobilization effort on the laity’s side, and Fr. Kasule was the Chaplain. With the help of other Catholics, we had dived into a new adventure. We started with the simple idea of inviting Catholics to pray, worship together, and socialize. Our first group name was “Come Praise the Lord” reflecting the very basic step – an invitation to fellow Catholics and their families/friends to join in this project.
In 2015, Fr. George Omwando, then pastor of St. Catherine and St. Lucy Catholic Parish in Oak Park,
IL, offered us to use St. Catherine and St. Lucy church for Mass every last Sunday of the Month. We gathered for mass intermittently until a few months before the 2020 pandemic, when communal gatherings were generally prohibited. We also continued to gather to celebrate Uganda Martyrs Day and an annual picnic hosted by Fr. Kasule at Mundelein Seminary. In our liturgical celebrations we incorporated an element of enculturation expressed by singing hymns from different languages of Uganda and taking some mass readings in Luganda.
On August 7, 2022, we gathered for Mass at St. Collete in Rolling Meadows, IL, the first gathering since the closures of public places and churches in 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic. Shortly after this fresh start, Fr. Darrio (the Pastor) and St. Edna parish in Arlington Heights welcomed us to celebrate Mass and fellowship every fourth Sunday of the month at St Edna. Special thanks to Bishop Jeffrey Grob and Fr. Darrio, who helped us in the process of getting a place to worship from.
It is conceivable that when a group of people routinely get together and work together to achieve certain objectives, it becomes necessary to organize better, streamline some leadership, and set achievable goals. More grassroots leadership is still needed to engage more Ugandan Catholics to increase the number of attendees at the monthly liturgical celebrations. Our new versatile leadership team will steer us forward.
Thank you for your interest and sharing your talents!​​
Current Executive
The Ugandan Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Chicago is guided by dedicated leaders who blend spiritual wisdom with cultural understanding. Their leadership fosters unity, supports community growth, and upholds strong traditions while navigating the needs of a diverse congregation. This ensures vibrant worship and a cohesive community spirit.
Chaplain
Fr. Dennis Kasule
Chairman
Tonny Makumbi
Vice Chairperson
Josephine Mugagga
Secretary
Godfrey Kayitarama
Treasurer
Jackie Kakande
Assistant Treasurer
Godfrey Nyenje
Publicity
Denis Kyabaggu
Advisor
Godfrey Batte
Liturgy
Music
Robert Mugera
​Vicent Kawooya
“One Mind United in Thought and Purpose".
Messages
Message from BISHOP
To the Ugandan Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Chicago, grace and peace in our
Lord Jesus Christ! We celebrate on this Solemnity of Christ the King the promise of the kingdom prepared for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. In his profound love, the Lord gives us hope on our earthly journey that we may know Him and have the courage to care for each other.
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The Ugandan Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Chicago has journeyed since the first families gathered for worship together. With time and with joy, this larger faith community has found a regular worship place at St. Edna Parish in Arlington Heights, and has embraced the motto, “The Love of Christ Compels Us.”
Significant today is the commencement of the magazine of the Ugandan Catholic Community in the
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Archdiocese of Chicago, brought about to promote unity among Ugandan Catholics in the Chicago area, to appreciate your progress, to encourage people to become active Catholics and to promote the handing on of the faith to the next generation
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May this new website and your love of one another evidence your desire to share the good news of Jesus Christ and reveal his Kingdom. May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you always!
Message from PASTOR
Collaboration can be defined as people or organizations working together to achieve something successfully. In collaboration, two or more entities formally agree to work together in a specific way for the foreseeable future. Very much like a yoke that spreads the weight across two oxen, allowing them to pull together a heavier load than either is able to move alone, collaboration has the potential to free up precious resources which can be used for new approaches or to allow people to come together as one, increasing the impact they can have on the residents of a local area together.
