Alokolum @ 50

1973 – 2023. Fifty years of forming priests for the Church after the Heart of Christ.

The Golden Jubilee Celebration

Date: 14 November 2026
Time: 9:30 am
Venue: Seminary grounds
Main celebrant: Most Rev. Raphael p’Mony Wokorach — Archbishop of Gulu Archdiocese

Rooted in faith, growing in hope and bearing fruits

Alokolum’s roots trace to 1953, when it began as a house of formation for African religious brothers under the Sacred Heart Brothers. In 1973, following the decision by the Uganda Episcopal Conference, it was converted into a National Major Seminary as one of the responses to a surge in vocations that outgrew capacity at Katigondo and Ggaba Seminaries.

Throughout all the insurgency that prompted a double exile, Alokolum has remained faithful to her mission of forming Shepherds after the Heart of Christ.

Read the history

Milestones

1953
A house of formation at Gulu
The White Brothers — Norbert McAuliffe, Oswin Home and Joachim Parr — arrive from the United States and establish a house of formation for African candidates to religious life. The young men trained here take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, preparing for lives as religious brothers. The house later closes, once for lack of vocations and again for financial reasons.
1969
Reopened as an H.S.C. College
The Uganda Episcopal Conference gives the house new life, reopening it as an H.S.C. College under the patronage of the Uganda Martyrs.
1973
A National Major Seminary
The Uganda Episcopal Conference converts Alokolum into a full major seminary — a response to the wave of vocations that had begun to overwhelm Katigondo and St. Mary’s Ggaba. It opens as the country’s third National Major Seminary under its first rector, Fr. Nazareno Irinya of Arua Diocese, with 40 students and six members of staff.
1987
The first exile, to Katigondo
The Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency that engulfs Northern Uganda prompts the seminary’s temporary exile to Katigondo, in Masaka.
1992
The return from Katigondo
After five years in exile, the seminary returns to Alokolum.
2003
The second exile, to Bukalasa
The violence again makes it impossible to continue safely at Alokolum. Staff and seminarians relocate south to Bukalasa, near Masaka.
2005
The return to Alokolum
As the security situation improves, the seminary reopens its doors at Alokolum. Archbishop John Baptist Odama, who welcomes the community back and celebrates its reopening, calls it “a sign of hope for the future of the Church and peace in this region”.
2023
Golden Jubilee
Fifty years of priestly formation at Alokolum.
2025
Launch of the Seminary Golden Jubilee Celebration
The seminary launches the celebrations of its Golden Jubilee, leading to the jubilee Mass on 14 November 2026.