On Sunday 20th August, at 4pm, Fr Gregory Umunna, (centre) celebrated the 20th Anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood with a thanksgiving concelebrated Mass. Monsignor Aldo Angelosanto, (front centre left), Vicar General, represented Bishop Stephen Robson, Bishop of Dunkeld. Monsignor Charles Hendry (front centre right) and brother priests from the Diocese of Dunkeld and across the United Kingdom were joined by many parishioners and friends who came to mark the occasion with him.
The preacher at the Mass was Fr Tobias Okoro (St Fergus, Forfar) and the gospel was read by Monsignor Chris Heenan, (St Margaret’s, Dunfermline).
Fr Gregory Umunna, born in Nigeria, has been with the diocese of Dunkeld for over ten years and serves as the parish priest of St Stephen’s Blairgowrie, also serving St Mary’s, Coupar Angus and St Luan’s, Alyth, for the past four years. A graduate of Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, Fr Gregory’s doctoral thesis was on the subject of ‘HIV/ AIDS: Political Will and Hope’.
Fr Gregory was recently appointed to serve as a board member on the Anscombe Trust, the Oxford based bioethics centre set up by the Catholic bishops of Scotland, England and Wales and Ireland, to advise them on moral and ethical questions arising from clinical and biomedical research.
Fr Gregory told the congregation that he was deeply moved by the kindnesses and support he had received since coming to Scotland.
“My life,” he said, “is like a fabric weaved into and around the lives of each and everyone here today. I’m grateful to everyone here for being a part of my life and for the great love you have shown me.”
Priests in attendance included (L-R) Fr Beneth Onyebuchukwu, Fr Joseph Nnabugwu, Fr Samuel Alabi, Fr Tobias Okoro, Monsignor Aldo Angelosanto , Monsignor Christopher Heenan, Fr Gregory Umunna, Fr Johnny, Monsignor Charles Hendry, Fr John Nwadike, Fr Roji Thomas and Fr Joseph Uwa.
It was a great occasion – well organised – and excellent buffet and entertainment followed!
“It is not power that redeems, but Love! God, who becomes lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified and not by the crucifiers. The world is redeemed by the patience of God and destroyed by the impatience of men” – Benedict XVI
