The Beginning
The story of Blessed Trinity’s involvement with our sister parish in Uganda began like this.
In 2000, three nuns from the order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix were invited to establish a convent at Blessed Trinity by Father Pat. A year after their arrival, Sister Juliet’s mother passed away in Uganda and she traveled home for the funeral. A photo of the stick church where the funeral was held was taken on July 22, 2001.
“In January 2002, Sister Juliet shared her home church’s photos with a fellow teacher, Jennifer Bullard. She excitedly shared them with her third-grade students, who were amazed and perplexed by how the church looked. They asked if their class project could be to build a better church for Sister’s poor people. Jennifer shared her class project with the principal, who invited the entire school to support the mission. They started collections, and when Father Patrick learned about it, he wrote to Bishop Deogratias Byabazaire Abwooli, asking the feasibility of building a real church to replace the stick church. The bishop responded quickly with sincere gratitude. After receiving the bishop’s response, and to support the school children, he proclaimed the need to the entire Blessed Trinity Ocala parish community, appealing for both money and stewardship. That was how God moved the brothers and sisters of Blessed Trinity Ocala to help us.”
Fr. Joachim Mugisa, first parish priest of Blessed Trinity parish in Nalweyo
In June 2004 our first mission group arrived to dedicate the 800-seat church, which still had no windows! In 2005, Jack and Barbara Spencer, missionaries from Ocala, helped finish the church and presented them with the BIG key!
But we didn’t stop there!
Today, Blessed Trinity Nalweyo is a thriving Catholic community. It boasts the best grade school and high-school in the district with 6 dorms that can house 1100 students. Students’ annual tuition fees are paid by sponsors in Ocala and elsewhere. Sponsors have drilled over 40 freshwater wells. In addition to the main parish church, we have partnered with the people of Nalweyo to build 35 village churches (known as sub-parishes). 20 village schools are under construction. With our assistance, they have built numerous duplexes for teachers and catechists’ houses, and 2 clinics – one dental, one medical – and have renovated and added on to an orphanage. BT Nalweyo also has an Adoration Chapel that is never empty!
Additionally, 4 students have come to the US to complete their final 2 years of high school education in Ocala, Florida, and over 120 graduates of BT Nalweyo schools have gone on to higher education in their own country. There are other options too such as the priesthood, religious life, a boys’ carpentry school, and a girls’ domestic school.
How did we do it?
Our sister parish’s needs are fulfilled by parishioners and others living out the Stewardship Way of Life – recognizing that God is the source of every blessing we enjoy and striving to return the first fruits of those blessings to Him. We never take money from our parish budget to fund sister parish projects.
Each year, Father Pat leads a mission group to Uganda for 2 weeks. Most of the groups are made up of Blessed Trinity parishioners, but others outside our parish can join in as well. The trip occurs annually in June.
Become a Mission Partner
We always need new mission partners! You can get involved by responding to the needs of our sister parish that are published frequently in our weekly bulletin, or you can contact Father Pat.