What a Life! for February 10-14, 2007

I would like to share the following account of what we recently experienced in the Thibodaux area. I do this not by way of gossiping, but to bring healing to those who were hurt and for all of us to learn a lesson.

Last June, Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans assigned Jude Nanyumba from Uganda to do his pastoral training at St. Genevieve and St. Luke Churches. Jude was a well-liked individual. He had a warm personality, very friendly, and always smiling. People opened their hearts, homes and even their wallets to Jude.

When Jude first came to us he was very energetic. He visited people’s homes, worked on various projects, preached, etc. He was also living a “hidden life.” In the afternoons he would frequent downtown bars and pass himself off as a heart doctor. Jude met a young lady there and started going out with her. She brought him to meet her parents and he told them the same story, that he was a cardiologist.

When she attended a Mass at St. Genevieve one Sunday, she was shocked to see Jude preaching. When she confronted him, he said that he was a heart doctor but he was now studying to be a priest. She came to see me and reported the whole incident. I investigated her story and found it to be true. I then revealed the matter to the seminary authorities. I also confronted Jude about whether he still wanted to be a priest and he assured me that he did. The seminary did its own investigation and decided to postpone his diaconate ordination. This was in November.

Jude was not the same after he learned that he would not be ordained a deacon. He missed many meetings and avoided me personally with various excuses. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, he received a call (supposedly from his sister) telling him that his brother had died in Uganda. When he talked to me about it, I offered to help him go home for the funeral. We talked about this being his fourth sibling that has died. I even offered him $1,000 to help him buy a ticket home. Meanwhile, other people started collecting money from St. Genevieve and St. Luke Parishioners and our school. He collected a total of $6,000 through both churches and the school. This does not include personal gifts. I reduced the amount that I gave him to over $200. He also went to St. Mary Magdalene Church in New Orleans where he had served as a Catechist and told them he needed money to get back to Uganda. They responded by collecting $6,000.

He went back to Uganda and was supposed to return on December 15. No one heard from him until January 9 when he called to say he was returning that weekend. The weekend came and went and no Jude. Fr. Pat Williams, the rector of the seminary, called his Archbishop and learned that his brother had not died; the deceased was a distant relative. We started to find out other information. He told people we were not giving him any money to live on while he was in Thibodaux. However, he was getting $1,000 a month stipend from the church plus room and board. Some people were giving him money every month. (We also found a letter from his suspected wife looking forward to his return home after his studies.) It appears that Jude was a smooth operator. The seminary has cancelled his VISA and we have filed fraud charges with the police.

What can we learn from all this? When we love and trust someone, we take the risk of being hurt. Jude took advantage of many good people who are now hurting because of his actions. I am sorry this happened. We are all victims n the Archbishop of his diocese, the seminary, our entire parish family. When we are hurt, we are reluctant to love and trust again. However, if we do that, we will become “inhuman” human beings. We need to vent our anger, forgive Jude and move on. God will deal with Jude. I ask your healing prayer for Jude and our community.