The Generalate’s community in Rome will celebrate, on 18 July 2024, the 25th anniversary of the priestly ordination of the Superior General of the Consolata Missionaries, Father James Bhola Lengarin. The thanksgiving mass will be celebrated at 12:00 pm, lunch will follow.
By Jaime C. Patias *
On the occasion of this jubilee, the Consolata family is invited to join the Superior General in prayer to give thanks to God for all the gifts and graces he received through his priestly ministry in these last 25 years. We pray that through the intercession of the Blessed Founder, Joseph Allamano, God may continue to guide and protect him at the service of our Institute in accompanying and forming holy missionary.
Thanksgiving mass in Wamba, Kenya
On Sunday 11 August 2024, Father James Bhola Lengarin will celebrate a thanksgiving mass at the Wamba Mission in Kenya, where he was ordained a priest on 18 July 1999.
Biography
Father James Bhola Lengarin was born on 15 April 1971 in Kenya, Maralal Rift Valley province, 300 kilometers north of Nairobi. Son of Leaburia Lapus and Naiduri Leaburia, from the Samburu ethnic group, nomadic shepherds who live close to nature, their livestock and territory. Fr. James studied primary school in Masikita (1979-1980) and Baragoi (1981-1985); in Baragoi he also attended secondary school (1986 -1989). He began his religious formation as a Consolata missionary in Nairobi, at the “Consolata Seminary” where he completed his postulancy and studied philosophy from 1990 to 1993.
He completed the year of Novitiate in Sagana, Kenya, where he made his first religious profession on 6 August 1994. From 1994 to 1997 he studied Theology in London, England, and subsequently obtained a Master’s Degree in Missiology in Rome, from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained deacon on 27 June 1998 in Rome-Bravetta by Mons. Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, IMC. His priestly ordination took place on 18 July 1999 in Wamba, Kenya, celebrated by Monsignor Ambrogio Ravasi, IMC, bishop of the diocese of Marsabit.
During his first years of ministry in Italy, he was a missionary animator in Galatina, and Martina Franca, assistant and then rector of the theological seminary of Bravetta (Rome). Back in Kenya, he was novice master in Mathari, then Director of the Language School in Nairobi, Rector of the Nairobi Consolata Shrine and Administrator of the Kenya-Uganda Region.
In 2017 he took part at the XIII General Chapter in Rome, where he was elected Vice Superior General, a position he held from 2017 to 2023.
At the last General Chapter, on 12 June 2023, Father James Bhola Lengarin was elected as the tenth Superior General of the Consolata Missionaries, the first of African origin in the history of the Congregation, a position he will hold until 2029.
*General Secretariat for IMC Communication.
