Fruits of Evangelization Trickling in at Kenyan Diocese Decades After First Missionaries

Today, the Diocese of Marsabit has 30 Priests, and 15 of them are from the local Church. Another seven young men from the Diocese are also undergoing formation to become Priests. Fr. Aurelian shares that the local community has also produced two Religious Sisters.

Official opening of Transfiguration Hurri Hills Parish of Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Marsabit. Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

“We are beginning to see the fruits of evangelization especially in the steadily growing number of vocations into religious life,” he says, and adds, “Today, many people educated from this area and are serving all over Kenya say that they are the fruits of the missionaries.”

Christianity is taking some root among the communities in Marsabit who, unfortunately, still practice traditional religion such as offering sacrifices to the moon.

Some of them have spiritual ceremonies that are aligned to Old Testament Jewish traditions, and they offer sacrifices such as a daily milk libation. 

The Gabbra are the main community at Transfiguration Hurri Hills Parish, started in 2019, and where Fr. Aurelian ministers.

Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

Here, parishioners are always in conflict about “how to be a Christian and Gabbra at the same time,” the Romanian Priest says.

Four times a year, beginning with New Year, Easter, around August, and in December, locals perform intense cultural practices involving marking their doors with a mixture of blood and milk to imitate the Jewish Passover celebrations. At these times, animals are slaughtered and sacrifices offered for the dead.

Fr. Aurelian doesn't completely rubbish the community’s way of life. He says, “The traditions are not entirely against the faith because the people pray and live in community with each other. The challenge is for them to fully live in a Christian way and to abandon traditional practices.”

Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

The challenges are many, Fr. Aurelian tells ACI Africa, and explains, “The people here are nomads. And this makes it difficult for them to follow through to the completion of their Catechesis. One day, you meet a community pitching a tent by the roadside and the next time you visit them, you find them gone. They are in constant search for water and grass for their livestock.”

“We have built schools for their children but they are hardly used because their families are constantly on the move,” he says, echoing the struggle that Paolo, Fr. Bartolomeo Venturino, Fr. Bartolomeo Ririno, were faced with when they arrived in Marsabit from Italy.

Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

Residents of Marsabit are also very poor, Fr. Aurelian says, and adds, “We try to take care of families by giving them water which is very scarce here, and also food. We give them food to feed their faith. We know that faith has to come through a full stomach.”

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Ethnic clashes are rife in Marsabit, most times pitting one pastoralist community looking for water against another.

On behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bucharest, which is on the Romanian mission in Hurri Hills, Fr. Aurelian is involved in the project "Kenya - water for the people of the desert" in which a water tanker is purchased for residents of Chalbi desert.

The aim of the project is to reduce conflicts that are related to water scarcity.

At the beginning, the purchase was made monthly but through the support of the Catholic Diocese of Bucharest, has extended to the construction of water tanks, which are steadily filled.

The project has also extended to the provision of food and to the granting of school scholarships for students.

Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

There are also bandits on the roads, a situation that has made evangelization difficult in this place, Fr. Aurelian says, adding that he has been a victim of banditry. He says, “I can't mention names because it is too risky for me. I can't even mention places. But I was at the centre of an attack that forced me to move from my previous parish to where I am now.”

“Movement to this place was very difficult and cars had to be escorted by the military. Today, the heavy presence of the military has greatly improved the security here,” he says.

The Catholic Priest who arrived in Kenya for the first time in September 2014 also shared his experience in Ivory Coast, the only other African country he has been to. He spent six months in the West African country as a Seminarian.

Credit: Fr. Aurelian Herciu

In terms of climate, both places he’s been to in Africa are dry, he says. Pastorally, the two countries are different, he says, and explains, “I saw more people offer to be Catechists in Ivory Coast on voluntary basis, just to selflessly support the Church.”

Sharing his inspiration to serve the Church in a remote, parched place, Fr. Aurelian says, “Coming to Kenya was my first time to be a missionary. I had learned a lot about this country from the priests who came to talk to us during our Seminary years about their experiences here. I came here to give to the people of God the faith I had received freely from my parents and from God.”