St. Charles Lwanga Parish: Muyeye, Malindi, Kenya (East Africa)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Here is a little background on the new assignment for Fr. Sossy Luyembe, S.J. Father will be assigned as the new PASTOR in a brand new parish on the coast: St. Charles Lwanga Parish: Muyeye, Malindi, Kenya (East Africa) St. Charles Lwanga is the newest parish for both the Jesuits in Eastern Africa Province (our sixth parish) and the Catholic Diocese of Malindi (their nineteenth parish). Malindi is a young diocese, founded in June 2000. The church established the Malindi Diocese for the purpose of evangelization and interreligious dialogue. When it was established in 2000, the 600,000 population of the area was 95% Islam, compared to only 4% Catholic. Today, Catholics are about 8% in Malindi. It is a young, but fast growing church, with a lot of hope! The new parish has about 3,000 Catholics. The Muyeye area, where the parish is located, is the outskirt of Malindi town. Muyeye is inhabited by a mixture of low-income earners and middle-income earners (66% live below poverty line). The young Francis Xavier landed in Malindi in 1542 en route to India. While in Malindi, he buried two Portuguese sailors. On that burial site today is a little chapel named in his honor, “St. Francis Xavier Chapel,” aka “The Portuguese Chapel.” It was built in the 16th century and still stands today. Currently on the parish grounds, there is a small church building that used to be an outstation. A new church building is under construction and will hold an estimated 600. There are three Sunday masses. Daily Mass is available every morning, and in afternoon hours, there is a rotation of Masses celebrated at several Small Christian Communities in the outlying areas of Muyeye. Among the greatest challenges faced by the people in Muyeye are poor education, poor sanitation, HIV/AIDS, early marriages, unsafe drinking water and gender violence. On the pastoral front, we have an increasing number of Christians but with limited number of pastoral agents. As a new parish, our needs are enormous! We consider the following as our most urgent requests: transportation for pastoral work (a car), a rectory for 4 Jesuits, furnishings, safe drinking water (a well), equipping the parish office, a solar power system for the parish church, and improving the existing nursery school. We are grateful for the opportunity to request your financial support. Any donation would help us to jumpstart this mission and consolidate the Jesuit presence in Malindi. We thank you for your consideration in supporting this new mission of the Jesuits of Eastern Africa. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam East African Province of the Society of Jesus http://www.easternafricajesuits.org Jesuits Eastern Africa Loyola Curia House, P.O. Box 21399, 00505, Ngong’ Road, Nairobi .