Delegation of 21 to Represent Kenya at World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia

CANAA || By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, Nairobi || 17 September 2015

Families from around the globe will be gathering in Philadelphia, U.S.A., from September 22 to 27, 2015 for the world’s largest gathering of Catholic families. Participants at this global congress are expected to pray, learn, and celebrate the gift of the family through planned workshops and panel discussions.

Pope Francis who will be in the U.S. from Tuesday, September 22 is scheduled to arrive in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 26, 2015, celebrate mass at Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul and later in the evening speak at Independence Hall before celebrating at the Festival of Families, a free party, which will be held on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

In an exclusive interview with CANAA on Wednesday, the National Family Life Coordinator (NFLC) at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Mrs. Theresa Mera Abuya, said that the Kenyan delegation to the global event comprises of 21 members, among them the clergy and laity.

Below is the full interview with Mrs. Theresa Abuya who is tasked with the duty to provide effective management of National Level Interventions in Family Life as well as HIV/AIDS service areas in Kenya.

Further below, after the interview, is the official World Meeting of Families Prayer.

CANAA: How have the preparations of this global conference on families been for you as the coordinator of Family Life in the Catholic Church in Kenya?

Abuya: It has been a very vigorous exercise. It started with getting in touch with all the dioceses (in Kenya) and the bishops, sharing with them the information about the conference. I had to write several letters, encouraging those who are interested to get in touch with us. We got responses and planned meetings to share about the logistics around the conference, especially about the various online contacts and preparations for traveling and accommodations. The first meeting took place early this year. In total, we have had eight meetings with the Kenyan delegation.

CANAA: Who have been the various members of this Kenyan delegation and how many have received the visas to travel to the U.S?

Abuya: The group that was handled by KCCB comprised of 31 individuals, including three youth. There are others that are not known to us but we hope to meet with them during the organized meeting for the entire Kenyan delegation with our Bishops on Friday, September 25, 2015.

Those who received visas and are travelling are 21, with Rt. Rev. Salesius Mugambi as the leader of this delegation. He is the Bishop Chairman of the National Family Life Program, KCCB. I am coordinating this trip by virtue of my office as the National Family Life Coordinator at KCCB. The delegation is blessed by the presence of Rt. Rev. Philip Anyolo who is the Chairman of the Conference together with nine Catholic priests, among them, the General Secretary of KCCB, the Very Rev. Father Daniel Rono.

My husband, Peter Okumu Abuya and I represent the couple from KCCB. We have seven other married individuals who are however traveling as singles due to the traveling costs. One member of this Kenyan delegation is single.

Ten individuals were denied visas including the three youth. The denial of the visas to these youth makes this larger and significant group left out. It is also unfortunate that we do not have any nun in this delegation.

CANAA: The clergy represent a significant number of the Kenyan delegation to this congress, which will be discussing families. You have two bishops and nine priests in this delegation. One may be curious about the justification of such significant representation.

Abuya: One of the priests was asked this question. In his response he said, “I handle so many families, and they come to me with different kinds of problems. The topics that are at this congress are topics that will help us (priests) to handle the issues related to families.”

What the priest said is also true about the single lady in our delegation. She is the Family Life Coordinator of Nairobi Archdiocese. She deals with families and has programs with families. We are talking about poverty, single parents, alcoholism, parenting and the whole relationship between children and parents, all very relevant topics. Indeed, all those who got visas and are going to this congress are individuals in touch with families and have the right motivations to this global meeting of families.

CANAA: Are there topics, at this conference, that you can say interest you most and the other members of this delegation?

Abuya: On my part, the challenge of raising children and the whole responsibility of parenting is on top of my list. I have the experience of seeing families getting broken because of poor parenting. Whether one is the biological father or mother or a guardian, one must just know the skills of parenting. These are the skills we should be able to share with those who stay with our children, like our dear house-helps, when we return.

However, as a coordinator of family life, all the topics are necessary to complete the holistic education. Priest were very much interested in all but in particular, The Parish as a support community for families. All in all, individuals had particular topics of interest. It was agreed that when we return (from Philadelphia), we shall share what we will have gathered at different possible levels during the conference.

CANAA: Speaking about your return and sharing, how do you plan to make other Kenyans profit from your experiences in Philadelphia?

Abuya: We have shared this in our several meetings. The experiences we are going to have during this global gathering should not just remain for ourselves. We will have the duty to share these experiences in our parishes, in our Small Christian Communities, in our families, and in our social circles. For sure, we all agreed about the sharing of experiences when we return from Philadelphia, reaching out to the communities around us.

CANAA: Are you all traveling together as a delegation?

Abuya: Traveling together has not been possible. While in Philadelphia, we are going to be meeting in different halls for the various workshops, which will be going on simultaneously. Depending on the topics of interest, each member of the delegation will choose which workshops to take part in. We agreed that on 27^th (September), we shall come together and meet with our (two) Bishops as well as other Kenyans who will be willing to join the delegation.

Only four priests and one single married man left four days ago. Most of us will be traveling on Saturday, the 19^th of September 2015. The last one to leave will be Bishop Anyolo on the 23^rd because he is involved in the preparations of the Pope’s pastoral visit (to Kenya).

We are also returning individually, although most of us are working and are coming back in two weeks’ time.

CANAA: How are you going to get yourselves together considering that you are not traveling together and will not be staying together?

Abuya: Yes, we shall be staying in different places. Some will be in families, others in parishes, while the KCCB team will be at a hotel. We have exchanged our email contacts and we are communicating. We are all on WhatsApp and we have a WhatsApp group.

This is a meeting bringing together people from various countries of the world. Do you have any specific things that will identify you as Kenyans while there?

We made T-shirts of Kenya and caps, which we shall wear on the opening day and when we plan to meet together. Although we are traveling on different dates and staying in different places, we are all under one umbrella as we are all Kenyans. That is why we came up with the idea of having these things to identify us.

CANAA: Do you plan to have any follow up meetings as a delegation after your return from Philadelphia?

Abuya: We have agreed that around December, we shall call for a meeting so that we can share about the impact of this congress and how we are translating it into our life in our respective pastoral contexts. We shall use this meeting to agree on how we shall continue to disseminate the information we shall have received from Philadelphia.

Official World Meeting of Families Prayer

Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB:

God and Father of us all,
in Jesus, your Son and our Savior,
you have made us
your sons and daughters
in the family of the Church.

May your grace and love
help our families
in every part of the world
be united to one another
in fidelity to the Gospel.

May the example of the Holy Family,
with the aid of your Holy Spirit,
guide all families, especially those most troubled,
to be homes of communion and prayer
and to always seek your truth and live in your love.

Through Christ our Lord,
Amen.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us!