“Where is justice?”: Kenyan Bishop at Anniversary of Assassinated American Cleric

He urged Christians to continue praying “so that what Fr. Kaiser stood for may live on in us: to stand against injustice, to speak for those who are weak and suffering as a result of injustices, to stand against anything that robs the society of the progress that is required such as corruption.” 

The memorial, which was held under the theme, “Solidarity and Justice for the Vulnerable" also trended online under the hashtag #RememberingKaiser.

To mark the anniversary, Executive Secretaries and Coordinators of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) in Mombasa Metropolitan comprising of Mombasa Archdiocese, as well as Malindi and Garissa Dioceses on Monday, August 23 donated 150 kilograms of assorted cereals to Pope Francis Rescue Home for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.

The donation is the first in a series of charity efforts by the Mombasa Metropolitan CJPC family planned to take place throughout this week in marking the 20th Anniversary of the death of Rev. Fr. John A. Kaiser, CJPC Malindi Executive Secretary, Moses Mpuria posted on Facebook.

In the same Diocese of Malindi, Fr. Thomas Ngong, also a member of the Mill Hill Missionaries, described the late Fr. Kaiser as a model leader and invited Christians to emulate him. Fr. Thomas was presiding over Mass at St. Joseph Freinademetz Church, Witu Kipini Parish on Sunday, August 23.

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With five Mill Hill Missionary Clerics, the Diocese of Malindi has an elaborate Fr. Kaiser Memorial Charity program, with parishioners fund raising annually in August to support the initiative.

Fr. Kaiser’s lifeless body was found lying next to a shotgun with a wound on the back of his head on the morning of August 24, 2000 along Kenya’s Nakuru-Nairobi highway, near his place of ministry.

The native of Minnesota in the U.S. was killed five months after he had been awarded the Law Society of Kenya annual Human Rights Award for being “a study in courage, determination and sacrifice on behalf of the weak, oppressed and downtrodden.”

Born on November 23, 1932, Fr. Kaiser had been ordained a Mill Hill Priest in 1964 and commissioned to Kenya.

At the request of Catholic Bishops in Kenya following his death, the Kenyan government opened an inquest into his death, which ended on June 12, 2007 after hearing from 111 witnesses. 

The presiding Magistrate, ruled on August 1, 2007 that Fr. Kaiser was murdered, and that the “suicide theory” that had been floated by the Kenyan government and FBI was based on pre-conceived notion. 

The Magistrate further stated that she could not, on the basis of evidence tabled before her in the inquest, point out with certainty who Fr. Kaiser’s killers were. 

“If I die, let it be but let people be given their rights,” Fr. Kaiser was often quoted as saying.

“Twenty years after his death... Fr. Kaiser’s memorial anniversary has become not only a commemoration of his death but a day to remember the oppressed, the poor, and the injustice that takes place in our society,” members of KCCB said in an anniversary message published in a Kenyan Daily on Saturday, August 22.

They added, “Fr. John A. Kaiser (MHM), it has been twenty (20) years since you left us under tragic circumstances. It is regrettable that those who took your life away so brutally have still not been brought to Justice.”

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“You remain alive in the hearts and minds of your relatives, Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Friends, Civil Society and other people of Kenya whom you served dearly.  May God grant Fr. Kaiser Eternal Rest, Amen,” KCCB members concluded.