wfn.org | Catholic Information Center for Africa Sept 5 2003

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

CATHOLIC INFORMATION SERVICE FOR AFRICA (CISA)

<cisa@wananchi.com>

Issue No. 255, Saturday, September 5, 2003
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CONTENTS
KENYA: Cardinal Otunga Dies
A Short Biography of Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga
Appointment and Ministry as Cardinal
The Cardinal at the 1994 Synod for Africa
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KENYA: Cardinal Otunga Dies

His Eminence, Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga, Kenya's first and only
cardinal, has died, after been in hospital for two months. Cardinal Otunga,
Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, died early on Saturday morning, September
6, 2003. He was 81.

Among the first to arrive at the Mater Mesericordiae Hospital in Nairobi
where he had been admitted were the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya, His
Excellency, Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci, and Rt Rev David Kamau, an
Auxiliary Bishop of Nairobi.

"His Eminence died early today morning," Fr Emmanuel Ngugi of Nairobi, and
in charge of the Holy Family Basilica, told CISA.

"We have just transferred his body from the Intensive Care Unit to the
hospital mortuary," said Fr Ngugi, who had accompanied the Nuncio and
Bishop Kamau to the hospital.

Cardinal Otunga retired as Archbishop of Nairobi in 1997, after serving the
Archdiocese for 28 years in that position.

He chose a lowly centre for the poor as his retirement home, Nyumba ya
Wazee (Kiswahili for 'House of the Aged'), a home run by the Little Sisters
of the Poor, located just outside the centre of Kenya's capital Nairobi.
This was true to his lifestyle as Archbishop: he never went for luxury in
life, and always implored his priests to beware materialism as an obstacle
to the gospel witness.

At the time news of Cardinal Otunga's demise was sent out, his successor in
Nairobi, Archbishop Raphael Ndingi Mwana 'a Nzeki, was away in Kitale,
Western Kenya, attending the funeral of the late Vice President Michael
Kijana Wamalwa who died recently in London.

A Short Biography of Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga

Born the son of a traditional paramount chief of the Bakhone, Wasike
Lusweti 'Sudi', and diviner Rosa Namisi, on a Wednesday, January 31, 1923
in Chebukwa, Kakamega Diocese in western Kenya, Cardinal Otunga would go on
to become a chief himself, but not in the pagan culture he was raised in
but rather the Roman Catholic Church which he was baptized into in 1935.

He was so imbued with his newly-found faith that he entered the seminary in
Kakamega after graduating from Mangu High School, one of the oldest
Catholic institutions in the country.

He finished his major seminary training in Rome where he was ordained
priest on October 3, 1950. After ordination he completed his studies at the
College of Propaganda Fide before returning to Kenya where he taught
Theology at Kakamega Seminary for three years, and was nominated Chancellor
of the Curia. He also worked with the Apostolic Delegation in Kenya.

On November 17, 1956 Pope Pius XII named him Titular Bishop of Tacape and
Auxiliary Bishop of Kisumu, where he was installed on February 25, 1957.
Three years later Pope John XXIII appointed him Bishop of Kisii on May 21,
1960 where he remained until November 15, 1969 when Pope Paul VI made him
Titular Archbishop of Bomarzo and Coadjutor Archbishop of Nairobi, with the
right of succession.

On October 24, 1971, after serving for two years under the then Archbishop
of Nairobi, Most Rev John Joseph McCarthy CSSp, Otunga was promoted to the
Archbishop of Nairobi.

Cardinal Otunga was very particular about the ethics in media. In his first
speech as Archbishop in 1971, he was very critical of the use of sex in
advertising.

"Not even a car these days can be advertised without a woman being nearby,"
he said. "They make business of the beauty of a woman, while the mass media
presents and idolises a sophisticated type of woman."

As Archbishop, he served as President of the national Episcopate and as a
member of the Permanent Commission of SECAM (the Symposium of Episcopal
Conferences of Africa and Madagascar).

In the Consistory of March 5, 1973 Paul VI elevated him to the cardinalate,
in which he received the titular church of St Gregroy Barbarigo.

