Dated: September 06, 2009
To all the people of God
Archdiocese of Nairobi
The peace of Christ, the love of God the father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. I write you on this day, the 6th anniversary of the death of the late Maurice Cardinal Otunga.
I have chosen this day, the anniversary of the death of our beloved Cardinal Maurice Otunga, to make special announcement, which I am certain will be cause of great Joy to all the people of the Archdiocese of Nairobi and indeed of the whole of Kenya.
The date for the formal initiation of the cause of Beatification will be announced shortly, but meanwhile I have appointed Fr. Anthony Bellagamba, IMC, as Postulator for the cause of beatification of the late Cardinal Maurice Otunga. He will have the task of gathering evidence, especially from all those who knew Cardinal Otunga closely. Naturally we would like to gather such evidence first from older people – from all over the country who knew the Cardinal in his earlier days. It would be a great help to the cause if such people were to write to me now, with a brief account of when and how closely they knew Cardinal Otunga. I will then pass these letters on to Fr. Bellagamba, who will begin his work once the cause is officially initiated.
All those who had the privilege of knowing Cardinal Otunga have no doubt as to his holiness. However, the church does not lightly proceed to declare publicly that a person is to be considered among the saints in Heaven, one whose life shows how it is possible to become very, very Christ-like. That is why the Holy See requires a proper process that will gather all the evidence of the person’s sanctity, that is, of how he lived the Christian virtues in a heroic manner. The first stage of the process will take place here in Kenya, the second phase will continue in Rome.
Within a few weeks, it should be possible to announce the date of the formal initiation of the cause of Beatification and Canonization of our beloved late Cardinal. It will be a day of prayer and rejoicing, as and even more so, will be a day of the happy conclusion of the process.
Expression of public devotion to the late Cardinal Otunga is not yet permitted by the church until such a date when in God’s providence, he be beatified. However, he always loved his flock and his people and was loved by them. Continue therefore, to have private recourse to his intercession, and get many graces and benefits on each one of us, on his church here in Kenya and on our whole country which he loved so much.
Let us all remain united in prayer during this very important process. With prayerful best wishes, I bless you all.
Your Shepherd
(signed)
+John Cardinal Njue
Archbishop of Nairobi
JCN/ans
Cc – H.E. Alain Paul Lebeaupin
Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya
Our website:www.kec.or.ke
