The South Sudanese Catholic Church at Kayole in Nairobi, Kenya
By Luka Manyang Kuol, Nairobi, Kenya
April 4, 2016 (SSB) — The church is call St. Daniel Comboni catholic and it is a parish within the parish under the Divine Word Parish at Kayole in the archdiocese of Nairobi. The Divine Word Missionaries ( DWM) accommodate the South Sudanese in the parish because these parishioners don’t have their own parish except the one of Adams in the far South of Nairobi but still there is a time for South Sudanese mass.
How the church was found, it was in the year 2012 at Saika Estate in Nairobi, Kenya, where the catholic faithful talked to the seminarians from Diocese of Rumbek (DOR) in South Sudan, who were studying in Consolata Institute of Philosophy, to come and conduct the prayer service to the faithful Christians who are catholic by denomination. The seminarians accepted to do so because it is part of their spiritual formation and the duty of which they were call for. They do prayers service in every Christmas and the New Year eve. It is through co. operations between the seminarians and this community that lead to the emerged of this Catholic Church at Kayole in Nairobi, Kenya.
In April-06-2014, Fr. Angelo Agany, a priest from diocese of Wau in South Sudan who came to pursue his master’s degree in counselling psychology in Day Star University in Nairobi, Kenya, accepted to become a parish priest for these believers to receive the word of God as they want it to be. Fr. Agany started the process as it is required according to catholic norms or doctrines to consult his bishop of Wau Catholic Diocese, His Lordship Rudolf Deng Majak and His Eminence Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi archdiocese, the two eminent later gave him permission to go on with the procedures to establish the catholic church and become the parish priest in St. Daniel Comboni Catholic Church.
As I stated before that, the initiative was taken by seminarians and the catholic faithful in Saika Estate, there are some duties of which the two parties can’t do because they are not ordained. Fr. Angelo took the responsibility wholeheartedly and started consulting the parish priest of Divine Word Parish ( Diwopa) in Kayole to give him a specific time to celebrate a mass for South Sudanese who are longing to hear a word of God from him in Dinka language than Kiswahili and English languages. The two fathers agreed and came up with schedule time of which South Sudanese mass will be at 2:00 PM every Sundays up to date.
The progress of the church, in every journey there must be a pain and joy on the way, likewise to the beginning of the church, it is true that many churches that are existing today underwent the tough situations to be what they are today in world at large.
Fr. Angelo as a minister in the church of Jesus Christ, he strategized his way forward with ups and downs to preach the message of love, peace and faith to the people through the formation of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the areas like Kamarock and Donhom in Nairobi for the sake of sharing the word of God from house to house. The church is progressing well and hundreds of Christian believers do attend the mass every Sundays compare to those years back where there was no South Sudanese catholic church in the area.
Many important people attended the mass last year and early this year to mention few, like Former South Sudan ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency Mariano Deng Ngor and His Lordship Rudolf Deng Majak, bishop of Wau catholic diocese in South Sudan who came last year and celebrated the mass.
It is clear that, one of the youth was sent to the catechist training college and become a catechist to serve around the altar of the Lord, hundreds of children were baptized by Fr. Angelo Agany and many of them got confirmation from His Lordship bishop David Kamau, the auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Nairobi. The church has many well organized groups, like parish councils, choir and youth leadership.
Conclusion
Fr. Angelo deserved thousands of thanks for work he has done to commit himself for the sake of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to catholic believers. Although many faithful do come from different denominations apart from catholic, they manage to understand the catholic doctrines through him.
The writer can be reach at: manyangamou@gmail.com
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