The enthronement of the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali as eighth archbishop of the Church of Uganda attracted 3,000 people, including several other primates from across the Anglican Communion.
The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, preached. Uganda was one of the provinces of the Anglican Communion that offered temporary oversight during the formative years of the ACNA.
Archbishops from Burundi, England, Indian Ocean, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Scotland, Sudan attended the ceremony Dec. 16 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Namirembe.
The Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York and a Ugandan by birth, read a letter of greeting and congratulations from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In his sermon, Duncan cited John 21:18 and spoke directly to the new archbishop and his wife. “Becoming Archbishop means going where you do not plan to go,” he said. “You are to have the mind of Christ in a very new way. The Lord Jesus is speaking to you as he spoke to Peter. You, Stanley and Mama, are to die and to live. Many days you will be carried where you do not want to go. You will be Christ’s servant more than ever now, as you seek to serve him by being the servant of the servants of God.”
The enthronement service combined the singing of traditional Anglican hymns with spontaneous outbreaks of “Tukutendereza,” the traditional hymn of the East African Revival.
The new archbishop pledged to finish the construction of Church House and ensure that it generates income for the church’s wider ministry. He said that support for Uganda Christian University, theological education, youth and children’s ministry, GAFCON, and HIV/AIDS ministry are among his priorities.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, president of Rwanda, encouraged the church to continue fighting HIV/AIDS, and he mentioned the nation’s debates on homosexuality.
“If there are some homosexuals, we shall not kill or persecute them but there should be no promotion of homosexuality,” the president said, according to the Daily Monitor of Kampala.
Archbishop Ntagali was elected June 22 during a meeting of Uganda’s House of Bishops on 22nd June. He was consecrated in December 2004 as the first Bishop of Masindi-Kitara.
Uganda’s seventh archbishop, the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, announced in January 2012 that he would retire one year earlier than required.
Photo: Archbishops Henry Orobmi and Stanley Ntagali
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
