My name is Fr. Dieudonné Ntakarutimana. My native language is Kirundi and in my country of BURUNDI in Africa we also speak French. BURUNDI is a land-locked country in east Africa surrounded by TANZANIA on the southeast, RWANDA on the north, and the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO on the west. My first name Dieudonné is French for gift of God. My last name Ntakarutimana is Kirundi for nothing is greater than God. I was born April 4, 1972 in a rural area in central BURUNDI in the province of Mwaro. My parents are still living in this rural area. They were married eleven years before they had their first child who was me and they called me Dieudonné that means gift of God. In my family they are four of us children, two boys, and two girls. My brother, my sisters, and I were all fortunate to go to school.
 
I attended the elementary school in 1980 at Gisozi to where I walked about eight miles every day. After elementary school I attended middle school and high school in another area further from my home and I lived there as the public schools had dormitories. After every three months of school, we had vacation: Christmas, Easter, and summer. During summer vacation I got a small job to earn money for my tuition because my parents as well as other families, could not afford to send their children to the public high school because most of the people in BURUNDI are very poor. When I finished high school I was drafted into the Burundian army for one year because we had a civil war and genocide in my country that lasted more than ten years. The genocide was created by tension between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic tribes.
 
After completing my service in the army I started my studies at the major seminaries. I began my philosophical studies in 2001 in Bujumbura which is the capital city of BURUNDI. After my philosophical studies I did one year of internship in one of the parishes in my Archdiocese of Gitega. In 2004 I started my theological studies in Gitega that I finished in 2007. I was ordained on August 4, 2007 by Bishop Simon Ntamwana.
 
I started my priestly ministry in the same year in Murayi parish where I was assigned. For the first three years I served as an assistant priest. After three years I was appointed the pastor of the same parish. My parish had at that time 53,000 parishioners and 12 mission churches. As the majority of the people in BURUNDI are Catholics (more than 85%) priests have a lot of pastoral works. I remember baptizing 800 catechumens during the Easter Vigil that started at midnight and lasted until 5:00 am. I was involved in different activities in the community related to the national program to reduce poverty that was striking the parish. As pastor I tried to bring these people to live a meaningful life. While I was assistant, my Bishop charged me also to take care of all Catholic ministries (commonly known as Catholic Action Movement) which engaged in developing the Catholic faith in a pastoral district. This placed me in charge of four parishes. In my parish there was a large refugee camp because of the civil war and I participated in the reintegration of refugees in my parish.
 
Beside all these responsibilities, I maintained the parish in good standing by providing daily fellowship with Christians, celebrating sacraments, and providing all the needed and counseling to people especially in the post-trauma of ethnic conflict and war.
 
In August 2013, my Bishop sent me to the United States to learn English because our country is integrating English into the region along with other countries. So I have been studying at Sacred Heart Seminary and school of Theology in Wisconsin for two years. Now Bishop Boyea has appointed me to the Catholic parishes, Saint Paul and Saint Joseph, in Owosso. I ask you for your support and help to be integrated into your community. I am very happy to be a part of your community. May God bless you all.