A Letter From Father Kevin
EMBUL-BUL CATHOLIC CHURCH,
NGONG
P.0. Box 24023
Karen 00502
Nairobi
Kenya
E-mail Kevin@clubinternetk.com
Tel. 254-20- 883641
Mobile 254-722 736 450
Advent 2004
I wish you greetings and best wishes from the Parish of Embul-bul. As we prepare to celebrate with joy this Christmas season I would like to share with you some reflections on the activities that have taken place in and around the Parish in the last six months.
Advent reminds us that life is a sacred journey. This beautiful season which I love very much, opens our minds and hearts and souls to life and death, to Bethlehem and Calvary. During the advent and Christmas seasons, we do not remove or cover the cross. We leave it on the wall. The crucifix hangs on the wall, looking down at the crib, to remind us of what His life and ours is all about. We were born to live and die like him, then to rise.
The Christmas story from God’s point of view was a great success. But for many today it has lost its charism, and by some it’s seen as a failure. A question mark doesn’t hang over the story but it hangs over us, the audience.
‘Emmanuel’ which means ‘God-with-us’ was the First Christmas gift. God has never taken back that gift. ‘God-with-us’, yesterday, today, and forever. There is never a moment when he is not speaking to us. There is never a place where he is not present. There is never a room so dark, a time so sad, a traffic jam so big, and a checkout so busy, that he is not with us.
On the early morning of the 25th November, the sky was dark, the rain and wind was relentless, and the cold and dampness so deep that it caused the body to shiver. Yet in all this, Jesus was present. I stood quietly praying over the body of Fr. John Hannon SMA, a brother Priest from the next Parish to me, who had been beaten and murdered by thieves. The early morning call had brought Bishop, SMA and Diocesan Priests and laity to the scene. While they pondered the situation and the tragedy and spoke to the Police and Press, Sr. Liliana and I stood close to the body. I felt a calling, to remain with John’s body, to guard over it, to protect it and to protect the area around his body. I prayed that John’s suffering and death wouldn’t be wasted, but that through this darkness and sadness, God was going to let his light shine, and let John’s death be a life giving experience. From the first moment I saw John’s broken body to the last moment when we laid him in the grave in front of his church, we hardly left his side. It was a sacred time, a precious occasion, and an honour to walk with him, to his final resting place. All the time, ‘God was with us’ empowering us, strengthening us, guiding us, and the quotation going through my mind was, ‘as long as you did this to one of the least of these, you did it to me’.
John was a great missionary who was loved by the people he served, from the young to the old, to all he was a friend, a brother, a father figure and a teacher. A man of prayer and a committed priest, who was always ready to labour for Christ without counting the cost. John’s death was a terrible shock; yet, the Advent liturgy continues to strengthen. Yes, we will enjoy Christmas, but with a new respect and awe for the glory of God. God’s great mystery and His greatest gift of his son, being born with a body like ours. The glory of God is the human being fully alive, be it in the human or spiritual circumstances of life. One of the most powerful quotations I heard recently and which I think speaks volumes was “It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.”
In the Parish I have discovered a real hunger for spirituality among the people, young and old. Religion and spirituality are two different things. Our people are still searching for a meaning in life, they still seek peace of mind, harmony with their neighbour, healing and reconciling wounded relationships. They are looking to the Church to satisfy this hunger. We have been growing in numbers in the Church, but we are trying to get the people to grow deeper in their commitment to the Church. We have been trying to educate to enlighten them to know the difference between being a Church attender, one of a crowd, and a Church member. The difference can be summed up in one word ‘commitment’. We have many people attending Church, not enough willing to make a commitment. Many of the people attending Church are just spectators, consumers, who want the benefits without the pain. The Church cannot grow or develop with people who are only attenders. Members are people who get involved in ministry, contribute their fair share, and are willing to share the responsibilities. As part of this growth we have been asking God, where he wants us to work and serve in the New Year, and already we are being guided to study and share the Catechism of the Church more deeply. We have advertised among the people, for volunteers who are willing to study and be trained as catechists. The prayer teams continue to intercede for many requests that we have received and once again God has answered many of our requests.
For the Youth Conference in August, we had Lloyd and Nancy with the team from America to help us with the conference. The conference lasted three days and attracted young people from all over the Diocese. Over 300 (three hundred) young people, slept in our local school, and over two thousand attended the final day. These young people were a joy to be with, they danced and sang and they were hungry for God, and they wanted to be a witness of Christ in the world. They gave themselves to God, and opened their lives to God and received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They received a new vision, and a new motivation, a new desire to witness to their faith. The faith of these young people was on fire, their out-pouring of joy and enthusiasm was contagious, infecting people of all ages who came in contact with them. Our old people and Parish women, volunteered to cook food for the Conference and they worked and talked, sang and prayed from 6.OO a.m. till 8.OO p.m. in the evening.
Now we are preparing for an even bigger Youth Conference, which takes place from 30th Dec to the 2nd Jan ending on the feast of the Epiphany. We will use the theme suggested by the Holy Father for next years world youth day in August “We have come to worship him”. We have a team of young people coming from Uganda to help us facilitate the conference. We have encountered many problems and set backs for this conference especially in finding affordable accommodation for the youth. Then one morning I got a phone call asking if I would be interested in old mattresses. One large hotel was changing all their mattresses, so to make a long story short, we received 280 hotel mattresses plus pillows. As Sister said what are you going to do with all these mattresses, where are we going to store them, don’t worry, we’ll find some place..........now the sisters convent is full of mattresses.
