“We may not see the fruit of what we are doing here now but in the future, it will bear fruit,” are the words of Rt. Rev. Joseph Alessandro, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Garissa as he speaks to The Seed about the growth of the catholic faith in his diocese.

It is a statement full of hope for the diocese that exists in largely Muslim territory.

Every morning at 5.30 am the call to prayer goes up in several places of worship across Garissa Town.  But at 7 am a group of Catholic faithful will be seen walking into Our Lady Consolata cathedral for morning Mass.  It is a small community of around 20 faithful that gather for the weekday Masses.  You would expect more people for a bustling town such as  Garissa, but the low number is not unusual; the area is largely Muslim and Christians are a minority made up of civil servants working in the town.

While many missionaries used schools, health centres, and other projects as a source of reaching out to new converts, the catholic diocese of Garissa exists within < read more >