From Father David Ssentamu:
In gratitude to God and to you that I am here!
I am so grateful to God who has brought me to Sts Peter and Paul
Parish and St. Joseph of St. Katharine Drexel to serve. Thank you very
much for welcoming me and for having allowed me to serve you!
Please know, that it is a great honor for me to serve you as your
Pastor.
Who is Father David?
Father David is the first born of Desire and Josephine Nyanzi. I was
born March 2, 1977 and raised in Uganda. Grew up with nine siblings. I
went to school in Uganda, and later ordained to the priesthood on
August 12th, 2006. On August 12th this year I will be 17 years serving in
the priesthood. I served as parochial vicar in one of the parishes of
Kampala Archdiocese for two years before my bishop asked me to
come over to US to pursue a Master’s degree in Mental Health and
Counseling Psychology at Boston College. After graduating in 2011, the
Archbishop of Boston asked my bishop that I could serve as a Chaplain
at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Massachusetts. I did this for
two years, and after I was asked to serve as a parochial vicar in the
parishes of St. Mary and St. Charles Borromeo in Waltham MA. I,
Therefore, lived in Massachusetts for eight years before I came into this
diocese in July 2016.
Coming to this diocese, Bishop DiLorenzo, of happy memories, asked
me to serve at St. Joseph Church, Woodlawn, All Saints Church, Floyd
and The Church of the Risen Lord, Stuart. It is where I worked
for three years before coming here, and it has been a very rich
experience serving God’s people of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I love working with people, and I love people. I love to interact with
people and to work as a team. I pray and I hope to find this as I come
to serve you. I believe that even as God calls each one of us
individually, yet he still calls us to work with others to reach our
homeland – Heaven. I am also open to learning and very optimistic as
I face new challenges.
Oh, yes…I speak English, yes! …but with a Ugandan accent. I do hope though that
this will not be a big problem for most of you.
I am very excited that God has brought me among you! I look forward with excitement to learn from all of you, and please feel free to bring forward positive suggestions that you think will help us to build these beautiful parishes and also help God’s people reach their destiny – Heaven.
May God bless you all abundantly as we continue on our journey to Heaven!
Fr. David M. Ssentamu
Pastor
