The Church has 50 more priests thanks to the generosity of one woman.

We recently received this message from Joseph Aonu Okiror, our country coordinator in Uganda and the cofounder of the Emmaus Centre in Katikamu, a center that serves priests, religious, and lay people, providing formation and training in evangelization. Joseph tells about the generosity of a woman named Mary McCormick and we wanted to share her story with our supporters.

In 2007, Renewal Ministries invited Fr. Alex Ojacor, Joseph Alumansi, and me to come and be part of the Renewal Ministries Gathering event in Ann Arbor that year. After the meeting, we visited Lloyd and Nancy Greenhaw in Florida. We also visited a woman who had previously come to the Emmaus Centre with the Greenhaws. After meeting with her, she then organized a number of outreaches for us in Minnesota at two different parishes. During one of those outreaches in Minnesota, a woman named Mary was healed and deeply touched by the ministry and prayer. Mary offered me $200 to take home to Uganda. She asked what I may do with it, and I told her that, before I came, I left a seminarian who had been sent away for lack of tuition. So, I told her, if you don’t mind, I will use this money to take him back to school. She then asked me how much it would cost to keep a seminarian at school, to which I said $400 will cater for one full year. She gave me the money. When I came back to Uganda, another seminarian was in dire need. I chose to split the money between them, so they both went back to school. I then shared with Mary that instead of one, I used all the money for one semester for two boys. She said, no problem and promised to send for the second semester as well, which she did. Mary who was a single mother by then, as the husband had walked away from the marriage, encouraged me to adopt two more seminarians each year. She faithfully sent in her widow’s mite year after year from 2007 to 2022 when she fell ill after impact from Covid-19. On April 10, 2026, Mary went to the Lord peacefully at the age of 89, having accomplished an incredible mission in Uganda by educating 68 very needy seminarians, some of whom were total orphans. Fifty of those seminarians are priests today! The sweetest part is that three of them come to serve in the USA, and one of them is in Virginia for the next ten years serving the people of the US. All of this is a result of the kindness of this one kind and generous woman of faith. I am sending you this testimony because if you had not invited us to come for the annual Gathering in Ann Arbor, we would never have met this woman and the Church would probably not have had such a huge harvest. This is truly what the strategic investment that Peter speaks of is all about. Thank you so very much for grafting us into the Renewal Ministries family… the mission continues.”  Joseph Aonu Okirir

We are immensely grateful to Mary McCormick for putting her faith and love in action. The Church is blessed by the immeasurable multiplication of graces that has resulted from her financial gifts. If you feel called to support the seminarians in Uganda in honor of Mary’s memory, you can donate online, mail us your donation, or call our office. We will direct your gift to the tuition of seminarians in need of financial assistance as they discern the Lord’s will and receive formation for ordination to the priesthood.

This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries’ July 2026 newsletter.