Young Boys in Kenyan Catholic Archdiocese Urged to Give Their Lives to God to Find True Happiness

Nairobi, 04 August, 2025 / 5:30 PM

The Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi has challenged the young boys at the Archdiocese’s Beacon Boys mentorship initiative to give their lives to God, reminding them that true happiness and meaning in life come from serving Jesus and others.

In his homily during the annual Holy Mass that was held at St. Mary’s Msongari Parish Grounds for initiative created to address modern day boy child challenges, Bishop David Kamau Ng’ang’a urged the young boys to focus on pleasing the Lord in all activities they engage in to live a valuable life, just like the boy who gave Jesus five loaves of bread.

“Start with Jesus. Start by having Jesus in you. Then you give to others. Then, at last, you come to yourself,” Bishop Kamau said.

“This is what the boy who gave the five loaves did,” he said, making reference to the unnamed young boy who offers five loaves and two fish to Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, and added, “the boy started to listen to Jesus in the crowd. He got the message of Jesus. Then he went to the others and gave out the bread. And then at last he came to himself. And he had joy.”

 “As long as we start with ourselves, then happiness and joy will be very far from us,” he said, and continued, “Beacon Boys, if you want to be happy, start with Jesus. And then you help others. Then you come back to yourself. Then you will be happy, you have joy, you prepare yourself for the future.”

Referring to the Gospel of the young wealthy man and Jesus, Bishop Ng’ang’a cautioned the Beacon Boys against being mean with their youthfulness and material wealth, urging over 4,000 boys who participated in the event to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.

“Give what you have, and you’ll be happy. You might tell Jesus you have nothing but the fact that you're a beacon boy, and the future depends on you, is wealth. Youthfulness is wealth,” he said.

 “Don't be afraid to go to Jesus. Don't be cheated that you have something to lose by following Jesus. It's the other way around,” he added, saying that when they follow Jesus, He will direct and give the Beacon boys both true happiness and wealth.

The Catholic Bishop emphasized the importance of God in the young boys’ lives, saying, “human beings have a value because God is there. Without God, nothing can be good.”

“When God created each one of us, God created the world first to be lived in by people. The world, whatever is there makes a lot of sense and meaning, and value because people are living there, because of human beings. Without human beings, the lands we have, the shops we have will have no value.  These cars we have, they have value because we are using them,” he said.

Run by Caritas Nairobi, the Beacon Boys Program under the Gender and Youth Empowerment department, was launched in 2017 and has reached over 7,000 boys across more than 70 parishes of the Archdiocese. It is active in all Deaneries, guided by the Catholic Men Association (CMA), and supported by over 350 dedicated mentors.

Since its formation, the initiative has created impact in school, homes, and in churches, such as improved discipline among boys, increased participation at home and in church, and enhanced prayer life.

The initiative was formed to promote positive masculinity and support the boy child through mentorship, life-skills training, and community integration.