We Celebrate God’s Fidelity, “memorial, gratitude”: Catholic Bishop at Diamond Jubilee of Kenyan Pioneer Loreto Sisters

Bishop Rodrigo added, “God only knows the difficulties they had to face in 60 years, the challenges in their life. But God has guided them; the Spirit of God has sustained them, giving them strength up to now. And this is a reason to be joyful today; joyful and grateful.”

Celebrating an anniversary is not about an ended journey, he noted. For him, the celebration of the double Diamond Jubilee is like taking “a break” on the journey of life; “a moment of rest, a moment of reflection, a moment of emanation, a moment of meditation.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

He went on to describe the Diamond Jubilee as “a historical small rest; a historical moment of discernment, evaluation and hope. That is why we can express our joy.”

“We have all the right to be joyful,” he emphasized, and explained that the expression of joy is “not because we are not afraid or because we have no doubts or because we feel sure of ourselves. But because we have confidence that the one who called Sr. Ephigenia and Sr. Malia is God. And God is alive; God is with us, with every one of us here in this church today.”

Alluding to the theme of the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year , “Pilgrims of Hope”, Bishop Rodrigo said that anniversary celebrations should be followed by “new works, new responsibilities, new challenges in the future. And finally, we have to see to the future with hope.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“We can be discouraged because of the challenges around us, and the immense task of evangelization that is in front of us. But God is with us; God has been faithful not only for 60 years, but forever,” the Colombian-born member of the Society of Jesus (SJ/Jesuits) said, emphasizing the dimension of God’s faithfulness in the Diamond Jubilee event. 

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

On the dimension of a memorial, Bishop Rodrigo said, “A memorial is a biblical category that Jesus instituted by the Eucharist, ‘Do this in memory of me’. A memorial is not just a souvenir of the past; a memorial is a source of new energy, of new joy.”

“A memorial is a living of our strength in the Spirit of God,” he said, and explained that the memory of the last 60 years gives the Loreto Sisters in the Eastern Africa Province “some occasion to create new energies.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“The work is not yet finished. Our life is not yet finished. Our daily life of hope is not yet finished. We have to continue toward the future,” he said, reiterating the theme of the 2025 Jubilee Year, which Pope Francis officially launched on the Eve of Christmas 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

As a celebration of gratitude, the marking of the Diamond Jubilee provides an opportunity to look at the past, acknowledging with appreciation “many benefits, many blessings, many victories over conflicts and inequalities” that may have characterized that past, the Nairobi-based Jesuit Bishop said.

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“To look at the past with gratitude is a duty, a very important value of your life,” he further said, adding that in celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the existence of the Loreto Novitiate in the Eastern Africa Province, “We give thanks for the vocations.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

Bishop Rodrigo recognized God’s blessings upon Sr. Ephigenia and Sr. Malia over the last six decades as Loreto Sisters. “There were others with them. Some have left; some have gone forever. But we are with them, and we are witnesses to this past, full of grace, full of the gifts of the Lord,” he said.

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“Let us, therefore, be together in the same joy and accompany them in this anniversary, in this jubilee, and in this memorial so that what we celebrate may also be an occasion for our own spiritual renewal,” he said and invited the Jubilarians to renew their Solemn Vows.

The founding missionaries of the Loreto Eastern Africa Province arrived in Kenya in 1921. The pioneer Kenyan Loreto members made their Religious Profession after well over four decades, in 1965.

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

A report shared with ACI Africa indicates that “while several girls expressed interest to join the missionary Congregation, and some actually tried the formation process,” only Sr. Ephigenia and Sr. Malia “persevered to the end, becoming pillars of inspiration to many other young girls in Kenya and beyond.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

A native of Holy Eucharist King’eero Parish of the ADN, 80-year-old Sr. Ephigenia went to Loreto Limuru High School. There, “she encountered the (Loreto) Sisters and gradually felt inspired by their education ministry,” a report shared with ACI Africa says, and quotes Sr. Ephigenia as recalling, “When I saw the work that the (Loreto) Sisters were doing, I wanted to be like one of them to help educate girls.” 

The report further indicates that while at Loreto School, Sr. Ephigenia’s desire to become a Loreto Sister “deepened such that after form four, she was admitted into the formation program.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

On her part, Sr. Malia hails from Sts. Peter and Paul Kikoko Parish of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Wote. She went to school at Precious Blood Kilungu School. Sr. Malia’s impactful encounter with Loreto Sisters was at Loreto Kiambu, where she was enrolled as a trainee teacher. She expressed her desire to join the Institute dedicated to education that Mary Ward, an English woman, founded in 1609 in Saint-Omer, France.  

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

The Institute, whose members are engaged in a wide variety of Church ministries, including “literacy programmes, spiritual direction, counselling, managing shelters for homeless women as well as several aspects of the movement for greater justice and peace in the world” has its name from the Marian shrine at Loreto, Italy, where Mary Ward used to pray. Pope Benedict XVI declared her Venerable on 19 December 2009.

The report share with ACI Africa indicates that “throughout their decades of service through education and social transformation, Sr. Ephigenia Gachiri and Sr. Malia Katala have been models of zeal for missionary work.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“Their journey, deeply intertwined with the growth and expansion of the Loreto mission in Eastern Africa, has inspired generations of young women to embrace the call to Religious Life, living the charism of Mary Ward, the foundress, and committing to the core values of justice, freedom, sincerity and joy,” the report further reads about the two Kenyan pioneer Loreto Sisters, who joined the formation program on the 2 February 1965. 

The report also indicates that “the establishment of the (Loreto) Novitiate in 1965 was a significant milestone in the region, allowing young women to enter the Congregation and receive formation within their cultural and social contexts.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“Over the past six decades, the (Loreto) Novitiate has nurtured numerous Sisters who have gone on to serve in diverse ministries, including education, pastoral work, healthcare, the termination of FGM (female genital mutilation), the fight against human trafficking and other social ministries,” according to the report. 

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

Sr. Ephigenia and Sr. Malia have, over the years, “served in different Institutions in different capacities, leaving a legacy and a lasting impact in the lives of the many people they encountered,” the report further indicates. 

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

In her speech during the March 22 double Diamond Jubilee celebration, the Leader of the Loreto Eastern Africa Province, Sr. Mary Gitau, said the event signified “a historic milestone for us”.

“It's not every day that we celebrate 60 years of being in Religious Life; we don't take it for granted, and so we are very grateful to God for giving us this opportunity to celebrate our two sisters, Sr. Malia and Sr. Ephigenia, who have persevered by the grace of God in Religious Life for 60 years,” Sr. Gitau said. 

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

She acknowledged the challenges the duo might have encountered in communicating their desire to join Religious Life to their respective families and added in thanking God for Sr. Ephigenia and Sr. Malia, “We celebrate them as our pioneer Kenyan Loreto Sisters.”

Credit: Loreto Sisters, Eastern Africa Province/Sr. Santrina Tumusiime/Nairobi

“Today, we congratulate Sr. Malia and Sr. Ephigenia for listening to the voice of God and for staying the cause, especially during the years when there were very few Kenyan Sisters coming to the Congregation. Because of you, many of us came; you became examples for us of what a Loreto Sister meant at that time and still means today,” the Kenyan-born leader of the Loreto Eastern Africa Province said.