OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS VIRIKA CATHEDRAL AND ITS RENOVATIONS

The History and Name of Our Lady of the Snows, Virika Cathedral

While the Cathedral of Fort Portal Diocese is commonly known as Virika Cathedral, its official name is Our Lady of the Snows Virika Cathedral. This name owes its origin to Fr. Auguste Achte, aka Pere Achte of the Missionaries of Africa, (White Fathers), who was the first Catholic missionary to Western Uganda. Fr. Achte set off from Buddu in Buganda and arrived in Tooro in November 1895. In reverence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the White Fathers, and Pere Achte in particular, would name the missions they established after Her (Blessed Virgin Mary). For example, Pere Achte founded two missions as he moved westward: one he named Our Lady of Protection ‘Bukuumi bwa Maria’ at Bukuumi and and another one he named Our Lady of Salvation ‘Bujuni bwa Maria’ at Bujuni. Upon reaching Tooro and standing at Kiryantaama Hill, where he was to found a new mission, Pere Achte was struck by the sight of snow on top of the Rwenzori mountains; and marveled by the wonders of God’s creation, he chose to name this new found mission “Our Lady of the Snows”. When he asked for the Rutooro word for snow, he was told ‘Birika’ and he mistakenly wrote down ‘Maria wa Virika’ instead of Maria w[‘e]a Birika. Henceforth ‘Virika’ became the name of both the hill and the mission. It is a cathedral because of being the principal church of the diocese and holding the seat of the bishop.

The first church of Our Lady of the Snows was built at Virika and dedicated in 1908. Upon creation of the Diocese of Fort Portal in 1961, it became the cathedral of the diocese. In 1966, Tooro was shaken by a very high magnitude earthquake that caused a lot of built infrastructural destruction, and the Cathedral was not spared. That unfortunate disaster gave rise to the construction of a new, more magnificent and earthquake-resistant cathedral in 1967-68. It’s an original design, a state of the art and unique architectural piece of work. Apart from the architectural design, Virika Cathedral contains a lot of original art pieces and monumental elements which render that church priceless.

The Renovations of Virika Cathedral  

Since its construction in 1967 and dedication in 1968, the Cathedral of Virika has had three major repairs in 1987, 2004 and 2024. All these repairs were occasioned by leakage of the roof. The latter has involved a complete overhaul and modification of the roof structure, replacement of the floor and doors and introduction of new elements.

The first renovations came in 1973, five years after its completion. This work which required 7000 Ugx included: repainting, vanishings, replacing lights, locks and blocks on pathways, washing the dirty lights, fixing opening joints and frames. The roof which used leak, especially when it rained heavily, was left for another time. Leakage of the roof of Virika was mentioned as early as that time and it turned out to be a chronic.

By 1982, the leakage of the roof had become such a matter of concern that, a select committee of eminent persons, headed by the Parish Priest of Virika Rev. Fr. Francis Asiimwe, was constitute and charged with mobilizing Ugx. 3,000,000 which had been asked by Fr. Richard Wunch as the amount necessary for all the work.  Majority of the members of the committee have since passed on while none of the few remaining can recall to what extent they carried their task.  However, the committee couldn’t raise the three million shillings because of the prevailing economic situation at the time. Consequently, in 1985, the bishop commissioned his Vicar General, Msgr. Thomas Kisembo, to the United States of America to do fundraising for the cathedral roof renovation. USD 50,000 was realized through this initiative and it enabled work to be done in 1987 after the war of 1985-86. This work, which was done by Fr. Wunch, consisted of replacing the original roof cover material and repairing the storm-water drainage pipes. This was the first major repair that was done on the cathedral since its construction. The problem of the roof leakage seemed to be fixed but temporarily. Constant maintenance repairs became the norm afterward and for a number of years.

By 2002 it was imperative that the cathedral roof be thoroughly repaired as it had seriously deteriorated, thus calling for another major intervention. This was also a critical moment of transition. The diocesan bishop then, Paul Kalanda, was almost hitting his canonical retirement age. Indeed, he started the work and it was completed by his successor, Bishop Robert Muhiirwa. It was an expensive project and entire diocese community was mobilized for it. The whole roof-cover and the timber ceiling were replaced. It was during this project that a metallic arch was introduced in front of the main entrance of the church.

