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Fr. Johnpaul Oluchi Afuecheta, 32, is from Obeagu Village in Nigeria. He has one sister and one brother. Fr. Afuecheta has always felt called to the priesthood. He started seminary studies at St. Dominic Savio seminary in 1996 and then went to St. John Bosco Seminary in 1999. From 2003 to 2005 he served various parishes seeking to be admitted into his diocese but he was rejected! (There are so many vocations in that diocese they simply cannot take everyone!) Soon after he met the Pallottines, then, through the advice of his good friend Fr. Vitus Ezeiruaku, he applied to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, where he got a very favorable response from Archbishop Emeritus Michael J. Sheehan. Fr. John Paul started studies at Holy Apostles Seminary in August of 2013. He has served as a deacon in various parishes, including Sacred Heart in Espanola and Holy Ghost in Albuquerque. He then served as a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas in Rio Rancho, Estancia Valley Catholic Parish in Moriarity, and as Pastor at St. Anne Parish in Tucumcari.