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 The Healing Priest
Extraordinary claims surround the ministry of a young priest, prompting some believers to speak of divine gifts, while others worry about an excess of enthusiasm that has harmed the African Church in the past.

By Fredrick Nzwili

At Nyang’oma parish, about 180 miles west of Nairobi, a 32-year-old Catholic priest has begun sending out ripples of interest—and reactions that range from popular delight to official concern —across the Church in Africa. Hundreds of believers converge on his “healing and deliverance” services; his following is enthusiastic, and growing. But many observers feel that he is on a collision course with the hierarchy, as he continues to expand his ministry despite the palpable uneasiness among Kenyan bishops.

Father Alphonse Ouma, ordained in 1996, is a parish priest at the remote Nyang’oma parish in the Bondo district of the Kisumu diocese. He has been stationed at this parish for two years, and there are reports that he will soon be moved to a new assignment, at the urging of the Kenyan bishops’ conference. The popularity of his “healing and deliverance” services, and the extraordinary phenomena reported among the members of his large and loyal following, prompt many comparisons with another remarkable young African priest who came to prominence two decades ago: Father Emmanuel Milingo.

(The young Father Milingo, of course, gained widespread recognition for his own healing services and his powerful preaching. He was appointed Archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, in 1969, at the age of 39. But by 1982 his unusual pastoral style—with its emphasis on emotional appeals, claims of extraordinary powers, and emphasis on healing and exorcism—had prompted so many complaints that the Vatican relieved him of his pastoral responsibilities in Lusaka, and ordered him to Rome—where he lived in obscurity, without significant duties, until he burst into prominence anew in 2001 by announcing his “marriage” to a young Korean woman in a mass ceremony conducted under the auspices of the Unification Church. Archbishop Milingo has subsequently returned to the Catholic fold, asked for and received the Pope’s forgiveness, and resumed a quiet life in Rome. But the memory of his meteoric career is still fresh among African Church leaders.)

The case of Father Alphonse Ouma is not the same as that of the young Father Milingo. But Father Ouma is not the only Catholic priest in Kenya who is drawing such comparisons. There are at least two priests in the country who conduct “faith healing” services with the explicit permission of their bishops. Others are active on their own initiative. In the Kisumu diocese there is another priest, Father Loka, who leads the same sort of “healing and deliverance” services that have brought Father Ouma to prominence. From central Kenya there come reports of yet another priest who has been reported to heal the ailing among his parishioners.

Father Ouma, however, has become the main focus of concern among the members of the Kenyan hierarchy. Nairobi’s Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki, the country’s ranking prelate, had expressed his serious reservations about the young priest’s work, and even banned the distribution of Ouma’s videotape, The Works of God, within his archdiocese.

Supernatural claims
This controversial priest serves a humble congregation that is made up primarily of fishermen, small-scale farmers, and shopkeepers. His mission in Nyang’oma serves an impoverished community, where young men ride as far as ten miles on their bicycles to reach the church, and many people rely on the Catholic mission for their access to clean drinking water, a working mill to grind maize, and electric power.

Father Ouma himself appears to be a simple man, who makes simple claims. Of his healing services, he says: “I pray for their deliverance, and the Lord delivers them from the powers of the demon.”

But if Father Ouma himself does not make any special claims about his powers, his parishioners certainly do. The Nyang’oma parish has produced reports of visions, miraculous healings, and the appearance of the stigmata on a young local resident. Ukweli Video, a local Catholic media house, recorded an incident in 1999 in which—as their tape appears to show it—a consecrated host produces thick, fresh blood.

“If there is nothing in Father Ouma’s miracles and healing, then it will just die out with time. But the miracles that have happened here have made us believe that there is more to it,” says Father Richard Quinn, the director of Ukweli Video.

