Kenya: Bishop defends role of Church in education and health
A Catholic bishop has defended the role the role of the Church in education and health in Kenya, in the wake of government proposals to take over the administration of some church-run schools.
Auxiliary Bishop Kamau of the metropolitan archdiocese of Nairobi observed that many of the state leaders had their education through church-run schools, while many of the Kenyan people seek health services in church-run health centres and hospitals.
The Bishop was speaking on Saturday, the day of Prayers for the Sick, at the opening of a church dispensary, built by the local Catholics of the Holy Rosary Ikinu Parish at Kiambu in the larger metropolitan archdiocese of Nairobi.
Bishop Kamau said the church would resist any efforts to take over the schools, because it would like to keep the pastoral traditions in education.
He said that the church not only aims to develop children's academic and physical gifts but also aimed to foster their spiritual development.
Bishop Kamau praised the local Catholics for their initiatives in building their dispensary. He said: "By so doing, you are fulfilling the church ministry, where apart from the spiritual aspect, she-the church is concerned with the education and the health needs of the human person."
Jesus Christ's ministry on the earth was not confined to the spiritual aspects of the human person, but it also embraced other needs of the human life, education and health, he said.
During the healing service, Bishop Kamau was joined by the Father in Charge of Holy Rosary Parish, Ikinu Parish, Francis Kauta and David Wanyama, prayed for more than 100 sick people.
The general secretary of the Association Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa, AMECEA, Rev Fr Pius Rutechura also took part.