Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Father Bartholomew Ezenwelem is the pastor at St. Francis Newman Center Parish in Silver City. He replaced Father Jarek Nowacki, who was assigned to a parish in Roswell, New Mexico.

Father Bartholomew, as most parishioners call him, comes originally from southeast Nigeria, where most residents are Christians. He said the Muslims who live in the southern part of the country are predominantly peaceful, as they come from a different sect from those in the northern part of Nigeria, where Boko Haram is prevalent. His native language is Igbo, but he has been studying English since elementary school.

"I never intended to be a priest, but I had the call at a young age, about 9 or 10 years old," Father Bartholomew said. "My father was trying to push me to be a priest from a young age, but I just wanted to play soccer. He would make me go to church and catechism. One day at church, when the priest lifted the host, I went into sort of a trance and something asked me if I wanted to do that. And I did."

He took the entrance exam for junior seminary and passed it. "I completed junior seminary, which was like high school," he continued. "I then went into senior seminary, which was like college. I came as a small boy to the priesthood."

Father is one of six children, three boys and three girls. "My parents had two boys, then a girl, then me and two more girls. I'm the fourth."

To a question about missing home, he said: "Yes, I miss home. Sometimes, something makes me miss it more, but I feel like I have family here."

Every Saturday, you might see him running at the Silver High School track. "I do 20 to 25 times around the track."

Before he was assigned to St. Francis Newman Center, his first parish in the U.S. was in Garfield and Arrey, New Mexico. "Arrey was a mission church. I taught soccer to kids there at least twice a week."

For recreation, he said he enjoys jogging, doing work outs at home, reading and listening to music. "I like classical music, but I enjoy almost any music that has good harmony."

He said the bishop that a priest serves under discerns where the priest should serve. "Three of us came at the same time from Nigeria to New Mexico. We serve missions in different parts of the world. I didn't know where we were going until when they were processing our visas. We had no option, as we take a vow of obedience. When I arrived here, I stayed a couple of months at the cathedral in Las Cruces, before I was assigned to Garfield. Our then-Bishop Oscar Cantu probably contacted our bishop in Nigeria and said the diocese needed priests."

Of the three who arrived together, one is serving in Lordsburg, one in Tularosa and Father Bartholomew now in Silver City.

"I'm the only one who has changed places," he said. "In Garfield, I realized that for many of the parishioners, who spoke only Spanish, it would be better to learn the Mass in Spanish, so that was what motivated me to learn some Spanish. Arrey is a mission community of about 50 Spanish-speaking families. Probably 48 of the families speak only Spanish. In Garfield, the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass was in Spanish. I took it as a challenge to learn Spanish."

Recent changes at St. Francis include the purchase of the house right to the east of the church. It is now the office for the church, and Father has his office there, too. Plans include classrooms for catechism and an area for the Associates.

Where the office used to be in the back of the church, a new disabled-access restroom will replace the kitchen.

"What I think of us as a parish is following a message of Christ, love, unity and oneness," Father Bartholomew said. "We are a charitable community trying to assist one another to be a loving family. I am asking God to give us grace to achieve making us a unified family of God."