KENYA: “Be Christ Among the Suffering in This Pandemic Moment,” Archbishop Muheria to Clergy and Religious
Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri Archdiocese and the chairman of Commission for Pastoral and Lay Apostolate, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), (file picture)
By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
At a time when COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 53,000 deaths globally and most states have imposed strict guidelines including mass gathering restrictions as one of the conduits in which Coronavirus could spread, a Kenyan Prelate has urged the Religious and clergy to be available in offering their services to the people even if the Christians cannot gather for prayers in Church.
“My dear priests and Religious, as you can see, we are not able to gather our people together. But I want to send a special appeal to you, that you try as much as possible to be available to serve our dear people wherever they are,” Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri Archdiocese said in a video clip published on Friday, March 27, and continued, “When they ask for you, reach out to them, console them, call them (and) keep talking to them.”
He encouraged the clergy and Religious to pray for the people saying, “In a special way we want to ask our dear priests and Religious to set a specific time when we can pray together for our people, when we can go to the Blessed Sacrament and plead for our people, that the Lord may take care of us (during) this coronavirus pandemic”.
Archbishop Muheria who is also the chairman of Commission for Pastoral and Lay Apostolate, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) asked the priests to be heroic during this time when the country is in great need of their services adding that “if you are asked to go and attend to a sick person, observe the measures of safety but reach out to them.”
Addressing the Religious, the Prelate asked them to be generous in their services especially in attending to the sick and giving them hope. He gave reference to Blessed Irene Nyaatha who was charitable in caring for the weak, the sick, and the marginalized.
“Our dear Religious, like blessed Irene Nyaatha, be generous in your prayers, be generous in attending to the sick people. We know how much you support us, once more we need your prayers,” Bishop Muheria appealed adding that the Religious should make calls to the sick people to talk to them, encourage them and also to console those in quarantine and those infected.
He concluded by asking the Religious and clergy, “Be Christ among the suffering people in this moment of restriction,”
