| dc.description.abstract | Formal Catholic worship is known as celebration of the Lord’s Supper, also referred to as ‘The Mass’. This ritual involves different practices, for instance, the introductory rites, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This study focused on the inculturation of the offertory rite which is part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The purpose of the research was to examine the inculturation of the offertory rite in the celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic Diocese of Kisii. The objectives were: to examine the meaning of various Gusii cultural materials inculturated in the offertory rite during the celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic Diocese of Kisii; to assess the theological significance of the adopted cultural materials in inculturating the offertory rite, and to evaluate the challenges of inculturating the offertory rite in the Catholic Diocese of Kisii. The study was guided by the theory of inculturation which examines processes in which the faith embodied in one culture encounters another culture and becomes integrated in it. The study used qualitative design driven by phenomenological strategy of inquiry. According to this design, data was collected on the offertory rite as experienced by the research participants during Holy Mass and by the researcher through observation. The study was based on the Sunday Masses that were purposively selected and they included: 10 Sundays in ordinary time, 4 Sundays in Advent, 2 Sundays in Christmas-tide, 6 Sundays in Lent, 8 Sundays of Easter, and 2 Masses were purposively sampled that brought together a cross-section of the Catholic faithful in the Catholic Diocese of Kisii. Six Sunday Masses were randomly selected from 5 parishes that were purposively selected based on year of establishment and geographical location. Nyabururu, Rangenyo, and Nyamagwa were among the first parishes to be established, while Kisii Town Parish and Nyamira Parish were selected as urban-based parishes. From the 5 parishes, 30 Christians 6 from each parish (men, women, and youths) were selected through simple random sampling technique from the Church register, 20 Church leaders (4 from each Parish) and 25 Nuns were selected purposively for Key Informant Interviews as follows: 5 from Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph, 5 from the Mill Hill Sisters, 5 Sisters of Mary, 5 Sisters of the Blessed Virgin, 5 School Sisters of Notre Dame. In addition, the researcher sampled 10 priests who were subjected to one-on-one oral interview. There were 5 Focus Group Discussions comprising of 6 members each, totalling to 30. In total 115 respondents were interviewed. This study used three instruments to collect primary data; oral interview guide, focus group discussion guide and observation guide. Secondary data was collected from official Church documents, books on Liturgy, theses, journals, magazines, and newspapers. Data was analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis, coded and categorized according to emerging themes. The findings were reported in a descriptive way and thereafter inferences were drawn from the findings after a critical analysis. The study found out that every inculturated offertory item used by the Abagusii faithful had traditional meaning and was vital in the celebration of Holy Mass. The study concluded that inculturation of the offertory is vital in the Catholic Church because it enables the local Abagusii faithful to actively participate in the liturgy by giving from their local resources. This practice of inculturation has created awareness among the Abagusii Catholic community that God is present in people’s culture and is discernible in the simple gifts from local resources. The study recommends that further research should be carried out on Assessment of the long-term mitigations to the challenges facing inculturation in the Catholic Church. This study will enrich the discourse on liturgical theology and inform liturgical praxis in the Catholic Church in Kenya as well as add new knowledge to the existing literature on inculturation. | en_US |