Okey Anyanwu

Okey Anyanwu is my name. I was born and raised in Nigeria, West Africa. I am the 3rd of my parents’ eight children – two girls and six boys. I joined the staff of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic church in July 2007 as a Pastoral Minister and Director of Social Justice.

I have had the opportunity of working as a Pastoral Assistant (intern) at St. Olaf’s Catholic Church, Downtown-Minneapolis, Church of St. Stephen, Anoka and as a Parish Outreach assistant at the Archdiocesan Office for Social Justice.

It is a blessing for me to bring my cross-cultural knowledge and experience of Church life and ministry to St. Vincent’s - thanks to my 17years of seminary formation, After grade school, I started middle school seminary at age 12 and then to high school seminary in Nigeria. I was privileged to secure my college (seminary) degree in Philosophy (B.Phil.) from Pontifical Urban University, Rome. My major seminary formation and graduate studies in Theology, started at St. Paul Seminary and was completed at St. John’s University, Collegeville, where I gained a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 2006. I also hold a certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education in the field of chaplaincy.

I owe part of my international academic exposure to my graduate field work in Medical Anthropology at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia and University of Maastricht, Netherlands respectively from 1999 to 2001.

I got married to my best friend and the love of my life – “Onyi” on August 30, 2008 here at St. Vincent de Paul Parish. Travelling can be more of an addiction than a hobby, especially when the two essential factors that control my social calendar (family and finance) permit. I am a big fan of soccer, but I spend most of my sport recreation playing Volleyball or Lawn Tennis. My love for outdoors is usually at the mercy of Minnesota weather. I have come to be part of what God is doing here and also to add color to our parish staff.