Cardinal Otunga retired on April 21, 1997 as Archbishop of Nairobi, after
twenty-eight years of serving in that capacity. (The then Bishop) Raphael
Ndingi (formerly of Nakuru) had been helping him as Coadjutor Archbishop of
Nairobi since June 1996.

He continued enjoying membership in the Roman Curia, where he served in the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic
Life and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

By the time he died on September 6, 2003, Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga
was a priest for 53 years, a bishop for 46, and a Cardinal for 30 years.

Appointment and Ministry as Cardinal

Otunga was created cardinal priest, on March 5, 1973, and received the red
biretta and title of St Gregorio Barbarigo alle Tre Fontane.

He attended the Third Ordinary Assembly of World Synod of Bishops in the
Vatican on September 27 - October 26, 1974, and the Fourth and Fifth such
Assemblies, in September 30-October 29, 1977; and September 26-October 25,
1980. He was a member of General Secretariat between 1980 and 1983.

Cardinal Otunga was a member of the General Secretariat between 1977 and
1980, and participated in the conclaves of August 25-26, 1978; October
14-16, 1978.

His Eminence attended the Plenary Assembly of Sacred College of Cardinals
in the Vatican on November 5-9, 1979, and was a member of the Council of
Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy
See (May 31, 1981).

Cardinal Otunga was the Principal Consecrator of Bishop Joseph Mairura
Okemwa (Kisii, July 1995) and of Bishop Alfred Kipkoech Arap Rotich
(Military Ordinariate, November 1997).

He was Principal Co-Consecrator of Bishop Boniface Lele (Kitui, February
1996) and Bishop Philip Arnold Subira Anyolo (Kericho, February 1996).

'His Eminence', as Cardinal Otunga was often referred to by clerics and
religious in Nairobi, was concerned that seminarians were happy, since, as
used to tell them, a happy seminarian makes a happy priest.

Cardinal Otunga resigned his pastoral government of the Archdiocese Nairobi
on May 14, 1997, and that of the Military Ordinariate in Kenya on September
13, 1997.

After turning 80 years old in January, 2003, His Eminence lost the right to
participate in the Conclave.

The Cardinal at the 1994 Synod for Africa

Cardinal Otunga attendfed the Special Assembly of World Synod of Bishops
for Africa, at Vatican City, April 10-May 8, 1994, where he made an
intervention on 'Evangelisation as Justice and Peace'.

"I am speaking in the name of the Kenya Episcopal Conference," the Cardinal
said in his opening remarks. He went on to say that "peoples on the move
cannot be ignored".

"The displaced persons in Kenya," he said, "are those citizens rendered
homeless on account of tribal violence in the same country, called in Kenya
tribal clashes. Urbanisation is another major cause. The victims of
discrimination, I think, are particularly those citizens who have to move
from place to place in search of employment and this may be due to
nepotism, religious discrimination or corruption in the administration of
the country."

"For this people it is difficult to establish a stable contact. For those
who already believe, many are in great danger of losing their faith. It
becomes more difficult when the situation is politically originated and
perpetuated as it is the case in Kenya now. Here the Bishops have exercised
their prophetic role and have spoken out to the government. It has not been
easy," Cardinal Otunga said.

Among Cardinal Otunga's recommendations at the Synod was the one he made to
SECAM, to "come up with a guideline to work and to feel and follow up ever
more in solidarity to obstacles, particularly political ones, against
evangelisation as justice and peace."

CISA extends heartfelt condolences to the Catholic Church in Kenya in
general, and in particular to the Catholic family of the Archdiocese of
Nairobi, which the departed Cardinal helped so much to gather and shepherd.
A message of sympathy goes also to Cardinal Otunga's relatives, friends,
and the many people around the world who knew him.
May the Almighty God rest the soul of His Eminence, Maurice Michael
Cardinal Otunga in eternal peace.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi can be reached via the following
contacts: E-Mail <arch-nbo@wananchi.com>; Tel (254-)020-241391, 4441919;
Fax (254-)020-223799, or 4447027; P O  Box 14231, Nairobi, KENYA.