Monsignor Joseph Mugambe shares Joy of 100 Years of life and 70 of Mowing Souls for the King of the Universe

 

by Valerian Kkonde

ACCPU

 

Msgr. Joseph Mary Mugambe during Mass. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

It was the perfect decision to celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King while congratulating Msgr. Joseph Mary Mugambe upon his 70^th priestly anniversary and 100 years of the gift of life.

This Solemnity, in the Roman Catholic Church, marks the end of the Liturgical Year, thus proclaiming aloud that Jesus is the King of the Universe; He is the Centre of everything. So Christ the King Parish- in the centre of Kampala- had every reason to celebrate on November 23, 2025 as it also marked 95 years of being a tent of encounter with God, and even recognise their long-serving and dedicated parishioners both living and resting in the Lord.

“According to the Baptism Register at Gayaza Catholic Parish, I was born on December 5, 1925,” says Msgr. Mugambe in his reflections on this tremendous journey of winning souls for the King of the Universe.

 

How can I repay the Lord’s goodness to me? Some of the gifts brought to the Altar. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

Born to the Catechist, Peter Kabbankolo and the Sacristan Mary Nakayima in Gayaza, Msgr. Mugambe recounts that it was, the now Servant of God, Msgr. Aloysius Ngobya who presided over the Holy Mass when he completed his first religious instructions.

“I still remember well telling me to be firm in the faith. And when I reached home, I asked my mother and brothers whether they had heard what the priest had told me.

My mother responded that she, together with my father, had dedicated me to God. She kept repeating these words from time to time and they stuck in my mind.”

Indeed the call to priesthood kept ringing aloud and in 1942, together with 41 companions, he joined St. Joseph’s Seminary Nyenga. That was after P.5 in St. Peter’s Nsambya. He had studied P.1 to P. 4 in Gayaza. While in Nyenga they studied Mathematics, Geography, Latin, English and Science.

 

The choir animating the Mass. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

“Being obedient and interested in learning from our European formators played a key role in my success.”

Academics aside, Mugambe learnt to mow grass and even taught himself to use the mowing machine to the great delight of his Rector. This he has done in many places where he has worked as a priest. Talk of holistic formation.

    “Through your ministry, countless souls have been touched, comforted and inspired to grow closer to God. Thank you for being such a steadfast shepherd, teacher of faith and a living witness to God’s grace”- Daughters of St. Paul

 

In 1949 he joined St. Mary’s Major Seminary Ggaba. They were five from the number that had started the formation in Nyenga, but were joined by one companion from Kenya.

On October 2, 1955 Bishop Vincent Billington ordained Joseph Mary Mugambe a priest in Nsambya. The thanksgiving Mass was at the Parish in Gayaza.

As a priest, the first appointment was in the present day Jinja Catholic diocese. He was posted in St. Joseph Parish which is the present day Cathedral, for two years, and then moved to Kiyunga. He also worked in Kabimbiri and Nkokonjeru which are in present day Lugazi diocese. Nsambya and Our Lady of St. Jude Naggulu have too experienced his zeal for the priestly ministry.

 

A section of the congregation. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

From September 9, 1994 to date, Msgr. Mugambe has been a zealous and exemplary priest in the capital city Kampala- Christ the King Parish. Today he is confined to the wheelchair and bed and is assisted by a nurse; he has indeed accepted to diminish while Christ the King increases.

“Msgr. Mugambe Joseph has lived and served here at Christ the King Parish for the last thirty one years which is 45% of his seventy years in the priestly Ministry. This community has been blessed by your presence and service especially in the confessional box.

In your life story you indicate that you were very gifted in taking care of compounds and beautifying them: in Nyenga Seminary, Ggaba Seminary and Namugongo Martyrs Shrine,” the Parish Priest Msgr. Gerald Kalumba complimented the Centenarian.

 

Media apostles, the Daughters of St. Paul, were part of the congregation. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

“Here at Christ the King Parish you have mowed the souls of many of us and made them beautiful before the Lord. You have been so devoted and dedicated and the confessional box is the landmark of your stay at Christ the King. It is a pleasure and gratification to be remembered for doing the work for which you were ordained.”

Msgr. Kalumba praised and thanked the nurse, Isaac Magomu for “being brave and courageous, and for supporting Msgr. Mugambe with dignity and honour.” He complimented Msgr. Mugambe for discipline and hard work. He said that Msgr. would have breakfast, and work the whole day without lunch. He added that this made the other priests to ensure that they are around for supper so as to give him company.

In his homily, the Archbishop of Kampala Paul Ssemogerere pointed out that Pope Pius II instituted the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe in 1925 in response to the secularism that was rampant. He invited us to honour Christ because He loved us and came to serve us.

 

Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere congratulates Msgr. Mugambe with a gift. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

“Christ’s kingship is rooted in the cross. It is on the cross that He saves us and defeats death. On the cross the thief recognised His Kingship and on behalf of other sinners, he pleads for mercy. This reminds us that Christ’s Kingship is of mercy and forgiveness. It is different from the kingdoms of giving orders and commands.”

The Archbishop urged the faithful to take courage like the thief on the cross, to go to Jesus because the whole of humanity is weak and sinful. He told them to embrace Christ’s qualities of compassion, integrity and service.

“Christ the King invites us to embrace service rooted in love for others.”

At the time when Msgr. Mugambe came to Christ the King Parish, the Archbishop was the parish priest. When he was chosen as Bishop for Kasana- Luweero Catholic diocese in 2008, it was Msgr. Mugambe who presented him to the ordaining Bishop.

“Msgr. Mugambe left me in Kasana- Luweero but I later found him here again.”

