KENYA: Catholic Sisters Communicators Urged to Tell their Own Ministry Stories
Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde together with Religious Sisters communicators
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
In a recent meeting that brought together Religious Sisters communicators from various congregations within Kenya, the nuns who evangelize through various communication platforms, have been urged to come out and tell their own ministry stories.
Addressing the nuns during a two-day workshop at Our Lady Mother of Africa Pastoral Centre in Mombasa, Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde highlighted that the workshop aimed at encouraging collaboration among the Sisters communicators in Kenya “To learn how to complement each other’s work and not to compete.”
Recounting how the idea of Catholic Sisters communicators in Kenya has been born, Archbishop Kivuva the Local Ordinary of Mombasa Archdiocese who doubles as the chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), noted that Catholic Sisters Initiative of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation wishes to have a pilot test to support the development and the network of Sisters communicators in Kenya on how they can evangelize through telling their own ministry stories, and “If all goes well, the same will be implemented in other countries.”
Archbishop Kivuva emphasized during the maiden workshop of Catholic Sisters communicators that “The Religious women are a key component of the Catholic Church in the special missionary activity of the Church which is evangelization. Unfortunately, much of what the sisters contribute in terms of service is rarely reported and if done, it is lumped together with other reports of the Church.”
He adds, “Needless to say, the Sisters themselves also rarely tell their own stories on how they contribute in evangelization. There is an urgency to do so in terms of measurability in the evangelization mission of the Church. Hence the project will serve to enable the sisters to tell their own missionary stories, through their own eyes and words.”
According to Archbishop Kivuva the former director of Ukweli Video Productions, the initiative is expected to “strengthen the collaboration of Catholic sisters’ communicators network in Kenya, build the capacity of sisters already trained in communication, set up communication team that will cover stories on Sisters apostolates through audio, visual print and online programs.”
Additionally, the project aims to develop a communications strategy and plan for its continuity as it provides short practical trainings on how to gather news, write in varied formats and report.
