In a beautiful and well attended ceremony that took place at the Holy Family minor Basilica (Cathedral) in Nairobi, the Church in Kenya, through John cardinal Njue, the Archbishop of Nairobi, appointed Fr. Antony Bellagamba IMC the postulator of the late cardinal’s beatification process. Otunga, born on January 31, 1923, in Chebukwa, died of a heart attack, on September 6, 2003, in Nairobi, Kenya. He was the son of Wasike Lusweti Sudi (a chief) and Rosa Namisi (a diviner) Otungo.
Ordained a Roman Catholic priest on October 3, 1950, Otunga was a revered and much-loved leader of Kenya's Roman Catholic community. He lived in humble quarters, and could have enjoyed the official perk of a car and driver, but instead, he drove his own Peugeot 304. He also occasionally became involved in politics, and was known to have visited Kenya's longtime leader, President Daniel Arap Moi, to urge him to implement democratic reforms. He was consecrated bishop on November 17, 1956, and in 1961 he became the bishop of Kisii diocese. In 1969 he became the titular archbishop of Bomarzo, and the coadjutor of Nairobi Archdiocese between 1969 and 1971. In 1971 he was appointed the archbishop of Nairobi and in 1973 he was elevated to Sacred College of Cardinals. He became the primate of Kenya in 1983 and archbishop emeritus of Nairobi between 1997 and 2003. From then on, due to the exemplary life that he had lived, Christians now and then called for the commencement of the beatification process, and his eventual canonization, until the church in Kenya made it clear that the process would only start after five years, as stipulated in the law of the Catholic Church concerning such matters.
{mosimage}Fr. Bellagamba, who previously had been a Vice-Rector at Allamano House, the theological house for the Consolata students in Kenya, was presented to the Christians in a Eucharistic celebration presided by cardinal Njue, to mark the sixth anniversary of the late Otunga’s death. Speaking to the Christians, cardinal Njue informed them that Fr. Bellagamba’s duty as a postulator would involve gathering evidence of cardinal Otunga’s holiness, sanctity and Christian virtues when he lived, through interviews and discussions with people who knew him personally. He also informed them that although the duties would start officially on September the 6th, the initial processes would begin in a few weeks. Taking on the responsibility, Fr. Bellagamba is now mandated to prove to the Church that Otunga “did all things well” within his human limits. Such an affirmation in the life of the late cardinal will again echo to the world the words of our Founder that the good must be done well and without noise. It will ultimately resound the call of our founder to his sons and daughters all over the world, to re-live his dream of evangelization of peoples and human promotion in an apostolic spirit, in a world in which materialism is taking over.
