Mass of Thanksgiving presided over by Mgr. p’Mony Wokorach

The celebration was attended by a good number of confreres, a group of Christians from the Ugandan dioceses of Nebbi and Gulu, as well as some representatives of the Ugandan embassies in Italy and at the Holy See.

In his homily, commenting on the text of Mark 5:21-43, Bishop Raphael said: “All Christians are called to serve those who have no voice and to intercede for them, as did Jairus, who turned to Jesus interceding for his sick daughter. Often intercessory prayer is the only useful means we have to help others.”

The archbishop also said that, in addition to his concern for evangelisation, his pastoral mission will have to include “the promotion of peace and the strengthening of social cohesion in a territory that is still suffering the consequences of a war that has lasted more than 20 years.”

The archbishop will be officially installed on 12^th July in a ceremony at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the metropolitan city of Gulu, northern Uganda.

Let us accompany our confreres Raphael in his new mission, supporting him with our prayers.

Who is Mgr Raphael Wokorach?

Mgr Raphael p’Mony Wokorach was born on 21^st March 1961 in Ojigo/Nebbi, north-western Uganda. He is the fourth in a family of 11 children. He was ordained a priest on 25^th September 1993. As a Combonian missionary, he has always dedicated himself to the formation of young candidates to Comboni life: for the first eight years in Kisangani (DR Congo), then in Cacavelli (Togo), then again in the scholasticates of Chicago (USA) and Nairobi (Kenya).

At the request of the Vatican, he was Apostolic Visitor to the Apostles of Jesus Congregation from 2015 to 2018 and, from 2018 to 2021, Pontifical Commissioner of the same Congregation, which is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

On 21^st March 2021, Mgr Raphael was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Nebbi and received the episcopal ordination on 14^th August 2021, becoming the fourth bishop of his home diocese.

After his consecration, Bishop Raphael initiated an extensive programme to restructure the ecclesiastical institutions in his diocese and was concerned with improving the services of the Catholic hospital in Angal and the schools and colleges in the diocese, such as Nyapea College, Warr Girls’ School, Daniel Comboni Secondary School, Adraa Agricultural College, Comboni Technical School, and many others.

During his three-year episcopate, Bishop Raphael implemented some reforms, appointed boards of trustees for better management of the schools and helped Radio Maria to become a popular radio station in much of the Nebbi diocese.

In the first two years of his episcopal ministry, he visited all 21 parishes spread across the three deaneries that make up the diocese (Jonam, Padyere and Okoro) more than once.

In addition to intense evangelisation activities, he also launched numerous human promotion and environmental protection initiatives in the administrative areas of Pakwach, Nebbi and Zombo-Okollo. Other initiatives he launched include tree planting campaigns in various areas of the diocese and others aimed at encouraging the population to engage in agriculture to reduce poverty and food insecurity.

On 22^nd April 2024, Bishop Raphael was appointed Archbishop of Gulu, succeeding 76-year-old Bishop John Baptist Odama.

On 3^rd June 2024, he presided over the national commemoration of the Uganda Martyrs in Namogongo, the place where 22 young Ugandan Catholics were martyred in 1886. This was his last official activity as Bishop of Nebbi.

Fr. Patrick Benywanira
Comboni missionary