The first anniversary celebration of Sts. John and Sylvia, Our Lady of Divine Mercy Shrine was held on Sunday, 27 November 2022.
You can now watch the full recording here
The event which kicked off at nine in the morning was graced by his Lordship Bishop John Oballa Owaa, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ngong.
His Lordship, Bishop John Oballa Owaa was the main celebrant during the holy mass which included a confirmation ceremony for 165 catechumens from the parish, the strategic plan launch and the first anniversary celebration.
We are grateful to the resident choir of Sts. John and Sylvia Parish, The Divine Mercy choir for leading the liturgy with beautiful songs .
The CWA team welcoming Bishop John Oballa Owaa
Mr. Shadrack Kirui, Chairman of St. Monica Parish Kitengela
Mr. Paul Maloba was the master of ceremony during the event.
During the mass, 165 confirmants for the sacrament of confirmation comprising of adults and children representing Sts. John and Sylvia Parish and our outstations, St. Oscar Matali and St. Cecilia Enkasiti were conferred the sacrament of confirmation by his Lordship Bishop John Oballa Owaa.
The Roman Catholic Church views confirmation as a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ. It confers the gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) upon the recipient, who must be a baptized person.
His Lordship the bishop performed the rite, which included laying his hands on the candidates and anointing of the catechumens forehead with holy oil.
Confirmants during the Holy Mass
We are grateful to our catechists, Mwalimu Boniface Kisyangani and Mwalimu Richard Saiton for successfully preparing the165 candidates for the past eight months.
Catechist Richard Saiton
Catechist Boniface with Bishop John Oballa Owaa
The strategic plan was unveiled after the holy mass by the strategic planning committee led by Lawrence Kairu, the vice-chairman of Sts. John and Sylvia Parish. You can download the strategic plan here
The strategic planning committee at Sts. John and Sylvia Parish
After the successful events, Bishop John Oballa Owaa and Father Ben Asuka led the parishioners and the confirmed catechumens in a beautiful cake cutting ceremony. The cakes were in honour of the parish and the 165 confirmed catechumens.
Inline with Laudato Si, the second encylical of Pope Francis published in 2015, the Bishop and priests in attendance planted trees to mark the one year anniversary celebration of Sts. John and Sylvia, Our Lady of Divine Mercy Shrine.
Bishop John Oballa Owaa Planting a tree
Afterwards a hearty lunch was served for all parishoners. After lunch, the parishioners took time to network and tour ongoing development activities at the church such as the Sunday school project and the adjacent land project.
If you missed the event, worry not, you can watch the full recording here
You can also view and download the event pictures here and here.
We are grateful to our Bishop for gracing the day. We thank our parish priests, Father Ben Asuka, Father Deo, Father Pascal for the guidance and stewardship. We are highly grateful to the altar servers, the catechists, the choir, the Knights of St. John, PMC and the choir for leading the liturgy.
We are thankful to all parishioners, all the parish staff, all small christian communities and their leaders, the family day planning committee, the welfare group, the communications team, the strategic planning committee, suppliers, and all other groups and committees who sacrificed their time and gave monetary and material resources to make this event a success.
May God bless you all!
Amen and Amen may God’s will be done Am proud of our Parish priest and all the parishioners may God bless you and keep you. To our Bishop we really have a shepherd who knows his sheep by name. Tunaomba baraka