Soroti Anglican Diocese needs 320 million Shillings to complete the construction of the New St Peters Cathedral. The Church has been under construction for the last 18 months and has now reached the roofing level.
The present Cathedral that was built in 1961, has a sitting capacity of 500 people. It serves as the seat of the Soroti Diocese and takes care of Church of Uganda Christians in the districts of Soroti, Amuria, Kaberamaido, Serere, Katakwi and Kalaki.
The structure became dilapidated and too small to host the growing number of parishioners. It also had no provision for office space, cementing the need for expansion.
Construction of the new, expanded cathedral structure, capable of sitting 25,000 people was launched in 2017 by then-Bishop George William Erwau, who has since retired from Church service. At the time, President Yoweri Museveni contributed 320 million Shillings towards the construction project. He paid 20 million Shillings in cash and also auctioned two bulls at 300 million Shillings.
President Museveni during the fundraising drive in the end of 2019 held at Soroti Sports Ground, he donated 260million from the pledge of 400million. There were also other contributions of 700million together with full field pledges that helped to kick start the construction process.
Speaking to this reporter, the Diocesan Secretary Reverend Samuel Ediau said that the Church building has reached the roofing level, and calls for support from the Christian’s to take the work forward.
According to Ediau, they intend to roof using the tiles which approximately will need the church to rise 320 million Shillings and for other finishes.
Ediau says that the church has strategically placed boxes within the premises to allow whoever is able to contribute towards the completion of the Cathedral. They are also waiting for persons who pledged in the previous fundraising drives to fulfil their commitments.
The Cathedral is prominent for hosting and taking care of thousands of internally displaced people during the Kony insecurity in the 1990s as well as hundreds of others that ran away from Karimojong cattle rustlers.
