Name: Charles Philip Ohulo Omolo
Hometown: Akala, Kenya
Stage of formation: Novice

Glenmary is discovering that its Web site is becoming an important tool for spreading information not only about the home missions in the United States, but about becoming a Glenmary missioner.

For example, Charles Philip Ohulo, 24, a native of Akala, Kenya, was interested in pursuing priesthood outside the continent of Africa. He “Googled” for information about missioners according to geographic locations, and “I came across Glenmary,” he says. “I appreciate the nature of Glenmary’s work done in areas with a Catholic minority. I thought working with Glenmary would be more challenging [than working in a diocese].”

Charles’ interest in taking on the challenge of working as a missioner in the home missions of the United States prompted him to contact Glenmary. After much correspondence between Charles and Glenmary he arrived in the United States in 2006. He has completed his prenoviciate year and in August of 2007 he entered first-year novitiate. He and Glenmary's two other first year novices are studying in Maple Mount, Ky.

In addition to acclimating himself to general American culture, Charles has also had to acclimate himself to rural life in America. He grew up in a town of about 800,000 and went to Spiritan Mission Seminary, a facility of the Holy Ghost Fathers in Tanzania, also an urban area. He says however, that even the rural areas of the United States are different from those in Africa, which have no power, roads or good schools.

His extended family still lives in Africa: a younger brother is in college and a sister is in high school. His father is a school principal and his mother is an educator, too. He stays in touch through e-mail and an occasional phone call.

A 2005 graduate of Spiritan with a degree in philosophy, Charles attended Catholic schools beginning in the second grade and attended minor and major seminary. He remembers always wanting to be a priest, and recalls being influenced by the Mill Hill Fathers, a missionary group of the United Kingdom that works in Western Kenya. “Since I made my First Communion I have had a stubborn attitude about wanting to become a missioner and that attitude refuses to go away,” Charles says.

Back to Student Directory