Linus Okok Okwach (20 October 1952 – 12 September 2020), was a Kenyan Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay. He was appointed as bishop of Homa Bay on 18 October 1993 and he resigned on 20 February 2002.
Background and priesthood
Okwach was born on 20 October 1952 in the city of
Kisumu
Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya located in the Lake Victoria area in the former Nyanza Province. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The ...
, in the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kisumu
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kisumu () is the Latin Metropolitan See for the ecclesiastical province of Kisumu in western Kenya.
The cathedral archiepiscopal see is St. Theresa’s Cathedral, in Kisumu, Kisumu County.
Statistics
As per ...
, in present-day
Kisumu County
Kisumu County is one of 47 counties in the Republic of Kenya. Its borders follow those of the original Kisumu District, one of the former districts of Kenya, administrative districts of the former Nyanza Province in western Kenya. Its headquart ...
. He was ordained a priest on 10 December 1980. He served as a priest of the Archdiocese of Kisumu until 18 October 1993.
As bishop
Father Okwach was appointed Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay on 18 October 1993. He was the first Ordinary of the newly created diocese, and was consecrated a bishop at Homa Bay on 31 December 1993 by Cardinal
Jozef Tomko, Cardinal-Deacon of
Gesù Buon Pastore alla Montagnola, assisted by Archbishop
Clemente Faccani, Titular Archbishop of Serra, and Archbishop
Zacchaeus Okoth, Archbishop of Kisumu. Bishop Okwach resigned as Bishop of Homa Bay on 20 February 2002.
Illness and death
Bishop Emeritus Okwach fell down at his residence in 2019 and injured his back. He never stood up or walked again after the fall. Three weeks before his death, Bishop Okwach was admitted to
St Monica Hospital in Kisumu on account of complications of his illness. He died in hospital on 12 September 2020.
He was laid to rest at St Paul's Cathedral in
Homa Bay
Homa Bay is a town (and eponymous bay) on the south shore of Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria, in western Kenya. It lies near Mount Homa (in the Luo language ''Got Marahuma'' or ''God Uma'' famous mountain" and Ruma National Park, the latter note ...
on 30 September 2020.
References
External links
About the Roman Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okwach, Linus, Okok
1952 births
2020 deaths
People from Kisumu County
20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya
Roman Catholic bishops of Homa Bay
Kenyan Roman Catholic bishops
Academic staff of St. Matthias Mulumba Tindinyo Seminary