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Mark 2025 Jubilee Year by Supporting Families to Sustain Vocations, Safeguarding Environment, Kenya’s Consecrated Urged

Celebration of the 2025 Jubilee Year for the Consecrated in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN). Credit: ACI Africa

Supporting families to sustain vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life and engaging in activities that safeguard the environment are some of the ways members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) can mark the yearlong Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

In interviews with ACI Africa on the sidelines of the February 1 celebration of the 2025 Jubilee Year for the Consecrated in Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN), Clergy and women and men Religious emphasized the need to live the theme of the yearlong Jubilee, which Pope Francis officially launched on the Eve of 2024 Christmas with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica of Rome.

During this Jubilee Year, in line with the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope”, which the Holy Father announced, “we have to portray the merciful heart of the Father wherever we are,” the Vicar for ICLSAL in ADN, Fr. John Martin Owor, said. 

“The theme asks us to take care of the environment. This is a sensitive topic that the Holy Father has expressed from the beginning of his pontificate,” Fr. John Martin said, and emphasized, “We have to care for the environment in which we live. It is the will of God for us to improve and take care of our environment. Only in that way can we serve Him, glorify Him, and also be happy as His children in a beautiful environment.”

Fr. John Martin Owor, the Vicar for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICL/SAL) in ADN. Credit: ACI Africa

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He urged the Consecrated to engage in activities that safeguard the environment, including “planting of trees, keeping our environment clean, and avoiding any acts of pollution so that we live in a friendly environment.”

The Vicar of the office that Archbishop Philip Anyolo officially inaugurated in 2023 “to assist all forms of Consecrated Life and their members” described the theme of hope for the 2025 Jubilee Year as “very symbolic” for the Consecrated and for all the people of God. 

For the Consecrated, Fr. John Martin said, “through this theme, the Holy Father has asked us first and foremost to strengthen our prayer life and to be rooted in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Once we are rooted in the Lord, he explained, “We can live out our charisms and our apostolic mission in the best way, in ways that are pleasing to God. The theme is also asking us to live in solidarity with one another, especially with our brothers in need. And this must not be abstract.”

Credit: ACI Africa

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“In our apostolate, in our engagement with one another, and our relationship within the community, we have to strengthen the need to live in solidarity with one another because this is the teaching that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ,” Fr. John Martin reiterated during the February 1 interview. 

For Sr. Anne Muiruri of the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi (ASN), members of ICLSAL in Kenya can mark the 2025 Jubilee Year by engaging in family apostolate amid challenges.

Sr. Anne Muiruri. Credit: ACI Africa

“We need to focus on families as they are experiencing the turbulences that exist in the world. They need a lot of support because, from this family, we get vocations,” Sr. Anne said. 

The Administrative Executive Secretary to the Vice Chancellor of the Nairobi-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) said, “We are encouraging many, in their little ways, to focus on what they can do to help families. Families are very important; they are the basic cells of the Church.”

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“If we don't take care of the family, where will we get future Priests, Sisters, Brothers, and good Christians?” she posed, and continued, “If we can strengthen the foundation of families, then we are assured of other vocations springing up with a lot of knowledge and firmness in life.”

The Kenyan-born ASN member, who also coordinates women and men Religious in Nairobi’s Karen region highlighted counselling services as a way ICLSAL members can support families in Kenya.

“Institutions offer counselling, but they can be very expensive. Can we, as Religious, dedicate our time to address this need, providing help to those who cannot afford it? she posed, and added, “As religious, let us emphasize family and look at the mental issues arising from every institution in the world.”

“People in the village have issues, but they don't know where to go. There are no psychiatrists in the village. Why can't we go to them, listen to them, and help them?” Sr. Anne appealed, emphasizing practical ways women and men Religious can mark the 2025 Jubilee Year.

The Holy Father announced the start of a Year of Prayer on 21 January 2024 in preparation for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the second in his Pontificate after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

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He said that the 2025 Jubilee Year will be “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.”

Credit: ACI Africa

Months later, on the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ on 9 May 2024, the Holy Father solemnly proclaimed the upcoming Jubilee Year 2025 at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, during which he delivered the Bull of Indiction of the planned Jubilee, “Spes non confundit” (Hope does not disappoint).

The Jubilee Year provides the people of God across the globe an opportunity to participate in various planned jubilee events at the Vatican and in their respective Episcopal Sees and ICLSAL.

Also speaking to ACI Africa on the sidelines of the February 1 celebration of the 2025 Jubilee Year for the Consecrated in ADN, Br. James Bonga of the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel advocated for altruism. 

Women and men Religious need not focus “on what life gives, but on what they need to give to other people around them and also around the world,” Br. James, who serves in Kenya’s Bungoma Catholic Diocese said. 

On her part, Novice Joyce Njeri Mwangi of the Camillian Sisters highlighted the need for women and men Religious to practice the theological virtues of faith and hope as important. 

“We must sustain our faith, sustain this hope with Christ, and sustain the zeal within us so that we may retain our focus on following Christ each and every day,” Novice Joyce told ACI Africa during the February 1 interview.

Amid challenges that life brings, the Kenyan Novice urged the Consecrated to “gain courage even when we encounter the difficulties of life so that we may be able to encounter Christ and give Christ to the world.”

Credit: ACI Africa

Meanwhile, in his speech during the February 1 celebration that was held at St. Mary’s Msongari School grounds in Westlands, Nairobi, Archbishop Philip Anyolo urged women and men Religious in his Metropolitan See to help show the world the relevance of Consecrated Life.

“I want to encourage you, my dear brothers and sisters, that Consecrated Life remains relevant even today. It is fully relevant and fully required in a world where the divine, or the sense of the divine, is played down and treated as if nothing existed,” the Local Ordinary of ADN said. 

“Consecrated Life is, above all, a life rooted in prayer,” Archbishop Anyolo said, and added, “I urge all Consecrated persons, Clergy, and all the faithful to cherish and enhance their prayer lives, both individually and in their communities.”

Credit: ACI Africa

He acknowledged with appreciation the message of the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, who, in his homily that “pricked” consciences, cautioned the Clergy against being “busy with money” and tribalism in ICLSAL.

Through the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Anyolo said, “we receive the Pope's prayers; we receive his best wishes; we receive even that best homily that has pierced our hearts and minds.”

The Kenyan Catholic Church leader urged the Consecrated to continue celebrating “the Jubilee of Hope in prayer.”

The worldwide celebration of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life has been scheduled to take place from 8-9 October 2025 in Rome.