Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper on the Internet
In a glowing tribute, the pastor of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport (in Massachusetts), Father Jim Achadinha, characterized Rev. Benjamin Madu as having “served Holy Family Parish and Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish with true joy, kindness, and generosity.”
Madu also served as a hospital chaplain in Massachusetts. He was unable to renew his visa due to a suspension of processing for some immigration cases. He died on Thursday, July 2, 2026.
The church and local law enforcement officials have not released information on Madu’s cause of death.
NBC News has stated that a person familiar with the matter revealed that the priest died by suicide.
Under U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations, Madu was required by the Trump administration to leave the country to renew his religious worker visa, known as R-1, which was expiring this July 29, according to church officials. The department recently waived a prior requirement that R-1 recipients wait a full year to apply for renewal; however, Nigeria is one of 75 countries for which the federal government has suspended processing some immigration cases, limiting the church’s options for keeping Madu in the U.S. legally.
Madu wrote and shared on the parishes’ website regarding his returning to Nigeria.
“Sincerely, it is not my wish to return home right now, but circumstances beyond my control have warranted that my time in the United States come to an end. My heart is broken, yet my joy remains.”
Tuesday July 6, 2026, would have been Rev. Madu’s 25th anniversary of being ordained to the priesthood, at the St. Theresa Cathedral Abakaliki, in Nigeria’s Ebonyi State.
The head of the Archdiocese of Boston, Archbishop Richard Henning, has extended “our prayers and heartfelt condolences to his family, brother priests and friends in Nigeria as well as the many people Fr. Benjamin Madu ministered to here in Cape Ann and at Salem Hospital.”
