Kasese, Uganda, Feb 13, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Among the 12 men ordained priests of the Diocese of Kasese earlier this month was a pair of twins.
Fr. Peter Katuramu Isingoma and Fr. Andrew Kato Katuramu told ACI Africa their Feb. 6 ordination was the highlight of their lives, and a fulfillment of dreams they had harbored from childhood.
“It was a satisfying experience, which brought me so much excitement. So many people attended and they were all very happy,” said Fr. Peter in an interview with ACI Africa Feb. 10.
He added, “There were so many of us being ordained priests and many other deacons. For many years, I had never seen such a big number of priests ordained on the same day in our diocese. It was a very beautiful celebration.”
Fr. Andrew told ACI Africa, “At ordination, I felt great. To many, it was a mystery that twins were being ordained priests. I knew that God had chosen us before we were born and like Peter and his brother Andrew, the disciples of Jesus that our parents named us after, we had indeed been chosen to work with God’s people.”
The twins grew up inseparable and were difficult to tell apart. In fact, Fr. Peter jokes that the scar on his brother’s nose, which was left after he was injured during their pastoral work, now makes it easier for people to tell the two apart.
The brothers went their separate ways when their parents enrolled Peter at the Kasese diocese’s St. John the Evangelist Minor Seminary, while his brother proceeded to join a secular school.
“Growing up, my brother and I often talked about our dream to become Catholic priests. We admired the lives of priests who came to our homes, ate with us in humility and prayed for us,” Fr. Andrew recalled. “After we completed Primary seven, we made our desire known to our parents and said that we wanted to join a seminary for our education.”
Their parents, however, did not have enough money to enroll both boys in seminary, and Andrew joined a nearby Catholic School for his O-levels. The two re-united during their A- levels when Andrew joined his twin brother at the minor seminary.
For his studies in philosophy, Fr. Peter went to St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Katigondo in the Diocese of Masaka, while Fr. Andrew went to Uganda Martyrs Aloculum Major Seminary in Gulu.
For their year of pastoral experience, Fr. Peter went to St. Mathias Mulumba Ibanda and Our Lady of Assumption Nsenyi parishes in the Diocese of Kasese, while Fr. Andrew went to neighboring Immaculate Heart Parish, Hima and St John the Evangelist, Bukangara parish.
They proceeded with their theology at St. Mary’s National Seminary and St. Paul’s Major Seminary in Kinyamasika in the Archdiocese of Kampala.
Fr. Peter recalled their parents’ shock when the two announced that they wanted to join the priesthood.
“In the minor seminary, our parents thought that we were not serious about our desire to become priests and they thought we’d drop the idea to pursue other things. They were shocked when we announced that we wanted to proceed with philosophy,” Fr. Peter said.
He added, “Some people told our parents that we were throwing away our lives by joining priesthood. Being the eldest sons in our family of eight children, we were expected to marry to preserve the clan’s dignity.” The twins have another brother, and five sisters.
At one point, the twins were advised by their parents to decide who between them would drop out of formation to the priesthood, but they were both unwavering in their desire.
“Our parents wanted one of us to stay at home. It was an impossible decision to make so we both went to the major seminary,” Fr. Peter recalled. “Today, they are very proud of us and happy that we decided to pursue our dream.”
While in formation the brothers “called each other and talked about the importance of being humble and prayerful, respecting our formators as our own parents and the other seminarians as our own brothers,” Fr. Andrew said. “We took advice from people very seriously and that helped us a lot.”
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This is the politics of garb at its worst! Mother Mary wore a veil. Most nuns and sisters wear a veil. The veil is the symbol of female modesty universally around the world and has been for countless generations. By refusing to allow young Muslim maids to wear their version of the veil, we are tacitly saying that they are unworthy to assume the God given virtue of modesty. It’s a poor and discriminatory decision.
I have no problem at all with the school’s banning “Islamic headscarves.”
“Most nuns and sisters wear a veil.” Yes, because they are nuns and sisters; that doesn’t apply to every woman.
“Mother Mary wore a veil.” There seems to be some discussion about what Jewish women of New Testament times, including Our Lady, wore. But in any event, it was unlikely to be an Islamic headscarf.
“By refusing to allow young Muslim maids to wear their version of the veil, we are tacitly saying that they are unworthy to assume the God given virtue of modesty.” No, we are not tacitly saying that. I could as accurately say “By allowing Muslim girls to wear their version of the veil, we are tacitly agreeing that Moslems have the say-so on what contstitutes modesty, and that anybody who doesn’t weir an Islamic veil is ipso facto immodest.”
I note this from another website: “In a country where 95 percent of the population is Muslim, banning the Islamic headscarf even in a Catholic school is considered unacceptable and against the principle of secularism in education in Senegal.” https://africabriefing.org/2019/09/outrage-as-senegal-catholic-school-expels-scarf-wearing-students/ Oh, reeeeeeally? Telling people who are attending a religious school that they aren’t allowed to wear the headgear of a different religion while at school is somehow “against the principle of secularism?”
To echo Anne, infra, I was at early Mass this morning, the Latin Mass in our Parish, which I find spiritually transformative. Two pews in front was a couple clearly from the Mideast, and the wife was wearing a typical middle eastern headscarf. The tradition may have migrated other places with Islamic conquest but the scarf and its common use is a very old regional tradition, long pre-dating Islam, reflecting modesty. Of all the things that might be considered objectionable about Islam, that is not one of them and I hope Catholics anywhere do not succumb to reactionary bigotry.
Thomas, I was watching a film series about St. Teresa of the Andes & all the women portraying her family in the early 20th Century wore solid black coverings in church-almost from head to toe. It looked very similar to what women wear today in Iran.
I’m assuming that tradition came to South America via Spain & perhaps to Spain originally from the Moorish conquest.
Perhaps considering the sectarian violence Christians have suffered in Africa recently there may be reasons we’re not aware of for this action taken by the school?
Just to mention, my Mennonite friends wear headcoverings all the time, as do the Amish & other Christian girls & women. It’s not so much about modesty, though their dress also reflects that virtue, but they understand the headcovering as more about what women wear in prayer. And since their whole lives are lived in prayer, so the covering is always worn too.