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Earlier this year, St. Edna Parish opened wide its doors to welcome wholeheartedly the Ugandan Catholic Community from across the entire Archdiocese of Chicago. We have been greatly enriched in doing so! Opening our facility on a regular, monthly basis for Mass and fellowship has begun a beautiful relationship that will continue to evolve as time goes on. The Holy Spirit is at work in this and is indeed the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission. “Through the Spirit, the Good News of the Gospel takes shape in human minds and hearts and extends through history. In all this, it is the Holy Spirit who gives life.” – Redemptoris Missio, No. 21
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As we know, the numbers of those who do not know Christ and do not belong to the Church is constantly on the increase. Bringing the Ugandan Catholic Community together in one place each month, sowing the seed of the gospel, and celebrating the experiences of our lives, will hopefully bring about not only an
increase in worship attendance, but also an increase in the faith that unites us all, and which sends us out, on mission, as disciples of Christ Jesus, to change and unite our world, in our common bond of love.
As pastor of St. Edna, let me say that we are very glad you are here. Feel free to join us (as some of you already do) on those other Sundays when you don’t meet as a Ugandan Community. Join us for worship, and also for any/all of our many St. Edna activities that will allow us, in time, to grow in knowledge of one another, and to work together, in unity and love, building God’s Kingdom here on earth. May this prayer inspire us:
Creator of all human beings, open the eyes and hearts of all Your children so that they might see clearly and understand effectively the pressing need to live as brothers and sisters.
You are the one who insistently orders and encourages us to form on earth one human family.
Strengthen the precious ties of union. Help us to realize our ideals of liberty, tolerance, and understanding. Keep us faithful to human rights, and far from disrespect and discrimination.
Beyond and above all differences, grant that we may stress the similarities that bring us closer, and to celebrate our common spiritual heritage, as Your daughters and sons. Guide us along the shining road of fellowship, and give us Your divine blessing that leads to the hopeful promise of a peaceful world. Amen.
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May our God of love unite us in the holy bond of the Blessed Trinity.
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Fr. Darrio Boscutti,
Pastor, St Edna Parish
Message from CHAPLAIN
Dear brothers and sisters, fellow Catholics, and community members, I thank God for his grace working and enlivening each of you. I rejoice in how the Lord continues to bless each of us, and all of us together as one large family flourishing through the care and concern we show for one another.
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The family that is our community has come a long way. The journey so far would not be possible without the varied contributions of each member. Whereas the contributions may not be so big by themselves, when assembled, they multiply and make wonderful things happen. A fine example is the great celebration you all put together to celebrate the gift of priesthood on August 27, 2023. This is to mention but one event. Celebrations of Holy Days, monthly liturgies, graduations, picnics, memorial services, get-togethers, home visits, all these events make up the stuff of our life. I am greatly touched by the outreach we render to each other in times of joy and especially in times of difficulty. Mutual concern and mutual support are the pillars of our strength. In this sense, although we have physically gone far away from our motherland, we have kept an essential facet of our heritage as captured in this Swahili maxim… “mtu ni watu” (a person is people). At the end of the day, none of us makes it on our own.
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This website is a symbolic representation that our family is a family of families. I thank you for attending to the needs of our children. As I have mentioned on other occasions, it is imperative for us to ensure that these children have a community in which they feel a sense of belonging, connectedness, and identity.
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Belonging, connectedness, and identity have a spiritual dimension. Allow me to remind you of the following. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This is the formula of Baptism that was said to each of us on the day of our Baptism. Perhaps most of us were too little to understand it but our parents/guardians were there to understand it for us as they understood most things for us at that stage in our lives. We are baptized/ immersed not in the names of but in the name of. The first phrase is incorrect because God is one. The three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are not three gods but one God. Similarly, although we are many individuals with unique gifts, talents, personalities, and statuses; from many races, tribes, tongues, and cultures; connected to many dioceses, parishes, and small Christian communities, there is one Body of Christ, that is the Church. The beauty of this body consists of many coming together under the headship of Christ. As reminded in Eph. 2:14, Christ is our peace. “In his flesh, he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.”
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Therefore, let us strive to be of one mind, to put an end to any quarreling among ourselves. This calls for humility and patience on the part of each of us. For our leaders, it calls for ensuring that our unity does not continue to be undermined by political dysfunction and maneuvering coming in from outside, tribalism, and narrow ambitions.
May the peace of Christ be with us all as we strive to build together a strong and loving family of families.
Fr. Dennis Kasule,
Chaplain,
Ugandan Catholic Community in Chicago