Nebbi Catholic diocese gears up for installation of Bishop elect

By Ronald Orachwun

Preparations are in high gear for the episcopal consecration and installation of Rev. Fr. Raphael P’Mony Wokorach as the Bishop of Nebbi Catholic diocese.
Preparations for the event was announced by Fr. Isaiah Milton Bicanduwun, the Diocesan chancellor Nebbi Catholic diocese on behalf of the Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, Most Rev. Luigi Bianco.
“Cordial and warm greetings from Nebbi Catholic diocese. The Apostolic Nunciature in Uganda through the office of the diocesan administrator Nebbi catholic diocese has the pleasure to inform that His Lordship Raphael P’Mony Wokorach, MCCJ, Bishop elect of Nebbi catholic diocese will receive the episcopal consecration on Saturday 14 August 2021 in Nebbi”, reads part of the communication from the Diocesan chancellor Nebbi Catholic diocese.
Rev. Fr. Raphael P’Mony Wokorach, a Comboni missionary based in Nairobi, was appointed on March 31st 2021 by Pope Francis as the fourth bishop of Nebbi Catholic diocese after John Baptist Odama, who is now the bishop of  the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gulu, Martin Luluga now Emeritus and Sanctus Lino Wanok currently in Lira Diocese.
His consecration was scheduled for June 26th, 2021, but was postponed due to the ban on places by the government as the country battled the second of corona virus.
Wokorach was born on 21 January 1961, at Ojigo Village in Wadelai, in the then Diocese of Arua, in present-day Arua District in the West Nile sub-region, in the Northern Region of Uganda.
He attended Ragem Primary School, before entering the highly selective Saints Peter and Paul Minor (Preparatory) Seminary at Pokea, in Arua, studying Sciences, Mathematics, Social Studies and Latin from 1975 until 1979, for his O-Level education. He transferred to the all-boys' boarding school, St. Joseph’s College Ombaci, also in Arua, where he completed his A-Level education, graduating in 1982, with the equivalent of a high school diploma.
Between 1983 and 1987, Wokorach studied philosophy at Uganda Martyrs’ National Major Seminary Alokolum, in Gulu, Uganda.
In 1987, he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, by the Pontifical Urban University, in Rome. He continued with his studies in Kenya, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in 1994.

He is a member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, also known as the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Verona Fathers, or the Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and originally called the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Congregatio Filiorum S. Cordis Iesu), a male religious institute of papal law: the members of this congregation, known merely as Comboni, bear the letters MCCI. It was founded on June 1, 1867 by Italian priest Daniel Comboni.

Wokorach was ordained priest on 25 September 1993 at Wadelai Parish by Martin Luluga, the then Bishop of Gulu.
 
He was appointed bishop of Nebbi catholic diocese on 31 March 2021 by Pope Francis. He replaced Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok, who served as Bishop of Nebbi from 8 February 2011 until 23 November 2018, when he was transferred to Lira Diocese as Bishop. During the absence of a bishop at Nebbi (2018 to 2021), Monsignor Emmanuel Odaga served as the Diocesan Administrator. He is expected to be installed as Bishop of Nebbi Catholic Diocese on 14 August 2021.
Meanwhile, Fr. Emmanuel Ocukuru, the Pastoral Coordinator of Nebbi Catholic Diocese, says that preparations are in top gear for the consecration.

COVER PHOTO: Bishop elect of Nebbi catholic diocese Raphael Wokorach P'Mony. Courtesy photo.