The sisters in Kenya are part of the Eastern African Province
To start our mission, an invitation to come to Kenya to open a school in Nairobi for the children of the settlers was accepted. The Superior General of Loreto at the time, Mother Raphael Deasy, responding to the request, decided to send a little band of six sisters to begin the new mission.
Mother Borgia O Shaughnessy, an Irish missionary working in Australia, was appointed as leader of the group. She was asked to pass by India and collect four other Loreto Sisters. The mission was placed under the Indian Province and later, in 1931, placed under the South African Province, until eventually becoming a Province in its own right.
The six foundresses arrived at Kilindini Harbour in Mombasa on October 18, 1921. They were welcomed warmly by two Holy Ghost priests before they continued the long train journey to Nairobi on the same day. Preparations were made at once to open a school. There were seventeen (17) pupils when school started on November 11, 1921. The six sisters were: Borgia O’Shaughnessy, Dolores Stafford, Raphael Gordon, Catherine Beauvais, Francis Teresa Murphy and Sixtus Naughton
Currently, the Eastern Africa Province has 90 Sisters and 9 Novices (as at February, 2021). These are from Ireland, England, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, and Ethiopia.
The Eastern Africa Province gave birth to 24 foundations. Sadly, due to a variety of changes and lack of personnel, some foundations had to be closed or given to government or respective dioceses.
The sisters work in different ministries: mainly in various schools, but also in social work and advocacy for women, working against female genital mutilation or offering social-economic empowerment of the vulnerable people in urban informal settlements.
In the Loreto School in Limuru studied some of the most prominent women in Kenyan history, such as Wangari Maathai, who became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of Kenyan independence, the sisters received a special award from the President in recognition of their services to education.
To know more, visit: www.cjsisterseasternafrica.co.ke
We are an international multicultural congregation of around 1,800 sisters present in more than 40 countries around the globe. Founded in 1609 by the Venerable Mary Ward, we are a group of unenclosed apostolic religious women, rooted in the Ignatian Spirituality.
We are working in different areas and projects – not out of ourselves, but because we allow ourselves to be sent by God. We form our sisters to be mobile and available, willing to go wherever they are sent. We expect them to strive, like Mary Ward, to have that inner freedom to respond to the call to leave all and follow Christ with passion and compassion.
“Vocation” – a word that tastes of MORE, of what Saint Ignatius of Loyola called “THE MAGIS”: Longing, meaning, fullness of life, a task and the experience of being needed. It sounds like someone who is calling me personally and with whom I can give my life a unique shape.
People all over the world are inspired and enthusiastic about Mary Ward and her way of following Jesus. There are different ways to join our network and become part of the wider Mary Ward Family.
Mary Ward once said: “I listened to God’s deep dream for me and felt a longing to respond.”
In this spirit, we invite you to pray with us. We offer a variety of prayers and material for reflection.
