Appreciation - Bishop Francis Baldacchino, OFM Cap

Fr Silvester Bonavia, OFM Cap, writes:

It is a month since Bishop Francis Baldacchino, OFM Cap, first bishop of Malindi, Kenya, was called by the Father. He had just turned 73 and completed 56 years of capuchin franciscan life, 48 years of priestly ministry, 35 years in missionary work and more than nine years of episcopal service in Kenya.

I shared most of these years with him. I remember his missionary zeal before our priestly ordination, when we used to publish the missionary magazine Omm ir-Ragħaj Divin, together with the frequent meetings we had among us clerics in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

After his ordination in 1961, he went on to higher studies in theology and Holy Scripture in Rome and in Jerusalem. On his return to Malta in 1967, he started teaching theology and Holy Scripture and helping with pastoral work in the Holy Trinity parish, Marsa.

Later, he was called to the responsibility of formation, during which years I worked with him to prepare our younger candidates at the Capuchin Minor Seminary.

In January 1974 he offered to go to Kenya, where the Malta Capuchin Province opted to serve in the Garissa mission. He immediately adjusted to Kenyan life and customs and did pioneer work in the southern part of that mission, which was later to become his specialised field, and of which he became the first bishop when Pope John Paul II established it as a new diocese in 2000.

When I joined the Capuchin missionaries there in early 1985, Mgr Baldacchino helped me build and strengthen my mission work on the small christian communities, which I continued for the next 10 years.

Between 1984 and 1990, he was Superior of the Capuchin mission in Kenya. Among his achievements, he organised and strengthened the formation of local Capuchins, especially by building a postulancy house in Mpeketoni and a major seminary in Nairobi which are still functioning.

The people of Malindi will forever remember his "generous missionary service", as Pope Pope Benedict XVI said in his telegram. They will continue the work he started: the formation of candidates to the priesthood and for consecrated life, the formation of local leaders, encouraging and helping youngsters to further higher studies, and helping the poor.

His funeral was held on October 13. The participation of Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, who led a delegation of Kenyan bishops from the African Synod meeting in Rome, together with Mgr Paul Darmanin, who came to Malta in time for the funeral, was a great sign of the appreciation of the Kenya Episcopal Conference as a whole.

Tomorrow, a concelebrated Mass will be held at 6 p.m. at Holy Trinity parish church, Marsa, his birthplace. It will be led by Mgr Paul Darmanin, OFM Cap, Bishop of Garissa.

May he rest in the peace of the Lord.