New AFJN Executive Director Chosen

Posted August 24, 2011
The Africa Faith & Justice Network Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of Rev. Aniedi Okure, OP, as its next Executive Director. Father Okure, a member of the Order of Preachers, Dominican Province of St. Joseph the Worker (Nigeria & Ghana) was ordained in 1980.

Board Chair, Rev. Christopher Promis, C.S.Sp. expressed great hope in the leadership of Father Okure as AFJN looks forward to his energy and focus to create links with colleges and universities, especially of institutional members of the Network; as well as dioceses and parishes with links to Africa through twinning; and the growing African Diaspora community in the USA that stays connected to their countries of origin.

Read more: New AFJN Executive Director Chosen

AFJN Staff & Board

Aniedi Okure, OP,  Executive Director
Aniedi Okure is a member of the Order of Preachers; Dominican Province of St. Joseph the Worker (Nigeria-Ghana). He has served in various pastoral capacities in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States, including associate director of campus ministry at the University of Ife, associate at St. Ambrose Parish Boston, St. James Church Davis and chaplain at Geisinger Hospital Danville, Pennsylvania. From 1995 to 2001, he was the Coordinator of Ethnic Ministries at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and served as co-chair for the breakout sessions of Encuentro 2000, the millennium celebration of diversity in the church. While at USCCB, he brought together African priests and religious to form the coalition of African Conference of Catholic Clergy and Religious in the United States (http://acccrus.org).
Since 2003, he has contributed to research projects at Catholic University’s Institute for Policy Research (http://ipr.cua.edu) including the study of the movements of international priests and religious and their impact on local church communities, African and Caribbean-born in the United States, and cultural diversity in the Church. With Dean Hoge, he co-authored International Priests in America: Challenges and Opportunities (2006), and African and Caribbean Catholics in the United States (2008). He is a frequently invited speaker on international priests and cultural diversity. He studied at the Dominican Institute Ibadan, Les Facultés Catholique Kinshasa; University of Ife; Boston University and The Catholic University of America. He has taught at The Catholic University of America, The George Washington University, the University of California Davis and the University of Ife, Nigeria. He holds a doctorate degree in sociology from the Catholic University of America. Email: director@afjn.org

Ntama Bahati joined Africa Faith and Justice Network in 2007. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he witnessed the invasion of the DRC by Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda from 1996-2000 and worked in the field of post-war relief. He co-founded the Association des vieullards Abondonnes/Association for Abandoned Elderly (AVA) which addresses the increased number of elderly people begging on the streets of Bukavu during the conflict in DRC. He holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (2000) from La Ruzizi in Bukavu/DRC, a Masters of Divinity (2006) and Masters of Arts in Ethics (2007) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Since joining AFJN, he has written and spoken in different circles across the US on the socio-political issues of the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi.  He is the author of Tribe not an Idea, but a True Identity, a piece published in Recherches Africaines. L'Afrique et son vecu vol. 21-22, and co-author of the paper Promoting International Support for Community-Based Justice Mechanisms in Post-Conflict Burundi and Uganda (2009).  Policy papers of his include Two Rebel groups, One solution (2008) and Evaluating peace and stability in DRC (2009). He has been a guest of Africa Now, a radio program of WPFW in Washington DC and Voice of America TV.  His work at AFJN is informed by his passion for social justice as well his personal commitment to making this world a better place for all people.  Email: bahati@afjn.org

Melaura Homan-Smith,  Program and Development Assistant

Melaura recently earned her dual degrees in International Politics (with a focus on economics) and Comparative Literature from the Pennsylvania State University.  Her Quaker spirit of service led her to teach English with an international team in rural China in 2005.  During college Melaura studied abroad in Argentina; there she volunteered with various human rights groups which work toward justice for victims of the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War).  She volunteered this past fall on the Africa Human Security Working Group, which is part of AFJN’s focus campaign exposing US militarization in Africa. Email: melaura@afjn.org

Board of Directors

as of August 2011

Christopher Promis, CSSp, Chair
Spiritan Missionaries USA

Jo’Ann De Quattro, SNJM, Vice Chair
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary

Clarita Hanson, SHCJ, Sec/Treasurer
Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus 

Elizabeth Kolmer, ASC
Adorers of the Sacred Blood of Christ

Lacey Haussamen
Notre Dame University

John Kleiderer
Jesuit Conference USA

Fr. Charles "Kip" Stander, SM
Marianists

Ms. Thesea Phillips
Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Fr. John Conversat, MCCJ
Comboni Missionaries