In the catholic faith, the Eucharist is the center of everything, and the center of the church’s life. The reason why the altar at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine was built in the middle of the lake, is because all Christians (pilgrims) go around the altar.
According to Rev. Father Kenneth Orom of Jinja Diocese who is doubling as publicity office, the altar was built in the period when the Martyrs were murdered.
He said that, the lake where the altar is built was man made, adding that at the beginning, it didn’t have a big significance, but as time went on, people started getting water from it regarding it as holy.
“The altar, we do have it here in the middle of the lake, because in the catholic faith, the Eucharist is the center of every problem. Therefore, the altar being in the middle, it’s where we go around and the Eucharist is the center of the church’s life. The Lake is manmade, and at the beginning, the intension was not much. But now, the intention even the faith has increased,” Rev. Fr Orom said.
“It is also holy water which is being used for many things and many people who have been using this water can testify about it,” he said.
Fr Orom confirmed that the altar was built around 2015 when Pope Francis came to Uganda. He however, said that even before this new modern altar, there was another one in the middle of the lake.
He revealed that St Charles Lwanga’s tomb is also under the altr in the Shrine Basilica (church) because that’s where he was killed from, adding that, in the Catholic Church, altars are at least built where there’s a saint. This is because a saint is someone who lives his life on the earth.
Fr Orom said that for Saint Charles Lwanga, he died because of his faith.
In the Catholic Church, if one decides to build a church anywhere they have to at least put something on the altar of the saint, which is referred to as a relic. It is profoundly significantly that whoever sacrificed their lives and gloriously shade their blood for Christ, should rest at the foot of the altar.
The entombing of martyrs under the altar designates their close resemblance to the Lamb of God, as it took place in the suffering and now consists in glory.
Fr Orom said that it is not saints that Catholics worship, but a strong reminder to us all that Jesus’s word to his disciples, was “whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
