Bishop Paul Ssemogerere of the Diocese of Kasana-Luweero, Uganda, recently traveled to the Trenton Diocese.  

While Bishop Ssemogerere travels to the United States at least once a year, his latest visit included a stop in the Trenton Diocese where he was able to meet with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and see Father Evarist Kabagambe, a priest who hails from the Kasana-Luweero Diocese and currently ministers as Catholic chaplain in Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune, and parochial vicar in Holy Innocents Parish, Neptune.

Recalling the nearly 10-year partnership that the two Dioceses shared through the Catholic Relief Services’ Global Solidarity Partnership which began in the early 2000s and ended in 2008, Father Kabagambe noted that although the formal partnership had since ceased, Bishop Ssemogerere wanted to extend his appreciation to Bishop O’Connell for allowing Father Kabagambe to serve as a priest in the Trenton Diocese and participate in the Diocesan Mission Cooperation Plan, which allows Father Kabagambe to lead mission appeals in parishes around the Diocese to raise funds for the Kasana-Luweero Diocese. Father Kabagambe noted that it was through the Global Solidarity Partnership that he was permitted to begin ministering as a priest in the Trenton Diocese.

“The money collected through these mission appeals comes in handy in Kasana-Luweero,” said Father Kabagambe, who added that “Bishop Ssemogerere appreciated the generous hospitality accorded him by Bishop O’Connell.”

 Bishop Ssemogerere, added Father Kabagambe, “promised to continue to pray for him as well as the whole Diocese of Trenton.”