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  • Until the Christians Get Tired of Singing and Dancing

Until the Christians Get Tired of Singing and Dancing

Until the Christians Get Tired of Singing and Dancing


Author Country :Kenya
Genre Type :True Story
Location :Kenya
Year of Publication :/
Publication :Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers Africa Region Newsletter (June, 2009)
Sub Theme :Cultural Values, Songs/Music, Time, Worship/Liturgy/
Author Name :Joseph Healey, MM/
Author City :Nakuru
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In 1990 a major USA television network did a documentary on the Catholic Church around the world highlighting 25 years since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. The producer was a Catholic woman based in Chicago, Illinois. She and her team visited 18 countries worldwide interviewing over 100 prominent Catholics on the influence of Vatican II. In a radio interview she was asked what was the most striking, the most memorable moment of her whole trip. She immediately answered: “An outdoor mass in Nakuru, Kenya.” She found the joy and excitement of the large crowd “electric.” The singing and dancing was “thrilling.” While masses in the USA can be only 30 minutes to 45 minutes long, masses in Africa can be two to three hours long echoing the saying: You Westerners have the watches, but we Africans have the time. The Kenyan bishop who celebrated the mass (the now retired Archbishop Raphael Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki), was asked by some American visitors: “How long will the mass go on?” The bishop gave the perfect answer: “Until the Christians get tired of singing and dancing.”


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