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Vocations after Vatican II Council

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A Theological Reflection – Fr. Casmir Odundo Is the Day of Consecrated Life also a Day for Diocesan Priests? Are Diocesan Priests Consecrated? I often say that, to understand many of the difficulties the Church faces today, particularly in the modern context, it is essential to immerse ourselves in the teaching of the Vatican II Council. One significant shift introduced by the Council concerns the way states of life within the Church are understood. Traditionally, drawing on St Thomas Aquinas, religious life had often been described using the category of vita perfecta . The Council Fathers, while not rejecting St Thomas himself, deliberately moved away from defining religious life as a “perfect life”. Their concern was that such language could suggest a hierarchy of holiness that risked diminishing other vocations within the Church. This was especially problematic since, in Lumen Gentium , they articulated the universal call to holiness: “ All the faithful of Christ, of whatever rank o...
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Don Bosco’s First Dream

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“When I was about nine years old, I had a dream that left a profound impression on me for the rest of my life. I dreamed that I was near my home, in a very large playing field where a crowd of children were having fun. Some were laughing, others were playing and a not few were cursing. I was so shocked at their language that I jumped into their midst, swinging wildly and shouting at them to stop. At that moment a Man appeared, nobly attired, with a manly and imposing bearing. He was clad with a white flowing robe, and His face radiated such light that I could not look directly at Him. He called me by name and told me to place myself as leader of those boys, adding these words: “You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of sin." Confused and afraid, I replied that I was only a boy and unable to talk to these youngsters about religion. All that moment the fightin...
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A Church on Pilgrimage: Living the Jubilee of Hope in 2025

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By Fr. Casmir Odundo 1. Anticipating the Ordinary Jubilee The year 2025 had been long awaited in the life of the Church, for it was marked as an Ordinary Jubilee Year. Indeed, when Pope John Paul II closed the Holy Door of the Great Jubilee in January 2001, he pointed ahead to the next Ordinary Jubilee to be celebrated in 2025. Even before that moment arrived, an important preparatory step had already been taken. Following the election of Pope Francis on 13 March 2013, the Church entered a period marked strongly by themes of mercy and hope. In 2015, Pope Francis announced an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which ran from 8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016. Significantly, it began on the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Vatican II Council (8 December 1965), recalling that at the end of the Council Pope Paul VI had also called for an extraordinary Jubilee in 1966. 2. Mercy as a Path towards Hope As Pope Francis later explained in his letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella dated ...
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KENYAN BISHOPS AND THEIR AGES AT TIME OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EPISCOPAL ORDINATION

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FOR HISTORICAL INTEREST: AGES AT EPISCOPAL ORDINATION OF BISHOPS IN KENYA 1) 34.0 – Maurice Michael Otunga 2) 35.0 – Philip Sulumeti 3) 35.8 – Zacchaeus Okoth 4) 36.7 – Filippo Perlo, I.M.C. 5) 37.6 – Raphael Ndingi Mwana a’ Nzeki 6) 38.6 – Charles (Carlo) Maria Cavallera, I.M.C. 7) 38.6 – Carlo Re, I.M.C. 8) 38.9 – Alfred Kipkoech Arap Rotich 9) 39.5 – Emilio (Emile) Njeru 10) 39.5 – Giuseppe Perrachon, I.M.C. 11) 39.7 – Philip Arnold Subira Anyolo 12) 39.9 – Cornelius Kipng’eno Arap Korir 13) 40.0 – Caesar Gatimu 14) 40.6 – Anthony Muheria 15) 40.7 – John Njue 16) 41.0 – Joseph Mairura Okemwa 17) 41.1 – Linus Okok Okwach 18) 41.7 – Maurice Muhatia Makumba 19) 41.8 – Joseph Ndembu Mbatia 20) 41.9 – Peter Joseph Kairo 21) 41.9 – John Njenga 22) 42.1 – Nicodemus Kirima 23) 42.6 – Jean-Marie-Raoul Le Bas de Courmont, C.S.Sp. 24) 43.5 – Paul Darmanin, O.F.M. Cap. 25) 43.6 – William Dunne, S.P.S. 26) 45.2 – David Kamau Ng’ang’a 27) 45.4 – Urbanus Joseph Kioko 28) 45.5 – Frederick Hall, M.H...
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