Alluding to the incident of abuse in which an older member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph (FSJ), also known as Asumbi Sisters in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay, was captured in a video recording assaulting a younger member of the Congregation, Archbishop Kivuva said, “Even if there is a problem, do not rush to slap someone. Tell the Superior; she will give a better way to solve the problem.”
“Religious Sisters and Brothers, let us be people whose lives attract others. Let us be quick to say, ‘I am sorry; I was wrong,’ because we are human,” the Kenyan-born Catholic Church leader said.
Archbishop Kivuva, who has been at the helm of the Kenyan Metropolitan See since February 2015, encouraged the women and men Religious to continue serving the people of God “with joyful hearts, with pure hearts” and to put God first in their vocations, “for He is the One who called us.”
“Remember, it is not your strength. It is the strength of the Holy Spirit,” he told the five newly professed, the six perpetually professed, and the nine jubilarians of the SSJ.
The 73-year-old Kenyan Catholic Church leader noted that unlike in the past when religious life for both women and men was not popular, “today it is more familiar” with “many exemplary examples showing that it is a noble vocation.”
“It is a unique calling, a calling of honor, which is why many denominations respect us,” Archbishop Kivuva observed and added, “The religious vocation is a mystery; there is mystery, there is fulfillment, and there are challenges.”
He continued, “Just as in marriage, there are expectations and misunderstandings, and the same is true of religious life: it is a mystery. We need faith. We need to accept, as Mary did: ‘Let it be done to me according to your will, O Lord.’”
The Archbishop of the Mombasa Metropolitan See, who began his Episcopal Ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Machakos in March 2003, reminded the newly professed SSJ members “that they have given “themselves to God with mind and heart” and that their vocation will demand of them to embrace obedience and self-denial.
“Obedience is not easy. It is like allowing yourself to be guided like a wheelbarrow. Sometimes you are asked without being consulted. You must be ready to go anywhere,” he said during the December 8 event which coincided with the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He called on them to draw inspiration from those making their perpetual vows and the jubilarians, noting that “they have already tried the life; they have seen it is not easy, but with God’s help, they can persevere.”
