Religious in Kenya to host conference on Consecrated Life

Select Catholic institutions in Kenya are preparing to host an international conference on Consecrated Life, which will be graced by the Vatican-based Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.

The planning of the five-day event, set to run from 22 September 26 September 2015, is being spearheaded by the Commission for the Clergy and Religious of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Tangaza University College, the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK), and the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK).

On 22 September Cardinal Bráz de Aviz will preside over the Holy Eucharist and interact with the cloistered nuns of Kenya at the Subiaco Center for Spirituality in Karen, before meeting the Bishops and Major Superiors in Kenya later in the day at Dimesse Spirituality Centre in Karen, Nairobi.

The following three days (23 – 25 September) will have facilitated inputs from selected speakers and discussions around the theme “Consecrated Life in Africa Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” to be hosted at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).

The sessions about consecrated life in Africa will begin with a convocation address by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, who will be introduced to the participants by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo.

Among the topics lined up for presentation, to be followed by forums for discussion, include Living the Evangelical Counsels in East Africa; Charismatic Maturity: A Persistent Challenge for Consecrated Life in Africa; Juridical Considerations in the Dismissal of Religious in the African Context; Doing Formation in East Africa: Contexts, Struggles, Possibilities; Mutuae Relationes: On the Relationship between Bishops and Religious; Religious Life in the Vernacular: Challenge, Revelation; and The Prophetic Character of the Consecrated Life.

A couple of expositions are being organized around the following themes: The State of Consecrated Life in Africa: Survey Analysis and Report on the State of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults in Kenya.

The last day of the conference will take place at Tangaza University College Grounds, beginning with a prayer service in commemorations of persons considered “saints” and “martyrs” among the consecrated in the Church of Kenya, followed by the concluding Eucharistic celebration, to be presided over by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.

(By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, CANAA, Nairobi)