St Clare Catholic Parish, Kasarani was hived off from Queen of Apostles Ruaraka and establishmed as a Parish in 2002 by His Grace R S Ndingi Mwana a’ Nzeki Emeritus Archbishop of Nairobi. The parish comprises of two outstations, namely St Francis and St Dominic Catholic Churches. The history of the parish cannot be complete without tracing the histories of the two churches.

St Dominic Catholic Church traces its history to the year 1964 when the family of the late founding father of our nation H.E.Mzee Jomo Kenyatta established St Dominic primary school to cater for the education needs of the children of the workers who lived in the area. Since the school was sponsored by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Community in the area easily used it to start a Christian community. The initial congregation numbered fourteen (14) and by the year 1979 had grown to thirty persons. The church housed within the primary school was all along served from Queen of Apostles.

By 1989 St Dominic Catholic Church had three (3) small Christian communities, namely St Joseph, Mary and Teresia. In May 1990 Mwiki Company Ltd donated the land on which the church stands with a condition that a nursery school be built within its precincts. In 1998 the community of St Dominic bought two plots in Mutirithia Phase II by aid of a harambee and shortly after the buying company donated two more plots to the church by this time the church was now under Divine Word Mission, Kayole which had just been established.  

In March 1994, a semi permanent (timber) church was constructed and the congregation shifted from the primary school. The first Mass was celebrated on this ground during the Feast of Palm Sunday of 1994 by the late Fr David Njuguna, then Rector and Fr-in-charge QAS and parish.

By the year 2001 the Catholic congregation had grown tremendously to be accommodated by the timber church. In December 2001 the ground breaking ceremony for the new church was presided over by Gregory Macharia the then Fr-in-Charge of Queen of Apostles parish and the construction works started forthwith. By the year 2002 the new structure was already being used for Sunday masses, the first of which was celebrated on the Palm Sunday (of 2002)

Due to financial constraints, the church has been undertaken in phases (six of them) the last of which was furniture. Today St Dominic Catholic Church has an estimated population of three thousand (3000) members, with eleven small Christian communities.

In the very near future there is need to establish a new outstation around  Agrarian area comprising of St Mary and St Peter S.C.Cs of St Dominic and St Mary and St Peter of St Francis. There is also a need to acquire some acres of land between de’ paradise and the Eastern by-pass for future construction of a church to cater for the foreseen estate to be established there. We look forward to seeing St Dominic Catholic Church grow to be established a parish soon.

St Francis Catholic Church Kasarani was hived off from Queen of Apostles parish, Ruaraka in April 1997. The new outstation was first housed by the LSOSF whose chapel and later hall were used for Sunday Masses until the year 1999 when the congregation grew too big to be accommodated within the sisters’ premises. In the year 2000 the Catholic faithful of St Francis shifted and put up a temporary structure (where the church hall stands today) where they celebrated Mass every Sunday. That plot of two acres was donated by the LSOSF upon intervention of Archbishop R.S.Ndingi in the year 2000.

The LSOSF first settled at Kasarani in 1985 when the present Regional House was constructed on a 32 acre piece of land that was donated by the Late Peter Mungai, son of M.J Kenyatta the founding president of the republic of Kenya. Since their other houses in Kenya were far off in Elburgon in Nakuru, Chailol, Kisoko and Chelelemuk in Western Kenya, the Kasarani House was very handy for sisters on transit. By the time the regional house was constructed in 1985, the area was very deserted.

After the construction of a nursery school, a dispensary and later a primary school, population of people started to acquire and build houses in the neighborhood. Since there was no Catholic Church in Kasarani then, the Catholic faithful living there would attend Masses at QAS until 1997 when the LSOSF accepted to have their spiritual Centre Chapel to be used for Sunday Masses by the Catholics then around. At first the chapel was big enough to accommodate the congregation but within a very short period of time the sisters had to surrender their hall for the Sunday Masses. At these times it proved inconveniencing to the sisters especially when they held prayers in retreat. With the donation of the 2 acre plot to the newly created outstation by the sisters in the year 2000, the congregation shifted and erected a temporary structure in the new site.

Shortly after, the church hall (currently in use for daily and Sunday Masses) was constructed. Since the year 2000 an ultra modern church has been in progress at St Francis and it is expected to be blessed and officially opened sometime towards the end this year-2013.

St Clare was created as parish in the year 2002 by H.G.Rt Rev Raphael S.Ndingi Mwana a’ Nzeki, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi. It has one outstation namely St Dominic Mwiki. The total population of the whole parish is approximately six thousand (6000) against a grand total population of nearly twenty thousand (20000).

St Dominic has eleven (11) Jumuiyas namely; Sts Mary, Peter, Paul, Michael, Francis, Antony, Stephen, Teresia, Benedict, Anne and Joseph. While st Francis has seventeen (17) namely; Sts MariaGoretti, Peter, John, Theresa, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Catherine, Antony, Augustine, Gabriel, Holy Family, Michael, Ann, Jude, Ignatius, Monica. The parish has the following dynamic groups: Catholic Women Association(CWA),Catholic Men for Christ (CMC),Youth, Missionary Youth Movement, Pontifical Missionary Childhood (PMC),Legion of Mary, Marriage Encounter, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pioneer, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Self Help Group, Catholic Teachers Association(CTA),Emmanuel Community, Choir, Catholic Justice and Peace Commission.

 

Priests who have served as Fr In charge in St Clare include: Frs. Joseph Robert Lopez (2002-2003) Patrick Kanja (2003-2005), Francis Kariuki (2005-2011). Other priests who have been assigned here include Frs John Muhindi, John Njoroge, Joseph Gitau and Christopher Kioko the last three as deacons. Frs. Joseph Orina, David Omollo and Chripinus Kakai have also served at the parish particularly over the weekends.

We thank God for the gifts of our parish priests’ Frs. Francis Murira and Vincent Kamiri,and the entire Pastoral team, for our parish council, the church councils of the two outstations and for all the Christians from the two churches for their tireless efforts, dedication and love for their church. Mungu awabariki. Amen.