Pastoral care for the Diocesan Catholic Clergy in Gulu Archdiocese (1990 – 2005)

Abstract

Pastoral Care for the Diocesan Catholic Clergy has been carried out in Gulu Archdiocese – Northern Uganda.

The Pastoral Care for the Clergy in Gulu Archdiocese stems from the fact that the “Sanctity”, “holiness” and “wholeness” of the priests as shepherds of the flock of Christ, the master, has to be maintained and sustained, so that they can be admirable and effective pastors in their ministerial life! This is possible if there is holistic pastoral care for the clergy, which is essentially to provide and ought to provide companionship to the lonely and defected ones.

Accordingly, the investigator into the Pastoral Care focuses on the holistic pastoral strategies of care for the clergy, viz, temporal/material and moral as well as spiritual.

The objectives of the investigation into the Pastoral Care for the Clergy among others entail: To determine the practical pastoral measures/approaches to the care of the clergy; To assess the relevance of such pastoral measures/approaches in addressing the challenges and problems of the diocesan catholic clergy; Then, to suggest ways and means of enhancing pastoral activities of care for the clergy.

The sample for investigation consisted of the Catholic laity and Religious and priests in Gulu Archdiocese that constitute a population of about 741,924. Out of these 400 lay people and Religious and 64 priests were selected for in-depth study. The investigation methodology used various techniques namely; literature review, key person-interviews, questionnaires and observations.

The results of the study show that there exists pastoral care for the clergy in the Archdiocese of Gulu which comprises material, financial, spiritual and moral care. The findings reveal that the Archdiocese provides material/financial support to the clergy for their daily maintenance, medical services and the like. Besides, retreats and recollections are provided for the spiritual and moral upkeep of the priests as well.

The results however show also that, the material or financial support offered to the priests to address their personal and institutional problems remain inadequate.

Spiritually or morally, the findings show that the care leaves a lot to be desired as observed in this study!

Finally, the investigator concludes with his dream and hope, that is, that the contribution made through this venture into the Pastoral Care for the Diocesan Catholic Clergy, will evoke and stimulate further discussion, research and writing on this fundamental pastoral ministry of the Catholic Church in the contemporary world!