US-based Nigerian Catholic Priest Chooses Death Over Returning To His Home Country

 

By Adesina Soyooye

“My heart is broken. It is not my wish to return to Nigeria now”

For Nigerian-born Catholic Priest based in the United States of America, death is better than being returning to his home country. So, he chose death, and, allegedly, committed suicide. “My heart is broken. It is not my wish to return to Nigeria now”,  he wrote in a post.

The Roman Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Benjamin Madu, from Nigeria, had been billed to leave the United States over visa issue, and had been preparing for his departure.

But that was not to be. For, now, he would either be sent back to Nigeria in a body bag or buried in the United.

Church officials in Massachusetts, USA,  where he had  been serving as a  Chaplain in a hospital, for years, said Rev. Madu, who was  of the Diocese of Abakaliki, before he travelled to the US, died Thursday last week.

An announcement made by   Rev Father Jim Achadinha of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport,  described Fr. Madu’s death as a “devastating loss.”

Madu, said Achadinha,  “served Holy Family Parish and Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish with true joy, kindness, and generosity.”

Not much details have been released by either the church or local law enforcement officials but a representative of the Essex County District Attorney’s Office ruled out foul play.

An autopsy report is being expected and efforts to officially contact his family and home Diocese in Nigeria, underway.

NBC News quoted a source familiar with the case as saying that Madu died by suicide. Yet, another source speculated cardiac arrest. An autopsy will sort it out.

In a statement, the Head of the Archdiocese of Boston, Archbishop Richard Henning, extended “our prayers and heartfelt condolences to his family, brother-priests and friends in Nigeria as well as the many people Fr. Benjamin Madu ministered to here in Cape Ann and at Salem Hospital.”

The deceased had been a Chaplain at the hospital, since 2021, said the Archdiocese. He had been a Priest for 25 years, almost, and was due to return to Nigeria because his visa was expiring.

The Archdiocese revealed that Rev. Fr. Madu was instructed by his home Diocese to return in early July instead of at the end of the month, as Madu had planned.

“Under U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations, Madu had to leave the country to renew his religious worker visa, known as R-1, which was expiring this July 29”, according to Church officials. The department recently waived a prior requirement that R-1 recipients wait a full year to apply for renewal.

But sadly, Nigeria is one of 75 countries  the US Government  suspended processing some immigration cases. This limited the Church’s options for keeping Madu in the U.S. legally.

Rev. Fr. Madu, in  a goodbye message he shared with the community  posted to the Gloucester and Rockport parishes’ website, narrated some of   his experiences with the community and approach to his role in the Church. He also discussed about returning to Nigeria.

He posted: “Sincerely, it is not my wish to return home right now, but circumstances beyond my control have warranted that my time in the United States come to an end. My heart is broken, yet my joy remains.”  He said he would miss the Community and would  gladly return to minister. He was popular in the Community as “Fr. Ben.”