Two African Twins Are Priests In Louisiana

Cool Story from the most recent edition (July 22) of the Catholic Newspaper of the Dicoese of Alexandria Louisiana. It can be downloaded on pdf form here. There are pics and the sotry starts on Page 8.

Twin Priests Twin Brothers

Fr. Bartholomew joins his twin brother in Marksville
By Jeannie Petrus
CT Editor

As the tall, slender, darkskinnedpriest from Nigeria reached out to shake my hand and introduced himself as “FatherBartholomew Nwaukomadu Ibe,the twin brother of FatherIgnatious Ibe,” I smiled and said,“Oh, I know you’re just kidding me!”

Anyone who knows FatherIgnatious Ibe, pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Marksville,knows that he’s much shorter and lighter-skinned than this“jokester” claiming to be his twin brother.“We are fraternal twins,” he said proudly. “We are unidentical twins, but we are bound identically as brothers throughour vocation in the priesthood and by birth.”The twins brothers were reunited June 16 when FatherBartholomew, a diocesan priest from Obowo, Nigeria, (almost8,000 miles away) reached Marksville, Louisiana, where his brother, Father Ignatious is serving as a missionary from thereligious order of Sons of Mary,Mother of Mercy.

Father Bartholomew has been accepted by Bishop Ronald Herzog, as a diocesan priest for a term of three years. He is currently living at Holy Ghost Church where his brother serves as pastor. Father Ignatious was sent here by his order in 2007 to do mission work and will stay until he is assigned elsewhere.“I am very happy to be herein the United States and happy tobe here serving with my twin brother,” said FatherBartholomew.

“I am especially grateful to Bishop Herzog for this wonderful opportunity.”While the reunion was an exciting day for the twin brothers,it was a day that neither thought would ever happen.Bartholomew (five minutes older) and Ignatious were the last two of 11 children born of Bernadette and Philip Ibe.“We were very close as kids growing up,” said FatherIgnatious. “If a kid picked a fight with one of us a school, he picked a fight with both of us because we were a team. We looked after each other and were always therefor each other.”By the time they reached high school, both had wanted to enter the junior seminary instead of the free, public high school. But in Nigeria, a seminarian education is the responsibility of the family, not the diocese, and their father could not afford theexpensive education for two atone time.“My father told us we had to decide which one of us would goto junior seminary first — the other one would have to wait,”said Father Ignatious.

“Since I volunteered to wait, it was decided that Bartholomew would get to go to seminary first. It was a difficult decision to make.”On the day that Bartholomew rose early in the morning and prepared to leave for seminary, Ignatious woke up early too and begged his father to let him go to junior seminary with his twin brother.“I cried and pleaded with my father to let me go,” said FatherIgnatious, “but he said we had adeal and there was no way that I could go.

I felt very sad, but waited while my brother attended seminary. I rode my bike often to visit him at the junior seminary.”Soon after Ignatious graduated from high school and anticipated attending seminary,his father passed away. Once again, finances were tight, andIgnatious picked a job and saved his money to cover the cost of seminary.

In 1994, Ignatius joined Bartholomew in the seminary formation with some financial help from Fr. Bartholomew and the savings from work Ignatius did. Fr. Bartholmew was ordained on July 31, 1998, while Fr. Ignatius completed seminary formation and was ordained on Dec. 19, 2003.

Both were priests in different areas of Nigeria, including Mbano, Calabar, Aba, Obowo,Uturu, and Yobe. In 2006, FatherIgnatius was informed that he had received through his religious order, an invitiation from Bishop Ronald Herzog to come to America to the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana to work.“I arrived in the U.S. in January of 2007 and was very,very excited to be here,” said Father Ignatious. “

I stayed with Father Ken Roy at Sacred Heart Church, where I was treated like a brother. Fr. Ken helped me get a Social Security number so that I could get my driver’s license and showed me around. Once, when I was about to leave to go on a trip to Chicago, he gave me some money. He told me to ‘always have money with you on a trip to have a good time.’ I’ll never forget that.”While Father Ignatious was in the United States, Father Batholomew kept in close contact with him. He began hearing about the beautiful churches in America and the faith of the people and developed a desire to come. He soon petitioned Bishop Herzog, with the approval of his Bishop, to come to the Diocese of Alexandria.

After being here only a few weeks, Father Bartholomew says that the biggest difference in both cultures is the way that Mass is celebrated.“In Nigeria, Mass is a big, joyous celebration — with lots of dancing, music, and energy,said Father Bartholomew. “The ceremony may last two hours sometimes because the celebration consumes you and brings you to your feet! If you feel sick or sad before Mass, you will not feel that way by the time you leave!”At the Offertory of the Mass, families bring to the altar gifts of goats, cows, or chickens, or food,according to Father Bartholomew.

The women always cover their heads and never wear pants or short skirts to Mass. The churches are large as well, accommodating 700-800 per Mass.“It’s different, but I love the reverence and sincerity of the faith here,” said Father Bartholomew. “America is beautiful and I love the organization and discipline of life here. I am so honored to be here and so thankful to Bishop Herzog and the Council of Priests of the Catholic Diocese of Alexandria for this opportunity to serve.