“As a missionary, we go to different parts of the world and help the diocese to serve the Church and the people,” says Father Thomas Aquinas Giragori Chinnappan, HGN.

“As a Dominican, we are open to going anywhere: for studies, missions,” says Father Peter Onwe, OP.

“It’s beautiful being here,” says Father Gabriel Osagie Odin, OP. “As a missionary, to evangelize, you pick up your bags, pick up your sandals, and go.”

The newly arrived priests were all raised in traditional Catholic families, and all say they were active in the Church at a young age. Father Chinnappan, who is from Tamil Nadu, India, remembers going to Mass every day.

“My father and my mother were devoted to the Church,” he says. “When I was a kid, my father used to take me every morning at 5:30 to church.”

Father Chinnappan attended Catholic school, and when he was in the fifth or sixth grade, he became an altar server. He says it was the example of the parish priest that led him to discover his vocation.

“It was his dedication to parish ministry and his way of mingling with everyone and his simplicity and hard work in the parish. Everything made me think that one day I also would like to become a priest like him,” he says.

Vocation promoters, including members of the Heralds of Good News, also visited. Father Chinnappan says he was drawn to the Heralds because it is a missionary society.

“It is my order’s goal to go and serve everywhere in different parts of the world wherever there is need for a priest,” he says.

Following his ordination to the priesthood in 2012, Father Chinnappan served at six different parishes in southern India over a period of six years. Then, in 2018, he was assigned to the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. He served there for five years, then was named assistant pastor of a church in Chennai, India, his final assignment before coming to Maine.  

Father Chinnappan says he always tries to keep in mind that he became a priest to serve the people. He says what he enjoys most is celebrating the sacraments, especially the celebration of the Eucharist.

“It is a time where I give Christ to others through the body and blood. It is celebrating the sacraments for people, such as the anointing of the sick for people who are in need of God’s grace,” he says.

Father Chinnappan is now serving as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Bridgton and St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Norway.

While Father Chinnappan had previously served in the U.S., this is the first time that Father Sylvester Nwaokolo, OP, has been here. Still, he says he is happy with the assignment.

“It is evangelization,” he says. “I would like to thank you people for inviting us.”

Growing up in Nigeria, Father Nwaokolo says his mother was a particularly strong witness to the faith.

 “My mom was in the Legion of Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” he says. “She was quite an inspiration.”

Father Nwaokolo says even at a young age, he had the desire to serve the Church. He remembers pleading with the priest to allow him to become an altar server even before he made his first Communion. He says the priest agreed, allowing him to assist, except during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

 Despite his desire to serve, he says he wasn’t yet thinking about the priesthood. In fact, he says he attended minor seminary not to pursue a religious vocation but because he wanted to live away from home.

“Nursery school, primary school, with this and that, I was always at home. My elder brother and sister — they were twins, Patrick and Patricia — went to a boarding house, and I was tired of being at home,” he says.

He says his mother agreed, believing that he felt a call to the priesthood.

While that may not have been at the forefront of his mind when he went to the minor seminary, it was by the time he left. It was there that he was introduced to the Dominicans, who came to the school to talk with the high school-aged students about vocations.

“When we were on what they call midterm or an outing, we went to the Dominicans because they had good food there. We looked forward to eating there once a month,” he says. “They invited us to come on our free days, to just come and look around.”

Father Nwaokolo points to two priests who especially influenced his vocation, Father Ambrose Windbacher, OP, who served as vocations director — he still has a letter the priest sent him — and Father Chukwubikem Okpechi, OP.

“I can’t leave them out in my vocation [story] because, somehow, they touched me. Without them, perhaps I wouldn’t be a Dominican,” he says.

Ordained to the priesthood in September 2000, Father Nwaokolo says as a priest, he feels a call to serve humanity.

“It’s just that aspect of preaching the good news and being close to God,” he says.

His first assignment was as an associate pastor at St. Dominic Church in Yaba, Lagos State. He then served for 12 years at St. Paul Church in Oyigbo, Rivers State. He says, while there, he especially tried to connect with the youth by introducing them to basketball.

“They are not active. They come and go, but when I introduced basketball, you would see many of them. Boom. I started a tournament, and it became another thing altogether,” he says. “It’s only when we’re able to meet them at their own level and then gain their trust and confidence that they will say, ‘OK, let us try it out.’”

