June '25 School Spotlight - Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School and Orphange near Masaka, Uganda

In the summer of 2019, Fr. Joseph Lugalambi, a Ugandan priest studying for his Ph.D. in the United States, returned to his homeland with ten students from Ave Maria University. They brought suitcases of donated school supplies and clothing, expecting to serve about 100 children from his childhood village. More than 400 showed up.The gathering took place in Nabutongwa Village, Kalungu District, a rural pocket in the Diocese of Masaka—Uganda’s epicenter of the HIV/AIDS crisis and home to deep generational poverty. Most families live on less than two dollars a day. Nearly every household cares for at least one orphan or abandoned child. Few children can afford tuition, and with no school buses or private transportation, even the journey to class can be an obstacle.

From Vision to Structure

The village church—where Fr. Joseph had once sat as a student—had become an improvised school: two overcrowded classrooms and lessons held under trees, canceled whenever it rained. Moved by the need, the diocese committed to building something lasting. On October 7, 2019—the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary—a small group gathered in Ave Maria, Florida to hear Fr. Joseph’s story. That evening, a mission was born.

In under a year, $50,000 was raised. By January 2021, 548 children stepped into the newly constructed Our Lady of the Rosary Orphanage and Primary School—a five-classroom facility offering Catholic education, daily meals, and hope for a future.

Since then, the school has grown into a vibrant Catholic mission. A second building added five more classrooms and three administrative offices. The original structure was fully renovated. Two 10,000-liter water cisterns now provide safe drinking water. A perimeter wall secures the property. Uniforms and sports kits were provided for every student. A chapel now anchors the campus—used by the students during the week and by the entire Nabutongwa village on Sundays. Two acres of coffee have been planted to generate sustainable income.

Perennial Catholic Education takes root

But the most significant shift came in 2022, when Fr. Lugalambi attended the Newman Track at Acton University—a weeklong seminar offered by the St. John Henry Newman Institute. There, he encountered the intellectual and spiritual richness of Perenial Catholic Education, rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition and classical pedagogy.  Inspired by its integration of faith and reason, beauty and virtue, he returned home resolved to reshape the school’s academic vision.

Today, Our Lady of the Rosary School is actively transitioning to a classical model of Catholic education. Mass is attended daily. The Rosary is prayed daily. Sacred music and storytelling have entered the classroom. Students are encouraged to see the world not just through textbooks, but through wonder, order, and meaning. Even the youngest children are introduced to timeless truths—through Scripture, moral tales, and the rhythms of the liturgical year. As the school grows grade by grade, so too does its depth of formation.

Currently, the school serves 548 children, ages 3 to 15, from Pre-K to Grade 5, adding one grade each year. Every child receives food, shelter, clothing, and the opportunity to learn in a safe and prayerful environment. Life skills are taught alongside academics—students garden, cook, care for one another, and learn how to work with their hands and hearts.

Collaboration Across Continents

This effort is not a relationship of dependency—it is a proof of concept. Our Lady of the Rosary stands as a model of cross-cultural collaboration, not charity: local leadership, rooted in the Church and culture of Uganda, is strengthened—not supplanted—by international partnership. When American families, students, and donors engage with this mission, they are not simply providing aid; they are participating in a mutual exchange of wisdom, witness, and grace. It is the Church at her best: many members, one Body.

At the same time, the school offers a low-cost, high-impact model for Catholic educational development. What can take years and millions to achieve in the United States—launching a school, expanding enrollment, building Catholic identity—can happen in rural Uganda for a fraction of the cost and at a fraction of the speed. In just five years, a school has been founded, expanded, spiritually anchored, and launched on a journey toward independence. Two acres of coffee are now under cultivation, with the aim of covering the school’s core operational costs within five years. The vision is not mere subsistence, but self-sustaining Catholic formation—led by Ugandans, rooted in the classical tradition, and built to last.

For the St. John Henry Newman Institute, this international mission is not a footnote—it is a fruit. Fr. Lugalambi’s vision was sharpened, and the school’s path transformed, through his encounter with perennial Catholic education in the United States. What began as a charitable effort has become a true collaboration across continents—deepening the Newman Institute’s domestic mission by forming allies in the global Church who share the same educational ideals

A Movement Begins

The impact of Our Lady of the Rosary School has extended far beyond Nabutongwa Village. In June 2025, it served as the inspiration for the Symposium on Catholic Education held at Ggaba Seminary in Kampala, where over 160 Catholic educators from across Uganda gathered to explore the renewal of Catholic education through classical formation. Spearheaded by Fr. Joseph Lugalambi and Fr. Francis Xavier Lubega—both alumni of the Newman Track at Acton University—the event addressed the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual challenges facing Ugandan schools today.

Co-hosted by the St. John Henry Newman Institute, the symposium featured sessions on theology, pedagogy, moral imagination, and vocational integration, all grounded in the Church’s tradition. Educators left not only intellectually renewed but spiritually invigorated, committed to forming students in truth, beauty, and goodness. The event marked the beginning of a growing movement to reclaim the soul of Catholic education in Uganda—rooted in Christ and modeled in part on the success of Our Lady of the Rosary.

A Model for the Future

The fruits of this collaboration are not limited to Uganda. Next year,

five Ugandan priests

will come to the United States to be formed in

classical Catholic education

,

principles of reverent liturgy

, and

skills for launching trade schools

—preparing them to return as missionaries not only to their own people, but to a global Church in need. Many will go on to serve in

parishes across the U.S.

, where the priest shortage grows more acute each year. Their presence is not just a blessing—it is a quiet reversal of missionary history: the Church in Africa now sending laborers into the Western harvest.

And the harvest in Uganda is vast.

Seventy percent

of the population is under the age of 30;

half

are under 16. As this generation rises, the Church must form not only its hearts and minds, but also its hands. The establishment of

Catholic trade schools

within primary schools

, integrated with formation in faith and character, is essential to Uganda’s long-term spiritual and economic flourishing. In this way, classical education and technical training are not two separate goals—they are

complementary pillars of a fully human formation

.

The needs in Nabutongwa remain pressing. The school continues to grow. Resources remain tight. But the foundation is strong, and the vision is clear: a community of faith, learning, and joy, raised up under Our Lady’s mantle.

From a stable in Bethlehem to a school in Nabutongwa, the same Light continues to shine—not with spectacle, but in silence, in sacrifice, in the slow work of renewal. That light now takes the form of a school grounded in the timeless truths of the Catholic liberal arts tradition—a place where faith and reason grow side by side, and where the formation of souls begins not with programs and government measured outcomes, but with wonder.

To witness this wonder, listen to the students of Our Lady of the Rosary as they sing the second verse of 'O God Beyond All Praising' during a recent school Mass—children who have endured deep loss, live with uncertainty, and face extreme poverty, yet still sing with unwavering hope.

Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring, that we who know your favor may serve you as our King; and whether our tomorrows be filled with good or ill, we'll triumph through our sorrows and rise to bless you still: to marvel at your beauty and glory in your ways, and make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise.