To love and serve: Sister Wairimu says 'I do' in Nyahururu
Sister Margaret Wairimu at Kiamaina Catholic Church in Laikipia County. She joined sisterhood at the age of 17.
At the age of 17, Margaret Wairimu embarked on a journey she was fully persuaded to travel, a journey to Catholic sisterhood.
“The calling to sisterhood came after I sat for my final secondary school exams at Munyaka Secondary School,” Wairimu shares during a recent interview.
She says her parents were at first not supportive of her decision to join sisterhood, but they later changed their minds after she convinced them.
“It was not easy for them to accept that I had made such a decision. They were enlightened more about sisterhood and they later accepted my decision,” she says.
In 2011, Wairimu joined Sisters of St Joseph Mombasa.
“I have done four years of study at the nunnery and I have spent an additional six years to reflect on whether I made the right decision,” she explains.
Wairimu says that the journey to sisterhood has not been easy for her, noting that some of her classmates at the nunnery dropped out along the way.
Last week on Sunday, Sister Wairimu, 29, took a final lifetime vow of commitment to serve in the church.
During a rare ceremony that took place at Kiamaina Catholic Church in Laikipia, Sister Wairimu took her final solemn vow to a life of sacrifice, chastity, poverty and obedience, committing her whole life to the church as her ‘husband’.
Sister Margaret Wairimu during her 'wedding' at Kiamaina Catholic Church in Laikipia County.
Wairimu noted that though she had the option of getting a husband and raising a family, she chose to work for the church and serve people without limitations.
During the ‘wedding’ event, her bridesmaids were fellow Catholic sisters.
The defining moment of the day came as Sister Wairimu was taken to Father Charles Kariuki by the bridesmaids to receive a ring as a symbol of marriage to Christ.
She also signed a document to demonstrate her willingness to dedicate her life to the journey ahead and that the decision was not imposed on her.
After the mass, Sister Wairimu dressed in Kikuyu traditional regalia symbolising her final step towards dedicating her life to the church cut part of goat meat in a ceremony that was conducted by Kikuyu elders with Father Charles Kariuki, the priest in charge of Kiamaina Catholic Parish, taking the position of the husband.
“The priest acted as the man, but on behalf of the Church because the sister was getting married to the Church,” explained elder Samuel Mwangi, a Kikuyu elder.
She was later made a Kikuyu elder through enculturation, an adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to a certain culture.
Father Raphael Miring’u from Ukunda parish who led the mass called on young people to embrace the call to celibate life.
“Our daughters should not be afraid of becoming sisters. We want to have more such ceremonies because sisterhood is a calling just like any other,” noted the father.
The occasion, known as a perpetual profession in the Catholic faith, means that the sisters have now made a lifetime commitment to serving the church and humanity.
The ceremony comes with a series of prayers and reading out of vows in public that one has written in commitment to the church and Jesus.
They are also taken through an interview consisting of a series of questions that they answer in acceptance of the task.
Sister Monicah Wangechi, the Directress of Sisters of St. Joseph, Mombasa said this was a noble calling that should be emulated by young girls who wish to join Nun-hood and live a celibate life.
“There are however a lot of challenges that one has to overcome over a period of 10 years for one to make her final vows. Therefore this calls for a highly disciplined individual that transgresses right from children and upbringing,” noted Sister Monicah.
