Father Eugene Joseph says putting things in the hands of God enabled him to endure a yearlong delay related to immigration issues that left him stuck in England awaiting a chance to serve as a priest of the Diocese of Columbus.
Now that the issues have been resolved, he will begin an assignment as parochial vicar at Powell St. Joan of Arc Church this month.
The delay was caused by the COVID-19-related closing of the U.S. Embassy in London, which prevented the processing of paperwork he needed to have completed before he could serve as a priest in this country.
“For sure, there were moments of frustration during this last year, but nothing overwhelming,” he said in an email message from England. “There were many things that I was able to do here (in England) that I could never imagine happening otherwise.
“I can sum things up in the words of Romans 8:28: ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’ It was much more peaceful to simply trust God, not worry about things that I couldn’t control and let things happen in His own time.”
Father Joseph, 29, a native of India who had lived in England since he was 10 years old, had been a Pontifical College Josephinum student since 2015 and was to have been ordained as a Columbus diocesan priest, along with Fathers Stephen Ondrey and Jacob Stinnett, on May 29 of this year.
He had been in the United States on a student visa, but his graduation from the Josephinum and planned ordination as a priest meant he had to apply for a religious work visa. Because of complications with the paperwork, he wasn’t able to complete the application process in the United States and had to return in mid-November 2020 to England.
While awaiting a resolution of his case, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Columbus this past July 22 in Birmingham, England, by Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Wright of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, with the cooperation of former Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan.
While in England following his ordination, Father Joseph served as parochial vicar of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus Church in Stoke-on-Trent, assisted with liturgies in the Catholic Church’s Syro-Malabar rite, and was in residence and assisted priests at the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Birmingham.
Because he was born and baptized in the Syro-Malabar rite, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic churches in communion with the pope, he is permitted to celebrate the sacraments in both rites. The Syro-Malabar Church traces its roots to St. Thomas the Apostle’s mission to the state of Kerala in India, where Father Joseph was born.
A Syro-Malabar community in Columbus gathers regularly for Mass at Sacred Heart Church, and Father Joseph was involved with some of its activities while at the Josephinum.
