Henry Juma Odonya

Henry Juma Odonya (born 10 December 1976) is a Kenyan Catholic prelate who serves as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitale since November 2022. Appointed bishop on 4 November 2022 by Pope Francis, he succeeded Bishop Maurice Anthony Crowley. Before he was appointed bishop, he served as a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret from 25 February 2006 until 4 November 2022. He was consecrated at Kitale on 21 January 2023 by the hands of Hubertus Matheus Maria van Megen, Titular Archbishop of Novaliciana and Papal Nuncio.

Background and education Odonya was born on 10 December 1976 in Nairobi, Kenya. He studied at Saint Mary's Major Seminary in Molo for his spiritual year in 1997. He then studied philosophy at Saint Augustine Major Seminary in Mabanga, Bungoma County, Kenya from 1998 to 1999 before he transferred to Saint Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Nairobi, where he studied theology from 2000 to 2004. In 2008 he graduated with a Licentiate in Missiology from the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, Italy.

Priesthood While still a seminarian, Odoanya became an associate of the St. Patrick's Missionary Society (SPS). He was ordained deacon on 11 June 2005. On 25 February 2006, he was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eldoret by Bishop Cornelius Korir.

Episcopacy On 4 November 2022, Pope Francis appointed Odonya as Bishop of the Diocese of Kitale. He was consecrated and installed on 21 January 2023 by Archbishop Hubertus van Megen and Co-consecrators: Bishop Maurice Anthony Crowley and Bishop Dominic Kimengich. He succeeded Maurice Anthony Crowley.