Cardinal Otunga’s Sainthood Journey: Kenyans Urged to Emulate Servant of God’s Virtues to Advance Cause

"Cardinal Otunga's tears were not like those of any other person.  They were tears that flowed with prayer, with fasting, and with a deep desire to act and to decide what was good for the people he served,” the Local Ordinary of ADN said, and went on to urge.

Credit: Paulines Publications Africa/Sr. Praxides Nafula, FSP/Nairobi

He said, “Let us imitate his (Cardinal Otunga's) spirit as an essential aspect of life that can help us to first track the process of his canonization.”

“If he wept, let us also weep in certain moments as a moment of prayer. If he prayed, let us also pray like he did, imitating him because he imitated Christ himself, with whom he always was wherever he went,” Archbishop Anyolo implored.

Credit: Paulines Publications Africa/Sr. Praxides Nafula, FSP/Nairobi

He continued, in reference to the Cardinal who could be Kenya's first saint, “If he had mercy and sympathy on people, let us also do the same. Let us imitate him; in that way, we are in the process of enabling the process of canonization to be first tracked."

The Kenyan Church leader urged the faithful to follow Cardinal Otunga’s example, saying that imitation should go beyond prayer, tears, and fasting and should include concrete acts of charity that support those “for whom we are weeping, we are praying, and we are fasting to advance their lives towards God.”

Credit: Paulines Publications Africa/Sr. Praxides Nafula, FSP/Nairobi

Archbishop Anyolo encouraged the CUEA community to make the celebration of Maurice Cardinal Otunga’s day in the institution of higher learning truly meaningful and significant “for the purpose of his canonization and for the purpose of him also praying for us during his time in the presence of God.”

“I want to ask God for you and for your future plans that all may be permeated by that love of Cardinal Otunga, that love for one another, that support for another, and that presence for another,” he said.

Credit: Paulines Publications Africa/Sr. Praxides Nafula, FSP/Nairobi

He added, “In that way you will be like him (Cardinal Otunga), trying to live not just through this life chronologically but also trying to see the presence of God who comes into your life and who lives in the context of your life, who influences society in the context of your life.”

“Jesus Christ was not wrong to choose weeping. It was a powerful prayer that changed the whole direction of our human salvation,” the Kenyan Church leader said.

He added, “If you can cry, cry before Christ for the sake of Cardinal Otunga and for the sake of humanity. If you can discern things well, do that and put it in the context of the prayer and the lifestyle of Maurice Cardinal Otunga.”

Cardinal Otunga could be Kenya’s first in the catalogue of Saints. 

(Story continues below)

Credit: Paulines Publications Africa/Sr. Praxides Nafula, FSP/Nairobi

Declared “Servant of God” in 2010 as per the process of beatification and canonization, Cardinal Otunga’s Sainthood cause is in the phase that involves the examination and verification of documents (evidence), which the Petitioner submitted to the Vatican.

In May, Mons. Angelo Romano, a Vatican Relator at the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints, renewed the hope in the cause of Sainthood of the Servant of God Michael Maurice Cardinal Otunga, noting that the process that started some 15 years ago is “still alive.”

The cause’s Vice Postulator, Fr. Laurence Njoroge, made the announcement at the May 30 fundraising dinner event that was organized in the ADN to support Cardinal Otunga’s cause.

Fr. Njoroge told the hundreds of guests at the fundraising dinner that Archbishop Anyolo had been told that Cardinal Otunga’s Sainthood cause had not stagnated. 

“That communication had not been provoked from our side. It was a communication from Rome,” Fr. Njoroge clarified, and emphasized, “In other words, the cause has not stagnated. It is alive because it is Rome speaking.”