Growth of Christianity in Uganda – 1900s
By the 1930s, Christianity was the fastest growing faith in Uganda and Catholics were growing much faster than any other Christian denomination,
When the Catholic White Fathers came calling in 1879, they were allocated land near Lubaga Hill. In 1889, the reigning monarch, Mwanga II of Buganda, donated them land on Lubaga Hill itself where they built Saint Mary’s Cathedral Rubaga, beginning in 1914 until 1925, with the assistance of monetary contributions from the Roman Catholic congregations abroad. Later, the missionaries built a hospital and a nursing school on the hill. Today, Lubaga remains the seat of the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Uganda. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala.
The remains of the first African Catholic bishop in Uganda, Bishop Joseph Nakabaale Kiwanuka and those of the first African Catholic Cardinal, Cardinal Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga are kept in the Catholic Mission on the hill.