Kenyan Catholic Bishop Launches Golden Jubilee Year with a Call to Digital Evangelization

Ngong, 11 December, 2025 / 4:59 PM

The Bishop of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Ngong has urged the faithful under his pastoral care to harness the available modern tools of communication to evangelize and reach more people who may not be accessible through traditional evangelization methods with the Gospel message.

According to a report that the Diocese’s communications office published on Thursday, December 10, Bishop John Oballa Owaa made the call at the December 6 launch of the Diocese’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, noting the occasion comes at a time when evangelization can be more effective than in the past because of new technology.

“We are probably at a greater advantage in the mission of evangelization in this era of technology,” Bishop Oballa is quoted as having said in his remarks during the event at St. Joseph Cathedral, Ngong, which was also held to mark the Episcopal See’s annual Family Day.

The Bishop of the Kenyan Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in April 2012 called upon the people of God under his pastoral care to use Twitter, WhatsApp, TikTok, “and indeed hashtags” for evangelization.

The Kenyan-born Catholic Church leader at the same time invited them to take advantage of the Diocese’s Jubilee Year which is set to conclude on December 5, 2026 as a moment for renewed witness to the Gospel, and showing more compassion, patience, and understanding toward others.

“How evangelical it would be to be kinder to others,” he said, emphasizing the need for the people of God in his Episcopal See to “be more joyful in living the life of Christ” as they celebrate 50 years of evangelization in the Kenyan Diocese, which traces its roots to October 1959 when it was erected as an Apostolic Prefecture.

Elevated to Diocese on 9 December 1976, the Kenyan Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN) had the late Bishop Colin Cameron Davies, a member of the Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM) as its first Local Ordinary. He was succeeded in January 2003 by his confrere Bishop Cornelius Schilder, who resigned in August 2009 at the age of 67 on health grounds.

The Diocese of Ngong covers  47,000 Km²  and has a total population of 2,050,000 people, 240,850 of them Catholic, who represent 11.7 percent of the population, according to 2023 statistics. It has 40 Parishes, 58 Diocesan Priests, 73 Religious Priests, and 369 women and men Religious.

As part of marking  the year-long golden jubilee celebrations in the Kenyan Diocese, a committee established to oversee the event has outlined “monthly themes for reflection and tools of evangelization that will move around diocesan parishes.” 

“These tools are meant to lead the faithful to an encounter with the living Christ,” reads the December 10 report from the Diocese’s Communications department.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the committee, Fr. John Ntiseyia emphasized the importance of embracing the Jubilee celebrations with a “renewed missionary zeal.” 

The Catholic Priest, who is also the Vicar General, highlighted the significance of the Diocese’s 50th anniversary  describing it as an invitation to the people of God to continue living more in a way that reflects Christ’s love and values in all areas of life.

He said, “Embrace this year with renewed missionary zeal, bringing Christ into our homes, workplaces, and communities with courage and compassion.”

“Let us deepen our participation in the Sacraments, grow in formation, practice charity and justice, and strengthen prayer in our families and Small Christian Communities,” he is quoted as having said in his remarks during the December 6 launch of the Diocese’s Golden Jubilee.