Masses of St. Josemaria in East Africa June 2015

The feast day of St. Josemaria was celebrated for the first time in Lusaka (Zambia) with a Mass celebrated by the nuncio, Archbishop Julio Murat, on 30th June 2015. There were other masses in other East African capitals including Dar es Salam (Tanzania) on 27 June and Kampala (Uganda) on 26 June.

The main celebrant in Kampala was also the nuncio, Archbishop Michael August Blume. The church of Christ the King was full with about 500 people. The nuncio encouraged the attendants to prepare themselves for the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Uganda reading and implementing the document Africae munus of Pope Benedict XVI.

Archbishop Michael August Blume presided over the Mass in Christ the King Cathedral, Kampala

In Nairobi there was a Mass in honour of St. Josemaria on 20th June in Holy Family Basilica with about 2,500 people attending. The bishop of Malindi, Mons. Emmanuel Barbara, encouraged the people present to do a lot of personal apostolate taking into account certain anti-family policies that sometimes reach Africa from more developed countries.
One of the diocesan priests who concelebrated in Nairobi explained later to a small group of friends how he owes his vocation to the priesthood to St. Josemaria. It was in one of these Masses when he saw his vocation clearly for the first time and St. Josemaria encouraged him to say yes to that calling.
In Bungoma the main celebrant, Fr. Chrispinus Marofu, told in his homily of a favour he received from St. Josemaria when he was still a seminarian. He was very grateful to St. Josemaria for his intercession and he availed of the opportunity to encourage others to go to his intercession also and to get to know his life and writings better.

The Mass in Bungoma was presided over by Fr. Chrisinus Marofu
The bishop of Nakuru, Mons. Muhatia, explained in his homily in his cathedral how the Church through the laity can reach individuals and environments that are far from God.
There were other Masses of St. Josemaria in the following towns in Kenya: Machakos, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nyeri, Kisumu and Thika.

Two young boys peruse the booklet prepared for the Mass in Kisumu