Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
26 February 2003
Nairobi — This year, the Mill Hill Missionaries are commemorating and celebrating 100 years of their presence and apostolate in Kenya.
To mark the occasion, a series of events have been planned in various parts of the country.
On March 15, 2003, there will be a celebration of the Eucharist at the Holy Family Basilica, Nairobi, starting at 10:00 am presided over by Most Rev Raphael Ndingi, mwana'a Nzeki, Archbishop of Nairobi. Afterwards there will be a reception in the Basilica Hall.
There will be a symposium for the laity on March 16 at Kibuye Cathedral Hall, Kisumu.
On March 19, Solemnity of St Joseph, there will be a Eucharistic celebration at Kibuye Cathedral in Kisumu at 11:00 am. That afternoon’s program will include the unveiling of the memorial at St Joseph’s Parish Milimani in Kisumu and a reception at Tumsifu Centre.
The youth will celebrate by way of a rally scheduled for March 22, at Tumsifu Centre.
Other details will be disseminated in the next few days.
In a letter to the Church in Nairobi concerning the centenary celebrations, Archbishop Ndingi urges the faithful to accord this event their 'full support for the work that the Mill Hill have done over the years for the Church in Kenya.'
To acquaint people with their work, the congregation has produced a 34-page full colour commemorative magazine, 'Mill Hill Missionaries, - Centenary Celebration in Kenya'. It is all on glossy paper, and will be on sale during the Eucharistic celebrations at both the Nairobi and Kisumu cathedrals.
All has not been smooth sailing for the Mill Hill Missionaries. Some of their members met violent deaths in the course of their quest for justice and peace. Latest among these are Frs Declan O’Toole MHM (Uganda, March 21, 2002) and John Anthony Kaiser MHM (Kenya, August 24, 2000).
Origins of the Mill Hill Missionaries
Fr Herbert Vaughan, who was later to become cardinal, founded the Mill Hill Missionaries congregation in England in the 1860s. It was a time when Catholics in England were a small unpopular minority. The Catholic hierarchy there had just been re-established. Fr Vaughan started the College for Foreign Missions at Halcombe House, Mill Hill on March 19, 1866, the Solemnity of St Joseph.
Besides priests, the Mill Hill also have a sisters’ congregation, the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph, also known as Mill Hill Sisters. They were founded in 1883 by Alice Ingham and Herbert Vaughan. These are closely associated with the male congregation, alongside whom they often work.
From Humble Beginnings to a Great Mission
In 1895 the Missionaries, led by Bishop Henry Hanlon, MHM, started to execute the task given them by Rome’s Propaganda Fide a year before: the evangelization of the areas of East African territory lying between Kampala and central (part of present) Kenya.
The Holy Ghost (now Spiritan) Fathers took care of the eastern and coastal Kenya, while the Consolata Missionaries evangelised most of central Kenya, establishing their first missions in 1889 (Mombasa) and 1902 (Tuthu) respectively. (The first phase of evangelization in Kenya happened in the 15th and 16th centuries, by explorers at the coast.)
In 1903, the same year that Herbert Cardinal Vaughan died, Bishop Hanlon began to tackle the Kenya side of the Vicariate of Upper Nile, which included western Kenya. In December 1903, the first mission was established in Kisumu, the humble but energetic beginnings of great work that has over the years, and in many forms, spread to various parts of the republic.
The Missionaries then spread north to Mt Elgon and Lake Turkana, south to Kisii, and southeast to Kilimanjaro and Lamu at the coast.
Bishop Jan Biermans, MHM, succeeded Hanlon in 1913. He headed the Vicariate until 1925, when Kisumu became a separate territory, Prefecture Apostolic Kavirondo, with Rt Rev Gorgonius Brandsma, MHM, as its first Bishop. Three other bishops from the congregation presided over Kisumu in succession, as it underwent changing status, until 1976 when the first indigenous bishop, Rt Rev Philip Sulumeti, took over after Bishop Jan de Reeper, MHM.
The region comprising the original Prefecture Apostolic Kavirondo is now an ecclesiastical province with several dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Kisumu, a status it acquired in 1990.
The Mill Hill have founded and still serve in many parishes and institutions in other dioceses of Kenya. In the Archdiocese of Nairobi they run the Parish of Sts Joseph and Mary, Shauri Moyo, while in Garissa Diocese they are in charge of Tarasaa Parish.
The congregation heads the Catholic Diocese of Ngong, in the person of Bishop Cornelius Schilder, MHM, who was ordained bishop in January 2003, taking over from his confrere, the Rt Rev Colin Davies, MHM, OBE, who proceeded to retirement. Ngong was entrusted to the Mill Hill in 1959 after it was established as a Prefecture Apostolic. Rt Rev Jan de Reeper, MHM, was appointed the first Prefect Apostolic Monsignor in 1960, before his transfer to Kisumu in 1964.
Social Apostolate and Institutions
Among key institutions to the credit of the Mill Hill include St Mary’s School in Yala, which, started in 1929, grew to become one of the top schools in not only Kenya, but in East Africa. A related institution is Eregi Teachers’ College. Bishop Brandsma started the two.
Many important personalities in Kenya’s development have passed through St Mary’s Yala, including Tom Mboya, Argwings Kodhek, Peter Kibukosya, Peter Oloo Aringo (now a sitting MP), Justice Masime and Zachary Onyonka. Others include many ministers, doctors, advocates, teachers and doctors. There are many other men who, after their studies at St Mary’s, went on to form strong Christian families, the very foundation of the Church and nation, so writes Fr Louis Van de Werf, MHM, a former teacher at the institution.
Other institutions started by the Mill Hill include Kaplong Mission Hospital that offers midwifery training at the Kenya Registered Nurse (KRN) level. It is situated along the Kericho-Kisii road. The hospital, started in the 1950’s, has, however, been handed over to the Daughters of Divine Love to manage.
The Mill Hill are quite involved in social work in the region. They run the Kisumu Urban Apostolate Programme (KUAP) at Pandipieri, started in 1979. The original aim was to reduce the number of street children who move to the city of Kisumu and help those who already live on the streets.
Pandipieri can be described as 'many-programmes-in-one’. These, according to Mrs Anne Boomers, MHM and Mrs Nathalie Eykman, MHM, include Community Based Health Care (CBHC), HIV/AIDS projects and Community Savings and Credit Bank. Others are Art School, Graphics, Carpentry and Joinery, Masonry, Nursery School, etc. All these are focused on improving the welfare of the people.
Contacts
The Mill Hill Missionaries Regional Representative, Fr Michael Corcoran, MHM, can be reached at Tel 035-23690 or PO Box 2365 Kisumu. The Mill Hill Guest House on Ngong Road, Nairobi, is on Tel 02-567411, and P O Box 52918 Nairobi 00200.
Congratulations, and happy celebrations to the Mill Hill Missionaries and the Church in Kenya.
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