FEBRUARY 23, 2016 (CISA) – Bishop Peter Kihara of the Catholic diocese of Marsabit on February 20 urged newly ordained priests to be available to serve the faithful in their respective missions.
“Be available, if Jesus did not have a Monday off, then where does your right come from to have one. You are ordained full time to serve the people of God and that is what Jesus did and if you do otherwise you are not worthy to be his priest. Be available as Jesus was,” Bishop Kihara said in his homily during the ordination ceremony at the Consolata Shrine in Westlands, Nairobi.
“St. Paul says it is no longer me working but Jesus in me. If you say, go and come tomorrow, are you reflecting that face of compassion of Jesus? From where I am based, Christians come from 100 kilometres away, just imagine if I tell them to go back home because it is my Monday off, I will be a senseless person,” he added.
The ordination saw Deacon Patrick Waiganjo, John Baptist Odungu, and Raphael Ndirangu to priesthood and Wilfred Gikundi Kaibe, Luiz Antonio de Brito and Stephen Odhiambo as deacons.
“They have been called from among you, the people of God to this high table which they occupy now, they will be sent back to serve you and many others wherever they may be sent,” noted Bishop Kihara.
Speaking during the same function, Consolata Missionaries vice Regional Superior Kenya – Uganda, Fr Joseph Waithaka thanked the various families for nurturing and encouraging their sons to serve God noting that the ordination was a good sign to the Church and Country.
“It is a providential moment in Kenya because the Church is blooming up and the Christians are increasing in number. We note that more priests are being ordained, and a number of them are now working outside Kenya,” Fr Waithaka said.
Two of the priests, Fr John Baptist Odungu and Fr Charles Ngunjiri were commissioned to work in Ivory Coast while Fr Patrick Waiganjo was commissioned to work in Mexico.