The latter repair did not hold longer than ten years. By 2014 the cathedral was already demanding intervention as the roof was leaking to a worrying degree. Constant maintenance interventions became more intensive and were later on unsustainable.

By 2019 the repair of Our Lady of the Snows cathedral was imperative: when it rained pools of water accumulate in various parts of the church and the confessionals were rendered unusable. In 2021 Bishop Robert Muhiirwa declared to the whole diocesan community that Virika cathedral was due for repair and he called for generosity on the part of all the members of the diocese and the well-wishers.

Having drawn lessons from earlier experiences, it was deemed necessary to apply professionalism in the manner the work was to be done, to seriously investigate the cause of the problem and to address the problem of roof-leakage from the real cause. The questions being addressed were: Why did the previous repairs fail to fix the problem once and for all? Where could we have gone wrong in our earlier interventions? What must we do to fix the problem regardless of how hard it might be?

In 2020, the bishop set up three committees to undertake the task. These were: the Steering Committee to do the oversight role, the Construction Committee to play the technical advisory role and the Fundraising and Finance Committee for mobilizing, managing and accounting for the funds for the work. A project secretary was recruited and an office was duly established and equipped for the work. Some ad hoc committees such as Procurement and Evaluation Committees were later brought on board.

The renovation works this time have involved a total overhaul and redesigning of the roof to channel the water flow, introduction of eight buttressed columns and arches around the cathedral, scrapping and replacing the entire floor, replacement of the timber ceiling, the doors, pavements on the veranda and walkways around the cathedral and introduction of an ambo, a heat insulator, security camera. All this has cost 3.6 billion Uganda Shilling.

Note of Gratitude

Having worked hard to realize the dream of many people, it is fitting to render thanks to God who has made it possible and to extend gratitude to all the people who have made great contributions at different levels. I will mention just a few: the Bishop who has obviously played the leading role, the President of Uganda who gave the first substantial muganda (contribution), the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and Parliament of Uganda, the Christians of Fort Portal who have made enormous contributions through their parishes and all the individual and corporate entities who have contributed generously towards our project.  A complete list will be published later.

Also worthy of gratitude are the members of the Steering Committee which I have been privileged to lead. They are: Arch. Enoch Kibbamu and Dr. Patrick Birungi who would commute from Kampala to attend our many meetings, Eng. Adolf Kahuma who did so much as head of the Construction Committee but later fell sick and could not complete with us, Eng. Deo Katekere who later chaired the Construction Committee and went an extra mile with enviable commitment, Fr. Tadius Musabe who was also appointed as the Client Representative, Fr. Paschal Kabura, Fr. Gerald Akugizibwe and Hon. Alex Ruhunda who chaired the Finance and Fundraising Committee. Ms Linda Birungi our Project Secretary also did a wonderful job.

The Construction Committee members were: Eng. Adolf Kahuma, Eng. Deo Katekere, Fr. Titus Winyi, the Parish Priest and Rector of the Cathedral, Eng. Asaba Lawrence, Eng. James Burolerro, Fr. John Tumuhairwe and Ms. Christine Kabanyaka. And the Procurement Committee was composed of: Eng. Lawrence Asaba, Fr. Joseph Musana, Ms. Christine Kabanyaka, Eng. Adolf Kahuma, Mr. Christopher Kayonga and Fr. Titus Winyi. The Evaluation Committee was composed of Mr. Christopher Kayonga, Eng. Lawrence Asaba, Mr. Stephen Mugabo, Ms. Christine Kabanyaka and Eng. Deo Katekere. All these people did a fantastic job and deserve all our gratitude.

The Finance Committee comprised Hon. Alex Ruhunda, Fr. Edward Muhumuza, Fr. Charles Oyo and Dr. Patrick Birungi who worked tirelessly to raise the funds we needed. We owe them gratitude.

Archdesign Company Limited has been our Project Manager and it was represented by Arch. Richard Turyahabwe who has played a pivotal role in the project. The whole team of Archdesign has worked well with us. Finally, our Design and Build Contractor, Ambitious Construction Company Limited has delivered quality work and in time. They too deserve our thanks for the job well done.

Looking at Our Lady of the Snows Cathedral in its new splendour, and recalling the state in which it was plus the fears and uncertainties I had when I accepted to steer its renovation, it only suffices to say: God you are great and praised be your name forever!

Msgr. Iaiah Mayombo phd