In a fitting send-off for a church peacemaker, Bishop Cornelius Korir of Eldoret was on Saturday (11 November) interred in a small chapel inside the Sacred Heart Cathedral, the seat of the diocese.
Eldoret - known as the heart of Kenya’s long distance running - came to a standstill as church and state converged to bury the 67 years old cleric, who was largely celebrated as a “peace bishop”. Nearly 70,000 mourners attended the funeral at the Eldoret Sports Club.
At the burial, Cardinal John Njue said in order to follow in the footsteps of the bishop, Kenyans had responsibility to desist from being divided along political and ethnic lines.
“Let us build bridges not war. Let us focus on what unites us rather than what divides us,” appealed the cardinal.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy and a host of other state officials attended the burial.
Kenyatta used the moment to stress national unity, terming the bishop an icon of peace, whose death was a blow to peace efforts in the country.
“He wanted us to plan peace caravans and empower communities which were involved in conflict,” said Kenyatta, saying the bishop had used the pulpit to preach peace, reconciliation and unity.
Korir had been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, which had gone undetected for years, according to Bishop Philip Anyolo, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishop (KCCB) chairman
He had died suddenly on October 30 in his diocese, as he prepared to seek treatment in Nairobi the following day. Before, he had spent several days in bed complaining of sickness.
Pope Francis mourned the bishop as a great loss to the church and said he stood with Kenyans at this time.
During his 27 years of evangelism, Bishop Korir had run his kind of long distance race - mediating and brokering peace among warring communities. He also always sought to encourage people to move beyond their political and ethnic differences.
Korir was born on 6 July, 1950 at Segutiet in Kericho diocese as the fourth child in a family of eight. He was ordained a priest in 1982 and consecrated the Bishop of Eldoret in June 1990.
The bishop had served in a region prone to ethnic clashes. His work as a peacemaker started in 1992, when the region was hit by violent political and inter -tribal violence, with people being killed and property destroyed. The bishop had led in relief distribution in the region.
His diocese was the epicentre of the 2007-2008 post-election violence, which left at least 1000 people dead and over 600000 displaced in the two months violence.
Catholic Church centres there hosted thousands of people, mainly women and children who were forced out of their homes by marauding gangs of armed youth. His Cathedral at the eve of the violence hosted nearly 10,000 people.
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