We are pleased to announce that the Region of Kenya in the Congregation of the Mission Western Province has been elevated to the status of vice-province. The change in status was announced by Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M., the Congregation of the Mission Superior General, in Rome on May 25, 2022.
The move comes after much consultation and discussion, including during last summer’s provincial assembly in Los Angeles, after which Fr. Patrick McDevitt, C.M., Provincial Superior for the Western Province, petitioned the Superior General for the change in status.
“We thank God for the founding of the Congregation in Kenya and Uganda and the many ways in which the Vincentian charism has flowered and taken root, leading to the creation of the new vice-province,” Fr. Mavrič stated in his decree announcing the new vice-province. “The elevation of Kenya to the status of vice-province is the result of a long process of fraternal consultation, dialogue, and prayer between the confreres of the Western Province and the confreres of the Region of Kenya.
The Vincentians of the Western Province established a mission in Kenya in 1981, and the status of that mission was changed to “Region” in 2016 in recognition of its growth. The designation of vice-province recognizes the potential for continued growth and affords a greater level of autonomy as a territorial division of the Congregation of the Mission while still maintaining close ties with the “mother province.”
Fr. Edwin Mugwe, C.M., (pictured) who has served as Regional Superior in Kenya since 2020, was appointed to a three-year term as the first Visitor of the Vice Province. The first Council of the Vice Province consists of Fr. Wilfred Atinda, C.M., Fr. Frederick Wandera, C.M., and Bro. Shadrack Ramadhan, C.M.
“Those who have supported our work in Kenya can be justifiably proud of this important step in the region’s growth,” Fr. McDevitt said. “Our support, of course, will continue in the development of the new Vice Province. We thank you, and may God bless you.”