He next became the prior of the St. Thomas Aquinas Formation House, after which he returned to St. Dominic Parish, followed by service at St. Patrick Church in Agbor-Obi, Delta State. He also served in Qatar, which he describes as a good steppingstone to coming to the United States because of the increased role of laypeople there. He says, for instance, that having laypeople serve as extraordinary ministers of holy Communion isn’t common in Nigeria.

“You have laypeople who help out, and it’s wonderful,” he says. “It tells us priests that everybody has a role to play in the Church. We can’t do everything. We have our own role. The Church belongs to everybody, not just us priests.”

As a priest, Father Nwaokolo says he enjoys visiting with people, especially those who have not been coming to church, seeing it as an opportunity to re-awaken their faith.

 “You see that it’s rewarding, and they appreciate it,” he says.

Father Nwaokolo was assigned as a parochial vicar of the Portland Peninsula & Island Parishes effective September 1.

 Father Gabriel Odin, OP, is now serving as a chaplain at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. This is his first time in the United States, but he says he welcomed the opportunity. He says when he became a Dominican, he told himself he would be open to any assignment.

“I told myself that wherever it is I’m sent to, I will go. I will go and do what the Lord wants me to do. I work for the Lord,” he says.

Father Odin, who is from Nigeria, says he was introduced to the Dominican community at a young age.

“I was an altar server. I assisted in the Dominican community. I led the Rosary every Sunday at Mass. I was also a lector at the Sunday school, during the children’s Mass,” he says.

Father Odin says he began leading the Rosary when he was just eight years old, inspired by the example of his father.

“He was part of the charismatic group and was one of those who began the Holy Family Society right there in the Dominican Community of Christ. So, he actually motivated me. He said, ‘Gabriel, it’s something you can do.’”

The Dominican Community of Christ was composed of laypeople. Father Odin says they attended Mass at the chapel that was part of the Dominican formation house. He says he first thought of joining the order when he was around 10 years old.

“Even at that age, I had understood. I had learned. How did I learn? By participating in the prayers, the lauds, the vespers. A few times, I snuck into the dining room and ate with them. I found that common life — eating together, common prayer, and common recreation — was so beautiful. And even at that age, at that stage, I learned about living the vows. Poverty? Very simple. You just depend on divine providence. Chastity? You have to be chaste. And obedience? Obedience to God through the superior,” he says.

Father Odin says through minor and then major seminary, his vocation remained strong. 

“The interest and the choice to become a priest was way, way more than every other thing. Then, I prayed. I prayed so much to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” he says. “I wanted to become a priest because I saw the need for God’s word to be brought to everyone, to be brought to anyone who needs it. And why would that person need it? Because of salvation. So, I wanted to be one of those who was going to bring God’s word without any attachment to family or any other thing but just to serve God and follow Christ completely and totally. That’s what we call Sequela Christi: a complete and total follower of Christ.”

Father Odin was ordained a priest in July 2013. He first served at Emmanuel Catholic Church in Enugu and became the director of Verbum Networks, which is an information technology company owned by the Dominicans. In 2015, he helped to establish a Dominican house, Our Lady of the Friars, in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. He served as prior of a community of priests, then in 2018, he was named pastor of St. Jude Church in Mafoluku, Lagos. During his time there, he oversaw the construction of a hall and perpetual adoration chapel.

“I was so happy that that was built because you know what people call the chapel? The powerhouse. All the power you need is there,” he says.

He says his assignments led to his devotions to Our Lady and to St. Jude Thaddeus.

 “St. Jude really intercedes for me. It wasn’t easy because there was a lot that I think the Lord wanted me to do: the social life, the intellectual life of the parish, the welfare of the parishioners,” he says.

In January 2024, he was reassigned to St. Paul Church in Oyigbo, Rivers State, as an associate pastor, his final assignment before coming to Maine. He says it gave him time to reflect.

“Did I do what God wanted me to do? What did I accomplish?” he says.

Father Peter Onwe, OP, says he has always drawn sustenance from a strong prayer life.

“I have my morning prayer, and I try to encourage people to have a devotion to the Divine Mercy. That’s in the afternoon, and then I have my private prayer at night,” he says. “Lauds, vespers, for priests and for Dominicans and religious are very important.”

Along with the Liturgy of the Hours, Father Onwe says Dominicans practice communal prayer, as well as spending time in silence.

“It is required of us that you keep at least 30 minutes of silence,” he says. “For me, I try to maintain a Holy Hour with the Lord, spend one hour a day with the Lord. It has been really helpful for me over the years.”

Originally from Ibadan, Nigeria, Father Onwe says he was introduced to the Dominicans at a young age.

“Our house where we resided is close to the Dominican House of Formation. So, we worshiped there. Perhaps that influenced my decision on becoming a priest and a Dominican,” he says. “I got my catechism there, my first holy Communion, and my confirmation there.”

He was also an altar server, which gave him an opportunity to interact with many Dominican brothers.

“We have the Dominican Young Heart Movement, which is an association meant for young people, the age of teenagers, where they teach us the Dominican spirituality. We come together on a Saturday. We pray the psalms, the canticles, the Magnificat, and perhaps the brothers in charge also lecture us on some aspect of Dominican spirituality,” he says. “So, in a way, all of those experiences shaped or maybe informed my choice of becoming a Dominican priest.”

He studied computer science in college but still returned to the Dominican community during school breaks.

“There was never a time that I lost touch with the Dominicans,” he says.

He eventually joined the order and was ordained to the priesthood in August 2017. He then served as an associate pastor at a parish in Abuja, followed by parishes in Benin City and Enugu. After that, he was named the assistant director of students in priestly formation at the formation house and then became director of information and communications technology at Dominican University and Dominican Institute Ibadan. He also served as the director of Verbum Networks.

Now in Maine, he says he hopes to continue doing what he did in Nigeria: “Be more open, meet people, and maintain my spiritual life. By doing this, people will encounter Christ through me.”

Father Onwe is serving as a chaplain at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston.

Father Benjamin Simon, HGN, says he sees the role of the priest as a mediator.

“Whether you are a rich person or a poor person, ultimately, where we all come together is peace and love. And where we can get that is only in God, through God. So, we need a mediator who can bring the people, lead the people to enjoy the peace that God gives, the love that God gives,” he says. 

Father Simon is originally from the village of Nangathur in Tamil Nadu, India. He says his grandparents and parents were powerful witnesses to the faith, encouraging him to attend Mass daily.

“We have Mass at 6 a.m. and then, in the evening, Rosary at 6 p.m. And in school, every day, from 9 to 9:45 was catechism class,” he says. “The entire village is a Catholic village, so we used to go to the church and then school and then church again. Everything is completely God’s presence.”

He says a member of the Heralds of Good News came to preach, which led him to consider whether he might be called to join the society.

“I brought him to my house, introduced him to my father and mother, and they were also very happy,” he says. “My father was very happy that he was going to have a priest in the family.”

Father Simon says he was attracted to the Heralds of Good News because of its missionary call.

“The mission of the Heralds of Good News is to form the priests and then send them where there is need. So, I thought, I am willing to work even outside of the state, even outside of the country. It is not that easy. Why? Because when we go to another state, we have to learn a new language and new culture. So, it is totally different, but I thought, ‘Maybe this is for me. I can very well adapt,’” he says. “I can serve the Church, the universal Church, so that was the striking point.”

He was ordained to the priesthood in 2001 and was assigned as secretary to the superior general of the Heralds of Good News. He then spent his next 10 years of pastoral ministry in the Netherlands.

“Myself and another priest, we were the pioneers to start that mission,” he says. “They were very welcoming, warm and welcoming. A new language I had to learn, a new culture. It was a totally different situation.”

Father Simon says he has a gift for learning languages, however, and within 53 days, he was able to celebrate Mass in Dutch.

“I enjoyed the ministry there. God gifted me. The children whom I baptized, in 2013, I gave them holy Communion in the same church,” he says. “It was a very loving community. We had a very good relationship.”

He says his experiences in the Netherlands benefited him when he returned to India in 2014 to serve as pastor of a parish in Chennai in the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. He then served at churches in the Diocese of Salem and the Diocese of Chengalpattu before being named the rector of the Heralds of Good News minor seminary in Tamil Nadu.

After 10 years serving in India, Father Simon says he asked for a ministry outside the country, which led to his assignment in Maine.

He says what he most enjoys about the priesthood is celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments, and helping people develop their faith. 

Father Simon is currently serving at St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Camden.

The Diocese of Portland also welcomed Father Luc Tougouma, a member of the Society of African Missions, in July. You will be able to read his story in the next issue of Harvest.