Addressing the leadership of St. Elizabeth Mukumu Mission hospital, the Local Ordinary of Kakamega Diocese who doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of Kenya’s Bungoma Diocese lauded the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega who serve at the hospital for walking in the footsteps of St Elizabeth of Hungary.
“The Sisters of Mary are serving with the spirit of St. Elizabeth (of Hungary): the spirit of love. They are not here to serve because they want money. They are here to serve because they are moved by the spirit of God and by the example of St Elizabeth (of Hungary),” Bishop Obanyi said November 17.
He went on to caution the leadership of the hospital against falling into the temptation of being consumed by desire for material wealth to the extent that profits are prioritized at the expense of the poor.
“Apparently some things have happened in the world and here in Kenya where an institution can easily lose its focus and its vision and begin to enter into the spirit of the world where profit becomes the main focus, where we forget to serve and also forget that the poor will always be among us,” Bishop Obanyi said.
He added, “I have always considered that if we have to look for God, the nearest you will find him will probably be in a hospital because the people in the hospital, apart from those who are serving, are all those who are sick, and a sick person is an expression of human weakness who depends on God’s strength.”
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The Kenyan Bishop further expressed regret that people in Kenya are still facing hunger after the country’s 58 years of independence.
“We are told that there is that small percentage of people in Kenya who are too rich and there is a great percentage of Kenyans that are very poor,” Bishop Obanyi observed, and posed, “What independence are we talking about? Are we talking about the independence of poverty or independence of self-sustenance?”