 Msgr. Mugambe with the priests. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

The Archbishop referred to Msgr. Mugambe as a very disciplined and obedient priest. He added that even if he is in pain, he will never complain. He too thanked Isaac Magomu, the caretaker, for a job well-done.

“Whenever there is work to do, he will simply say that if the Parish Priest says that I do that, I will do it. And he will do it obediently. That is a very good example to us as priests and religious. When I arrived this morning, I asked him what he would want me to do for him and he said that I should join him to thank God for the one hundred years.

We pray that God keeps you going.”

 

Msgr. Mugambe with family members. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

Spicing up the day, the Archbishop remarked that he knows Msgr. Mugambe as a priest who loves eating cakes and drinking Coca Cola. But that God has spared him the diabetes challenge, adding that he is as old as the St. Mary’s Cathedral Lubaga. Centenary celebrations of the Cathedral were held on October 26, 2025.

Among those inspired by Msgr. Mugambe’s priestly ministry were his younger brothers and sister. Sister Maria Redemptor Namugambe (RIP) joined the Mary Reparatrix Congregation - Ggogonya and rests there. Emilio Ssenkubuge (RIP) too joined the seminary but did not make it to priesthood, but his two daughters: Sr. Flora Jude Namugambe and Sr. Clare Thaddeus Nabikolo followed their paternal aunt to the Mary Reparatrix Congregation. Fr. John Chrysostom Luyambi died while working in Kiyinda- Mityana diocese and is buried there.

Msgr. Mugambe is further grateful to the Lord for other priests who proudly refer to him as their inspiration to priesthood. Msgr. Richard Kayondo, the Vicar General of Lugazi diocese, and Fr. Professor Chrysostom Maviiri also of Lugazi diocese are some of the priests he inspired. More so, he says that he baptised the latter in 1957!

 

Msgr. Mugambe with his nieces Sr. Clare Nabikolo and Sr. Flora Namugambe. Younger sisters with grey hair are to his sides. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

Sr. Clare Thaddeus Nabikolo threw the congregation into a bout of laughter when she revealed that at her time of celebrating 25 years in religious life, she came and invited her uncle to join the family in the celebrations. She narrated how Msgr. Mugambe replied that the Christians will come for confession while he was away, and turned down the invitation.

No one can doubt the Lord’s goodness to His faithful priest and for granting him his prayer which is drawn from Psalm 27:4

“There is one thing I ask of the LORD, only this do I seek: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD to inquire at his temple.”

Msgr. Mugambe is not forgetful of the parishioners and the priests he continues to work with. His former Parish Priest- the Archbishop of Kampala- His Grace Paul Ssemogerere as well as the current one Msgr. Kalumba Gerald are highly appreciated. Even before speaking, the

Fr. Frederick Kiwanuka shows the congregation one of the thrones made by Msgr. Mugambe. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

Centenarian embodies gratitude, contentment, happiness and a life well lived. The memory is very stable, the eye sight and voice are all clear; more reasons to glorify the name of the Lord.

“In my time of illness, the Lord gave me a young man Isaac Magomu, who has looked after me so devotedly. He is my nurse twenty-four hours. God gave him to me as a gift. I am ever grateful. Thank you so much, Isaac.”

It is worth pointing out that Msgr. Mugambe also embodies resilience and faith; he is the priest who by his body language, words and actions speaks of firmness in his conviction and trust.

True to his pastoral zeal, when asked to address the congregation, Msgr. Mugambe talked about one of the enduring acts of ensuring that Christ reigns in the hearts of the people he is shepherding, that he is leaving the faithful.

 

Msgr. Mugambe addressing the congregation as Isaac Magomu holds the microphone. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

The inspiration of making thrones for the Ostansorium whenever the Holy Eucharist is displayed for veneration and praises, came about when Pope Francis visited the country in 2015.

“I was one of the people who met the Pope in Lubaga Cathedral. At the end of the meeting I stayed behind while others went out. My mind was on the chair the Pope had used. But I was sad because the chair looked too ordinary to fit the successor of St. Peter. I went and kissed it.

Later I got inspired to come up with a chair that would fit the glory of the King of the Universe; at least something that would bring out something similar to that. I got a pen and started sketching the throne that had been drawn in my mind,” Msgr. Mugambe narrated to the attentive congregation.

Behind all this was the burning desire to help fellow priests and all the faithful to know more and praise God better. Bringing out the majesty of the King of the Universe was an assignment that he had to accomplish with perfection.

 

A section of the congregation. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

The great surprise that Msgr. Joseph Mugambe met was that when he went out to get a carpenter to design the throne, the person he approached was a Muslim but that he perfectly brought the idea to life!

Msgr. Gerald Kalumba supported the project and the Centenarian then took it upon himself to contact the priest in charge of Liturgy in the Archdiocese. He too approved the project and what remained was getting the nod of the Archbishop who at that time was the late Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.

That the Archbishop immediately told him to make thrones for all the Parishes in the Archdiocese was proof that the project was indeed a divine undertaking. There is no further proof of this other than the request by two other dioceses to have thrones made for them.

Once the frame of the throne is completed, Msgr. Mugambe then goes out to look for materials to adorn it. This he does himself. At the end of the day, it is indeed a throne befitting the King of the Universe. The Wisdom of the King of the Universe guides his actions and decisions.

 

Msgr. Joseph Mary Mugambe blessing the congregation. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

 Msgr. Mugambe’s words may at one time skip the memory of his parishioners but the thrones for the Divine Master to meet His people in the Sacrament of the Altar will have a lasting effect just like the Sacraments he has administered.

“I thank God for all the gifts in my priestly ministry. May He bless all the people who have come into my life all these years, more so this Community of Christ the King. God bless you all abundantly. AMEN.”