Since June, I (John) have been working with boys on Thursday afternoons after class
who wanted to join the Catholic Church. The boys also had another session after church on Sunday mornings with another teacher. During October and November they also met with a nun on Tuesday afternoons. I had decided between the Sunday lessons plus a daily CRE (Christian Religious Education) lesson in school that I would use my time on a more practical approach than theology. Besides, most Kenyans probably know the Scriptures better than I do. So, I used most of my time on what it means to be a Christian in daily life.
You have to realize Kenyan culture is very different from American culture. First, having open discussions with students is not a common thing here. Instruction is basically lecture or giving answers back to the teacher straight from the book. So it took awhile for most of the boys to feel comfortable participating in a discussion. One discussion was about taking an item like a pen from someone without asking and then keeping it. Another discussion is how to deal with a friend who does thiefs (steals) from you. I showed the boys how to pray the rosary. I made a copy of my favorite prayers and gave to them. Somehow I miscounted the number of boys and did not have enough. The next day I had a couple of boys who did not get their own copy of the prayers ask me for theirs. Many times I felt my time with the boys gave me more insight into the Kenyan youth culture.
November 12, thirty-seven St. Anthony boys were baptized and confirmed into the
Catholic Church. Another school, Manor House, was also having a group being baptized and confirmed. Since many of the boys’ parents do not live near, there were few relatives attending the ceremony. I was privileged to be the godfather to 2 boys and sponsored 4 boys who were confirmed. After the ceremony we had a group picture of all our boys, sponsors and relatives in attendance.
We had refreshments consisting of a soda and what you would know as a dinner roll afterwards. I gave each of the boys a rosary as a gift to welcome them into the faith. One interesting note to this is that you will see people wearing rosaries as a necklace. The next morning as Cindy and I attended Mass at St. Anthonys we could tell who was baptized the day before by who was wearing their new green rosary.
Recessional led by the liturgical dancers.
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