James Odongo (27 March 19314 December 2020) was a Ugandan Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Tororo from 5 January 1985 until his retirement on 27 June 2007. He had also served as Auxiliary Bishop of Tororo from 25 November 1964 until 19 August 1968.

Background and priesthood

Odongo was born in the village of Molo, in present-day

Tororo District Tororo District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Tororo serves as the district headquarters. Location Tororo District is bordered by Mbale District to the north, Manafwa District to the north-east, Kenya to the east, B ...

, in the

Eastern Region Eastern Region or East Region may refer to: * Eastern Region (Abu Dhabi): Al Ain *Eastern Region, Ghana *Eastern Region (Iceland) *Eastern Region, Malta *Eastern Region, Nepal *Eastern Region, Nigeria * Eastern Region, Serbia *Eastern Region, Ugand ...

of Uganda. His twin sibling, Father Alfred Opio, predeceased him. He was ordained priest on 22 December 1956 and served as priest in the Diocese of Tororo until 25 November 1964.

As bishop

Odongo was appointed by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

as the ordinated

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Bahanna on 25 November 1964 and auxiliary bishop of Tororo. He was consecrated as bishop on 16 February 1965 by Cardinal

Laurean Rugambwa Laurean Rugambwa (12 July 1912 – 8 December 1997) was a Catholic Church in Tanzania, Tanzanian Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam, Archbishop of Dar es Salaam from 1968 to 1992. He was made a Cardinal (Ca ...

†, Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Bukoba, assisted by Bishop John Francis Greif, MHM†, Bishop of Tororo and Vincent Joseph McCauley, Congregation of Holy Cross†, Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Portal The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Portal () is a diocese located in the city of Fort Portal in the ecclesiastical province of Mbarara in Uganda. The Catholic Diocese of Fort Portal formerly belonging to Rwenzori Vicariate was erected on 2 Ju ...

. On 19 August 1968, he was appointed Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tororo. On 5 January 1985,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him to concurrently serve as the bishop of the Military Ordinate of Uganda. As of July 2019, he was the incumbent diocesan Ordinary of that diocese. On 2 January 1999, Odongo became the first Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo () is the Metropolitan See for the ecclesiastical province of Tororo in Uganda. On January 2, 2014, it was announced that the Bishop of Soroti, Uganda, Emmanuel Obbo, had been named by Pope Francis to b ...

. He retired from that position on 27 June 2007, thus becoming Archbishop Emeritus of Tororo, Uganda. As of January 2017, following the death of Right Reverend Colin Cameron Davis, Bishop Emeritus of Ngong Diocese, in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, Archbishop Odongo became the last surviving representative of AMECEA Region at the Vatican II Council, which was held between 1962 and 1965.

Retirement and death

Following his retirement in 2007, Bishop Emeritus Odongo settled in the city of

Mbale Mbale is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Mbale District and the surrounding sub-region. Location Mbale is approximately northeast of Kampala, Uganda's capital city, on ...

. For the two weeks before his death, he was hospitalised at St. Francis Hospital Nsambya. He died there on the morning of 4 December 2020.

Succession table as Archbishop of Military Ordinariate of Uganda

References

External links