(OSV News) — A Nigerian priest who previously served in Alaska remains missing after being captured by Boko Haram operatives in his homeland, OSV News has learned.
Father Alphonsus Afina, assigned to several parishes across Alaska from September 2017 through 2024, was abducted June 1 along with an unspecified number of fellow travelers while in Nigeria’s Borno state, near the northeastern town of Gwoza.
Bishop John Bogma Bakeni of Maiduguri, Nigeria, told The Associated Press June 8 that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram was responsible for the kidnapping.
The bishop said he had spoken briefly with Father Afina the day after the abduction, and described him as “sounding OK” and “in good spirits” despite exhaustion.
Prayers Needed
OSV News has contacted the Diocese of Maiduguri, where Father Afina was ordained in 2010, for an update and is awaiting a response.
Aid to the Church in Need confirmed in a July 5 message to OSV News that “Father Alphonsus is still kidnapped.”
The agency, which supports the persecuted church throughout the world, noted that it was in contact with the local church to determine the best way to secure Father Afina’s return, without “unnecessary delays” or any “indirectly increased ransom’s amount.”
The Pontifical Mission Societies of Nigeria told OSV News in a July 4 email that the diocese “has not released any update” about the kidnapping of Father Afina.
“The Diocese has asked the priests and laity of the diocese to say a Novena to our Lady of perpetual help for his release. Since then we have been praying for his release. We pray God will touch the heart of his abductors to release him.”
Father Robert Fath, vicar general and vocation director of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, told OSV News in a July 1 email that there was, “unfortunately, no new information” about the priest’s wellbeing or whereabouts.
“Please continue to pray,” said Father Fath in his email.
Bishop Bakeni told AP that Father Afina had been traveling from the city of Mubi, his current pastoral assignment, to Maiduguri for a workshop. At a military checkpoint, his convoy was ambushed by armed men, with a rocket-propelled grenade striking one of the vehicles, killing one and wounding others.
The bishop said it was not clear if Father Afina was the intended target of the attack.
Kidnappings of Priests Common in Nigeria
In June, Bishop Steven J. Maekawa of Fairbanks called for prayer, following a June 3 Mass celebrated for Father Afina at Sacred Heart Cathedral, which drew some 200 in person as well as online participants.
Writing in a June 5 letter to faithful, Bishop Maekawa reiterated his homily from that liturgy, referencing the Gospel account of the paralyzed man carried by friends through the roof of a house to obtain healing from Christ (Mk 2:1-12).
“We are a powerful people,” said the bishop. “Much like the men who make a hole in the roof to lower their friend through it to bring him to Jesus, we are able to bring those in need to our Lord Jesus with our prayers. Without the Lord we can do nothing. Great things can be accomplished by appealing to the love of God.”
Bishop Maekawa said Father Afina and all held captive “need as many people as possible praying for them and for their captors.”
A recent report from Fides Agency — the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies — found that since 2015, 145 priests were abducted in Nigeria, with 11 killed and 4 still missing as of March.
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Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
