August 20, 2024 // Diocese

Congress Experience Inspires Diocesan Seminarians from Nigeria to Serve Christ

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

On the opening morning of the National Eucharistic Congress, as tens of thousands of Catholics congregated inside Lucas Oil Stadium, hundreds of members of the clergy – and those training to join their ranks, God willing – gathered in the depths of the arena before the event’s opening Mass.

Organized with the precision of a military parade, the procession was a sight to behold. The crowd cheered wildly for the slew of seminarians, wearing white surplices over their black cassocks. They were followed seamlessly by countless priests, each moving swiftly through the center of the crowd before breaking left and right to fill the empty seats toward the front of the stadium. Scores of bishops and cardinals, clad in simple white albs and matching miters, finished the procession by making their way up to the stage and, two by two, kissing the spotlit altar.

But leading the way, ahead of their fellow seminarians, ahead of the priests, bishops, and cardinals, were two seminarians of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend – Johnpaul Adizuo and Stanley Amuchaka – each carrying a simple candle and flanking the crucifix of Christ

It isn’t hyperbole to say that the National Eucharistic Congress, held in Indianapolis in July, was one of the most anticipated moments in the history of the Church in the United States. Years in the making, more than 50,000 Catholics traveled from all over to participate in the historic event.

For Adizuo and Amuchaka, the drive to Indianapolis might have been short – just two hours down Interstate 69 – but the journey has been anything but.

‘Honored to Serve in This Way’

The two young Nigerians came to Fort Wayne in the summer of 2023. Because vocations to the priesthood are booming in their home country, the seminaries there are bursting at the seams. It’s a good problem to have, but in order to chase their dreams of joining the Catholic priesthood, Adizuo and Amuchaka had to look elsewhere.

As God’s providence would have it, Bishop Rhoades invited them to become seminarians for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend following his visit to Nigeria in 2022. Once they arrived in the United States, they spent the last academic year discerning their vocations while serving at Most Precious Blood Church in Fort Wayne.

Less than a year after coming to America, they found themselves front and center at several liturgies at the National Eucharistic Congress.

“They had a better view than the bishops, I think,” Bishop Rhoades joked.

It all came as a surprise to the two seminarians.

“When we got to the clergy center at the congress, the receptionist was handing our credentials to us, and we noticed that our credentials had a special tag that said ‘Liturgy’ and had a special symbol on it that meant we were allowed into some places that most others weren’t,” Amuchaka told Today’s Catholic. “I wasn’t expecting that I would be serving at such a huge celebration of Mass.”

Adizuo was just as stunned. He had agreed to volunteer for the congress but figured he would “help out by cleaning the linens or certain other things for the Mass.” He said he assumed that the organizers would choose seminarians from large archdioceses or those who were close to ordination to serve at the altar. “But I was honored to serve in this way,” he said.

Adizuo spent his summer assignment at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Fort Wayne. After the congress, the parishioners there “asked me how I got such a beautiful role. … I just tell them that I don’t know; I was just there to do whatever they asked me to do. But it is really amazing. It was really an auspicious moment for us. And also, during the Mass, I was seeing the enthusiasm in the heart of people, how they display their love for God in the Eucharist. … It’s a wonderful experience for me – an experience that will remain evergreen in my heart. It was so beautiful.”

A Flourishing Church

Amuchaka and Adizuo each told Today’s Catholic that while the fruits of the congress have been abundant, one particular blessing was to see the vibrancy of the Church in the United States – something that wasn’t always evident, especially compared to passion they routinely witnessed among Catholics in Nigeria.

“I am so happy that this happened in the life of the Church here in America, because back home in Nigeria, people think that the Church … is dying here in the U.S., in the sense that some people say that white people do not go to church, that they are renouncing their Christianity,” Amuchaka said. “And many are saying, ‘Why do you go to church when the people who brought Christianity [to Africa] do not even go?’ So I am so happy that the media was able to publicize around the world what was happening during the Eucharistic Congress so that people could see that the Church in the U.S. is standing so strong.”

Adizuo agreed, noting the effect social media played in spreading the message of the congress to the rest of the world – particularly in Nigeria.

“Look at how many people were gathered to adore and reverence the reality of Our Lord in the Eucharist,” Adizuo said. “The congress, it was a way of reigniting the fire of love in the heart of the People of God. It is really amazing. … This can help change the mindset of so many people and how they view American Catholicism. It is an indication that the Church is still flourishing, irrespective of cultural differences. The Church is still one – the fire of love, the fire of the Church, the solidified faith that Christ has instituted is still blossoming, still flourishing here. It’s a wonderful experience that will change the mindset of so many people on how they see the American Church.”

‘Igniting My Heart’

Both Amuchaka and Adizuo said their experiences at the congress only strengthened their desire to one day become priests in order to serve Christ and His Church – most notably because they were able to witness a collective, profound reverence to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

“Without the Eucharist, there would be no priesthood, because it is the Eucharist that triggers the vocation to the Catholic priesthood,” Adizuo said. “Seeing how people reverence Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and in the future, as a priest, these are the people to whom you’re going to minister. And the most primary objective of your calling is the sacrament, the Eucharist. And seeing how they embrace the reality of Eucharistic love, it is really an amazing experience for me.”

Amuchaka said the experience “increased my enthusiasm and my call to serve God more, because seeing the joy in the faces of the people and the priests, deacons, seminarians, and even bishops renewed my hope that the Church is standing so strong. It showed me that there is hope, and God is still there to convert people who have fallen away from the Church.”

Adizuo said the congress was a powerful reminder that a priest’s love for his flock is called to mirror the love Jesus has for each of us – a love rooted in the Eucharist.

“There’s a phrase Father Mike Schmitz said in his talk that I picked up,” Adizuo said. “He said, ‘Knowledge can make someone great, but love, only love, can make you a saint.’ It helped me to realize that the Eucharist, or the faith we profess, is not an intellectual asset; it is a reality that we are called to embrace in its fullness. It is also a way of igniting my heart to love – to love people, whichever way, in my own capacity, those who come my way, that I should embrace them with love as a priest.

“It’s also a way of igniting my heart to strengthen my feeling for love in regard to people whom I’m going meet in the future, because it is only love that can make a saint, and God foresees the importance of love when He was about to enter into His suffering, and He prayed that one day they may be one, and this congress really played a great role in regard to love: how to bring Christian people in the country together in one love, because it is an act of love that makes everyone travel from far and near to come and experience and encounter the presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist. It’s really changed my life, and I am really grateful for that.”

‘I Must Really Be a Priest’

This fall, Adizuo will head off to his first year of studies at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis. He said he will carry with him the love he witnessed at the congress.

“Words could not express my enthusiasm and love and happiness,” Adizuo said. “In my heart, I was like, ‘God … I must really be a priest,’ because the experience was really amazing, seeing the numerous priests processing, seeing how people are adoring and reverencing the Lord. I started serving the Mass at the age of 7, but this Eucharistic revival, being a part of it, participating in the liturgy, it is an experience that I will not forget for as long as I live.”

Amuchaka echoed his countryman, saying that when he stepped into Lucas Oil Stadium for Mass, holding a candle, “I felt the presence of God in my life. I was like, ‘God, why would you give me this prestigious honor to serve at your altar, even when I know nothing much about the Church here in the U.S.?’ But the feeling and the enthusiasm I was able to witness continue to fill me up and show me that God is really seated on His throne. Seeing people get up there and worship God really gives me hope that the Church, founded by Jesus under the foundation of the apostles, cannot be shaken.”