Bishop Deeley Announces Two Priest Assignments

PORTLAND---Bishop Robert Deeley has announced two priest assignments, with effective dates noted.

Effective April 1, 2022, Fr. Simon Assogba, SMA, has been appointed parochial vicar at Parish of the Precious Blood (Holy Rosary Church, Caribou; Sacred Heart Church, Caribou; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Presque Isle; Our Lady of the Lake Church, Portage; St. Catherine Church, Washburn; St. Denis Church, Fort Fairfield; St. Joseph Church, Mars Hill; St. Louis Church, Limestone; St. Mark Church, Ashland; St. Theresa Church, Stockholm). He joins Fr. Anthony Korir, SMA, who was also appointed parochial vicar of the parish in February. Fr. Assogba and Fr. Korir are members of the Society of African Missions (SMA), an international community of missionaries founded in France in 1856. The community includes priests, brothers, lay men, and lay women hailing from five continents. The American Province of SMA was established in 1941 and is headquartered in Tenafly, New Jersey. Fr. Assogba was ordained to the priesthood on August 15, 2012, in the Diocese of Cotonou in Benin, Africa. Since his ordination, he has served as a bursar at a house of formation in Ibadan, Nigeria; superior of a house of formation in Lomé, Togo; and mission assistant in Benin.

Effective May 1, 2022, Fr. Gaudence Lyaruu, AJ, has been appointed hospital chaplain at Maine Medical Center and Northern Light Mercy Hospital, both in Portland. The Apostles of Jesus (AJ) missionaries serve around the world in the ministries of primary evangelization, pastoral care of the sick, and chaplaincy to college and university students. The missionary society also ministers to impoverished, abandoned, and homeless children. Fr. Lyaruu was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1996, and since that time has served at parishes in Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania. His assignments took him to the Kalahari Desert, to metropolitan areas such as Johannesburg in South Africa, and to rural villages. Most recently, Fr. Lyaruu served at St. Joseph Cathedral in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.