Not only are the young
hungry for God, but they are also hungry for Education. The Brother
Beausang Education Centre has completed its first full year. We began
with 100 students and finished with 90 students. They will now move into
second year, and another 100 will join first year. It’s been a great
year for the school, the teachers and students have risen to the challenge
and their dedication to teaching and studying has been a credit, the spirit
in the school is electric. I managed to get the documents for the new
land and the first preliminary drawings of the new school are out, so
with God’s grace we hope to begin building sometime in 2005. Actually,
the present temporary school compound will not hold any more than 200
students so
we need to build. Also before January, I have to build 2 more temporary
classrooms, to house
the new entrants to form one.
The primary section has made great progress since May, when we reopen the school for formal education. At present we have nearly 300 students there. The new school year begins in January, so before that, I have to build three classrooms, extend the kitchen, buy books and materials, and clean the school. To give the children an uplift we have changed the uniform, and they will have a new uniform in January. The Education Authorities visited the school and did a report to present to the Ministry of Education. They said that some of the children will have to leave the school because they are ‘mentally challenged’ Wanja is a ‘Down syndrome’ girl, while 5 or 6 others are handicap or spastic. But I refused, and now, I’m going to build a special classroom, just for them. That’s why I opened the school in the first place, to provide education for those less fortunate children. So in January they will have their own class and we’ll look after them for as long as it takes. As one commentator said, ‘it doesn’t interest me who you know, or how you came to here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.’ Despite everything, love continues to flow through that school bringing joy and contentment. It’s easy to know that ‘God-with-us’ is in the school in a big way.
Our counseling centre continues to be a source of empowerment for many people in the Parish and the surrounding areas. Unlike elsewhere, many people in the Parish now have a more positive view of what counseling is, and of the part it can play in helping to improve quality of life and personal growth. The areas of HIV/AIDS counseling, work for religious, seminarians and clergy are now demanding more attention. We have also increased the number of outreaches, going to the Dioceses of Eldoret, Mew, and Ngong, as well as giving courses to community based health workers in the Kibera slums. Our problem now is that the centre has become too small, so we are drawing up plans to add two more floors to the building.
The dispensary has continued to flourish under Sr. Liliana and her staff. Some staff now have been trained for giving the HIV test and counseling, so we hope to begin this new service in the New Year. The number of patients has gone over 18,000 for the second year running, and this when for the last three months, the government has been treating and supplying drugs to people free of charge. The dentists from Ireland and Italy have continued to come. It is hoped in the New Year that we may be able to offer a mobile dental unit, which means that we will be able to treat people in the furthest ends of Diocese. It will allow us to provide good dental care, to the poor in the remote areas.
In September, I got the chance of a few weeks’ holiday in Ireland. It was mixture of joy, sadness, and relaxation. It included a family funeral, my uncle died six weeks after his wife, and both died from cancer. May they rest in peace. I used the time to relax and get a full medical check-up. Then I got a phone call from my old friend and ex-boss, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, from Lagos, Nigeria, who was in Ireland and he spent four days with my family. It was great seeing him again, and sharing old stories and memories. He still prays that one day, I will return home to Lagos — I’ll leave my future appointments up to the Lord.
On arriving back in Embul-bul, I was informed by Bishop, that he was making me one of his V.G’s (Vicar General) with special responsibility for finance and on-going formation for the Priests. So he wants me, to fund raise for the Diocese and support the spiritual and physical development throughout the Diocese. I will be required to work 3 days a week in Bishop’s office and while continuing to run Embul-bul Parish. At present I am in the Parish alone, but I hope to get help by next May.
I have just finished organizing the second week, of an ongoing formation program for the Bishop and Priests of Diocese of Ngong. The theme was on Collaboration and Transparency. At the closing of workshop, Bishop made a very powerful statement to the Priests. He said that collaboration and transparency belongs to the essence of the Good News. To deny transparency is to deny people the fullness of the experience being Church. The four phases of Christian life which are covered by collaboration and transparency are Service, Prayer and Worship, Community and fellowship, and the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is the total vision and mission of the people of God as reflected in the Acts of the Apostles. It was a very tiring yet great week, and I’m deeply grateful to Fr. Joe Dargan SJ and Michael, Florence and Terry from the counseling centre, without there help the workshop wouldn’t have been possible.
Advent, this mysterious season, has continued to challenge us in life and death. As one person said, “It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.” Jesus is the reason and the strength why we can go on. Bethlehem and Calvary two sides of the same coin, two sides of life which keeps us in touch with God. The message of Christ this Christmas is that God believes in us.
This year we have experienced a lot of blessing from God and we have come to realize more and more that only the Holy Spirit has the power to make the changes God wants in our lives and in our Parish. We are grateful for your prayers, your generosity and support throughout this year, may you be blessed a hundred fold. I will leave you now but I’d just like to add that your intentions will be remembered in all our Masses over the Christmas season.
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year
God Bless
Kevin