Kenyan missionary in Diocese of Rochester, NY, hopes to 'give back' to the church

(OSV News) – As Catholics worldwide prepare to commemorate World Mission Sunday, a missionary priest in the Diocese of Rochester, New York, said his work has given him the opportunity to give back what he received in his youth in Kenya.

"Growing up and while in the seminary in Kenya, I was catechized and supported by missionaries from Europe and America," Father Peter Gitau told OSV News Oct. 10.

Serving as diocesan director of the Office of the Propagation of the Faith since 2022, he added, "has also given me firsthand experience of the vital importance of the missionary work in the universal church" and the "need for all Catholics to support the missions and missionaries at home and abroad."

Instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926, the Catholic Church will mark World Mission Sunday Oct. 20, to highlight and encourage the work of missionaries. A collection is taken up that day to provide financial support for the Pontifical Mission Societies and its missions in some 1,100 dioceses worldwide.

Father Gitau, who was ordained a priest in 1994 for the Archdiocese of Nairobi, said he arrived in the United States in 2003 "to do pastoral work as a missionary" as well as to further his studies, including obtaining a master's degree in human service administration and mental health counseling.

Citing Pope Francis' apostolic letter "Evangelii Gaudium," in which the pope explained that "evangelization takes place in obedience to the missionary mandate of Jesus: 'Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations,'" the Kenyan priest said that his studies and work throughout the years have taught him what it truly means to be a missionary.

"As a Christian, I'm called to be a missionary disciple commissioned by Jesus to spread the faith and the Gospel. So being a missionary means supporting Jesus' mission," he said. 

Recalling how missionaries were instrumental in his younger years, Father Gitau said that the Pontifical Mission Societies continued to support him in his first years as a priest in Kenya, including providing financial aid for him to drill a water well and for building a health center.

Now serving as a missionary and director of the Propagation of the Faith office "has given me an opportunity to give back," Father Gitau told OSV News.

The commemoration of World Mission Sunday comes at a significant time in the Catholic Church as the Synod of Bishops takes place in Rome. The synod's working document particularly focuses on the theme, "How to be a missionary synodal church."

The call to be missionary disciples, the document states, is a call to all the baptized, "without exception" for the church to proclaim "the salvation it continually experiences to a world hungry for meaning and thirsting for communion and solidarity."

Reflecting on the theme chosen by Pope Francis for this year's World Mission Sunday -- "Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet" -- Father Gitau told OSV News that this year's commemoration that "everyone in the universal church, without leaving anyone behind, should all be engaged in supporting the mission of Jesus."

That mission, he said, is fulfilled "by sharing the faith and Good News with the people who have never heard of Christ, strengthening the faith of those already received the sacraments and trying to reach out to those who have drifted away from the church."

Father Gitau said he hopes that on World Mission Sunday, Catholics around the world will reflect on "how to use God's spiritual gifts and material resources to support the missions and missionaries" who continue to work in their local churches and around the world.

Supporting the church's mission, he added, is also done "through prayers, education, and sacrificial offerings."

"Everybody has something to offer," Father Gitau told OSV News. "Anyone can offer prayers; some people can give financial support and others, like me, can become foreign missionaries."