KENYA: Mill Hill Missionary Cleric Described as, “Gem of the Work for Evangelization”

Sr. Henriette Anne FSSA

At his retirement in the month of July, after 55 years of service in Kenya’s Kisumu Archdiocese, the soft-spoken native of the Netherlands Fr. Gerald Kraakman has been flowered with a description of being the gem of the work for evangelization in the Archdiocese.

The 81-year old Mill Hill Missionary who arrived in Kenya in 1968 four months after his priestly ordination in the month of June, and landed in the Archdiocese of Kisumu has expressed at his retirement from active ministry, that he finds joy and fulfillment in parish apostolate, a move he testifies has led to his deep passion for integral growth of humanity.

Fr. Kraakman commonly referred to as Fr. Gerry by his peers, appreciates the growth he has realized in the number of Christians who have been baptized in the parishes where he has served and how people’s faith has been strengthened.

“You can look at the Baptismal books, so many have been baptized, quite a lot, that is how it is,” the cleric shared with AMECEA Online correspondent in an interview after a farewell Eucharistic celebration in Nanga parish, Kisumu, highlighting further that this is one of his greatest achievements as a priest as well as developing the parishes through construction of new buildings.

Throughout his priestly ministry since he came to Kenya, Fr. Kraakman has served in different parishes including, Our Lady of Assumption Barkorwa Catholic Parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Nyangoma Parish, St. Augustine Catholic Church, Nyamonye and St. Peter’s, Nanga Parish where he has offered till his retirement.

Even though Fr. Kraakman, one of the few European clerics who are still serving as missionaries in the Archdiocese has acknowledged the growth in faith of the African Church over the years, he says it is difficult to measure how deep the faith has grown.

He has compared the Church in Africa and that of his native home saying, “In Europe, there is a problem with keeping the youth connected to the Church. Some Catholic parents have never gone for the first communion, and this is different from Africa.”

He stressed that prayer and faith are important, for they help us be close to God and everything else will follow trusting that God himself will reward us at the end of it all.

As a challenge during his active ministry, the cleric who has been deeply shaped by his faith from childhood because of the staunch Christian family background, underscores that winning the hearts of catechumens who have disappeared from the Church is not an easy task.

“Sometimes, when people come as catechumens and they disappear, bringing them back is a bit of a challenge. Sometimes they can be present during holiday and the next holiday they have no time, this becomes difficult,” he recounts during the interview.

He further appreciated his call to priesthood as a source of encouragement recalling how the seed to his vocation might have been planted in him when he was growing up saying, “What gives me strength is the call. The Lord called me to serve him, that is what keeps me going,” he said.

“Our home was very near to the church, so we could go to church every day. But then one day when I was walking out of the pew, after mass, I heard like a voice saying, ‘I want you to be a priest.’ I looked back and asked, who said that and there was nobody: that was the Lord speaking to me in my heart, in my mind and that there was never a doubt it was my imagination. I heard that correctly, that is my stabilizing factor in life,” Fr. Kraakman narrated his vocation story advising those aspiring to be priests to listen to voice of God to call them and they may not call themselves.

According to Fr. Joseph Oduor the Dean of Kisumu Denary where Fr. Kraakman has been serving lately, the Dutch priest has become part and parcel of the people of Kisumu for his love to embrace the luo language.

“Fr. Kraakman preaches so well in the local language and this has led to the spiritual development of the people,” Fr. Oduor a member of the Order of Augustinian said during the Thanksgiving Mass at Nanga parish in Kisumu, adding that Father is a “Gem of the work for evangelization.”

He acknowledged the cleric’s commitment to learning and appreciating the people’s culture, a virtue that has helped him in evangelization and which should be emulated.

Fr. Kraakman will continue assisting in the Parish of Nanga where he has been serving and at the same time assist in any parish that requests for help within the denary for some time before he returns to his native land.