St. Joseph The Worker Catholic Church in Tudor on Sunday celebrated 50 years of existence as a parish.
Congregants, both from St Joseph Tudor and other denominations joined Priests, Sisters and other guests in a colorful event presided over by Mombasa Arch-Bishop Martin Kivuva and Malindi Bishop Willybard Lagho.
St.Joseph the Worker, Tudor Parish officially opened its doors in 1973 with Fr. Jim Delaney as the first Parish Priest.
“The establishment of St. Joseph Parish in Tudor 50 years ago led to the birth of schools, small Christian communities, and other establishments in the area,” said Arch-Bishop Kivuva.
“So today we are celebrating the strides we have made as a church during the last five decades of spreading the gospel,” added Kivuva.
In the past 50 years, St Joseph Tudor has had 10 Parish priests including Malindi Bishop Willybard Lagho who is the immediate former Parish Priest at the church.
“The church and religion at large have a big role to play when it comes to modeling our children’s morals and behaviors. The country is currently facing different challenges and most of them are due to bad morals,” said Bishop Lagho.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations kicked off with a tree-planting exercise by Arch-Bishop Martin Kivuva and Bishop Willybard Lagho at 10 am.
The tree-planting exercise was followed by a celebration of Holy Mass led by Bishop Willybard Lagho.
The church welcomed 110 new members who received the sacrament of confirmation, followed by the tying of the knot of two couples.
In his message to the congregants, St Joseph Tudor Parish Priest Rev Fr Richard Airo said: “As we proudly celebrate our golden year, we pray to Almighty God that our well laid out strategic plan’s projections will make St Joseph Tudor even greater, in terms of being a family unit, in our faith in Christ and deeply rooted in our Catholic faith as well.”
Fr. Richard who was appointed as the Parish Priest in 2021 also lauded the church’s effort in keeping with the vigorous developments in the neighbourhood.
He is assisted by Fr. Edwin Kori, Fr. Onesmus Charo, and Fr. Vijay.
The event was also graced by Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Sheriff Nassir who gave a sh.100k contribution towards the church’s development projects.
“This church supported me for 10 years when I was the Mvita Member of Parliament and also supported me during the Mombasa gubernatorial race, so I am conflicted in the love I have for this church and I will not take it lightly,” said Gov Swamad.
The Mombasa Governor also reiterated the importance of religion and religious institutions in the society.
“If worship places do not flourish then it means places of evil will be the ones flourishing,” said Swamad.
Ten Parish Priests in the last five decades ie:
Fr. Jim Delaney
Fr. James Roy
Fr. Ernest Mutua
Fr. Lukas Onyango (deceased)
Fr. Herrsius Macharia
Fr. Henry Katana
Fr. Fronton Godinho
Fr. Harrison Yaa
Fr. Willybard Lagho
Fr. Richard Airo
Five masses are offered every Sunday at the Parish Church catering to diverse age groups from 6:30 am, 8:00 am, 9:30 am, and 11:00 am to an evening mass.
The church has a pastoral center used to host meetings and welcome guests.
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