NAIROBI APRIL 12, 2016(CISA) – Men and Women religious in Kenya will on Saturday, April 16, celebrate a requiem Mass in memory of Sr. Mary Judith Kanini and her three companion sisters, of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa who were assassinated on March 4 in Aden, Yemen.
According to an invitation sent out to the religious community from the Religious. Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK), the Mass that will be celebrated at Holy Family Basilica will start at 10:00 in the morning and will be presided over by be Bishop David Kamau, Auxiliary Bishop of Nairobi.
According to Bro. Reginald Cruz, CFX Vice Postulator and Liaison for Religious in the Archdiocese of Nairobi they will “…also take the occasion to pray for the safety of Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, the Salesian priest living in Mother Teresa’s Home who was abducted during the attack in Aden.
“The requiem Mass is to help many of the religious to ritualize their own feelings regarding the martyrdom of Sr Judith because she was a religious like the rest of us,” Bro Cruz told CISA on a phone interview.
Requiem Masses were already celebrated in other countries: in Yemen where the nuns were killed and in Rwanda and India where the other nuns came from.
“The Requiem Mass will not only be a moment for us to be united in prayer but a time for us to show solidarity and express our gratitude for the Missionaries of Charity. Please do come and invite others to participate,” read the invite addressed to the superiors of the men and women religious in Kenya.
On March 4, two gunmen attacked Missionaries of Charity’s convent and nursing home in Aden, Yemen killing Sr. Anslem, Sr. Judith, Sr. Marguerite Mukashema, and Sr. Reginette, along with sixteen other victims.
According to a statement from the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, Sr. Anslem from Ranchi, India would have turned 60 years old on May 8. Sr. Judith from Kenya had just turned 41 years old on February 2. Sr. Marguerite from Rwanda would have been 44 years old on April 29. The youngest nun, Sr. Reginette, from Rwanda would have turned 33 on June 29.
