THE Catholic church has started investigations into the personalities behind a break-way church that claims to have former Catholic priests in its ranks.The Catholic Apostolic National Church recently opened in Jinja. Its leaders said they had attracted a number of priests from the Catholic church.
The Secretary General of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, John Baptist Kauta, told The New Vision yesterday that they were investigating the new church. The episcopal conference is an umbrella body for all Catholic bishops in Uganda.
The probe follows reports that one of the priests in the new sect, Fr. William Obonyo, was initially ordained as a Catholic priest in Tororo under the White Fathers Missionaries of Africa.
Kauta said the Catholic church in Uganda has a directory where all priests are listed in each diocese. “His name does not seem to appear anywhere in the directory.”
He said he is in touch with the archdiocese of Tororo where Obonyo claims to have been ordained.
“I have already contacted Archbishop Denis Kiwanuka of Tororo and his predecessor, Bishop James Odong. They will produce a report about him.”
Obonyo is an administrative staff at Kampala International University working as assistant deputy director for Tororo. The leader of the new sect, Fr Leonard Lubega, is a lecturer at the same university.
The New Vision has also learnt that the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil is a separate church.
Earlier reports quoted Lubega as saying that in order to avoid confusion, it was best to use the Brazilian church when referring to their group.
But according to a statement sent by the leaders of the sect from the US, the Brazilian church operates exclusively in Brazil, while the Catholic Apostolic National Church operates globally. It has branches in several countries referred to as provinces.
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