The Family as Fertile Soil for Vocations: An Interview with Father Martin Umeatuegbu

Hillary Ibarra interviews newly ordained priest Father Martin Nchedo Umeatuegbu about how family fosters vocations to the priesthood.

Nigerian priest Father Martin Nchedo Umeatuegbu attended seminary in Rome and Oregon before being ordained May 23, 2026, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as a priest with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Father Martin’s older brother, Father Augustine Umeatuegbu, vested him during his ordination. Father Martin currently serves as parochial vicar of Saint Anne’s Parish in Santa Fe.

A teacher before entering seminary, Father Martin holds multiple degrees and knows eight languages. He wrote The Glories of St. Alphonsus Liguori, and shortly after its 2016 publication, a friend presented a signed copy to Pope Francis. Hs recent article, “Hearing the Divine Accent: Silence as God’s Speech,” appeared in The Beacon Journal, a publication of the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality. Most recently, he shared "The Ten Commandments for a Successful and Fruitful Marriage" here on Catholic Mom.

Father Martin enjoys teaching, cracking jokes, watching and playing soccer, listening to sacred music in multiple languages, and writing reflections on saints’ lives to draw people to God.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Hillary Ibarra: Father Martin, when did you first feel a call to the priesthood?

Father Martin Nchedo Umeatuegbu: When I was 10, I already had the conviction that I would be a priest because of the way the Mass appeared to me. At that age, I had already memorized the Mass in English, Latin, and my native language Igbo.

Hillary: What was the greatest challenge you experienced on your path to the priesthood?

Father Martin: Leaving my home and my family — making that sacrifice. It is a decision that was taken in prayer, and that is where the consolation lies. The Lord will sustain you through the presence of the people you serve.

Hillary: How did your family prepare you for your vocation?

Father Martin: The first thing my siblings and I were taught in the house growing up was God. We said the Rosary twice daily. We went to Mass. We received all our sacraments at the proper ages and were given a life of prayer.

My parents were always affirmative of my desire to be a priest. They formed me by bringing me to the Faith, giving me the Faith, nurturing the Faith, and through their vocation because they knew that if I’m desiring to be a priest, that is an effect of the Faith, feedback from what they are doing as parents.

My mom always said that what someone will be in the future, only God knows: God prepares one for it. My dad always told me, “Anybody who is called to be a priest, that person has already been taken by God.” My parents knew that the priesthood comes from eternity to lead us to eternity.

Hillary: How did your family's prayer life guide and strengthen you in your faith growing up?

Father Martin: Prayer reminds us that the family is a local church. The family is the first seminary where the seed of vocation is planted. I remember my parents telling me, “You’re going to lead prayer this morning or this evening. You’re going to find a saint, a Psalm, or a book in Scripture and give a brief reflection.”

I didn’t get my spirituality in seminary. I got it in my home. But it was nurtured and grew in seminary through formation.

Hillary: In what ways does prayer sustain you as a priest?

Father Martin: Prayer is the school of God. God knows how to school our heart. Theology that is done with the heart is done in prayer. Theology that is done with the intellect is done in the classroom. If I didn’t nurture prayer, I wouldn’t have thought of being a priest. Prayer reminds me of bedrock; in prayer I feel secure.

It has deepened as a priest because I asked the Lord to teach me, so my homilies move me before they move others. In prayer I appreciate the value of the Sacraments that I celebrate because when I pray on the Mysteries, especially the Passion of Christ, I receive graces for saying the Mass in a reverential way. Prayer forms me to keep in mind that I’m going to Calvary with Christ.

Hillary: What experiences as a new priest have most amazed you and brought you closer to Christ?

Father Martin: The moment you become a priest, people come to you for the Sacrament of Confession, but when you look at yourself, you are still that human being, but there is something divine in you. There is this consciousness of the hand of God changing something deep within me. That commands humility.

A priest is both a confessor and a penitent. Going to Confession as a priest now helps me to understand my role as a confessor.

Hillary: What do you think is the most important thing parents can do to encourage their children to consider religious life?

Father Martin: Our Lady said at Fatima that there is a plan of the devil to destroy families because if the devil destroys families, he’s going to destroy other sacraments. The priesthood is one of them because every priest is called from a family. Parents must take their relationship seriously, building it on God. Men and women that desire married life and those that are already married should be serious about their marital vocation as a sacrament which will give birth to the Sacrament of the Priesthood. If parents read good books, cultivate good habits, live a life of virtues according to the teachings of the Church, then the Church will continue to flourish.

Hillary: There are so many vocations in Nigeria. What can we learn from that?

Father Martin: We value giving birth to children. It is something that was in our culture before the coming of Christianity. When married couples have many children, vocations are nurtured.

One thing we can learn from where I come from is that the priesthood is the greatest honor God can give to men. The Latin word for the priest is “Sacerdos” and that word means a giver of what is sacred. In Called to Communion, Pope Benedict XVI wrote about how a priest is someone who gives what he cannot give. The sacred that the priest gives is what was given to him by God Who is sacred.

If we go to priests to bless us, to absolve us, to anoint us, then we should encourage vocations to the priesthood. When parents say that they don’t want their children to be priests, that is misguided.

Hillary: What would you like to share with Catholic Mom readers, Father Martin?

Father Martin: Parents should see the marital vocation as something that comes from the heart of God because it is a participation in the life of God.

The meaning of motherhood is found in the Incarnation. A priest is the fruit of a woman’s body. Who gave Christ flesh? Mary. The role of Mary is perpetuated in the role of every mom especially in the offering of the priesthood because the priest — which is Jesus Christ — is the fruit of Mary’s womb. If God chose a mom, then it is a privilege to be a mom today.

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