Three years ago, the first in what would become a series of reported miracles was observed in the Nyang’oma parish. One afternoon in July, Dorothy Odhiambo, a 17-year-old girl, was riding in Father Ouma’s car to Bondo Teachers College, where he was to give a theology class. Suddenly the girl told Father Ouma that she saw Jesus Christ on the road in front of them. He replied that he saw nothing special, but told her that she should not worry—that Christ was blessing their journey. “There is someone there. Be careful not to crush him,” the young woman insisted. Moments later, she reported that a thin wafer—apparently a consecrated Host —appeared in her mouth, and she was unable to swallow it despite her repeated efforts.

A simple priest
Father Ouma identifies himself as a simple Catholic priest. He does not deliver fiery sermons. He is not associated with the charismatic renewal, or with any other recognizable movement within the Catholic Church. He suggests that unusual events were occurring at his parish even before his arrival. But the legend that surrounds this “healing priest” gives another message.

While Father Ouma was stationed for two years at the Sega Mission, near the Nyang’oma parish—according to his video, The Works of God—a series of extraordinary events took place. Even today, two years after his departure, people at the Sega Mission report that things are not the same.

The Sega Mission, founded by Mill Hill missionaries in 1934, is a large complex that includes a church, a primary school, a high school, a technical school, and a 68-bed hospital. Sister Gertrude Mwari, a nurse at the hospital, told the local Daily Nation that when Father Ouma was stationed there he kept the occupancy rates low because he healed so many patients.

Sister Mwari also observed that when Father Ouma was stationed at the Sega Mission, the congregations at Mass gradually swelled, to the amazement of the nuns who were working there. Similarly, the regular congregation at the Nyang’oma parish today is more than twice what it was before his arrival. The increase in attendance is most notable among the elderly people of the parish and the surrounding area.

Again Father Ouma downplays his own influence. “I found out the people were cold in relating to Christ. I reach them in their homes, evangelize, and pray for them,” he says. If there are reports of supernatural events in the parish, he adds, they are simply “the works of God.”

Nyang’oma parishioners say that their new pastor has drawn larger congregations to their church by his kindness, patience, and open attitude toward the people. “Many people here had moved to other churches and sects in this area. We are grateful that with Father Ouma’s presence and healing Masses, people who have never been to church here, and other Christians from other churches have come back to the Catholic Church,” says Elizabeth Onyango, the coordinator of the Nyango’ma parish’s evangelization team.

“Many people who wore rosaries without having known their use now understand fully their importance,” adds Phoebe Onyango, the secretary of the evangelization team. “People are finding answers here.”

Signs and wonders
For several years now, excited crowds have been coming to Mass when Father Ouma is the celebrant. While he was serving at the Sega Mission, there were several times when the congregation took their enthusiasm onto the road after Mass: singing, dancing, and chanting as they walked home. On at least one occasion, traders hurriedly closed their shops as the crowd approached, chanting, “Catholics for Christ!” They thought the boisterous crowd was coming home from a political rally.

Also at the Sega Mission, there were reports of supernatural occurrences: visions of a bleeding Eucharistic host, reported appearances of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. A young woman—Dorothy Odhiambo, the same girl who reported the vision on the road near the Nyango’ma parish—is said to have experienced the stigmata: bleeding from the spots on her hands, feet, and side corresponding to the wounds of Christ. Scars are now evident on her hands and feet.

“One day as I was giving a retreat,” recalls Father Ouma, “Dorothy fell into a long slumber for 24 hours. She remained without a meal and unconscious. It was then when she got the wounds.”
The bishops of Kenya have maintained a careful reserve about these reports of the stigmata, and other extraordinary claims associated with the ministry of Father Ouma. Some bishops point out that these reports—some of which are backed with evidence recorded on the Works of God video—are at best private revelations, not backed by Church authority. Others are openly skeptical.

In Nairobi, for example, Archbishop Ndingi has banned the showing of the video within his archdiocese. “I told Father Quinn I don’t want the tape sold or even kept on shelves,” he says. “I don’t approve of it at all. It is just sentimental.”

In an interview, the archbishop challenged this reporter about the report of a Eucharistic host in the mouth of young Dorothy Odhiambo. “Do you believe it?” he asks. “Who consecrates the host on the tongue?”

