A journey of faith and service

By Following a call to priesthood

Alex Omari’s voice has a calming presence about it. His laughter is deep and contagious, and his jovial spirit shines through. One can imagine him on the radio, which he was in his native Kenya after studying mass communications. Though he had a passion for broadcast journalism, the desire to serve as a priest persisted.

Omari’s journey to become a Catholic priest led him to Grainger County where he has spent four months at Joppa Mountain Volunteer Program, a retreat mission immersion program operated by Glenmary Home Missioners. They work with two parishes in the area, St. John Paul II Catholic Mission in Rutledge and St. Teresa of Kolkata in Maynardville.

“The experience has been good (in Grainger County),” Omari said. “I have liked the way people here are cooperating. I’ve seen how people work together, especially in the church activities and I’ve really

liked it.” 

Omari has a love of languages and speaks four of them. As the youngest of nine siblings growing up in western Kenya in the Omogusii tribe, he spoke Ekegusii. In school, he learned English as a foreign language along with Swahili, the common language of eight east African countries. While earning his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in Uganda, he learned Luganda, the language of that country. 

The Catholic Church Omari grew up in was originally started by missionaries. He said missionaries would return to see the progress being made, and he found them to be “very happy people.” He began serving mass as an altar boy and continued through his schooling. After secondary school and university, Omari returned to Kenya in 2020 and worked at a Catholic radio station, Radio Maria Kenya, in Nairobi. His yearning to be a priest never waned, and he decided to pursue that call.

Through social media, he found Glenmary Home Missioners, an active congregation in the United States, especially in the South. Glenmary invited him to a four-year study to earn his Master of Theology degree. He attended St. Meinrad school in Indiana and has finished two years of theology study. 

When he arrived for the first time in the U.S. near the end of 2022, he said the biggest difference from Kenya was the cold weather. “In Kenya, we don’t have winter. I thought I was going to die (of cold),” he laughs.

Omari is currently in the year-long Novitate program, a year of prayer and mission experience. During this period, he has been living and working at Joppa Mountain Volunteer Program on Joppa Mountain Road. He said the program was established to be a blessing to the community and to assist people. They serve local people through ministries including nursing home and clothing ministries, food pantries, and the “fresh wagon” which distributes fresh produce and meats. They have activities at Kingswood Home for Children and work on construction projects such as building ramps and repairing roofs to help those in need. 

“It has really been a good experience for me,” Omari said. “Coming from Africa, I didn’t know that in America people had need, because it’s a first world country.” He said aiding those in need is what Glenmary’s volunteer program is about. 

In several weeks, Omari will travel to Glenmary in Cincinnati to finish the Novitiate year. Then he will profess his vows of poverty (“about sharing what we have”), obedience, chastity, and daily prayer. 

After visiting his family in Kenya for a month in July, he will return to the U.S. for two more years of study for his Master of Theology degree. 

After earning his degree, he will be assigned a mission for six months, after which he will become a deacon and then have the opportunity to go to Mexico or Guatemala to learn his fifth language, Spanish. After an additional six months, he will become a priest. 

As a priest, Omari said he will be working in the U.S., probably in the South, and could be assigned to start a parish or assigned to help grow a parish.

“With Glenmary, we go to where there is no church, we establish the church, and then when it is grown fully, we give it back to the diocese,” he said.

When asked what he would say to a young person who is feeling a call as he did, Omari said, “What I like to say, especially to the young people, is just to listen to the voice of the Lord. Listening to the voice of God and really praying. Sometimes we don’t know what we want but God will give us the best.”

Omari said there is a bible study every Tuesday at 4 p.m. at John Paul II Mission in Rutledge and people of many different denominations get together. The Bible study provides an opportunity “to share the word of God and to learn from other people.” He encourages people who are not Catholic to ask questions they may have about the Catholic faith. 

“It’s very important, especially in the local places where we are serving, to explain to people what it means to have the Catholic Church here and how we conduct our prayers,”

Omari said.

Omari’s journey to become a priest has brought him halfway around the globe where he cheerfully embraces God’s call to help people.