Holy Cross established a presence in East Africa in 1958 in response to a general invitation by the Holy See to organize the Church’s missionary activities around the world. The first group of Holy Cross religious in East Africa was led by long-time missionary Rev. Vincent J. McCauley, C.S.C., who later became the first Bishop of Fort Portal Diocese and whose cause for sainthood was introduced in 2006. The religious settled in the northern portion of the Mbarara Diocese in Uganda, which later became the dioceses of Fort Portal, Hoima and Kasese.