Pope Francis Appoints Coadjutor Bishop for Kenya's Meru Catholic Diocese

Meru, 16 January, 2025 / 9:00 PM

Pope Francis has appointed Mons. Jackson Murugara, the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Consolata Shrine in Kenya, and member of the Consolata Missionaries (IMC) as the Coadjutor Bishop of the country’s Catholic Diocese of Meru.

The Bishop-elect has the mandate to assist 74-year-old Bishop Salesius Mugambi in shepherding the people of God in the Kenyan Episcopal See that was elevated from an Apostolic Vicariate to a Diocese in December 1995.

The Papal appointment of Mons. Murugara as Coadjutor Bishop giving him “the right of succession” in line with the Code of Canon Law Can. 403 §3 was announced by the Vatican on Thursday, January 16, and made public by the Holy See Press office on the same day.

After the announcement by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, which was officially conveyed to the members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) on the same day, the IMC Fraternity in the Kenya-Uganda region congratulated the Bishop-elect on his appointment.

“Congratulation padre and May the good Lord who has seen you worthy to co-shepherd the Church of Meru Diocese, through the intercession of our Lady Consolata, St. Joseph Allamano, and blessed Irene and Leonella, give you the necessary graces in your new apostolate,” IMC  members say in the congratulatory message that their regional superior, Fr. Zachariah Kariuki, signed.

Reacting to his appointment during the lunchtime Mass at the Consolata Shrine, Westlands on Thursday, January 16, Mons. Murugara disclosed that the news of his appointment got him by surprise and called for support through prayers.

Born in April 1970 in Kamanyaki, Tharaka-Nithi County, in the Catholic Diocese of Meru, the Bishop-elect began his religious formation at Consolata Missionary Institute and completed his studies in Philosophy at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy in Nairobi and Theology at the Missionary Institute in London.

Mons. Murugara made his first profession in 1997 after Novitiate at Sagana in Kenya’s Murang’a Diocese followed by Perpetual Profession on 18 November 2000 and ordination to priesthood on 15 August 2001 at Matiri Parish of the Diocese of Meru.

Before he was appointed as the Parish Priest and Rector of Consolata Shrine in 2018, the Bishop-elect had served in various positions, Parish collaborator in Kagaene and Mujwa, in the Diocese of Meru and Parochial vicar in Chiga, in the Archdiocese of Kisumu.

The alumni of Teresianum University in Rome where he obtained a Licentiate in Spirituality has also served as Formator of postulants at the Consolata Seminary in Nairobi and Director of the pastoral centers Bethany House and Charity Home, in the Diocese of Murang’a.

Mons. Murugara will assist Bishop Mugambi who has been at the helm of the Kenyan Diocese since Episcopal Ordination in March 2002. 

The Diocese, which measures 9,546 square kilometers, was erected in March 1926 as the Vicariate Apostolic of Meru. It is part of Nyeri Metropolitan See, and has a population of 1,036,855 Catholics representing 31.1 percent of the total population in the Diocese, according to 2022 statistics.