“Get out of your comfort zone”: Newly Consecrated Coadjutor Bishop in Kenya Urged to Continue His Missionary Exploits

While in Venezuela, he served as Parish Priest at Carapita in the country’s Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas (2006-2014) and Delegate Superior for six years (2014-2019). He also obtained a Diploma in Canon Law from the Universidad Monteávila in the country’s capital city, Caracas.

In 2019, he relocated from Venezuela to be based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, to serve as IMC Regional Superior in Kenya and Uganda. He was appointed Coadjutor Bishop for Isiolo Diocese on May 4.

In his July 27 homily, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya encouraged the IMC Bishop-elect to continue offering himself to the Church regardless of the challenges.

Credit: Caritas Isiolo

“Peter, you are called to give your body and blood for this Church; and you have done that already in the past. You have never said no, but always yes, even to the most difficult challenges and vocations,” Archbishop van Megen said, adding, “May that courage remain with you. May God continue to encourage you, to console you as a true Consolata, and may God's spirit be with you.”

He went on to encourage the Bishop-elect to trust in God’s graces and build on the blessings of people of God, including the Church’s “body of elders”.

“Don't be afraid; the Church has recognized in you the gifts of prophecy, and the church will put its hands on you, and the body of elders has laid their hands on you,” Archbishop van Megen said.

Credit: Seed Consolata 

He continued, “Devote yourself to the public meaning of the scripture; to preaching and teaching.”

The Dutch-born Vatican diplomat emphasized the need to pay attention to the Holy Spirit in teaching scriptures. He said, “It's not so much about what I think is good. It's not so much about my convictions, but it is much more about what the Holy Scripture is teaching us, what the Holy Spirit is telling us through the word of God.”

“You have to read, believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach. It's first and foremost about knowing the Holy Scripture by heart,” the 62-year-old Nairobi-based Vatican diplomat, who started his service as Apostolic Nuncio in Sudan in 2014 told the Bishop-elect.

Credit: Caritas Isiolo

“The word of God and the Eucharist go together,” he went on to say, and counselled, “As you will become a Bishop, these words of Christ ‘This is my body’ and ‘This is my blood given for you’ become even more true because they are not only words that come true sacramentally, but they should also become true in each and every one of us.”

Born in May 1975 in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi, Bishop Makau began his religious formation as a Consolata Missionary at the Consolata Seminary in Nairobi for Postulancy and philosophy.

He made his first profession on 6 August 1999 after Novitiate at Sagana in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Murang’a and proceeded to the Institut Saint-Eugène de Mazenod in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for Theology. 

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Credit: Caritas Isiolo

Bishop Makau made his perpetual profession on 5 December 2003; he was ordained a Consolata Priest in November 2004 in the Catholic Diocese of Machakos in Kenya.

In his maiden speech as Bishop, the Coadjutor Bishop of the Kenyan Episcopal See described his Consecration as a “significant moment in my life and in the life of the beloved Church of Isiolo.”

“I am deeply honored and profoundly humbled to have been entrusted with this Episcopal Ministry,” he said, and extended his “deepest gratitude” to Pope Francis “for appointing me to serve as the Coadjutor Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Isiolo.”

Credit: Caritas Isiolo

He went on to pledge his “unwavering loyalty and service” to the Holy Father and to “the church as I promised in yesterday's evening prayer.”

Bishop Makau said he was “eager” to collaborate with the Clergy, women and men Religious, and the Laity of Isiolo Diocese.

“I am eager to collaborate with you, to listen to you, to work with you, and support you in our shared mission of evangelization and pastoral care of the people of God entrusted to us,” he said.

Credit: Seed Consolata

With the mandate to assist 74-year-old Bishop Anthony Ireri Mukobo in shepherding the people of God in the Kenyan Episcopal See that was elevated from an Apostolic Vicariate to a Diocese in February 2023, the Papal appointment of Mons. Makau as Coadjutor Bishop gives him “the right of succession” in line with the Code of Canon Law Can. 403 §3.

The Diocese of Isiolo which measures 25,336 square kilometers was erected in December 1995 as the Vicariate Apostolic of Isiolo. It is part of Nyeri Metropolitan See, and has a population of 69,070 Catholics representing 38.9 percent of the total population in the Diocese, according to 2023 statistics.