DAYTON, Ohio — Sister Mūmbi Kīgūtha, CPPS, professed final vows as a member of the Sisters of the Precious Blood during a liturgy held April 23 at the chapel at Salem Heights, the religious community’s central house in Dayton.
Several of Sister Mūmbi’s family and friends attended the ceremony and celebrations, as did Sisters from across the U.S. and Guatemala. Readings and songs during the Mass were conducted in Kikuyu and Swahili as well as English, and a choir in Kenya participated in the liturgy virtually. Sister Mūmbi grew up in Njoro, a small town in Kenya, where her mother was a professor at Egerton University and her father worked as a doctor.
“I am grateful for the charism of the Sisters of the Precious Blood and the spirituality of the Precious Blood that not only matched the longings of my heart but has continued to form me to be a life-giving, reconciling presence,” she wrote in the ceremony program.
Serving currently as the organizing secretary for the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network, she is engaged in activism, public speaking and writing on various social justice issues. Sister Mūmbi also serves as a reconciliation consultant for organizations such as Jesuit Refugee Services and on the board of trustees of FutureChurch. She also serves on the board of trustees of Catholic Theological Union, a leading Roman Catholic graduate school of theology located in Chicago. She is the first woman religious graduate of CTU to be appointed to the board.
Sister Mūmbi graduated from CTU in 2019 with a Master of Arts in social justice ministry and a certificate in pastoral studies, and she holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She has worked with diverse vulnerable populations, including assignments with various United Nations agencies.
The Sisters of the Precious Blood are an apostolic Catholic women’s religious congregation devoted to Eucharistic prayer and motivated by the redeeming love of Jesus. Founded in Switzerland in 1834 by Maria Anna Brunner, Precious Blood Sisters serve in the United States, Chile and Guatemala, proclaiming God’s love by being a life-giving, reconciling presence in our fractured world. Their central house in Dayton has been located on Salem Avenue since 1923.
— Story by Mary Knapke; Danny Schneible photo