Introducing Father Paul

by Fr. Paul Celestine Lokunume  |  06/21/2025  |  Weekly Reflection

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I greet you all and wish you good health and happiness. When I visited Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in early 2023 and stayed for two months, I so enjoyed my stay with you that I could not hide my wish to one day be part and parcel of your faith Community. By God’s grace, this wish has been granted to me, and I am so grateful to God and to all those who made this possible. I am so excited to be among you. Here is something brief about myself:

I am Fr. Paul Celestine Lokunume, a Ugandan by Nationality, born and raised in the region of Karamoja in northeastern Uganda. I come from a family of eleven siblings, some of whom have gone ahead to God to intercede for us. I have now served as a priest for almost 20 years.

My desire to become a priest began when I was eight years old, thanks to my Grandmother, who took me to Church whenever she went for daily Mass and Rosary to our local parish. However, my actual vocation journey began when I joined the diocesan minor seminary in Moroto Diocese in Uganda. After a few years there, I left the seminary to join a government (public) school. But while there, I still felt a stronger desire to become a missionary priest. So, in 1988, I joined the Apostles of Jesus Religious Missionaries, where I completed all the academic and spiritual formations necessary for ordination to the holy priesthood as a religious missionary. I am grateful to all my formators and vocation animators from whom I received a solid formation as a missionary priest. One of the most influential of those is none other than Rev. Fr. Robert Seraph Aliunzi, our Pastor.

Amazingly, at the end of all this, however, I got ordained a diocesan priest for a distant diocese in Papua New Guinea, making my Missionary pursuit fulfilled, though in a different way. Now, at this stage of my priesthood, I am so thrilled to be called once again to serve you here in our amazing parish, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. I promise to minister to you wholeheartedly.

May I now invite you to join me in praying for God's love and mercy upon us on our journey as Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee year. Our late Pope Francis once wrote: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart, and far-sighted vision." Through the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Andre Bessette, and the Martyrs of Uganda, I once again commit to be available for you and to learn from you on how best I can serve and glorify God with you.

Thank you. Muchas gracias. Jesus, I trust in you