This article first appeared in the Autumn 2005 Glenmary Challenge

Four Novices Begin New Program at Maple Mount
Glenmary welcomes largest class of novices since 1991

NEW NOVICES: Uwem Enoh, Austine Duru, Dennis Makokha and Leonard Mulama at the Glenmary novitiate in Maple Mount, Ky.

Members of the largest Glenmary novitiate class since 1991 began the first year of a new two-year program on July 15 in Maple Mount, Ky. Austine Duru, Dennis Makokha, Uwem Enoh (who left the program in January 2006) and Leonard Mulama, will be led through this time of intense prayer and reflection by novice director Father Dave Glockner and Father Tom Kirkendoll.

The first year of novitiate offers “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the novices to step back from everyday life, spend more time in prayer and concentrate on their spiritual lives and human growth,” says Father Dave.

The second year is spent in a supervised mission setting allowing the novices to learn more about Glenmary ministry firsthand. Because two of the current novices—Austine Duru and Dennis Makokha—have already spent extended periods in mission settings, they will forgo their second year of novitiate and become eligible to make First Oath next summer. Leonard and Uwem will be placed in a mission setting for one year before making First Oath.

The entire Glenmary formation program was recently revamped using the model of pre-novitiate, novitiate and post-novitiate. The men in pre-novitiate will spend one year in the Glenmary House of Studies in Hartford, Ky., and then advance to the novitiate. In post-novitiate men will continue with appropriate education. In addition, an aspirancy has also been started.

According to Father Dave, the novitiate experience is a chance for mutual discernment by the Glenmary community and by the novices. It is also a time for novices to further authenticate God’s call to the Glenmary way of life.

New to the position of novice director, Father Dave says the first month of the program has been an opportunity for the novices, Father Tom and him to get to know each other and to become familiar with their new home. The novitiate house is located on 750 acres owned by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph. “Their motherhouse is here and we share lunch with the sisters each day,” Father Dave says. “It’s very rural and quiet—an ideal environment for meditation and prayer.”
The four novices:

Austine Duru, 30, is a native of Nigeria. He has been with Glenmary since 2002 and, after novitiate, will complete his theology studies at Catholic Theological Union.

Dennis Makokha, 30, is a native of Kenya. He spent the past year in the candidacy program, now the pre-novitiate, in Hartford, Ky. The year before he lived in the House of Residency in Owingsville, Ky. He has been with Glenmary since 2003 and is pursuing priesthood.

Uwem Enoh, 31, is from Nigeria and comes to Maple Mount after one year in the Owingsville House of Residency. He is pursuing ordination and has been with Glenmary since 2004. (He left the program in January 2006.)

Leonard Mulama, 31, is a native of Kenya and, like Uwem, comes to the novitiate from the House of Residency. Leonard, with Glenmary since 2004, is discerning between priesthood and brotherhood.

The novices’ days are structured, filled with prayer, reflection, meditation and classes such as the history of Glenmary, a history of Christian spirituality and human development. Some of the classes are more practical in nature, such as their recent cooking class taught by one of the Ursuline sisters!

"The program is solid,” Father Dave says, “and things have gone very well this first month. I think it’s been—and will continue to be—a very enriching experience for all of us.”

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