Honoring a diocesan partnership that spans 21 years, two officials with the Center for Mission within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis traveled to Kenya in August to attend the episcopal ordination of Bishop John Mbua Mwandi for the Diocese of Kitui.
The bishop is a longtime friend to the archdiocese, having participated as a priest in the partnership since its inception. Only last year, now-Bishop Mwandi visited archdiocesan offices, parishes and schools with six other priests, a nun and four laypeople from Kitui as part of the two-way partnership that has developed. In January 2027, a delegation of 13 people from the archdiocese will visit the Diocese of Kitui.
In addition to a spiritual and pastoral partnership, the archdiocese, through donations, has helped build sand dams and install water tanks to capture badly needed water in the Diocese of Kitui.
“It is out of (God’s) love that you have made a difference in Kitui, which is arid and dry, and many people are living without water, and you have provided water to the people in Kitui,” now-Bishop Mwandi said last year during his homily at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul while presiding at Mass in the chapel.
“Bishop Mwandi has been here multiple times,” said Kim Williams. Williams, office manager for the center, traveled with Janine Ricker, the center’s global mission outreach coordinator, to Bishop Mwandi’s Aug. 8 ordination. “We know he is totally on board with the partnership and will take it to new levels.”
The exuberance at the ordination was expressed through singing and dancing, with an opening procession of children ranging from youngest to oldest as clergy processed to the altar, including Bishop Joseph Maluki Mwongela, Bishop Mwandi’s predecessor in the Diocese of Kitui who now serves as the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Machakos in Kenya.
“I love being in Kitui,” said Williams, who was a delegate on an archdiocesan trip to Kitui in 2023. “I love worship in Kitui because they are all-in when it comes to worship. They sing with their whole heart. I hear four-part harmonies in the congregation.”
The ordination Mass — which was celebrated outdoors with tents and colorful drapery at the St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School near the town of Kitui — drew about 12,000 people, Williams said. It was particularly joyful because Bishop Mwandi was born and raised in the Diocese of Kitui, she said.
“He is a home-grown son,” Williams said.
Williams and Ricker said the hospitality during their Aug. 4-12 visit was extraordinary. It included being seated on padded chairs next to Bishop Mwandi’s parents while many others in the congregation were in plastic chairs. It included attending the bishop’s Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish and having dinner at the bishop’s house with time for relaxing conversation, Ricker said.
“It was the first time I’ve been to Kitui when I wasn’t leading a group,” said Ricker, who has been to Kitui three times and will help lead the delegation traveling there in January. “It allowed me the opportunity to just kind of immerse myself without having to worry about all the administrative things that come with delegation trips.”
“It was good to see old friends,” Ricker said. “I’ve known Bishop Mwandi now for many years, and it was really special being able to watch him be ordained a bishop.”
