The Catholic faith is very much alive in Uganda. And you can help it continue to grow!

The Arlington Latin Mass Society is partnering with Prof. Janet Smith to support the education and formation of the next generation of the Catholic priesthood in Uganda. Prof. Smith writes:

I recently spent three weeks in Uganda at the invitation of the Ugandan bishops, and I spoke in six seminaries which each had 250 students. During my visit I discovered an opportunity for the Catholics of the United States, in our charity, to help provide for an urgent need in Uganda's seminaries.

Thus far, the dioceses do not have the means to house [*revised*] 240 of their seminarians who will be taking part in a propaedeutic year as part of their formation. The propaedeutic year provides a time for the seminarians to focus on intensive prayer and growth in self-awareness, in order to provide a strong foundation for the discernment of their vocations.

This campaign aims to cover the cost of the seminarians' housing for the propaedutic year, which works out to [*revised*] $226 USD per student. The seminarians themselves will each raise the equivalent of an additional [*revised*] $54, which will cover the costs of their educational materials.

Several high churchmen have observed that the future of the Church is in Africa. Cardinal Robert Sarah from Ghana has said, "I have absolute confidence in the faith of the African people, and I am sure Africa will save the family. Africa saved the Holy Family (during the Flight to Egypt) and in these modern times Africa will also save the human family." German Cardinal Gerhard Müller has said that it is “a very important moment in Church history that now the Africans are entering the place and taking over the leadership in the Catholic Church, and it is a very good thing they are doing.”

Dioceses in the United States now depend upon priests from Africa to staff parishes. It is only right that we do what we can to ensure good formation of the priests of the future!

The Ugandans are a very devout people who show tremendous reverence at Mass. Their devotion and ease with formality open a window for the reintroduction of the Traditional Latin Mass. Virtually no one I spoke with had heard of the TLM, though the seminaries offer the Novus Ordo in Latin with some regularity. When I took a young priest to a TLM offered every Sunday at the shrine to the martyrs in Kampala, he was greatly moved by the ceremony and asked if I thought this Mass would ever become standard again. That made me realize that Uganda, and likely all of Africa, is fertile ground for a return of the TLM. I hope the connections we are making now can facilitate that possibility!

The Arlington Latin Mass Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and therefore all donations to this campaign are 100% tax-deductible. All net proceeds from this campaign (after transaction processing costs) will be sent directly to the St. Augustine Institute in Kampala, Uganda. We hope you will prayerfully consider making a gift to help a part of the Church in great need of concrete support.