NAIROBI, AUGUST 19, 2016(CISA)- The Catholic Church through the Justice and Peace commission will tomorrow, Saturday August 20, 2016 hold Mass in memory of Fr John A. Kaiser at Morendat, Naivasha.
The event will begin with a procession that will begin at 9.00am from Naivasha parish to Morendat the place where Fr Kaiser’s body was found 16 years ago.
Bishop Cornelius Arap Korir will preside over the Holy Mass from 10.00am
On August 24, 2000 Fr Kaiser’s body was found at Morendat – Naivasha, along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway.
The cause of his death could not be ascertained at the moment but later it became clear that he was murdered by unknown assailants.
Fifteen years after his death, his relatives, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Christians and members of human rights groups and people of good will remember his tireless efforts in search of justice and peace for the poor.
All the catholic dioceses in Kenya will hold Mass on August 28, 2016 in his honor.
Fr Kaiser was born in Perham, Minnesota, USA, on November 29, 1932. In 1960 he came to Mill Hill to study theology and on July 11, 1964, he was ordained a priest at St. Louis.
After his ordination Fr Kaiser was appointed to Kisii Diocese; in 1993 he was transferred to Ngong Diocese, where he remained until his death.
During the last years of his life, he lived surrounded by controversy, clashing with high-level government figures over his fight for the poor.
In 1998, he testified before the Akiwumi Commission and accused the government of atrocities against the population.
After his death the Kenya government opened an inquest into Fr Kaiser’s death at the request of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The inquest ended on June 12 2007, after hiring from 111 witnesses. The presiding magistrate ruled on August 2007 that Fr Kaiser was murdered and that the suicide theory was based on pre-conceived notion.
