Male Religious Superiors in Kenya Support Catholic Bishops’ Opposition to Tetanus Vaccination Campaign

CANAA || 13 November, 2014

Religious orders in Kenya have expressed their solidarity with the recent message of the Catholic Bishops of Kenya, in which the Bishops reaffirmed their opposition to the ongoing countrywide tetanus vaccination campaign, describing the program as “a disguised population control program.”

The solidarity with the Bishops was expressed by the delegates at the end of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK), which took place at Bethany House of the Consolata Missionaries, Sagana, in the Diocese of Murang’a, last week from November 5 to 7, 2014.

“At the conclusion of the meeting, the delegates to the RSCK AGM voiced solidarity with the message issued on 6 November by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops,” the message sent to CANAA by RSCK Executive Secretary, Br. David P.Mahoney, reads in part.

In the cited message, the bishops also voiced their concerns about insecurity and corruption in Kenya.

“We are deeply concerned about clear lapses in our Government’s security response mechanisms. News that the slain officers at Kapedo appealed for backup and no response was forthcoming for more than 30 hours, is a clear indication that there are dangerous gaps in our security apparatus, and that there is an urgent need for overhaul,” the Bishops lamented in direct reference to the killing of over 20 security officers as a result of an ambush in Turkana County.

“We shall not get tired of reminding the Government and all Kenyans, that corruption is a cancer that is swiftly eating into every part of our society; one that is robbing our children of their legacy,” the Bishops stated with regard to corruption, adding, “Unless there is a united front against this vice, we will lose our Nation to forces of evil.”

Four new members were elected to the Executive Committee by the thirty-six delegates who turned up for the RSCK AGM, out of seventy-three men’s institutes of consecrated life in Kenya represented by their superiors or by delegates of the superiors.

Fr. Felix J. Phiri from Zambia, the Delegate Superior of the Kenyan Sector of the Eastern African Province of the Missionaries of Africa will be taking over from Fr. Gianni Rolandi, a Salesian of Don Bosco from Italy, as RSCK Chairman.

The RSCK AGM also witnessed a presentation concerning the upcoming Year of Consecrated Life, which will be formally opened in Kenya by a Eucharistic Celebration for all religious men and women at Nairobi’s Resurrection Garden on Thursday, 27 November 2014, at 10 a.m.