Father Anthanasius Sangnyuy Wirsiy, will be joining us as our new Administrator beginning Monday, Jan. 16. In December 2022, Bishop Robert Deeley appointed him as the Administrator of St. Brendan the Navigator Parish. Father Nathan March is heading to Augusta to be the Pastor there. 

Father Anthanasius is a diocesan priest from the Diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon. He came to Maine five years ago with Father Hyacinth, who joined us at our parish and is now the Administrator for Holy Family Parish in Greenville and Jackman. 

We asked our new shepherd to give us a little background so we could all get to know him better.  

Father Anthanasius is the third child and the only male. "Thus, I am blessed among three women," he said.

He was ordained on April 24, 2003. He served his diocese in various capacities as Chaplain of Schools, Pastor, Rector of the Minor Seminary, and Diocesan Finance Secretary. 

Father was then asked to serve as a missionary priest for the Diocese of Portland, Maine. 

He arrived in Maine on January 26th, 2017, to begin his missionary work. Since his arrival, he has served as Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland 2017-18, hospital chaplain at Mercy and Maine Medical Center hospitals in Portland 2018-20. Since July 2020, he has served as Parochial Vicar for Cluster 11 in our diocese, which consists of Stella Maris in Bucksport, Saint Joseph in Ellsworth, and Holy Redeemer in Bar Harbor. 

Fr. Anthanasius loves walking, cycling, playing ping pong, reading, and doing gardening, among other things.

Please give Father a warm welcome when you see him. Our prayers are with you Father!  And our prayers are with Father Nathan as he heads to his new assignment. 

NOTE: Father Anthanansius, along with Fathers Hyacinth and Divine and all our international priests, are “Fidei Donum” priests. The expression "Fidei Donum" in Latin means "the Gift of Faith". This is the name of the 1957 encyclical by Pope Pius XII, which looked at the missionary work of the "new Church" in Africa in renewing the faith of the "ancient Church" in other parts of the world, in particular Europe, Central and North America, where the numbers of faithful were and are dwindling.  

Portland Maine is considered a mission territory for the church. There are 86 mission dioceses from Alaska to the Gulf Coast that serve 15 million Catholics -- that's one in every five Catholics in America. Mission dioceses lack financial, personnel (priests, religious and trained laity) and other vital resources.