On 15 August 2026, the Province of East Africa opened its first foreign mission, with the arrival of Luke Muhindo, C.S.C., to the Diocese of Achonry in Ireland. Just a few weeks later, on 4 September, Fr. Ronald Kawooya, C.S.C., joined him. The two are still waiting for Fr. Kisonga Nichodemas, C.S.C., to receive his visa and join them in the mission.

"Listening to the mission experiences of our pioneer missionaries in Ireland, Father Ronald Kawooya and Father Luke Muhindo, makes the words of our Constitutions vivid: '…often we must make ourselves at home among more than one people or culture, reminding us again that the farther we go in giving the more we stand to receive,'" said Fr. Caxton Peter Mayanja, C.S.C., Superior of the Province of East Africa.

Read more about the Province of East Africa's ministries

The Province of East Africa’s mission in Ireland consists of two parishes in the Diocese of Achonry: Saint Bride Parish in Ballintubber and Saints Eithne and Fidelma Parish in Tulsk. Both parishes are “clustered”, with Saint Bride Parish including St. Croan in Ballymoe and Saints Eithne and Fidelma Parish including St. Paul in Kilmurray and St. Catherine of Alexandria in Killina. While administering two parishes, the three priests will live together at the presbytery in Ballintubber.

The particular invitation to serve in the Diocese of Achonry in Ireland came from the Most Rev. Kevin Doran, Bishop of the Diocese of Achonry and the Diocese of Elphin. Holy Cross already had a small presence in the diocese, as it is the home diocese of the Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Holy Cross Family Ministries was already running the Fr. Patrick Peyton Center in Attymass. Taking on additional parishes in the diocese would allow the Congregation both to support the existing ministry of the Peyton Center as well as to become a more powerful leaven of the consecrated life within the local Church.

Fr. Mayanja and the Council of Province of East Africa decided to accept Bishop Doran’s invitation and take up the new mission in Ireland precisely during the Congregation’s Year of Mission, in which the Superior General, Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., urged the Congregation’s jurisdictions and apostolates to discern a new mission initiative “whereby we might provide hope to those who remain on the periphery and who are most in need. As our Constitutions call us, ‘we must have the competence to see and the courage to act’” (C2:14).

"The move to take up the mission in Ireland was motivated by our first 2024 Provincial Chapter, which mandated us to collaborate with other Holy Cross Provinces and to participate in international mission," Fr. Mayana explained. It was also a response to the invitation by our Superior General, Brother Paul Bednarczyk, during our Year of Mission to renew our missionary zeal and find new ways of being faithful to our mission and address the pressing needs of our Church and world,"

Beyond the Diocese of Achonry, the Congregation of Holy Cross has a wider presence in “the Island of Saints and Scholars”. Through the University of Notre Dame, the Congregation also runs the Notre Dame-Newman Center for Faith and Reason at the historic Newman University Church, founded in 1856 by Saint John Henry Newman, in the city center of Dublin.