By George Bukenya
As we are preparing to celebrate Christmas, the Chairman of Uganda Episcopal Conference who also doubles as the . Bishop of Kiyinda Mityana Diocese Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Anthony Zziwa has urged Christians to reflect and focus on strengthening the family as the nucleus of society and the church.
He said that although there’re challenges of building and sustaining strong families today than ever before, Christians should persevere amidst such challenges and build their families because if families are not stable even the country can’t be stable.
The Bishop made the advice while giving the Episcopal Conference message to the believers at the Nsambya based Catholic Secretariat on 2nd Sunday 2024.
“Jesus whose birth we are celebrating was born and lived in a concrete family, accepting all its features and he conferred the highest dignity on the institution of marriage, making it a sacrament of the new covenant,’’ Dr. Zziwa asserted.
He added: “ Pope Francis pointed out in his Exhortation, the couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon not an idol like those of stone of gold prohibited by the Decalogue capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior’’
Bishop Zziwa also said that many families are disintegrating under the weight of challengs like high cost of living, health care, education and other social services; violence, inadequate parental guidance and misconstructed concept of human sexuality.
This according him has caused disillusionment on the part of children and greatly affected their development, while some parents have, out of frustration, turned their anger on innocent children, dumping them in bushes, road side and toilets.
He called upon government to try and borrow a leaf while implementing its poverty eradication programs from the catholic programs like that of CARITUS which he says have uplifted individuals who have embraced them.
“ For us when bringing the poverty eradication programs we first sensitize our people for some period and those who are not patience end up missing out but those who are patient enough they have benefited well,’’ he said.
Bishop Zziwa also encouraged the believers to pray for our country to overcome the social, political, economic and environmental contradictions that have continued to hamper progress towards attaining a prosperous, united, peaceful and democratic society.