KENYA: Pastoral Agents Urged to Embrace Missionary Spirit to Enhance Evangelization

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

At a three-day online workshop that brought together liaison committee members of the Commission for Clergy and Religious and Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) Directors in Kenya, the pastoral agents have been encouraged to embrace missionary spirit for evangelization.

During his opening remarks on the second day of the workshop, the PMS National Director Fr. Bonaventure Luchidio told participants drawn from 25 dioceses in Kenya including PMS Directors and Coordinators that effectiveness in pastoral work must have a mission as its dimension.

“As agents of evangelization, we need to redefine and reimagine our pastoral work, so that all that we do and all that we say and all that we witness must have a mission, as its dimension. In fact, we need now to start thinking and imagining the name, we change the name from pastoral work to mission work,” Fr. Luchidio stated.

Contrary to having missionary spirit Fr. Luchidio said, “When our work plans don’t have a mission as its dimension, then we have moments of friction, division and uncooperativeness in the work. Therefore, let us embrace this attitude of mission; let us embrace the attitude of oneness, togetherness, and common purpose.”

Speaking on the theme of the workshop ‘Communication for Collaboration’ Fr. Luchidio said as agents of evangelization, collaboration is key and media becomes our link.”

He added, “This workshop should help us to connect with one another so that we can avoid the trivial concerns and personal interests that subvert the mission and the work of the Lord. It should help us to aim at the broader and bigger perspective of who we are.”

Addressing 100 participants on Friday, September 25, the cleric said Pastoral agents should be people who understand the mission, who are ready for the mission knowing that they are mandated to bring Christ to each and every one.

Fr. Luchidio who is based at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) assured participants that the Church has provided tools to be used in evangelization saying, “For this work to be done, the Church has given us tools for the trade and one of them is prayer.”

“All these (the Liturgy of the Hours, Sacraments) are meant to cement us together and unite us so that we can do the work of the Lord. However, when we neglect or deny any of these tools of trade, when we try to subjugate any of them, then we find ourselves at crossroads,” added Fr. Luchidio.

He encouraged the participants that with the spirituality and charisms of different Religious congregations and institutions and the diocesan spirituality united together, they can answer convincingly the call, “Here I am Send me.”

Fr. Luchidio further invited the pastoral agents to be missionaries in the month of October when the Church will commemorate World Mission Sunday, adding that “not just in the month of October but from now henceforth let mission become our dimension.”