Home Page Home Page
. . . . . .
Kombo Livingstone Peshu, 36

First assignment: St. Giles, Oak Park
Education: Ndumbinyi Primary School, Timbila High School, Consolata Institute
of Philosophy, all in Kenya
Parents: Daniel Peshu Mwangangu and the late Malemba Caroline
First Mass: 9:30 a.m. May 20 at
Christ the King

When Kombo Livingstone Peshu served as an altar boy, his pastor led him to the idea of becoming a priest.

“He was very, very good in helping us understand the whole concept of priesthood,” Peshu said. “He didn’t really push it. He was very good at getting us to question ourselves.”

The questions stayed with Peshu, even after leaving high school and starting work in the national Education Ministry instead of attending college or seminary. The questions were still there after four years, when Peshu found himself with the choice of getting more administrative training to follow the path he was on, or to going to college to become a teacher. Instead, he began studying with the Capuchin Franciscans for the priesthood. “That was the most strange decision,” he said. “I was going from Nairobi, where I lived for four years, to a place in the desert.”

But before taking his final vows, Peshu felt dissatisfied. He still wanted to be a priest, and he knew the United States needed priests, so he asked a Maryknoll priest how to get in touch with U.S. dioceses. He put him in touch with Father Thomas McQuaid, now the archdiocese’s director of recruitment, who happened to be visiting Kenya.

“It was the grace of God,” Peshu said. “He wanted me to work in this country.”

Peshu thinks the archdiocese should continue to look for vocations among adults, but that shouldn’t stop them from putting a special emphasis on encouraging children to consider the priesthood or religious life.

“God calls somebody from a very young age,” he said.

He says he is a good listener, who looks forward to the pastoral care of his parishioners.

Other ordinations:
Jo-Andre Beltran
Paul Duy Duc Cao
Mark Greschel
Miguel Angel Martinez Figueroa
Michael J. Novick
Edward J. Pelrine
Kombo Livingstone Peshu
Robert William Schultz Jr.
Paul Charles Stein
Walter Antonio Yepes Galvis

Top