Empowering Communities Through Action
Our Story
Association of the Friends of the Apostles of Jesus (AFAJ) Australia consists of a group of local volunteers dedicated to assist in raising of funds for the priests of Uganda for the invaluable work within their local community and overseas communities.
Meet The Team
Apostles Of Jesus Uganda Region
Background
The Apostles of Jesus Religious Missionary Institute was founded by two Italian Comboni Missionaries, namely, Bishop Sistus Mazolidi and Fr. John Marengoni in 1968 in Moroto, Karamoja Region, Uganda. At the time, Moroto was one of the hard-to-reach semi-arid areas in Uganda, inhabited by the Karamojong people, who are predominately nomadic pastoralists. This background influenced the vision of the founders and positively impacted on the humble beginning of the Institute in a semi-arid and pastoral nomadic ethnic groups.
The aim was apostolic action of evangelization to the local Church and globally, living a fervent community life of prayer and work, and services to communities and people of God, animated by apostolic spirit. Although Karamoja is challenging environment, it has impacted positively on the Apostles of Jesus religious missionaries’ sense of resilience and readjustment to diverse spiritually and psycho-social experiences.
The Apostles of Jesus members are about five hundred active religious missionaries working in Africa and other parts of the World. In Africa, we minister in Uganda, among other countries. The regional office is located in Nsambya - Kampala. There are seventy-two (72) members living in twenty-six (26) religious communities and ministering in twelve (12) Catholic Dioceses.
Some of our religious missionaries serve in hard-to-reach mission places, including refugee settlements in northern Uganda, and to urban refugees in Kampala. Other involvements include: parish pastoral ministry, educational institutions, healthcare services, and social economic development.
Apostles of Jesus in Uganda have a Minor Seminary and a Novitiate in Moroto Uganda. Other Educational Institutions include: St. John Paul II High School in Luweero, Marengoni Primary School, Maria Middleton Sodogo Primary School, St. Joseph Vocational School, and Mazzoldi Community College. Lima Farm in Luweero and Sodogo Land are being developed for income generation and improving livelihoods in local communities.
Mission and Vision
The Apostles of Jesus charism consists in following Christ the Good Shepherd, imitating the compassionate, active and joyful zeal of His Heart for the lost sheep (cf. Jn.10:1-21). The primary end is the pursuit of perfect charity through the exercise of the evangelical counsels and living a fraternal life in common. To this end, the Administration of Uganda Region is entrusted to the Regional Superior and his four council members, with a mandate, among others, to: (i) support members in their endeavor to individually and communally live their consecrated lives; (ii) to sustain evangelization and pastoral activities of the local Church through provision of pastoral personnel; (iii) to protect, develop and utilize the temporal goods for the common good of the members, the entire Institute, and communities.
Care for the Elderly
As a young religious missionary institute, it has lately downed on us that a number of our members are quickly aging. Of the seventy-two members in Uganda, forty are now sixty and above years old. With the aging process comes challenging health conditions requiring additional resources. Aging gracefully, living with dignity, and spiritual strength, requires economic and socio-psycho-spiritual stock. Care for the elderly clergy and religious brothers now demands that we address not only the spiritual but the physical, mental, access to healthcare (through provision of adequate medical insurance coverage), nutrition needs, safe living environment, among others.
How we have grown
Currently, there are over 400 Apostles of Jesus members serving in different countries all over the World. Some of the mission territories are Botswana, Cuba, Ethiopia, Kenya, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.