Our Founders
Our Founders
The Pioneers Who Brought Us Together
ACCCRUS grew from the vision of a few people who saw African priests and religious arriving in the United States and gathered them to pray, learn and support one another.
Rev. Fr. Aniedi Okure, O.P., Ph.D.
Appointed the first Coordinator of Ethnic Ministries in 1995. He led regional orientation workshops for African women religious, organized the first African Women Religious Conference in 1997, the first national gathering of African clergy in 1998, and the first joint ACCA/AWRC conference in Baltimore in 2000.
Sr. Marie Prefontaine, SND
Assisted Fr. Okure in the regional orientation and acculturation workshops for African women religious across the country, and in organizing the first national conference of African sisters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
Sr. Mary Paul Asoegwu, DDL
Sr. Mary Paul
Rev. Fr. Callist Nyambo (of blessed memory)
Hosted the first and second national conferences of African Catholic clergy at the Franciscan Spiritual Centre in Tampa, Florida in 1998 and 1999, the gatherings that gave birth to the African Catholic Clergy Association.
Rev. Msgr. Anselm Nwaorgu, Ph.D.
Elected the first National President when the joint conference became ACCCRUS in Omaha in 2004. He helped register and incorporate ACCCRUS as a juridical, non-profit entity.
Continue the Story
Read how these first gatherings became a national conference.
