It is an invitation to join a community that gives one’s life fully to God and the Church. A strong desire fueled by the Holy Spirit to prayer, mission, and spirituality. A call to religious life starts at a young age for some, is prompted by an inspirational moment or mentor later in life for others, and for some requires extensive travel and reflection.
For Rev. David Kashangaki, C.S.C., growing up in Kenya in a large family of five boys and two girls, his calling to be a priest required long-distance travel to fulfill his vocation.
“I felt that I wanted to be a priest from third grade, and that’s what I was going to dedicate myself to accomplishing if that was God’s will,” said Fr. Kashangaki who was influenced by the different religious congregations involved in the Nairobi Catholic community. Parishes he visited during his formative years were administered by Consolata Missionaries, Spiritans, and the Guadalupe Fathers among others. He also spent much of his formative years under the influence of members of Opus Dei. The spiritual attention that the priests of Opus Dei conveyed, and that he experienced from them, left a permanent impression that he felt called to imitate. As his calling to the priesthood grew, he was met with a complication.
“I wanted to do ministry in East Africa, but I couldn’t do it through any local diocese because you have to be a citizen, and I was born before Kenya attained her independence. I was therefore technically not a citizen of Kenya. Without the option of joining a diocese to do my ministry, I said, ‘Well, I need to find a religious community that will work in East Africa and will allow me to fulfill these dreams,’ ” shared Fr. Kashangaki.
Up to this point, Fr. Kashangaki did not know the Congregation of Holy Cross was working in Africa. The community was located in one of the toughest places in Nairobi with a parish in Dandora. It was known as an area with high crime, had a large city garbage dump that polluted the area, and the street children were living off the scraps found in the refuse.
The Journey
Everything that happened in his life guided him in the direction to seek out a religious community and join the priesthood. Anytime he questioned his choices or the journey, God sent an affirmation for him to continue his search. He decided to come to the United States for college knowing this opportunity would aid him in his search for a religious community.
“I figured, once I get there, I will continue looking and see what communities live and work in East Africa. I had a couple of classmates from Nairobi who came to college here and they came to Notre Dame. So, after a year in Baltimore, I transferred to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The spring following my move there, I came to Notre Dame to visit my friends who were on spring break, and I let the vocation directors know that I was interested in joining religious life,” recalled Fr. Kashangaki. “They started sending me vocation materials and Holy Cross publications that shared stories of men in mission, and that’s when I discovered that Holy Cross was in East Africa. One of the publications that I received at this time had a photo of Rev. Jack Keefe, C.S.C., walking through a banana plantation somewhere in Uganda, and just that photo kindled my dreams and I said, ‘Well, this is the perfect fit.’ ”
He continued his education and after graduation went back to Kenya to be with family and continue to discern the next phase of the journey at the end of 1986.
“Eventually, I got my act together and after a few communications with the vocation director (at Moreau Seminary), they said that if I wanted to work in East Africa, I should really go and do my formation in East Africa. I agreed and went back to Nairobi,” said Fr. Kashangaki.
While in Nairobi, he went to the Holy Cross community in Dandora for the first time and met Rev. Tom Smith, C.S.C., then the vocation director.
“I came back to the United States for a couple more years just to experience life and see what else God might have in mind for me. I practiced a little independent living and working and paying my bills, trying to figure things out. Eventually, I went back in the summer of ’89 because my older brother was getting married, and figured this was a good time to stay and continue my own journey. I joined Holy Cross in the summer of ’89 and the rest, as they say, is history,” said Fr. Kashangaki.
He started his journey with a year of candidacy in a Nairobi parish attending Consolata Seminary rounding out his philosophical preparation.
“Then I moved to Fort Portal in western Uganda to our novitiate there. I did a year novitiate, which was probably the best year of my life in community. Then, I went back to Nairobi and did two years of theology living in Dandora. Then, I took a pastoral year, and went to the city of Jinja in Uganda and lived in our parish in Jinja. I got to do a little school ministry there, and then I went back to Nairobi and finished off my theology. So, it went from 1989 to when I made final vows in 1996,” said Fr. Kashangaki about his time in formation.
After ordination, Fr. Kashangaki spent three years in the parish in Nairobi as an associate pastor. He worked with a lot of small, Christian communities and did a lot of visiting the sick. One of his duties was attending to parish business including council meetings with people not speaking his native tongue. The communication barriers made the tasks difficult, but he forged through learning as much as he could during his time there. Working for justice and having to occasionally confront police and visit the prisons seeking the release of various parishioners added to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ mission.
In 2001, Fr. Kashangaki moved to the candidacy program at André House in Jinja, Uganda, to help with initial formation and preparation for higher education studies. Fr. Kashangaki, came back to the United States in 2002 and pursued a master’s degree in political science at the University of Notre Dame. While there, he lived in Morrissey Manor celebrating Mass in the dorm for students, and spent time in the library and other quiet areas reading, studying, writing papers, and preparing for exams. It was a peaceful time allowing him to interact with the Corby community and encounter a larger group of Holy Cross priests.
In October 2004, Fr. Kashangaki returned to East Africa, specifically to André Formation House in Jinja, Uganda. There, he resumed working with those taking their initial discernment steps and teaching political science courses to candidates of numerous religious congregations who gathered each morning at the Jinja Philosophy Center (PCJ) for classes. He welcomed the opportunity to create a syllabus, share his passion for politics with the students, and find a system to grade and foster passion in them.
In 2006, Fr. Kashangaki participated in an inspirational three-week Holy Cross Heritage experience in France. He spent time in the Church of Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix in Le Mans, learning about Fr. Moreau, Fr. Dujarie, and the Sisters of Holy Cross, and visiting the places of birth and burial of these Holy Cross founders.
During the 2000s, Fr. Kashangaki traveled and worked in different areas of East Africa, returning to the United States in 2011 to take on the role of Parochial Vicar at two downtown South Bend, Indiana, parishes – St. Patrick and St. Hedwig. There, he found a sense of fulfillment spending time hearing confessions, visiting the sick, baptizing infants, celebrating daily Mass, preparing adults for entrance into the Catholic Church, working with couples in wedding preparation, and celebrating funerals.
“I want to draw people to loving and trusting in God a whole lot more than seems possible. I hope to leave an imprint of practicing and living prayer for people to follow. I think those would be the two major tangible things that I hope would be a product of my ministry,” said Fr. Kashangaki.
Published November 2024.
