Why won’t the late Archbishop Njenga be buried inside the church like the late Archbishop Korir?
The late Archbishop Emeritus John Njenga cannot be buried inside the Holy Family Cathedral as it happened with Bishop Cornelius Korir in November 2017.
According to Fr Willybard Lagho, the vicar-general of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa, a bishop is only buried inside a church if he dies while in office. Archbishop Korir was buried inside the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Eldoret last year.
However, Archbishop Emeritus John Njenga will be the first person to be laid to rest at a special place created recently at the Holy Family Minor Basilica in Nairobi.
Late Archbishop had indicated his last wish to be buried in Nairobi. This wish has been honoured by the presence of the high and the mighty including president Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto at the UoN Grounds.
Archbishop Njenga died aged 90 at Nairobi’s Mater Hospital on November 4, a head of his burial there is a funeral Mass at the University of Nairobi grounds that started at 10am.
Archbishop Njenga retired in 2005 as the archbishop of Mombasa. As such, his burial site will be a crypt a room under the floor of a church where bodies are buried at the Holy Family Basilica. Fr Lagho said the crypt is outside the cathedral, but within the building’s compound.
Another senior Catholic figure buried in Nairobi archdiocese is Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga.
According to the Catholic Mirror, a publication of Kenya’s Catholic Bishops, says Cardinal Otunga was initially buried at St Austin’s Cemetery in Msongari before his remains were exhumed and interred at the Resurrection Gardens in Karen following the commencement of his beatification process.
“The honour of burying him outside the Basilica is given to him by the Archdiocese of Nairobi led by Cardinal John Njue. In honour of his pioneering as a clergyman who rose to the ranks of an archbishop and who chose to be buried in Nairobi, the fitting place is the Cathedral,” he said.