Catholics a step closer towards ‘Saint Otunga’
Nairobi Archbishop Philip Anyolo (left) and Cardinal John Njue pray at the grave of Cardinal Maurice Otunga at Resurrection Garden in Karen, Nairobi, during the 19th memorial service on September 6, 2022.
The journey towards the canonisation of “Africa’s first bishop”, Maurice Michael Otunga, is nearing its end and is at a very crucial stage, the Catholic Church has announced.
The announcement was made on the 20th anniversary of his death. Speaking during the commemoration service, the Vice-Postulator of the Cause for the Sainthood of the Servant of God Michael Otunga, Fr Lawrence Njoroge, said there had been a recent communication from Rome that the process was nearing completion.
“It was sent to the petitioner and to the office that is handling the process in Nairobi,” Fr Njoroge said, adding that the process was ready and will now “be presented to the dicastery to the department in Rome for their discernment so that they can vote for the servant of God to be considered for promotion to the next level.”
All the previous stages, including the presentation of the official biography, have been successful and the present one is the most decisive, he explained.
The culmination of the process will end the years-long journey that began in 2009. In 2010, His Eminence John Njue presented a petition in Rome, and in the same year Cardinal Otunga was given the title “Servant of the Lord”, a milestone in the cause.
On January 14, 2014, the decree of validity was issued “on the basis of material collected not only from the diocese but also from all the places where he had worked”, Fr Njoroge explained. Seven years later, in 2021, the official biography was sent to Rome and approved. And now, with the communiqué from Rome, the process is entering a “decisive phase”, according to Archbishop Philip Anyolo of Nairobi.
This phase, Archbishop Anyolo said, will require a lot of material and spiritual support from the faithful and Kenyans of goodwill.
“His canonisation should have an impact on us from now on as we celebrate the anniversary of his death,” the clergyman said.
When Cardinal Otunga, died on September 6, 2003, there was intense pressure to declare him a saint immediately, without delay. But Fr Njoroge explained that the Catholic Church had its processes, which formally began in 2009.
His family remembered him as an affable person who loved “very simple meals’.
Cardinal Otunga was the first African bishop to be ordained in 1957. He served as Archbishop of Nairobi from 1971 to 1997, when he retired from active ministry and was succeeded by Bishop Ndingi Mwana 'a Nzeki.
Born in January 1923 in Chebukwa village in Western region, His Eminence Otunga was the son of a tribal chief. But he passed up the chance to succeed his father to pursue a career in the priesthood after studying theology in Rome.
But he was no stranger to controversy.
He was strongly opposed to the use of condoms, and twice in the 1990s he burned boxes of condoms in front of his parishioners.
He declared that contraception was against Christian teaching. He was also an outspoken critic of abortion.
