Dioceses Prepare to Observe St. Janani Luwum Day on 16 th February

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1 Volume 1, Issue 3 13 th February 2009 Dioceses Prepare to Observe St. Janani Luwum Day on 16 th February 16 th February is the day Ugandans and many others around the world remember the life, death, testimony, and witness of Archbishop Janani Luwum, for it was on 16 th February 1977 that he was brutally martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. Northern Uganda Diocese is planning two special memorial services on that day. At St. Philip s Cathedral there will be a Memorial Prayer Service at 10 a.m. Later that day, at 6 p.m., there will be another Memorial Prayer Service at the Janani Luwum Theological College. Kitgum Diocese, where Archbishop Janani Luwum is buried, has asked every congregation in the Diocese to make a special observance of St. Janani Luwum on Sunday, 15 th February. Kampala Diocese, in conjunction with the Global South Institute of Uganda Christian University, is planning a week of activities to raise awareness about Janani Luwum and lift him up as a hero of the faith. On Monday, 16 th February, the week of activities will be launched with a public March in Kampala. The March will begin at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero, at 2.30 p.m. and everyone is invited to join the wife of Archbishop Janani Luwum and his relatives in the March. The March will leave from All Saints Cathedral and culminate with speeches on Luwum Street, a Kampala street named in honour of Archbishop Janani Luwum. Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki will be the Chief Walker during the March. He and Assistant Bishop of Kampala Diocese, Bishop Zac Niringiye, will make remarks at the conclusion of the March on Luwum Street. A choir comprised of Archbishop Janani Luwum s grandchildren and other relatives will sing during the Luwum Street portion of the March. At 5 p.m., the celebration will continue at All Saints Cathedral with a memorial lecture given by Bp Zac Niringiye and additional remarks by Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, who worked in Amin s government as a young lawyer and knew Archbishop Janani Luwum personally.

2 The Global South Institute has invited the Deans of all the Cathedrals to participate in the Kampala festivities and to continue with two days of meetings to reflect theologically and practically on GAFCON as a starting point for the launch of the Church of Uganda s Decade of Mission. St. Janani Luwum Centre, part of Nsambiya parish in Kampala Diocese, is planning a week of mission activities, with a culmination on Sunday 22 nd February at the church. Children from the Janani Luwum school will be cleaning up in the community. Each day there will be door-to-door evangelism, and in the afternoon there will be crusades at the church, with preachers supplied by African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE) and music provided by Off Tu Mission. On Sunday, 22 nd February at 10 a.m., the Mission Week will culminate with a church service at which retired Archbishop Livingstone Nkoyoyo will be the preacher. If your Diocese planned special activities to mark St. Janani Luwum Day, please send an to COULeaders@yahoogroups.com and tell us. Did you know That Westminster Abbey in London erected a statue of Archbishop Janani Luwum at the front of the Abbey as part of a memorial to 20 th century martyrs? Chapel Sermon by Archbishop Henry Orombi At the Primates Meeting, 16 th February 2007, Dar es Salaam The 30 th anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum. The Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda was born in 1877 through CMS missionaries who were invited by the King of Buganda. In 1885 Bishop James Hannington was murdered as he came to Uganda through the eastern part of the country. He was believed to be an enemy because he was approaching Uganda from the east. On June 3rd 1886, the Martyrs of Uganda were killed because they refused homosexual advances by the then King of Buganda. In 1962 Uganda became independent. In 1971 Idi Amin took over from Dr Apolo Milton Obote, the elected President of Uganda. Conversion Janani Luwum spoke of when he surrendered his life to Christ: Today I have become a leader in Christ s army. I am prepared to die in the army of Jesus. As Jesus shed his blood for his people, if it is God s will, I do the same. Such were the words of a primary-

3 school teacher in his own village where he was well known and where his family and village had wanted him to be a chief. When I was converted, after realising that my sins were forgiven and the implications of Jesus death and resurrection, I was overwhelmed by a sense of joy and peace. I suddenly found myself climbing a tree to tell those in the school compound to repent and turn to Jesus Christ. From time to time I spoke in tongues. I stayed up that tree for a long time. Later on I discovered that some boys were converted due to my sermon I preached up that tree. The reality of Jesus overwhelmed me and it still does. But I would be wrong to demand that those who are converted should climb a tree and speak in tongues. Eleven months after his conversion, on one Sunday afternoon, Janani Luwum was moved to address an open-air meeting at All Saints Church in Kitgum, and he said: The Holy Spirit has been showing me how many educated men are deserting the Church. When the Church dies out of existence they won t be there to take the blame. I feel deeply convicted that it the church faces extinction in this my native land, I will be around to die first before the Church falls, collapses or dies. It will have to fall on me. I totally surrender myself to the Church. Then he fell on the ground and wept bitterly amid loud shouts of praise, thanksgiving and tears of joy of repentance. Yusto Otunno responded by saying that Luwum, as one of the educated brethren, should join the full time ministry of the Church. God was calling him to sacrifice his teaching career, and the real possibility of being a local chief, and to offer himself for ordination. His death Early in 1977, a small army rebellion was put down with only seven men dead. However, Amin determined to stamp out all traces of dissent. His men killed thousands, including the entire population of Milton Obote s home village. On Sunday, 30 January, Bishop Festo Kivengere preached on The Preciousness of Life to an audience including many high government officials. He denounced the arbitrary bloodletting, and accused the government of abusing the authority that God had entrusted to it. The government responded on the following Saturday (5 February) by an early (1.30 am) raid on the home of the Archbishop, Janani Luwum, ostensibly to search for hidden stores of weapons. The Archbishop called on President Amin to deliver a note of protest at the policies of arbitrary killings and the unexplained disappearances of many persons. Amin accused the Archbishop of treason, produced a document supposedly by former President Obote attesting his guilt, and had the Archbishop and two Cabinet members (both committed Christians) arrested and held for military trial. The three met briefly with four other prisoners who were awaiting execution, and were permitted to pray with them briefly. Then the three were placed in a Land Rover and not seen alive again by their friends. The government story is that one of the prisoners tried to seize control of the vehicle and that it was wrecked and the passengers killed. The story believed by the Archbishop s supporters is that he refused to sign a confession, was beaten and otherwise abused, and finally shot. His body was placed in a sealed coffin and sent to his native village for burial there. However, the villagers opened the coffin and discovered the bullet holes. In the capital city of Kampala a crowd of about 4500 gathered for a memorial service beside the grave of the martyred Bishop Hannington. In Nairobi, the capital of nearby Kenya, about 10,000 gathered for another memorial service. Bishop Kivengere was informed that he was about to be arrested, and he and his family fled to Kenya, as did the widow and orphans of Archbishop Luwum. The following, about 25,000 Ugandans came to the capital to celebrate the centennial of the first preaching of the Gospel in their country, among the participants were many who had abandoned

4 Christianity, but who had returned to their Faith as a result of seeing the courage of Archbishop Luwum and his companions in the face of death. Conclusion Archbishop Janani Luwum, the third Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire died a sacrificial death. His death brought revival to the Church of Uganda and changed the political climate of Uganda. He was declared the twenty-first saint in the Anglican Communion in 1998.

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