DOMINICANS IN KENYA
Voices of the Western Dominican Province
OUT OF AFRICA
BY FATHER KIERAN HEALY, OP
When
I first arrived in Kisumu five years ago I was delighted to discover the book
"The Way the Catholic Church started in Western Kenya." The book is filled with
wonderful and even photos of the early beginnings. It was written by the veteran Mill Hill
missionary Hans Burgman, who is his very vigorous "late middle ages" is still
running a parish in Kisumu. One of my favorite stories is the one about the two
missionaries who arrived when the trains first came to Kisumu. As night approached they
had no place to stay and they got permission to bed down in one of the baggage cars. In
the middle of the night the car was given a good jolt as the station attendants were
switching some cars. If the missionaries woke up at all they went right back to sleep. You
can imagine their surprise in the morning to discover that the bump had turned over a
barrel of some sticky fluid and they found themselves glued to the floor when they awoke.
The early history is full of false starts and great plans and serious reversals. This is
certainly true in the economic sphere as the early missionaries experimented with sissal,
rubber and coffee in an attempt to develop money crops for their people. What the weather
did not destroy the shifting world markets did. Even now you can go out to isolated
markets and see the ruins of the houses of merchants and colonial officials which history
and economic realities have left behind.
So it is not terribly
surprising that in our Dominican efforts we have reached such a time for choice and
redirection. We have developed three houses of formation, a novitiate in Kisumu, a
philosophy house in Arusha and our house for theology students in Nairobi. Local students
are just beginning to complete studies and begin ministry. But as we have expanded toward
a full formation program we have encountered the difficulty of staffing these houses. Also
as we look ahead, it will make the vicariate financially dependent on the founding
province for many years to come. This is an expensive and unhealthy situation. So we have
reached a time when some hard decisions must be made. In order to give our students a good
Dominican formation, we simply must have the larger communities required by the
constitutions of the Order. We need to cut back and consolidate our present programs to
find more personnel and resources.
Our first concern could be
answered with relative ease. We need teachers of theology and philosophy to teach in the
seminaries which our students attend and augment their studies with the materials from St.
Thomas that we Dominicans prefer. This could be done by having teachers volunteer to come
for six months, every two or three years. This would enrich our study programs and enliven
our communities, and be a very good experience for the visiting professors. I think that
this is certainly possible and very desirable.
It is hard to attract people in
mid-career into formation work. But this is exactly what we need...We need four or five
younger men to carry us through the next ten years to the time when we could reasonably
expect our Eastern African brothers to be ready and able to take over the formation
programs. If each of the four U.S. Dominican provinces were to provide just one such
person it would open the way for some expansion and the solid development of the programs
we have begun. The older members who are here could help welcome this new leadership and
support this time of transition. One of the fathers suggests that if each of the U.S.
provinces would send two people who are interested in the work, then we could end up with
some very strong communities. Having spent most of his life in Africa, he pointed out that
not everyone will settle-in.
So I use this occasion to
appeal to my Dominican brothers to think about an adventure in Africa. And for those who
support us through the Dominican Mission
Foundation, this is a special time of prayer that we will make good choices and be
blessed with the people and resources that we need. |
