Meet Our New Ordinates

I joined the altar servers at my parish, but they were too hostile, and I decided to retreat. After high school, I wanted to enter the diocesan seminary, but my father was very reluctant. He told me, “Charles, joining priesthood vocation with a degree certificate is very significant. I will only allow you to join seminary after your undergraduate if the vocation persists.” I heeded his advice and joined Kenyatta University. A week later, I joined a group of acolytes at Kenyatta University Catholic community. This gave me a chance to work closely with Fr. Lance Nadeau. He was a humble and an excellent listener, an honest servant of people. His sermons were directed to the real lives of the students. He never stood back when injustices were experienced on the campus. Through his way of life, a life of being a priest for the people, I felt that my call to missionary life. To be a priest who listens and journeys with the people. To be a pastor who not only listens to people but also responds to their urgent needs. While at the campus, I was sacristan and Eucharistic minister. It wasn’t until my final year at the campus that Fr. Lance, while serving at mass, asked me, “Charles, would you like to become a priest?” I reluctantly responded, “It is something I have been thinking about.” He told me, “Come to meet the superior general (Fr. Raymond Finch) who is coming in June as well as the vocation Director, Fr. Mike Snyder, and this is how I was introduced to Maryknoll and decided to stay.

His zeal for mission, a down to earth priest with the love for the people He served. And what flag did he carry? Maryknoll. Then I set my eyes on Maryknoll. One of my favorite mission stories happened in Bolivia during the pandemic lockdown when some families were experiencing anxiety, tensions, some people faced really bad abuse, and some families made a stronger bond. I remember the pastor I worked with looking for me with the words, “where are you? You are a missioner, these are the times that the world needs you more. You are not needed in your house; you are needed in the field.” He looked for a lockdown pass form me that would enable me to perambulate around even past curfew hours. During that week, there was a meeting to discuss how to carefully open places of worship and avoid the spread of the virus in Bolivia. I remember the archbishop of the diocese came, together with one auxiliary bishop, the vicar, who was the pastor was there, and a few leaders of other denominations were there, three lawyers, the mayor, a few doctors and other people. I went to the parish, oblivious of the meeting. During their break, the vicar approaches and asks me. “Joshua, you say in Kenya places of worship are open, and you have managed to control the spread of the virus, how? So, I explained to him, we have water points and hand sanitizers everywhere, the masses are four to six, where we used to have one or two, every pew must have three people or less, to maintain the six feet distance. Masks were mandatory and so on. The following day, during the evening news, we get to hear how the places of worship are opening, and the exact conditions I had suggested were the ones that were announced. I was filled with joy. I, a simple seminarian, from Africa, can have a voice in the entire nation. In addition, the vicar and the archbishop thanked me for my contribution.