A Nigerian Roman Catholic priest, who had been working for several years as a hospital chaplain in Massachusetts, died last week, church officials in the state said, as he was prepared to depart the United States due to a visa issue.
Rev. Benjamin Madu, of the Diocese of Abakaliki, died Thursday, according to a statement from pastor Father Jim Achadinha of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport, calling it a “devastating loss.”
“Madu served Holy Family Parish and Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish with genuine joy, kindness and generosity,” Achadinha added.
The church and local law enforcement have not published details surrounding Madu’s death, but a spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney’s Office told the Boston Globe there was no reason to suspect foul play. An autopsy was scheduled for Madu on Monday while officials tried to locate relatives thought to be in Nigeria.
Madu committed suicide, a person familiar with the incident told NBC News. The insider added Madu had travelled to his native nation twice in the past few years, around the holidays in 2024 and 2025.
The Archdiocese of Boston, headed by Archbishop Richard Henning, issued a statement: “Our prayers and heartfelt condolences go out to his family, brother priests and friends in Nigeria as well as the many people Fr. Benjamin Madu ministered to here in Cape Ann and at Salem Hospital.”
The archdiocese said Madu has been working as a chaplain, mostly at the hospital, since 2021. Tuesday would have been the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. He was ordained to the priesthood in the St. Theresa Cathedral Abakaliki, in Nigeria’s Ebonyi State.
His visa was running out and he was to return to Nigeria this month. The archdiocese had said he was told to return by his own diocese in early July, not at the end of the month as Madu had intended.
Church authorities told the Associated Press that Madu had to leave the country to renew his religious worker visa, R-1, which is expiring July 29 under U.S. Department of Homeland Security restrictions. The department recently eliminated a past requirement that R-1 recipients wait a year to apply for renewal, but Nigeria is one of 75 countries for which the federal government has halted processing some immigration cases, leaving the church with few options for keeping Madu in the U.S. legally.
Madu spoke a little about his experience with the community and approach to his work in the church in a farewell message to the community that was posted to the website of the Gloucester and Rockport parishes, as well as a debate about going back to Nigeria. \”I don’t want to go home right now, but forces beyond my control have decided that my time in the United States has come to an end. “I’m heartbroken, but my joy is intact. I would love to return to minister and I’ll miss the community,” he added.
Last month many in the church were surprised by the word that Madu, or Father Ben as he was known to parishioners, was leaving.
Church leaders have said the priest was serving at St. Ann’s and Our Lady of Good Voyage in Gloucester and St. Joachim’s in Rockport, in addition to working as a chaplain at Salem Hospital, helping patients and families through some of their most difficult times.
Source: NBC Boston / News Express
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