Missionaries overcome immigration obstacles to serve the Diocese
by Benjamin Shane Evans | September 22, 2026
Father Kevin Anigbo and Father Solomon Andrew, both members of the Missionaries of Divine Mercy religious order in Nigeria, arrived in Des Moines on Tuesday, September 8, at 3 p.m.
“We entering this country at 3 p.m. is significant,” Fr. Anigbo said. “[3 p.m.] is the Hour of Mercy. There is a prayer in the Church that we call the Divine Mercy Prayer, which is said every day at 3 p.m., the time when Jesus died on the cross at Calvary. Through revelation, Jesus gave that prayer to Saint Maria Faustina, telling her as often as you hear the clock strike 3 p.m., immerse yourself in my mercy, imploring it upon the whole world. It is a devotion in the Church, and as Missionaries of Divine Mercy, it is central to our spirituality. Every day by three o’clock, whatever we are doing, we leave it to say the prayer.”
Both Fr. Anigbo and Fr. Andrew said that their arriving at that time was providential, indicating a deepened meaning to their mission to share a message of Divine Mercy with the Diocese of Des Moines.
“We didn’t arrange it that way. God arranged it that way,” Fr. Andrew said. “We came as ambassadors of Divine Mercy to share the mercy of God. Not that we have this mercy in its fullness. We are also people in need of God’s mercy. But we, ambassadors of Divine Mercy, came to share this mercy of God with the people of this beautiful Diocese.”
The missionaries have been appointed to joint leadership over five parishes in Shelby County and will share pastoral responsibilities within those parishes. These parishes include Earling, Defiance, Panama, Portsmouth, and Westphalia.
Overcoming Immigration Obstacles
Fr. Anigbo and Fr. Andrew overcame several immigration obstacles to arrive in the Diocese of Des Moines from Nigeria.
Sister Jude Fitzpatrick, a Congregation of the Humility of Mary member and senior advisor to the Bishop, was crucial to supporting the missionaries’ journey to obtain visas through the immigration process.
“More than half of our active priests are international priests, which means that over lots of years, we’ve had a fair amount of experience dealing with immigration,” Sr. Fitzpatrick said. “This was a challenge.”
Sr. Fitzpatrick said the immigration process began in the February 2026, when direct communication between the Diocese and the Missionaries of Divine Mercy began.
Nigeria is one of 19 countries subject to partial United States entry restrictions, as enforced under the Presidential Proclamation 10998 that went into effect on January 1, 2026. Many months were spent waiting for the visa ban to be lifted. The Diocese submitted petitions for religious worker status for the missionaries, which received approval. However, after these documents were transferred to Nigeria and the priests applied for visas at the United States consulate in Lagos, the applications were denied.
According to Sr. Fitzpatrick, no reason was provided.
“The frustration for me is that this was the United States doing it,” Sr. Fitzpatrick said. “We can’t blame the Nigerian government. We can’t blame anybody, other than the United States here.”
The priests reapplied with dedicated support from the Diocese’s attorney’s office. According to Fr. Anigbo and Fr. Andrew, the consulate in Lagos conducted an intensive series of interviews to determine the legitimacy of the visa request. A week after the initial denial, the visa applications were approved.
“[When I heard that the application was approved,] I was running from my room to the chapel to give thanks to God, because it is a miracle for a Nigerian to have a visa to the United States of America,” Fr. Andrew said. “We received that miracle from God, and we are very happy, and we want to appreciate you for your prayers because just as you mentioned, your prayers, were a great and immense assistance to making that a reality.”
A growing community centered in Divine Mercy
Fr. Anigbo said that he was approached by a Missionary of Divine Mercy currently in Des Moines, Father Ignatius Makoji, who proposed the Diocese as a possible location for a new branch of the religious community.
“We felt welcome,” Fr. Makoji said. “We felt there was a possibility for a mission for us here in the Diocese.”
Fr. Makoji arrived alone in Des Moines to participate in a clinical pastoral education program at UnityPoint Hospital from May 2022 to August 2023 and transitioned to his current role as chaplain for MercyOne’s downtown campus in June 2023.
“A community is made up of two or more persons,” Fr. Makoji said. “When I was alone, it was not a community. But now we can say clearly that we are a religious community in the United States and in Des Moines.”
The missionaries emphasized that their arrival was grounded in growing a community that shares a message of Divine Mercy.
“We are not coming here to give what people do not have,” Fr. Andrew said. “We are coming to share the love of God because people here are also equipped with numerous gifts of God: the mercy of God, the compassion of God, the kindness of God. Even from what we have witnessed in the Diocese of Des Moines, the love, the reception, the kindness, the organized nature of the Church.”