KENYA: “We are Servants and not Masters,” Kenya’s Apostolic Nuncio to New Bishop of Garissa

Sr. Henriette Anne Owino, FSSA

The Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya has called upon Church leaders, Religious and all Christian faithful to be cognizant of their call as servants in Christ’s vineyard and develop the spirit and heart of humility.

Addressing the congregation in his homily during the Episcopal Ordination of Monsignor George Muthaka who early this year was appointed the Bishop of Kenya’s Garissa Diocese, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen said: “Let us be humble of heart. Humility of heart can only be acquired when we are able to see our own poverty and in sufficiency in the eyes of God.”

He continued by referring to Saint Paul the Apostle saying, “The Church of Christ does not build on power or imposition…., we are servants of the word of God and not its masters, and we are under the yoke of the word of God.”

Echoing St. Paul’s message on how sometimes Church leaders carry themselves in delivering their services, Archbishop van Megen asked: “How many times do we leaders of the Church act as if we are our own God, as if we are the highest Church?”

“Let us move away from a clerical Church where it seems that the clergy is a separate caste. We priests, bishops, Religious superiors are one with the entire people of God; we are the one Body of Christ,” Most Rev. van Megen who doubles as the representative of the Holy Father in South Sudan warned.

Archbishop van Megen who was speaking on Saturday, May 7, at Our Lady of Consolation Cathedral, Garissa ground, further cautioned the clergy against the tendency of looking for “power and money,” by being deceived by the things of this world calling for prayers to understand the true condition of our soul and human existence.

He acknowledged that being a leader in the church has many challenges and any “responsibility for that matter if filled with obstacles and frightening choices, but we have to trust the prayers of our fellow Christians.”

“As a leader you may have to put your nets into the deep, and that responsibility may weigh heavy on your shoulders, we may even be filled with doubts, we may be called to do things that would rather avoid but let us entrust ourselves to the prayer of our fellow Christians,” the Nuncio said.

And addressing Msgr. Muthaka a member of the of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFMCap) just before his Episcopal Ordination, Archbishop Van Megen reminded him of God’s graces which he needs in his ministry.

“Dear Fr. George, as a follower of the poor man of God, St Francis, you are fully aware that we cannot do without grace of God in fact each and every day we need Him,” he said and continued, “The man who holds an office a responsibility in the Church, Bishop, priest, Religious superior is even more in need of that grace.”

He advised the need to always repent as prophet Isaiah says, “I am a man of unclean lips and we need to repeat it, over and over again we need to be aware of our own insufficiency, our own sins, so that God’s grace can really work within us.”