“Show Us How It’s Done”—
The Ordination of Two Kenyan Carmelites, Boniface and Onesmus

On July 17th, two young men, Boniface Kimondolo Makau, O.Carm., and Onesmus Muthini Muthoka, O.Carm., studying in Washington, DC, at the Washington Theological Union in the Carmelite Studies Program and living at our House of Studies, Whitefriars Hall, were ordained to the priesthood.

	Bishop Martin prays over the soon-to-be ordained Carmelites

These two Carmelties, along with a Comboni Missionary and six other men ordained for the diocese of Machakos, Kenya, were ordained during a four-liturgy presided by the Right Reverend Martin Kivuva Musonda, the bishop of the Diocese of Machakos.

When I mention that the ordination Mass for was four hours long, almost everyone has a comment like, “What!? A four-hour Liturgy!?” But it was a beautiful and engaging Mass, and the four hours registered only on our watches, not in our perception.

Machakos is a city roughly a twohour drive southeast of Nairobi. The cathedral is large and modern, yet it was filled beyond standing-room-only, to a no-room-left-at-all level. My own observation is that Liturgy in Kenya (and perhaps all of Africa) strongly involves the whole congregation and the ordination was just that—highly involving. Everyone (except me) knew the music from memory and sang the music loudly. Meanwhile, all the youngsters have been taught to dance to these songs and so, while all the adults sang, the children danced.

	The dancers pause for a break

The Liturgy was mostly in the Swahili language, but some was in English, but the songs were all in Swahili. Still, with such pageantry, who needs to know the language? The Mass was so long not only because of all the music, but also for a few extra ‘rites’ I had not seen before.

After the opening song, each ordinand was presented to the bishop by his parents, and then each ordinand was introduced to the congregation by his vocation director who gave a brief, and often humorous, biography. After the Opening Prayer, the scriptures were then carried into the church by the deacons, again with all the adults singing and all the children dancing. The next ritual that I was unfamiliar with occurred after communion when the newly-ordained were seated in the main aisle and every member of the congregation greeted them personally, while the choir (and, of course, the children) sang and sang and sang. Because of jet-lag, I closed my eyes, I thought briefly, during this part of the ceremony, only to wake up forty-five minutes later. The priests around me were too polite to mention anything, though.

The theme of Bishop Martin’s homily was “Show us how it’s done! How do we follow Christ? Show us by your example.” Throughout the liturgy, I sat next to a Comboni Missionary from Italy who translated the parts in Swahili into English for me. Father Manual Bonilla, O.Carm., the Provincial of the Catalonia Province concelebrated the Mass, but he did not have the advantage of sitting next to a ready translator. Our newly-ordained Carmelites, Boniface and Onesmus, are members of his Province.

	The newly-ordained distribute communion

Fathers Boniface and Onesimus are again at Whitefriars Hall in Washington, DC, to complete their work in the Carmelite Studies Program. Even if they introduce a small part of the flavor of Kenya into the liturgies there, the Hall will probably never be the same again.