• A Special Message: Goodbye from My Heart letter by Reverend Madu
• The Pastor of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport said that Reverend Benjamin Madu “served Holy Family Parish and Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish with true joy, kindness, and generosity.”

Reverend Benjamin Okwy Madu, a Catholic priest who was set to return to his native Nigeria by order of the Trump administration, has died, leaving his North Shore parish in grief.

A Roman Catholic priest from Nigeria who’d been preparing to leave the United States over a visa issue died last week, according to church officials in Massachusetts, where he’d been serving as a hospital chaplain for several years.

Rev. Benjamin Madu, of the Diocese of Abakaliki, died Thursday, according to an announcement from pastor Father Jim Achadinha of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport, calling it a “devastating loss.”

Achadinha said that Madu “served Holy Family Parish and Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish with true joy, kindness, and generosity.”

The church and local law enforcement officials haven’t released information on Madu’s death, but a representative of the Essex County District Attorney’s Office said foul play was not suspected. He was due to undergo an autopsy as of Monday, while officials worked to contact relatives of Madu’s, believed to be in Nigeria.

A person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Madu died by suicide. The person said that Madu had been to his home country twice in the past few years around the holidays, in 2024 and 2025.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

The head of the Archdiocese of Boston, Archbishop Richard Henning, shared a statement extending “our prayers and heartfelt condolences 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.”

Madu had been a chaplain, primarily at the hospital, since 2021, according to the archdiocese. Tuesday would have been his 25th anniversary of being ordained to the priesthood, which took place at the St. Theresa Cathedral Abakaliki, in Nigeria’s Ebonyi State.

He was due to return to Nigeria this month because his visa was expiring; the archdiocese had said he was instructed by his home diocese to return in early July instead of at the end of the month, as Madu had planned.

Under U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations, Madu had to leave the country to renew his religious worker visa, known as R-1, which was expiring this July 29, according to church officials. The department recently waived a prior requirement that R-1 recipients wait a full year to apply for renewal; however, Nigeria is one of 75 countries for which the federal government has suspended processing some immigration cases, limiting the church’s options for keeping Madu in the U.S. legally.

Parishioners devastated to learn Mass. priest faces potential deportation

A popular priest who serves Gloucester and Rockport is being forced to leave the country as the clock runs out on his visa, leaving parishioners worried about what happens next.

In a goodbye message shared with the community that was posted to the Gloucester and Rockport parishes’ website, Madu shared a bit about his experience with the community and approach to his role in the church, as well as a discussion about returning to Nigeria.

“Sincerely, it is not my wish to return home right now, but circumstances beyond my control have warranted that my time in the United States come to an end. My heart is broken, yet my joy remains,” he wrote, adding that he’d gladly return to minister and will miss the community.

The announcement last month that Madu, whom parishioners called “Father Ben,” was set to leave had caught many in the congregation off guard.

Church leaders have previously said that the priest was serving at St. Ann’s and Our Lady of Good Voyage in Gloucester as well as St. Joachim’s in Rockport while also working as a chaplain at Salem Hospital, supporting patients and families during some of their most difficult moments.

‘Goodbye from My Heart’

Note: This beautiful message from Father Ben appeared last weekend on our website and in our parish newsletter. It reveals the heart of a priest filled with love for the Lord, for the scriptures, and for the good people of the Catholic Community of Gloucester & Rockport.

By Father Ben Madu

In April 2022, Father Paul Ritt (our regional vicar) talked with Father Jim; and I was invited to celebrate weekend Masses in the Catholic Community of Gloucester & Rockport. What a thrilling opportunity! As usual, whenever I am asked to celebrate the Eucharist for the first time in a predominantly white community, my African presence often prompts an initial reaction of curiosity, fixed stares, and guarded expressions.

This has been my experience since arriving in the United States eight years ago. But my response has always remained the same: wait until after Mass and you may come to appreciate the beauty this African spirit brings. “That was marvelous,” or “That was from the heart,” or “I love it when you sing,” or “I felt that you were speaking directly to me,” or “I love the joy and laughter but I could not hear you.”

In truth, there is nothing extraordinary except the care that I put into each homily. I do not simply prepare it. I absorb it fully. And then through stories, life experiences, humor and reflection, I try to offer something nourishing to myself and to the faithful. I preach not by reading from a page, but by speaking from the heart; by allowing inspiration in the moment to shape the message so it can reach each person where they are.

I begin preparing my homily on Thursday by reading the Sunday scriptures. On Friday, I reflect on commentaries and insights from others; and by Saturday, I allow the Spirit of God to minister to my soul. By the time I stand in the pulpit, I have fully absorbed the message and I am ready to preach it from the heart.

Gloucester and Rockport became my Eucharistic community each weekend; and I cannot overstate the love, warmth, kindness, hospitality, and generosity that I received here. I experienced it in Father Jim’s loud and fearless morning embrace, Brother Patrick’s sincere and direct hugs, and the joy and kindness of every parishioner at Saint Joachim Church in Rockport, Saint Ann Church in Gloucester, and Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester. I look forward to seeing your beautiful faces every weekend. I look forward to your warm embraces, generous smiles, and handshakes.

Sincerely, it is not my wish to return home right now, but circumstances beyond my control have warranted that my time in the United States come to an end. My heart is broken, yet my joy remains. If I am ever given the chance to minister again to the people of Gloucester and Rockport, I would gladly do it all over again. I will miss the home I found away from home, a mother far from my mother, a father far from my father, and a people far from my own people.

God bless you all. I will soon return to Africa, specifically Nigeria, my homeland, where nature speaks to the soul and bonds of community help ease the loneliness that has weighed on me while living alone in the “white house” in Lynnfield. I will deeply miss the seaside, where I often drive to after Mass to call my family and hear about their Sundays. There, where the ocean meets the rocks and its endless rhythm becomes the music of my post–Mass peace; there I found comfort and serenity. Goodbye from my heart.— Father Ben Okwy Madu

@NBC Boston