Christian Ecumenical Council cancels martyrs day celebrations over Coronavirus

 The Christian Ecumenical Council of Uganda- CECU has joined other Christian based religious organisations to cancel this year’s Martyrs day celebrations at the Mamre International Prayer Centre  in Namugongo.

The cancellation has been announced by the Vice Chairperson of CECU, Hannington Bahemuka, who is also the Bishop for the Charismatic Episcopal Church in Uganda.

“As responsible Ugandans, we honor the directives of His Excellence the president of the republic of Uganda to prevent and control the spread of corona virus,”Bahemuka said.

“Therefore, as CECU Bishops, we have collectively come to the consent that we cancel this year’s Martyrs day celebrations until further notice.”

Last year, government gazetted Mamre International Prayer Centre as the third site for Uganda Martyrs after the Anglican and Catholic sites.

This year’s  celebrations were to be led by the Charismatic Episcopal Church in Uganda with His Grace Archbishop Johns from United States of America as the main celebrant.

However, according to the Evangelical Orthodox Church’s Bishop Jacinto Kibuuka, they will be holding prayers that will be broadcast live on their social media platforms for believers to join them from their homes.

The Christian Ecumenical Council of  Uganda(CECU) is made of  six religious dominions unit which include Evangelical Orthodox Church, Orthodox Anglican Church, World Wide Anglican Church, Universal Peace Federation, Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church and Charismatic Episcopal Church and the same celebration will rotate to each Every year.

The development comes a week after the Anglican and Catholic churches also cancelled the celebrations for fear of the spread of the Coronavirus.

The churches said because the celebrations involved mass gatherings yet this is against the presidential directives on the spread of the deadly virus, they decided to cancel this year’s martyrs day celebrations.