A Connection Through Faith

     In my application for the Father Smith Fellowship I expressed my desire to experience the universal Catholic Church and the connection I have with the people of Kenya through the sacraments. I know that through our common faith I have a deep tie with all Christians and more specifically Catholics worldwide but I struggle to grasp the concept without ever meeting them.
       This past sunday we visited Maseno University, a government run university about an hour away from Kisumu. We set off at seven in the morning, a treat compared to our usual five thirty in the morning wake up time, and began to dodge pot holes, sweep from one side of the road to the other and never really establish a correct side of the road. By the Grace of God and Fr. Stephen's skillful driving we finally made it to Maseno no worse for the wear. After visiting the campus ministry center on campus run by Dominicans, a modest building no bigger than a small house in the far corner of the campus and watching the campus monkeys swing from the trees and weave in and out of paths and run on roofs, much like the common campus squirrel at Providence College, we made our way over to the auditorium for mass. Mass was beautiful with traditional Kenyan music, the lyrics all in swahili but a bit long, two hours. After mass there was a beautiful procession with the blessed sacrament through the campus and the local shanty town. As I processed through the streets of Kenya with people completely different than me, I still felt a strong bond with the men and women I walked side by side with. I could not understand a word of what they were singing but the beauty of the music and the knowledge of what they were praising was more than enough for me. Through the procession I came to a greater realization of my intrinsic connection with the people of Kenya. Life in the Catholic faith can be confined to the local parish and its intimacies. We often fail to see the bigger picture and realize our bond with people with such different cultures and ways of life than our own. We all believe in Christ and his death and resurrection and that leaps all cultural, tribal and racial divides.
      In the beginning I said that I desired to experience the universal Catholic Church. There have been moments over the past week or so that I have realized the connection I share with the Kenyan people. But to walk the streets in the presence of Christ, thousands of miles away from home and with my brothers and sisters in faith was the most profound moment to this point and an experience I will never forget.