Kenya – Page 5 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

A new international Comboni Lay Missionaries community is starting up in Kenya

18 April, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

Already for some years the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) have been thinking of opening an international community in Kenya. To meet this desire, the Comboni Missionaries are finishing the construction of a house in Kitelakapel (Kacheliba Parish), among the Pokot, which will welcome the lay missionaries. With the arrival of Linda Micheletti, an Italian CLM woman and Josephine Loree, CLM from Kenya, this dream is beginning to become a reality. Now we are waiting for more candidates who can go and make community with Linda and Josephine.

‘Subira huvuta heri’ is a Swahili expression meaning, good things come to those who wait. Thursday, 7th April 2022, and Linda Micheletti our long awaited guest is finally here! We are extremely delighted that she has finally arrived. Culturally, we hold family values and welcoming guests high, so we are beyond happy to welcome our guest to our growing family the CLM of Kenya.

The Comboni Lay Missionaries in Kenya are a small group composed of four members having completed their formation in December. Others are still in formation. The group meets monthly in Nairobi and is also setting up a community in Kitelakapel which has been boosted by the arrival of Linda. Linda together with Josephine will be the first members of the community.

We are happy that our family is growing and look forward to welcoming even more members in the future!

https://www.comboni.org/en/contenuti/114332

Kitelakapel, Our New Mission

14 December, 202113 December, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

Over the last few years, we as CLM Kenya have been undergoing formation to become full members of the Comboni Lay Missionaries movement. We are happy to say that very soon, four of us will become full-fledged CLM members. We are delighted to have this progress in our group.

This being the case, we understood the need to establish a mission for CLM in Kenya in which we and other international CLM members could use for missionary work. We are therefore excited to showcase our progress in the construction of a CLM residential house in Kitelakapel, in West Pokot County, here in Kenya. The mission will be within the Catholic Parish of Kacheliba. The construction is being overseen by the MCCJ since we, as CLM Kenya are still in our early stages of growth.

Major strides have been made with regards to the construction. Not only have the floor plans been developed and building bricks made, but also actual construction of the house has already began. Moreover, a borehole has been drilled to ensure continuous availability of water for the residence. We already have two members from Kenya who will be heading to Kitelakapel for missionary work once all works are completed. In addition to this, we have our first international CLM member, Linda, joining us from Italy. We are excited to welcome her and officially start missionary work as an international community. We hope to see this project come to completion and have our very first CLM Mission!

CLM Kenya

A Call to Christian Commitment in Politics and Economics

1 November, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

We share with you an inspiring letter for Christian commitment in politics and economics shared with us by Father Francisco Pierli and Sister Teresita Cortés.

Very dear friends and Colleagues,

Thanks to God, that after a long spell of silence we are now in position of joyfully communicating with you from a beautiful part of Italy where we Combonis have an institution for the recovery of sickly and elderly confreres. It is the so-called “Centro Alfredo Fiorini” dedicated to a Comboni Brother who was murdered in Mozambique during a Social Mission.

We are writing this letter to underline that our communion continues and hopefully will increase since the health of Fr Pierli is improving.

We took the opportunity to visit the House and the Museum of the great Italian Politician Alcide De Gasperi. In eight successive coalition governments he served as Prime Minister and he was always clearly inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching. He was one of the Founders of the European Union together with Konrad Adenauer from Germany and Robert Schuman from France. We did that visit to the House and Museum of Alcides De Gasperi as a pilgrimage. We are interested in the above mentioned Politicians because all of them and especially De Gasperi, were ready to invest themselves to the utmost to transform the Civil Society according to the Gospel values. They were Statesmen, with a vision of the future, totally committed to regeneration – rebuilding, after the Second World War, of their own respective countries socially and economically and to unite them into a federation as a seed of a greater United Europe. De Gasperi’s Cause of Beatification has been already started. “A Politician looks at the next election, but a Statesman looks at the next generation”. (Alcide De Gasperi).

They inspire us with their commitment, to re-interpret our Christian faith in Politics and Economics: in Parliament, in the State House and in Social life. In spite of the difficulties they met, they managed to penetrate the world of politics and in the field of economics with the Christian values elaborated in the Documents of the Social Teaching of the Church.

May their example and intercession help all of you Kenyan and African Politicians to be at the service of your people, actually people God has entrusted to you, for the liberation of the plague of the society, and for the construction of unity and communion at National and Continental level.

Fraternal greetings and best wishes! With our prayers for you,

Fr Francesco Pierli MCCCJ – Sr, Teresita Cortés Aguirre CMS

An update on our progress as CLM-Kenya

2 July, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

As has been our norm as the CLM in Kenya, we had our monthly formation meeting this June. This time around we were hosted by the MCCJ in their provincial house, organized by our director, Fr. Maciek MCCJ. The main lesson was the Catholic Social Teaching. During this weekend-long meeting, we had a chance to participate in the World Refugee Day celebrations organized by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Kenya in Nairobi. It was an amazing experience, being able to meet our brothers and sisters refugees from various countries who showcased their talents and capabilities.

One of the highlights of our formation was the chance to not only meet but learn from the Bishop-elect of Rumbek Diocese in South Sudan, Fr. Christian Carlassare MCCJ. Having been aware of his recent attack, we as CLM-Kenya were really glad to see him recovered and even accompany us to the celebrations of World Refugee Day. He shared with us more on the Catholic social teaching and also examples of challenges faced during mission work. His sharing was very helpful to us all especially it being that we are soon having some of the members finalize on their formation by the end of the year. We also got a chance to learn from the Provincial Superior of the MCCJ in Kenya, Fr. Austin Radull MCCJ. They both shared their vocational journeys with us and various challenges encountered in the process.

It is said that growth is the only sign of life, and we as CLM-Kenya are proud to say that we are improving in terms of membership and formation. Other than there being some of us who are almost done with formation, we have been blessed with new membership over time regardless of the COVID 19 pandemic. Our financial projects are still progressing well, and we are hoping to establish a new mission for the lay in West Pokot County. God willing, we will be in a position to host our fellow CLM members from other countries for mission work in the near future.

Angeline Thiong’o, CLM group in Kenya

African Memory Project: Daniel Villaverde

17 June, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

We continue this series with Fr. Daniel Villaverde, a Comboni Missionary.

For 20 years, Fr. Daniel worked in northern Kenya with nomadic populations such as the Turkana. He talks about this and other tribes, the difficult terrain and the growing (and perhaps unstoppable) influence of Western values on the new urban Kenyan generations. (Interview in Spanish).