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| The priest collapsed while conducting mass (Photo: Kioko wa Kivandi). |
A priest of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru who died while conducting
mass was laid to rest on Friday November 13. Fr. Patrick Kuria Migwi
collapsed last Sunday November 8 at the D.C.K parish where he has
been working since 2011. He died of a cardiac arrest.
On Friday, Christians from his parish came in large numbers to bid
him farewell as church officials led by the Diocesan head, Bishop
Maurice Makumba urged them not to speculate on how the priest had
suddenly died.
"The acts of God are a mystery and when we sometimes try to
unpuzzle them we end up in lamentations," said the Bishop.
"Let us stop asking God questions he cannot answer because he
will not answer. God's master plan must be brought to completion,"
he said.
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| The late Fr. Migwi was a priest at DCK parish, Naivasha (Photo: Kioko wa Kivandi). |
The late priest was born in June 1964 and began his education in
1973. He was ordained a deacon and a priest in 1995. He worked in
several parishes including Holy Spirit Gilgil, St. Peter's Kaptere
and St. Monica in Nakuru's Section 58.
A relative of the late priest said all was well with them since "God
had called him while at the altar, that's great."
Rev. Fredrick Mwaura who is a priest with the Anglican Church of
Kenya (ACK) even compared his death to the ascension of Jesus saying
the Christians who were present as the priest was dying were "like
the apostles who witnessed Jesus being called to heaven."
He had died in the right place he said.
"Let us also pray so that even us, as God will be calling us, we
will be found in the right places," a message that was also
stressed by Bishop Makumba.
"He died in the Church, in the presence of Christ and in there,
there's no death," said the Bishop who is a former class mate of
the late priest.
Apparently the late Fr. Migwi came from a 'God serving family'. His
father was a Catechist just as is one of his brothers while another
one is a priest.
His fellow priests represented by their Chairperson Fr. Cleophas
Oseso eulogized him as a man of few words.
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| Among his nicknames was the name 'Whispers' (Photo: Kioko wa Kivandi). |
"He used to be very quiet. He only talked when he needed to,"
said Fr. Oseso who also gave a list of the nicknames they called the
late priest among them the name 'Whispers'.
"He liked peace, he liked having friends, he never missed any of
our meetings as priests, he never liked anything that could stress
him," he said of him.
According to the American Heart Association, "a cardiac arrest
is the abrupt loss of heart function." It may occur to someone
who may or may not have had a history of a heart disease and can lead
to death when the heart stops functioning properly.
But even as this may be scientific truth, the dying of the priest in
front of his flock is an act that might remain with them for long.
"May you grant your servant Fr. Kuria eternal life," one of
the faithful who attended the requiem mass prayed on Friday.
