Meet the New Chaplain for Grad Students, Faculty, and Staff
Image Courtesy of Dominican Friars of Eastern Africa
By Anthony Curioso
On September 29, the “Weekly Updates” email from Campus Ministry announced that Fr. Gilbert Andama, O.P., would be the new Chaplain for Graduate Students, Faculty, and Staff. In assuming this role, Fr. Gilbert replaces Fr. Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P., who had recently been reassigned after serving in that role for three years.
In the following week’s “Weekly Update” email on October 6, Campus Ministry provided the following biographical information about Fr. Gilbert: “Fr. Gilbert professed his solemn vows in 2016, was ordained a priest in 2020, and has served in several Dominican apostolates in Kenya.”
Fr. Gilbert was ordained to the diaconate in 2019 at St Dominic’s Priory in Nairobi, Kenya, alongside Fr. Privatus Jamhuri, who is now a master’s student in Rome.
Fr. Gilbert officially celebrated his first Sunday Mass on campus on October 5 at 11 a.m. in the St. Vincent de Paul Chapel. His inaugural Sunday Mass drew a large crowd from the University community, including those who specifically wanted to witness Fr. Gilbert’s first Sunday Mass at CUA.
At the beginning of the Mass on October 5, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, the University Chaplain and Vice President for Ministry and Mission, formally introduced Fr. Gilbert to the congregation. In his introduction, Fr. Aquinas briefly shared some biographical details that would also be included in the formal email introduction to the rest of the CUA community the following day. Specifically, Fr. Aquinas mentioned in his introduction on October 5 that Fr. Gilbert is originally from Uganda and had previously served as a priest for five years in several Dominican-run parishes in Kenya.
While serving in Kenya, Fr. Gilbert participated in the third African Congress of Lay Dominican Fraternities, which took place in South Africa in June 2025. The Congress focused on discussing the current status of third-order Dominican life across the African continent.
Fr. Gilbert had arrived in the United States to begin his service in his role at CUA just one week before his inaugural Sunday Mass in St. Vincent’s chapel; he concelebrated several of the weekday Masses over the week leading up to his first Sunday Mass as the principal celebrant at CUA on October 5.
Before his assignment at CUA, Fr. Gilbert previously served as a visiting priest in the US for short stints at Holy Innocents Parish in Pleasantville, New York, in late September 2023, and at St. Pius V Parish in Providence, Rhode Island, in May 2022.
Fr. Gilbert began his homily at the October 5 Mass by expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to serve at CUA and stating that he thoroughly enjoyed learning about the common call-and-response, “God is good all the time, all the time God is good,” when he came to the United States. He then explained that the day’s First Reading and Gospel allowed for an excellent opportunity to reflect on the meaning of faith, which he felt had become distorted in today’s culture.
To conclude the homily, Fr. Gilbert offered a piece of advice on how to respond to God.
“We need to be open to what God will do for us and what He wants us to become,” Fr. Gilbert said.
Since the Catholic Church has designated October as the Month of the Rosary, Fr. Gilbert’s first Sunday Mass on the CUA campus came to a fitting conclusion with the chosen recessional hymn, “Immaculate Mary.”
Members of the CUA community who wish to meet with Fr. Gilbert should contact him directly at andyro22t@gmail.com. This guidance for reaching out to Fr. Gilbert will remain in effect until he obtains and activates a University email address or until Campus Ministry updates the Spiritual Direction Request Form to include him as an option for meeting requests.
