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| Prof Philpott (left) and Msgr Kauta address the participants at the workshop |
Employees of the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) on Thursday July 9, 2015 gathered for a resourceful workshop on reconciliation to share experiences and discuss future strategies and actions on reconciliation processes.
The one-day workshop, which was organized by the UEC Justice and Peace Department, in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame Center for Civil and Human Rights in the U.S.A, focused on lessons learned and good practices in thematic areas within reconciliation such as healing, the relationship between truth, justice and reconciliation, the importance of the Eucharist in the healing process and the role of the laity in reconciliation process.
In his presentation Prof Daniel Philpott, the Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights, University of Notre Dame, said that reconciliation is a key objective in building sustainable peace and preventing a relapse into conflict.
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| The participants (UEC staff) pose for a group photo with Prof Philpott |
“Through my many conversations with Archbishop John Baptist Odama, his life and witness have taught me enough about reconciliation for a lifetime,” said Prof Philpott who was also the key facilitator. “So many people in the Ugandan Church in so many ways have been witnesses to reconciliation through so much violence after many decades, dating back to colonial times. You should think about God’s plan for reconciliation as God has revealed it through the Scriptures and through the Church, most recently through the great Synod for Africa and the document Africae Munus that came out of it.”
He further stated that reconciliation is about building relationships among people and groups in society and between the state and its citizens, stating that moral vision, truth and justice are the vital parts of the process of healing.
“For many decades, apartheid was the national vision for South Africa based on racial separation. Under apartheid, blacks, colored, and Asians suffered greatly, both from economic discrimination and from violence. But certain practitioners of moral vision insisted that it would not be any old amnesty but one that would tell the truth about South Africa’s past towards the end of national reconciliation. Archbishop Desmond Tutu brought to the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reconciliation as a vision for all of South Africa. He exhorted those who had committed horrible crimes to tell the truth and to repent publicly, victims to forgive to see reconciliation as their nation’s future,” he explained.
Dr Aliba Kiiza the Executive Secretary of the UEC Justice and Peace department called on the participants to always reflect on their lives since it is a key element in reconciliation.
In his closing remarks Msgr. John Baptist Kauta, the UEC General Secretary urged the participants to seek God’s grace during reconciliation.
“Reconciliation takes place internally in the victim and leads to forgiving the wrongdoer but all this need God’s grace. Unity always comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit and is a sign of God’s Spirit at work,” he said.
By Jacinta W. Odongo; Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference