During the COVID-19 lockdown, Father Louismary Ocha spent a lot of time Father Andrew Struzzieri, pastor of St. Clare Parish in Queens, who was terminally ill with cancer. Father Andy’s example is a pillar of priesthood that Father Ocha now shares with his seminarian students back home in Nigeria.
When Romania’s communist regime fell in 1989, Father Stefan Acatrinei suddenly realized he could pursue his lifelong dream to be a priest. For several weeks each summer, this seminary professor enjoys pastoral service as he assists the staff of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Queens.
Father Kondaveti is one of 80 visiting priests from around the world who have served in 75 parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn this summer.
Those priests, who enter the United States on a religious working visa, gathered at the diocesan headquarters in Park Slope on July 18 for a Mass that was celebrated by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and that included 70 visiting, non-incardinated priests. Before the Mass, several of those priests spoke to The Tablet.
