KAMPALA — The Catholic Church in Uganda has suspended a priest who refused an archbishop’s demand that he not run for political office in defiance of Church law.

The suspension of Father Charles Onen, a priest of the Gulu Archdiocese, is seen as a strong warning by the Church hierarchy telling clergy that elective politics are off limits to them as Uganda heads for its general elections in February 2021.

In a letter dated Oct. 5, addressed to all the priests in the Archdiocese of Gulu in northern Uganda, Archbishop John Baptist Odama announced that Father Onen had been suspended from exercising his priestly ministry.

He wrote: “As the shepherd of the people of God in Gulu Archdiocese, I have the painful duty to communicate to you that, on September 23rd, 2020, I had to issue a decree on suspension “a divinis” for our brother, the Rev. Fr. Charles Onen. Specifically, he is forbidden to exercise all acts of power of order, all acts of power of governance and any right or function attached to any diocesan office.”

The archbishop noted that, before suspending the priest, he followed all the necessary steps in accordance with Church law to rein in Father Onen, but to no avail.

He wrote: “For the last three months I have had several meetings, with the Rev. Fr. Charles Onen, who has been requesting a release by the Archbishop of Gulu from active priestly ministry [in order] to be involved in active politics. In all these instances, I tried very much to dissuade him from taking such a step and I told him that the law of the Church does not permit a priest to be involved in active politics and that a priest who does so shall be suspended. But he turned this down and went on making choices contrary to the nature and requirements of his priestly status and the law of the Church.”

Odama added that after failing to stop the priest, and because of the scandal caused by the offense, he began the formal canonical process of warning him before issuing the suspension. He wrote: “On August 21st and September 7th, I issued the first and second canonical warning letters respectively, which were handed to the Rev. Fr. Onen, requesting him to desist from active involvement in politics without the permission from local ordinary and asking him to reform his life according to his priestly vocation.”.   

Odama noted that after Father Onen failed to respond to any of the warning letters, he was forced to take the necessary course of action. He wrote in a letter:

“Since the time prescribed by the Canon Law to answer the warnings and to have recourse against the decree of suspension has abundantly expired and no written answer or reaction from Fr. Charles has yet reached me, I had no alterative left but to obey the Law of the Church, which asks pastors to try disciplinary action like the suspension from exercising sacramental ministry as the last resort, and attempts to correct those who go astray in order to make them reflect, repent and reform their life.”

The archbishop concluded his letter by asking other priests in the diocese to pray for Father Onen that the Lord may help him to repent and reform his life according to the gifts and demands of his priestly vocation.  

The move to suspend Father Onen comes at the time when Uganda is grappling with the issue of whether religious leaders should participate in elective politics.

Dozens of religious leaders in Uganda from different denominations are joining elective politics ahead of next year’s general elections. They include a prominent pastor, Joseph Kabuleta who is eyeing the presidency with an agenda of securing financial liberation for every Ugandan and guaranteeing freedom of worship.

The Constitution of Uganda does not deter the clergy from joining elective politics. But those who are against the clergy joining elective politics, including Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, argue that it is tantamount to meddling in politics, which holds the threat of dividing the flock along political party lines.

President Museveni argues that the same way politicians would not preside over a Mass in a Church, the clergy should not contest for elective political office.

Others, like associate professor of leadership at Kabale University Mesharch Katusiimeh, argue that there is nothing wrong when the clergy join elective politics to do good. “If you are a partisan clergy condemning corruption and immorality, what is wrong with that?” Katusiimeh asks.

Father Onen says he won’t quit the Parliamentary race to which he has committed his time and resources. He told the media during a press conference in Gulu town last week that there is no amount of persuasion that will convince him to leave elective politics. He also said that he had already voluntarily left the priestly ministry so there was no need for the Church to suspend him.  

The priest boasted that he was headed for an election victory since he is supported by voters from different faiths, including Muslims who have even worked on his campaign. “I don’t embark on missions, and fail to accomplish them,” he said. “The same way I have accomplished other missions, such as finishing my MA studies at Makerere University, I will finish this too.” Father Onen is popular in Gulu because of his position as a clergyman, but also because he has spearheaded a campaign against land grabbing in the region.

He becomes the third Catholic priest since the 2006 general elections in Uganda to contest for a Parliamentary seat. In 2011, the Father Jacinta Ogwal contested successfully for a Otuke County Parliamentary seat in Lira District in northern Uganda on the Uganda People Congress party ticket after also being suspended from the priestly ministry for defying formal canonical warnings to leave politics.

Father Simon Lokodo, the current State Minister for Ethics and Integrity, also joined elective politics in 2006 when he was elected to represent the people of Dodoth County, Kaabong District in Parliament. Like his colleagues, in 2006, when he announced his intention to join elective politics, Father Lokodo was suspended from the priestly ministry after refusing to withdraw from the race.

Father Onen is not new to stirring controversy. In 2018, he made headlines when he flogged a Christian in broad day light after suspecting him of fraudulently soliciting financial support for the diocesan radio project.  The man who was beaten pleaded for mercy denying that he did not commit the offense, but Father Onen did not stop caning him.

In the same year, the priest caused an uproar when he went on radio and made claims that during a prayer crusade in Gulu town, the Anglican bishop of the Northern Uganda Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Johnson Gakumba, had burned rosaries.

With the suspensions, the Catholic Church has joined the Anglican Church in Uganda, which in 2010 instituted a policy blocking religious leaders from participating in elective partisan politics. In a resolution passed by the house of bishops, the bishops decreed that no ordained person or commissioned worker is allowed to seek an elective office. They said that should any member of the clergy wish to join politics, he or she must resign from serving in the church.

John Semakula is a Kampala-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He also reports for New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper.