By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA<\/p>\n
Following the creation of the new Diocese of Kapsabet, carved from Kenya\u2019s Eldoret Diocese, Catholic priests from these Dioceses have been granted the freedom to choose whether to remain in Eldoret or to move to the newly established diocese that covers Nandi County.<\/p>\n
According to the Rt. Rev. \u00a0John Kiplimo Lelei, who in July 10, was appointed the founding Bishop of the new Diocese, all diocesan priests are expected to write to the Local Ordinary of Eldoret, Bishop Dominic Kimengich, declaring whether they would wish to serve in Eldoret or Kapsabet.<\/p>\n
Bishop Lelei, who until his appointment was the Auxiliary Bishop of Eldoret Diocese and the titular Bishop of Mons in Numidia, stressed that, \u201cThis freedom is very important since the priests are part of this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bishop noted that if one diocese ends up with disproportionately more priests than the other, the two Bishops would agree to send some as Fidei Donum<\/em> priests to balance pastoral needs.<\/p>\n \u201cA Fidei Donum priest is\u00a0a diocesan priest sent by their diocese to serve in another diocese, often in a mission territory or a diocese with a shortage of priests.\u201d<\/p>\n Such a decision to have Fidei Donum<\/em> priests, Bishop Lelei said, is meant to safeguard the spirit of service and ensure the mission of the Church remains vibrant in both dioceses.<\/p>\n The establishment of Kapsabet Diocese, announced by the Holy See on July 10, was a long-awaited development. It fulfils a request first made by the late Bishop Cornelius Korir of Eldoret, who had petitioned Rome to carve out a new diocese due to Eldoret\u2019s vastness. His successor, Bishop Dominic Kimengich, pursued the request, which has now materialized.<\/p>\n In an Interview with AMECEA Online<\/em>, Bishop Lelei acknowledged that becoming the first shepherd of Kapsabet Diocese presents both challenges and opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cThis office comes with a lot of responsibilities. I am used to parish work and seminary formation, but now the responsibility is much broader. However, I see it as an honour the Holy See has given to the people of Kapsabet because of their faith, generosity, and willingness to support the Church,\u201d he said, and emphasized that Kapsabet is a homogenous diocese, with a strong foundation of faith nurtured by early missionaries.<\/p>\n Asked what his priority for the Diocese would be once he is installed as the first Bishop of Kapsabet Diocese, which is set for Saturday, August 30, the Kenyan Prelate said he would wish to establish key structures such as a diocesan secretariat, a cathedral, and the bishop\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n As for a start, the Bishop will reside in a renovated house built by missionaries in the 1930s, while offices will temporarily be set up in a former school building.<\/p>\n Beyond administration, Bishop Lelei stressed the need to deepen the people\u2019s faith and develop self-sustainability projects.<\/p>\n He acknowledged past challenges, including the tragic killing of Fr. Aloys Cheruiyot Bett, which deeply affected the local community, saying, \u201cWe are people of hope. Even after that devastating incident, we gathered to celebrate Mass at the very spot of the tragedy to encourage the faithful,\u201d he said, quoting the message of St. Paul that, \u201cHope does not disappoint.\u201d<\/p>\n Eldoret Diocese, which is one of the oldest Dioceses in Kenya, currently serves a population of over two million people, half of whom are Catholics, spread across Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Nandi counties. It has about 200 priests<\/p>\n \u201cI pray that together with the Christians, we may work as a team to build this diocese and carry forward the faith,\u201d the Bishop concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA Following the creation of the new Diocese of Kapsabet,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amecea-news","category-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22932,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22930\/revisions\/22932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}