Father Ouma counters that he is not the only Catholic priest in Kenya who has reported extraordinary events:

I am not the only one in faith healing. I know of other priests within this archdiocese and others in Kenya who do it. I do not consider it as something special with me. But I feel that God wants to get close to his people through me, and want them to get close to him.

“Even though God alone knows when Christ will return, these things happen to remind us that we are living in the end times,” adds the “healing priest.”

Father Ouma does say that God speaks to him very clearly. “At times I hear voices,” he told the Daily Nation. “At others I know someone is in need—and when I get there, the people tell me they have tried to reach me.”

A bishop’s reserve
Father Ouma has been careful to keep his own bishop informed about his activities. Archbishop Zacheus Okoth of Kisumu, upon hearing about the remarkable stories centered around the young priest, visited Father Ouma to investigate. According to some unconfirmed reports, the archbishop was shown some evidence of supernatural events—including consecrated wine that smelled of blood and a bleeding Host—and took the items into his possession. Although he has not commented on those particular reports, Archbishop Okoth has issued a general statement on the occurrences:

This is a place where we can say God has revealed himself through a specific time and a specific phenomenon. In Kenya we are learning that there are certain incidents which we need time to understand. I have been watching and praying about it, but one thing is clear: God wants us to do more to get close to him.

Father Ouma was given the archbishop’s blessing to continue with his mission. But he was also asked to spend some time working with the communications offices of the Kisumu archdiocese. Given his already heavy load of responsibilities, that additional assignment is likely to take time away from his healing ministry.

The influence of the young priest is growing steadily. He has been organizing retreats, seminars, and evangelization programs. Hundreds of people seek him out—not only from Kenya, but from the neighboring lands of Uganda and Tanzania. Just recently a powerful local chieftain, Francis Otieno, who had lived most of his life according to the advice of local witch-doctors, died as a staunch Catholic under the influence of Father Ouma.

Simon Rurinja, a faithful Catholic from Nairobi who guided me to the Nyang’oma parish, believes that the dramatic reports that follow the young priest are only a small part of the real story, which involves the evangelization of Kenya. “Miracles are happening here,” he believes. “However, it should be known that many Catholics heal people quietly. The controversy lies in the aspect of getting saved, which Father Ouma preaches about.”

Church opposition
Ann Owoko, a retired schoolteacher, says that she came to see Father Ouma, traveling to Nyang’oma from a neighboring town, so that her daughter might be healed. She expresses thoughts that are common among the Catholic people of Africa:

From what I have heard, the priest delivers people. Healing has been there in the Catholic Church. It is only that it has been suppressed. Those who met Milingo decades ago in Kenya were healed once and for all. I feel that this young priest should be allowed to help people in pain, since the Catholic faithful in Kenya have no problem with what he is doing. There is nothing wrong with this healing.

Father Ouma, for his part, insists that he has not sought out the attention that he is now receiving. The healing powers that have been attributed to him, he says emphatically, are “not of my making.”
Indeed the public scrutiny that he has received has caused many problems for the young priest. Followers of traditional African cults have bitterly opposed his work, as have some other Christian groups. He reports that some religious leaders “went door to door, telling Christians that they would kill me.”

Those threats were not idle. “When I first came to Nyang’oma,” Father Ouma relates, “some lady in the congregation poisoned the holy water. We learned that she had been sent by a certain sect here to do that.”

Among his fellow Catholics, Father Ouma encounters some people who warn him that he should not do too much to provoke the devil, while most others—like the Kenyan bishops—maintain a cautious, “wait-and-see” attitude.

Father Richard Quinn explains the most common approach: a combination of natural skepticism and the skittishness caused by the unhappy experience of Archbishop Milingo. In regard to Father Ouma, the director of the Ukweli Video studio says:

He is a simple and humble priest. But it is only that the bishops fear that these outcomes may be misunderstood, and tear the Church apart. They also fear it may turn out to be bogus.

Frederick Nzwili is a free-lance writer stationed in Nairobi.