Tuesday 10 June 2008

KENYA: Catholic Missionary Brother Killed by Unknown Assailants


-An elderly Mill Hill Missionary brother was killed by unknown people on Wednesday night in Lamu Parish, in the Archdiocese of Mombasa at the Indian ocean coast.Fr Francis Schouten, the parish priest of Lamu told CISA investigations were going on to establish how Brother Brian Thorp, 77, died.He was found dead outside his room by the housekeeper in Lamu Thursday morning, apparently the victim of an armed robbery.Brian was born on 30th January 1931, at Yorkshire Bridge in Bamford, Derbyshire, England, the fourth of five sons of Clement and Mary Thorp. He attended St Michael’s Primary School at Hathersage, Derbyshire, but left school when he was 14 to work as an apprentice carpenter until he was 21.He then went on to do two years of national service with the Royal Air Force as an administration orderly. He spent the next four years working in construction sites around the country. When his parents retired in 1958, he went with them to live and work in Brighton.After the death of his youngest brother in 1967, Brian decided to spend a year to reflect on his future. It was in 1968 when he decided to join the Brothers Programme of the Mill Hill Missionaries. He took his Temporary Oath on 29th,June 1970, and his Perpetual Oath on 29th June, 1972 at Courtfield.Brother Thorp’s first appointment was to Basankusu, DR Congo. He arrived there in April 1973 and embarked on many building projects until he was withdrawn on 14th June, 1976 and appointed to the British Region.His next missionary appointment was to Kenya and he arrived in Kisumu in February 1982. He left temporarily for Jinja, Uganda in July 1991. He eventually returned to Kenya in September 1993 to work in Bungoma Diocese. He was a Chapter Delegate in 1994. On 13th October, 1997, Brother Thorp was appointed to the Mill Hill House in Jinja, Uganda. In 1999, he returned to Kenya, and was appointed to Lamu Island where he renovated the parish buildings.

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