Date of death: 8/21/2011
Saint Meinrad Class: T 2013
Stanley Maina Kariuki, 32, was the fourth of five children born on Nov. 28, 1979 to John Kariuki Cairiro and Mary Wairimu Kariuki, a faithful Catholic family in Molo, Nakuru County, Kenya. He attended public schools there and graduated from high school in 1998. After a year helping his parents and working with the young people in his home parish, he enrolled in a medical training college, receiving certification as a laboratory technician.It was during the time that he was employed at St. Camillus Mission Hospital, Karungu, Kenya, where Mr. Kariuki first witnessed the idea of self-sacrifice that characterizes a zealous priest. In 2004, Mr. Kariuki entered Clerks Regular of St. Camillus, a Catholic religious congregation that provides health care to the poor as a way of offering witness to God’s love.Upon completing his philosophical studies with the Camillian Fathers, Mr. Kariuki joined the Glenmary Home Missioners and following his novitiate, was assigned to study theology at Saint Meinrad Seminary where he enrolled in August of 2009 with the Glenmary Fathers of St. Meinrad. There, after discerning that his vocation was to serve as a diocesan priest, he applied to the Diocese of Tulsa, arriving here in May, 2011.In reflecting upon his vocation and his willingness to serve so far from home, Kariuki wrote in his application to the Diocese: God is everything I have or desire. Everyday I come into a deeper conviction about God’s love for me. G╟¬ God is ever there for us, his constancy and providence in all the areas of my life is amazing.”In offering condolences to the families of these two men, Bishop Slattery drew upon the faith shown by Mr. Kariuki in the Providence of God. “God is merciful in all things,” he said, “How is it possible that in this tragedy God has not also shown us his merciful love?”Mr. Kariuki is survived by his mother and four siblings, all of who reside in Kenya.**From the Diocese of Tulsa website.”