Fr. Stephen Lunagula is a graduate of the Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School “Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus” in Nairobi, Kenya and holds a degree in Pastoral and Social Theology. He was ordained a priest in 1975 by the late Metropolitan Theodore Nankyama of Uganda. He serves as the High Priestly Commissioner in the Eastern Region (Busoga) of Uganda. He is the father of 10 children.
Dear Brothers, Hail in the Lord! It is a great blessing and opportunity for me to communicate from Uganda with your Brotherhood, which was founded in 1963 under the name “Friends of Uganda”. I feel the spiritual joy and honor to thank our Metropolitan Iona Lwanga for blessing and entrusting me with the position of the High Priestly Commissioner of the Orthodox Church in the Eastern Region of Uganda, Busoga District. I am very moved to write to you humbly asking for spiritual guidance and financial support. The particular base at which I am ministering is the Holy Church of St. James the Adelphos in Nawango, where there are 919 Orthodox Christians. We have a permanent primary school with 415 children, and of these 139 are orphans or children from poor families, which I try my best to support in various ways. We teach them letters, provide them with rations, give them school uniforms, blankets, pencils, notebooks, etc.
In addition to St. James, we have created other communities, such as the Immaculate Conception in Nakyaka with a primary school where children sit under the trees and others learn letters in our temporary buildings. Here we have 365 children, 22 of whom are orphans. We also have a permanent high school, which started operating in the year 2012. I always try to help them as much as I can afford, but sometimes I am unable to fulfill this great wish and accept other children who are hungry and thirsty due to lack of financial support. The number of children mentioned above is small, but many orphans and children from poor families need our love and help and are waiting for inclusion in the new aid program. We have other new communities in Kananage with 64 Orthodox Christians, Bugondha with 49 Orthodox Christians, and Kiyunga with 14 Orthodox Christians. I would also like to offer the children the following:
- Spiritual guidance, school rations and the bare necessities, especially for orphans and those from poor families.
- I hope to build an orphanage in the Nakyaka area for easy spiritual supervision, health care and concentration of orphans.
- We should build a permanent elementary school in the same area, which will help bring our children closer to Orthodoxy.
- In conclusion, with your possible help, I would like to do as much as possible in other parishes in my region, to expand Orthodoxy and have more Christians in the Church of Uganda.
I humbly ask for your financial support and your spiritual guidance, dear brothers and sisters, so that we may realize our desires and dreams in the love of Christ our Savior. Amen!
π. Stephen Lunagula
High Priestly Commissioner
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