Father Louis Adjétey Kouevi, mccj

I am Father Louis Kouevi, a missionary priest with the Verona Fathers, also known as the Comboni Missionaries. I was born in Togo on 6 March 1962.

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I joined the Verona Fathers in 1983 and spent the following eleven years in formation for the priesthood and missionary life: three years of philosophy in Togo, two years of spirituality and congregation-specific formation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Congo-Kinshasa), four years of theology in Italy, and a final two years back in Congo dedicated to pastoral work.

I was ordained a priest on 17 December 1994, in Vogan, my hometown. The Democratic Republic of Congo  one of Africa's most beautiful and blessed countries became what missionaries often call a "first love": a place where years of service give rise to deep affection, shaped by the many gifts and experiences shared with its people.

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I served there in a variety of capacities over the course of nearly thirteen years. During my first four years, I worked in Kinshasa as a parochial vicar, with responsibility for youth ministry, schools, catechists, families, and marriage preparation.

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From 1998 to 2001, I returned to Rome for further studies, this time in media, combined with sociology, international relations, and human rights. Upon returning to Congo, I took up a new missionary role as deputy director of Afriquespoir, our French-language magazine distributed across several African countries, while also serving as a local correspondent for an international news agency.

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Amid the war and rebellions that shook the Congo during those years struggles that, sadly, have not entirely ceased my missionary work also came to include training laypeople in justice and peace, and for a time, serving as chaplain to laypeople engaged in political life and human rights advocacy.

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In 2006, after nearly thirteen years in Congo, I returned to Togo, where I was assigned to full-time pastoral ministry as parish priest in Assrama, a town some 90 km from Lomé, the capital. I served there for six years.

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In 2012, I was granted a sabbatical year in Rome, devoted to rest, prayer, personal study, and reflection on my years of missionary service in Congo and Togo, as well as further spiritual formation and preparation for what lay ahead.

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Towards the end of that sabbatical year, I received an assignment to a country I had never imagined I would be sent to: the United Kingdom, where I arrived in 2014.

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From 2015 to 2019, I worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), visiting the UK's two main immigration removal centres near Heathrow Airport Colnbrook and Harmondsworth.

This ministry involved visiting detainees, listening to stories that were invariably painful and filled with sorrow, praying with them, acting as an interpreter, offering modest financial assistance where possible, and liaising with their relatives and loved ones, both in the UK and abroad. On weekends, I also served as assistant priest at Our Lady and St Joseph Parish in Battersea, then run by our Institute.

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I arrived at St Joseph's, Roehampton, in 2018, serving as assistant parish priest for about four years while continuing my ministry among refugees, migrants, and people in detention.

On 18 December 2022, I was inducted as Parish Priest here at St Joseph's, Roehampton, where I continue to serve today.