A NEW priest from Africa has has taken part in his first service at a church in Blackbird Leys.

Malawian-born Father Nazarius Mgungwe has taken over from Father David Hartley, who moved to a parish in Stoke-on-Trent earlier this year after five years in the post.

Churchgoers welcomed Father Naz, as he likes to be known, at a mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Balfour Road on Friday last week.

Last night the 58-year-old, who has moved into a house in Sawpit Road, said the city of Oxford was much admired at home in Malawi.

He said: “I’m really delighted to be here, people are so nice. I’m looking forward to a great time.

“I went into Oxford for the first time yesterday, on the open top bus, and I thought it was wonderful. There is so much history here and for me it’s a privilege to be here.

“So many of my own people have been educated here and the word Oxford means a lot, because they look to this city as the centre of education.”

Fr Mgungwe came to Britain seven years ago. He had been working in the Mzuzu Diocese in northern Malawi.

He took a job in a parish in Galloway, Scotland, for a year before moving to Stoke, where he has been for the past six years.

In total he has clocked up 31 years as a priest. He trained in Malawi before studying psychology and Latin at University College, Cork, in Ireland.

He said: “There are so many reasons why I became a priest, I like working with people and I thought it would be the best way to meet people and accompany them through the good times and the difficult times. I was attracted to this kind of life.

“What attracted me to Blackbird Leys was that there are people here from all over the world and I find it’s a big challenge.

“My hope is I can work among the different people and see what different people have brought from their country into this community, like different ways of celebrating and taking mass.”

Fr Mgungwe said he wanted to get more people involved in church life.

He said: “This is a big challenge. You don’t have to force yourself on people but it’s a matter of being pleasant so people can see what we are and maybe someone will be interested.”

Fr Mgungwe, who enjoys cycling and jogging in the early morning, says he misses his home country.

He added: “I try to go home every year if I can.”