Dear Friends,
It has been many months since I left the States and came back to Kenya. It is my prayer that you are all doing well and keeping the FAITH. My mom and family members are doing well, and they are all happy to have me close to them, especially my mother.
It has taken me long to get back to you guys because I wanted to settle first. Not even a single day passes without remembering “our parish family” as I used to say, and your love and support while I was working with you. I pray for you every day and always thank the good Lord for keeping us safe and united as we served his people.
Here in Kenya, I am working in a parish, and apart from the parish work, the bishop has appointed me to be the director of "Caritas Meru Diocese". Caritas is an international, faith-based organization, non-profit under the Kenya Catholic Bishops Conference and every diocese has an office.
The main responsibility that I have is to coordinate all the activities of the diocese that deals with "Social development and humanitarian actions such as food security for the very poor villages or communities, environmental sustainability through water and sanitation, and other community development projects.
The diocese through the mission appeals that have been preached for many years in different countries have made most of the poor communities have access to clean drinking water and some have also benefited by having water for farming. I have been going around the diocese to see what has been done and to plan for the communities and villages that do not have clean drinking water.
I am very impressed by the number of families that have benefited directly from the mission appeal funds that I have been preaching both in America and Canada while I was working there, and some other donations from many friends of the Diocese of Meru.
The church in Kenya is slightly over 100 years of evangelization, when missionaries came to preach to us. Many parishes have "Mission churches", where priests who live in a parish go every Sunday to celebrate masses for them so that they do not have to walk long distances to the parish church. Like the parish I'm working right now, we are three priests. Only one celebrates masses at the parish church. The other two, each has two or three masses in mission church. This parish has 6 mission churches that we serve. The whole parish has around 1,800 registered families.
I just thought its good you know what I am doing here in Kenya. I really appreciate our service together and be assured that you are always in my thoughts and prayers.
God bless you all and your service to the people of God.
Love and Prayers, Fr. Linus Kinyua August 22, 2022
