KENYA: New Bishop of Kitale Cautioned Against Self-Centeredness, To Be a Bridge-builder

Sr. Henriette Anne Owino, FSSA

The new Bishop for Kitale Diocese in Kenya Msgr. Henry Juma Odonya, during his Episcopal Consecration on Saturday, January 21, has been warned against self-centeredness in the new ministry and asked to be an instrument of reconciliation among the people of God.

In his homily during the Eucharistic celebration, the main celebrant for the occasion Archbishop Hubertus Van Megen the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya reminded Msgr. Odonya of his role saying, “Dear Henry, today you will receive the fullness of the priesthood in the episcopal consecration. That divine gift is not for yourself to keep but for the people of Kitale entrusted to you. The Sacrament, be it episcopacy or priesthood, is not about ourselves. The Sacrament is not about confirming our merits and qualities. You can never merit the sacrament.”

He stressed that “one who grants the Sacrament in exchange for money fall into the deadly sin of simony, and the Sacrament is also not about making a career or power games or a way to impose ourselves on others, to lord it over them with an iron fist.”

Archbishop van Megen underscored that “God calls us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.”

Addressing the new Bishop, Archbishop van Megen who doubles as the Pope’s representative to South Sudan expressed the key mission of the Prelate to bridge the relationship between God and the people.

“A bishop is called to be the Pontiff, the bridgebuilder, the High priest, who is to build bridges between God and his people, to heal the relationship between God and people so that His Kingdom may come,” Archbishop van Megen said and continued, “the Kingdom of God is justice and peace which is the aim and purpose of this ordination: that the bishop may lead his people to the Kingdom, that he may seek out the sheep who stray and gather into the Lord’s fold, that he may lead the people of God to ever greater holiness.”

The Nuncio further advised Msgr. Odonya, that a Bishop uses his pastoral staff to shepherd and not to strike, to gather and not to scatter saying, “You will be welcoming and merciful to the poor, to the strangers and to all who are in need. As a bishop you will have special attention for the excluded, the suffering, the sick, sinners, for those who live at the fringes of society and are excluded from the Church.”

In his Saturday homily while preaching to thousands of congregants from all walks of life including Kenya’s Head of State President William Ruto and other government officials, the Nuncio called on the new Bishop to be a Good Samaritan and heal wounds pour oil on them (the wounds), binds them as once the good Samaritan did in the scriptures.

Accordingly the Nuncio said, “The Church wants you to look her in the eye and she desires to hear a loud and clear commitment. She wants to know where you stand, to be that rock that Peter is. A rock on which Christ can build his Church.”

On his part, Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde the Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), thanked the predecessor of the new Prelate, Bishop Maurice Anthony Crowley for his contribution to the growth of education in the Catholic Diocese of Kitale.

“We cannot forget to thank you, first of all, a man committed as a shepherd, as a Bishop focused on what can save you and me-education. What a price, congratulations for your contribution to the education of this Diocese,” said Archbishop Kivuva of Kenya’s Mombasa Archdiocese.

Bishop Odonya becomes the second Bishop for the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Kitale.