Maria Legio A Catholic Breakaway Church
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Date
2001-02
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Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
In the continent where Christianity is experiencing its most rapid growth, a great deal of this
expansion is taking place in the African Independent Churches. Turner defines these Churches
as having, been founded in Africa, by Africans and primarily for Afr cans.2 A primary
characteristic of the African Independent Churches is their commitment to the adaptation of the
gospel to African needs, life-view and style-3 Their attractiveness grows out of their serious
attempt to make and express their faith in genuinely African cultural forms and styles.
In our research work. We are going to focus our attention on the Maria Legio Church of Kenya.
This is the breakaway movement from the Catholic Church which originated among the Luo of
South Nyanza around two colourful people: Simeo Ondeto and Gaudencia Aoko. The
movement affirms people in their context and answers their needs by creating a truly African
haven of belonging.4 This movement has emerged as the largest African Independent Church to
have broken from Catholicism in Africa.5 It is an off shoot of the Legion of Mary, a Catholic lay
organisation from Ireland, which was established in Kenya in 1936 by Edel Quinn The Maria
Legio are widespread in the regions of Eastern Africa, though mainly among the Luo or people
which have affinity with Luo.6 Because of the predominance of Luo leadership, culture and customs, it seems unlikely that the Maria Legio will gain significant numbers of non-Luo
members in the future.'
Our research will briefly take a glance at the context of the birth of the movement, its
theological teaching and doctrine and finally our evaluation of its concept of the Church.
The main source of our research is the work by: Peter Dirven, Maria Legio: The Dynamics of a
Breakaway Church among the Luo in Past Africa, Ph.D. Dissertation, Pontifical Gregorian
University, Rome, 1970.
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Keywords
Legio Maria, Catholic Church, Marian Devotions, Catholic Scene, Political Situation, Religious Situation, Socio- Economic Situation, Teachings of the Maria Legio