KENYA: AMECEA Pastoral Institute Gaba Set to Celebrate Golden Jubilee on Saturday May 18 2019
The Journey that began on October 21, 2017 when AMECEA Executive Board Members led by the then Chairman H.E. Berhaneyesus Cardinal Souraphiel CM the Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa Ethiopia launched the Year of Golden Jubilee for Gaba Pastoral Institute is coming to a climax tomorrow on Saturday May 18, 2019, when the institute celebrates its Golden Jubilee.
Ahead of the celebrations, the AMECEA Executive Board members including the AMECEA Patron H.E. John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi on Friday, May 17, held a thanksgiving Eucharistic celebration which also saw 14 candidates who have finished their renewal programs at the Institute being commissioned.
Among the fourteen candidates commissioned, seven were taking Diploma in Pastoral Ministry and Management, five were taking Diploma in Evangelization and Catechesis while the remaining two were taking Renewal and Sabbatical Program, which is strictly a non-academic sabbatical program.
The commissioned candidates included five from Kakamega Diocese and one from Maryknoll Society (Kenya); two from Kondoa Diocese, and one each from Tabora Archdiocese and Mbinga Diocese (Tanzania), One each from Mangochi and Zomba Dioceses in (Malawi), one from Kotido Diocese (Uganda) and one from El Obeid Diocese (Sudan).
In his homily during the Eucharistic celebrations, Most Rev. Ignatius Chama, Archbishop of Kasama Archdiocese, Zambia urged the commissioned candidates to be true witnesses of Christ.
“A true witness lives the words of the one he or she is witnessing to. You cannot plan to be a witness when your very own life is contrary to the values and the live of the one you purport to witness to. Just like in a court of law, if you are a hostile witness, the court will not accept your statement,” Archbishop Chama expressed.
He further indicated that in the contemporary society we are living in, there are many hostile witnesses of Christ who are contributing to the Church being prosecuted.
“We see a lot of Gospel witnesses who are making it impossible for others to trust in God and in Christ; we see a lot of Gospel witnesses who live their lives as if their lasting home is here on earth and not in heaven with their Father; their values are bonded with those of this world and not of Jesus Christ.”
“Our commissioning of our brothers and sisters who have completed their spiritual renewal here at Gaba is that they go out and to witness to Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Light. Let their lives and ours be true living examples of a people set to witness to Christ who is the only way, truth and life.”
Earlier on the day, the Executive Board Members toured and blessed various projects in the institute among them the magnificent Prayer Garden which has artistic elaborations of both the Old and New testaments figures as well as saints in the Catholic Church, as crafted by Fr Simon Sabvala who is one of the staff members at the Institute.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
