For the five members of Glenmary Home Missioners’ 2024-2025 Novitiate Class, June 12, 2025, marks a special milestone in their priestly formation.

On this day, Aloysius Ssennyondo, Evarist Mukama, Moses Ndung’u, Alex Omari, and Raphael Kavita pledged their first oaths, becoming temporal members of the Glenmary Home Missioners.

In a ceremony at St. John XXIII Pastoral Center in Charleston, West Virginia—surrounded by Glenmary priests, brothers, friends, and family—these five men publicly pledged to dedicate themselves to ‘the missionary apostolate in the rural areas and small towns of the United States and to the Glenmary way of life,’ as outlined in the Glenmary Constitution and Directory.

“The Glenmary Oath is a solemn promise, says Aloysius Ssennyondo. “To me, it signifies acceptance into a new family striving to pursue holiness.

I believe it requires me to be loyal and faithful to it and to authentically live out my Christian calling in the Glenmary society.”

Glenmary novice director Father Steve Pawelk explains the significance of the commitment: “We are a society of Apostolic Life with both priests and brothers.

Usually, a person spends one to four years in candidacy before entering the novitiate.

To be allowed to take their first oath, they need the support of the novitiate director and the approval of the Glenmary president and his executive council.

He notes that the First Oath is a temporary one-year commitment, which can be renewed annually for up to six years. After three temporary oaths, members may petition for a final or permanent oath.

“We use the term ‘oath’ because we are not a religious order,” he adds. “It is a great honor and privilege to work with all novices, and these five in particular.”

All five members of the novitiate class are candidates for the priesthood and will return to St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana to continue their preparation.

“Taking the First Oath is a profound affirmation of God’s call in my life,” says Evarist Mukama.

“It marks my commitment to live out the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Glenmarian, serving Christ among the people of the rural South in the United States.”
Mukama adds, “The Glenmary mission resonated with my desire to bring the love of Christ to those who are often overlooked and marginalized by society.”

Like the other members of the novitiate class, Alex Omari reminisces about joining the Glenmary Home Missioners in December of 2022 “to respond to God’s call to serve in rural places in America.”Taking the oath on June 12 was “core to receiving the other renewals and later ordination,” Alex Omari remarks.

Aloysius Ssennyondo adds, “I came to share in the charism and spirituality of our founder, Father William Howard,” and continually prays “for the grace to take the final oath to become a permanent member of Glenmary. Once this is achieved, I look forward to ordination to the diaconate.”

With hearts focused on mission and lives rooted in commitment, these five men step forward in faith, ready to serve the people of mission land, USA