St. John the Evangelist Parish

My name is Emmanuel Chineye Dim and I am from Imo State in Nigeria. I hail from a family of 13; nine children of eight boys and one girl but at present my parents have gone to meet the Lord including my eldest brother, all in 2008. I grew up in a lovely Catholic family just opposite the cathedral of my home diocese of Orlu in Imo State. This family experience helped me to have a good appreciation of the Catholic faith. I had the desire to become a priest when I was an altar server and I prayed and wished, if it was the will of God, to totally devote my life to him as a priest.

I decided to be a missionary in particular seeing the wonderful life of service of missionary priests who served in my diocese. Hence, I applied to join the Society of African Missions (SMA) in order to discern this burning desire of the missionary priesthood. The SMA was founded to bring the gospel to the most abandoned particularly in the interior of Africa. After 11 years of missionary training which included the study of philosophy and theology, I was ordained a priest on the 6th of July 2013.

At the moment I am working with predominantly Sotho people in South Africa. I am really enjoying my mission there. I have enjoyed good hospitality and warm embrace from the local people. I have enjoyed so much love from God and people and it is this same love that I am sharing with my people in South Africa. Knowing the political history of South Africa, it behooves me to say, my mission is one of healing and preaching the joy of the gospel and being actively present to the poor, the marginalized in the society, those who lack common water or food and women and children who are deprived of education because of lack of resources.

It was so awesome to hear that I would be among those taking part in the summer pastoral programme in the Archdiocese of Boston. This is my first visit to the USA and everything I see here is thrilling. I become so overwhelmed by the amount of development and beauty of the country. I must say that since I arrived, I have received warm welcome from the Fathers and people. Your simple smiles and greetings means a lot. You are good people. Thus, I have settled well, the jet lags are gone and I am looking forward to meeting you all and having a wonderful two months with you all.

Cheers and May God bless you all. —Fr. Emmanuel

Please join us in welcoming Fr. Emmanuel Dim, SMA to the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative community! Fr. Emmanuel, who is originally from Nigeria, is a parish priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Johannesburg, South Africa. Fr. Emmanuel will be with us for the summer, primarily at St. Paul, but you may also see him riding his bicycle around town – if you do, please say hello and welcome!

We join all people of faith and good will in prayerful solidarity with the Emanuel AME Church congregation and community of Charleston during this time of loss and heartache. It is foundational to our country’s heritage that places of worship always be sanctuaries of prayer, safety and peace. We must reject these senseless acts of hatred and brutality in society. Commending the victims of this attack to God’s loving mercy, we pray for healing through the words of the Prayer of Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

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