KENYA: Find your Episcopal Ministry in Prayer, Kenya’s Apostolic Nuncio Encourages Bishops.
Sr. Henriette Anne Owino
During episcopal ordination of the Bishop of Bungoma Diocese on Saturday, February 19 2022 which took place at St. Mary’s high school in Bungoma Diocese, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen has encouraged bishops to find their episcopal ministry in prayer since it a way of being a good shepherd.
“Everything I say, do or think must be rooted in prayer for in prayer, I am able to discern the will of the Father. In prayer, I experience that relationship with the Father. In prayer, I can also discern whether my words, actions, and thoughts and may relationships can find a place within that relationship with the Father,” he narrated.
In his homily during the celebration, he also emphasized that the person of Jesus Christ knows his flock through and through and it should be the calling of every clergy; being available and listening to them stressing that all this is possible only if they smell the sheep.
“Jesus speaks of an intimate knowing of the sheep. He knows them through and through. Hence, evidently, that should also be the calling of the clergy: to know the sheep through and through. The shepherd should be available for the sheep, should listen to them, and hear about their concerns, their desires, their conflicts and challenges. The Shepherd can only lead when he knows about the needs of the sheep. We can only know the sheep when, as Pope Francis says, “we smell the sheep”, he added.
Archbishop van Megen also warned the bishops and priests against clericalism which he noted is common in the parishes during his interaction with them as they prepare for synod in synodality.
He called them not impose their way of thinking and opinion on others because it gives the wrong image of the Church yet Christ stands for a different Church.
“From my visits to dioceses, encounters with clergy, conversations with religious and meetings with laity one thing above all seem to emerge: the plague of clericalism. The tendency of some of us to impose our opinions and way of thinking on others, gives the impression that Church is owned by bishops and priests: the clergy are in command, the laity have to listen. Christ however, stands for a different Church”.
The Apostolic Nuncio also reached out to Christians to pray so that everything may be in order, “Every Christian is therefore called to pray, and to pray incessantly in order that everything should be put into that relationship with God himself. It is only within an intimate relationship with God, established in prayer, that I will truly be able to understand the needs of the sheep and to lead them to those green pastures, where God restores their soul.”
He then told the newly ordained Bishop to be a good a shepherd that God has calls him to be and not to lord it over all.
“You are now called to become the Good Shepherd of the people of Bungoma, a diocese of different tribes and tongues. Be that good shepherd that God calls you to be. Do not lord it over them but listen to them attentively and put all their desires and struggles before God in prayer. Be like Moses who intercedes for his people even when they go astray. Be that father who loves his children however far they may have wandered off. Listen to the sheep, come to know them by name, so that they may recognize and trust you as their Good Shepherd” he explained.
On his part, the new Bishop underscored that he has been for a long time in a diplomatic service where collegiality, respect and unity is emphasized. Therefore, he promised to work with the members of the Kenya Conference of Bishops in unity.
“I have been for a long period of time in the diplomatic service and I am reliably informed of the respect that exist in this Bishops’ Conference. Therefore, I promised yesterday in the afternoon before God and before some you, that I will work for collegially and in unity with you.”
He also promised to love the priests and continue with the work his predecessors have been doing.
