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Speaking during the inauguration of the Congregation's convent on Wednesday, July 15, Bishop John Oballa Owaa said the arrival of the Contemplative Sisters marks “a significant spiritual milestone” for the Kenya Diocese that is celebrating its Golden Jubilee.
He called upon the people of God under his pastoral care to support the newly arrived members of the Poor Clare Sisters through prayer and material assistance while respecting their contemplative vocation.
“Rather than inviting them to your social or family functions, entrust your intentions to the Sisters. Support them and don’t let them go hungry,” Bishop Oballa said in a report by the communications office of the Ngong Diocese.
The Kenyan-born Catholic Church leader reminded the faithful that the Poor Clare Sisters' decision to establish their monastery in what he described as “the middle of nowhere” reflects their embrace of the simplicity and solitude that sustain their contemplative vocation, adding that their arrival is inspired by God.
“The sisters have chosen to establish their monastery in a quiet and secluded place,” the Bishop said, referring to the newly opened monastery of the Poor Clares, who serve the Church through their hidden yet powerful ministry of constant intercession, which is located in St. John the Evangelist Kajiado Parish of his Episcopal See.
According to the July 15 report, the establishment of the Poor Clare community also enriches the Diocese of Ngong as they become its second contemplative religious community, joining the Contemplative Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.
The Kenyan Episcopal See, where the Poor Clare Sisters have established their second Monastery in the East African nation after the Monastery of Our Lady of Light in the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma, traces its roots to October 1959 when it was erected as an Apostolic Prefecture.
The 50-year-old Kenyan Diocese, whose Jubilee Year Bishop Oballa launched on December 6, 2025, describing it as “a moment for renewed witness to the Gospel,” is set to conclude the year-long celebration on December 5, 2026.
Elevated to Diocese on 9 December 1976, the Kenyan Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN) had the late Bishop Colin Cameron Davies, a member of the Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), as its first Local Ordinary. He was succeeded in January 2003 by his confrere Bishop Cornelius Schilder, who resigned in August 2009 at the age of 67 on health grounds.
The Diocese of Ngong covers 47,000 Km² and has a total population of 2,050,000 people, 240,850 of them Catholic, who represent 11.7 percent of the population, according to 2023 statistics. It has 40 Parishes, 58 Diocesan Priests, 73 Religious Priests, and 369 women and men Religious.