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The Consolata Missionaries in Kenya,
following the directives of the Congregation
for the Evangelization of Peoples and the
encouragement of the AMECEA Conference (Lusaka
1970), decided to start the construction of
their own Seminary. In 1970 the recruiting of
African Candidates for Religious Missionary
Priesthood began.
The building of the residence (near to
St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Langata) was
started in 1971 and in 1972 part of it was
ready. The Philosophy students began attending
classes at the nearby Kenya National Diocesan
Major Seminary, but in 1974 it became
necessary to have classes and other facilities
for Consolata students, since the
Philosophical course of the National Seminary
was transferred to Mabanga, in Bungoma
District.
Thus the teaching of Philosophy started
at Consolata Seminary, where a private
Certificate and a Diploma in Philosophy and
Religious Studies were issued at the end of
the two year course.
In order to meet the needs of an
increasing number of students both from the
Consolata and other Congregations, new
buildings were added in 1980 and the
curriculum was revised into a 3-year course to
prepare for affiliation to Urbaniana
University in Rome, which was granted in 1982,
enabling the students to obtain the First
Degree in Philosophy (Baccalaureate)
recognized by the Church and is in line with
other Ecclesiastical Universities all over the
world.
In 1996 a decision was reached to make
Seminary and Institute of Philosophy two
independent institutions so they could better
develop each in its own way. A new building
for the Institute was erected in 1997 and
inaugurated in January 1998. A library has
been built in 1999. For the information of
civil authorities, students and the public at
large, it should be clearly understood that
the main purpose of our Institute is to
prepare candidates for the priesthood and
religious life with a view to proceed to
theological studies. Therefore, our B.A. in
Philosophy is mainly for ecclesiastical
purposes, to qualify the student to enter a
Theology College or Seminary for priestly or
religious formation. It is not equivalent to
the B.A. awarded by civil universities, e.g.,
Nairobi University, and it does not meet the
full requirement and recognition demanded by
the Kenyan B.A. University Awards
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