Photo By Sgt. Samuel A. Nasso | Father Omoviekovwa Nakireru has been a priest for 33 years after being ordained in his...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. - Marines aboard Cherry Point received a new Catholic priest in the second week of October to see to their religious needs.
Father Omoviekovwa Nakireru has been a priest for 33 years after being ordained in his home country of Nigeria. In 1980, Nakireru left Nigeria to gain an education in America.
Aside from being a priest, he brings with him a long experience of service to Catholics and three published books.
Nakireru also has a long list of professional and educational accomplishments including six teaching positions in various universities and eight masters and bachelor’s degrees.
Nakireru sat down with the Windsock to speak about his new role in Cherry Point’s Catholic community.
Q: How are you going to support Marines aboard Cherry Point?
A: The help I can give to my parishioners is to unite them as a community. People need support, whether you’re civilian or military. You need support of people around you, you need support of your colleagues, you need support of your church and community. I provide support in any form or shape, and I think that would be meeting the goal.
Q: What are some of the unique challenges of running a military parish as opposed to a civilian parish?
A: A civilian parish is a great community where people live for years and get to know one another, where the military is different. Military people come from different parts of the country and find themselves here isolated from the rest of their families. They have to create a family here at work and in church. You have to help them build that community. That community includes spiritual support as well as family support and emotional support. In the parish, everybody gets to know one another, but in the military it’s different. People get deployed or stay behind, so you don’t get that sense of community. As a priest, you have to create that community sense with Marines and sailors.
Q: What are the best ways to build that kind of a community?
A: The best way is to reach out and get to know a person, and introduce them to people. At the beginning of every Mass, we introduce people to one another. Reaching out to one another, especially in times of need like Thanksgiving where a lot of people are isolated from their family. Get to know who needs what and try to help families here.
Catholic Mass will be celebrated every Sunday at 9:00 a.m., as well as Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:45 a.m. in the station’s chapel. Confessions are provided by appointment. Nakireru is always willing to help Marines and Sailors with their emotional, spiritual and personal needs. Nakireru can be reached by the chapel’s main phone number, 466-4000.
| Date Taken: | 11.22.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.24.2010 09:17 |
| Story ID: | 60804 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 528 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Meet the new Catholic chaplain: Father Nakireru sits down with the Windsock, by Cpl Scott L. Tomaszycki, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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