Saint Angela Merici Parish: A Pioneer

Saint Angela Merici Parish: A Pioneer

Saint Angela Merici Parish in the Bronx became the first parish in the United States entrusted to the Apostles of Jesus. In November 2000, by the authority of the Archbishop of New York, Fr. Peter Mushi, AJ, and Fr. Nestorio Agirembabazi, AJ, took canonical possession of the parish as pastor and parochial vicar. Their appointment followed the presentation of their names by the competent superiors of the Apostles of Jesus. This event marked the beginning of fully sanctioned, canonical parish ministry for our religious institute in the American context.

The celebration therefore emphasizes not missionary cooperation, mission appeals, or fundraising initiatives, but the moment when competent ecclesiastical authorities began formally entrusting the Apostles of Jesus with parishes, institutions, ecclesiastical offices, and specialized ministries.

The Canonical Sense of Church Ministry

Canonically, as understood within the ministerial priesthood, Church ministry and missionary presence and work involve priests sharing in the pastoral mission of the diocese, exercising their ministry in hierarchical communion with the bishop who holds primary responsibility for the local Church.

This includes a wide range of assignments: pastors (parish priests), parish administrators, parochial vicars (assistant pastors or curates), vicars forane (archpriests, deans, or proto presbyters), rectors, and chaplains serving in hospitals, prisons, universities, migrant communities, lay religious houses, and other specialized ministries.

Fr. Frederick L. Nkwasibwe, AJ, took part in the gathering of religious superiors and representatives of religious communities with Archbishop Alexander Sample on June 4, 2026, held in the context of the ongoing mission renewal and the consecration of the Archdiocese and the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ -2026.

Church ministry and missionary work also include assignment or appointment to any other ecclesiastical office whatsoever as the diocesan bishop deems it necessary for the good of souls or the need or advantage of the Church.

The act of taking canonical possession of a parish is decisive: it makes the pastor both the minister of pastoral governance (cf. cc. 529) and the juridic representative and administrator of the parish’s temporal goods (cf. cc. 532).

Removal and transfer of a pastor (parish priest) from a parish is a right and privilege of the bishop. This is usually done when the good of souls or the need or advantage of the Church require it. Resignation also happens. In the case of resignation because of age limit, the pastor or parish priest is requested voluntarily to submit his resignation to his own bishop “not later than the completion of [his] seventy-fifth year” (Ecclesiae Sanctoe, 1966, no. 20).

Apostolic Life, Mission, and Mandate

The charism of the Apostles of Jesus, rooted in the vision of its cofounders, introduces its members to apostolic life—proclaiming the Word of God to those encountered along their path, leading them toward faith (cf. Evangelica Testificatio, 1971, no. 9).

Priests of the religious institute may serve as,  pastors, parish administrators, parochial vicars, rectors, chaplains, or even become episcopal vicars, vicar generals, diocesan administrators, and bishops. To render legitimate or valid and useful service, priests exercise their ministry through faculties granted by the local ordinary.

Priests and other religious missionaries must be mandated by the diocesan bishop or administrator before they can legitimately render service to the Church.

Bishops are legitimate successors of the apostles and members of the episcopal college within a Church that is the People of God—a community that is hierarchical in structure, enriched by the participation of the laity and religious, and called universally to holiness. The Church also recognizes the Blessed Virgin Mary as a sign of ardent hope and comfort for God’s pilgrim people.

Within this framework, bishops offer to God a particularly effective form of auxiliary service through the Synod of Bishops, a council that represents the entire episcopate. This synodal body expresses and safeguards the participation of all bishops in hierarchical communion and in the care of the universal Church (Christus Dominus, 28 October 1965, nos. 5-6; cf. Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964, Chapter 3, no. 24).

Bishops are expected and respected to be in full communion with the Church under the supreme headship of the Pope. This is why the Vatican recently — in early July 2026 — declared four consecrated bishops and six bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, excommunicated for participating in consecrations carried out without the Church’s consent.

How the Pastoral Care of the Parish is Entrusted to the Pastor/Parish Priest

Canon law affirms that pastoral care of a parish is obtained and exercised from the moment of taking canonical possession (cf. cc. 527 §1–2). The local ordinary must formally entrust the parish to its pastor or parish priest, who assumes responsibility for its pastoral governance.

Canon law allows a diocesan bishop to entrust a parish to a clerical religious institute, including communities such as the Apostles of Jesus, when this arrangement serves the pastoral good of the faithful.

However, “a juridic person is not to be a pastor; rather, one presbyter is to be the pastor of the parish” (cf. cc. 520 §§1–2).

Thus, the entrustment of Saint Angela Merici Parish signified both institutional trust in the Apostles of Jesus and the canonical appointment of an individual priest—Fr. Peter Mushi, AJ—as the first Apostles of Jesus pastor in the United States