20 years later, local couple reflects on success of Ugandan school they founded

In 2005, Nancy and Paul Berrigan were inspired by a homily during World Mission Sunday to make a difference a world away

ROCHESTER HILLS — The theme for this year's World Mission Sunday, which was celebrated Oct. 19, was "Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples."

It's a description that fits Paul and Nancy Berrigan well.

Selected within the context of the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, the theme reflects the importance of Christians building up the Church in missionary lands.

Twenty years ago, the Berrigans — formerly parishioners of St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills and now parishioners of St. Irenaeus in Rochester Hills — were inspired by a homily during World Mission Sunday that led them on a journey to found a now-thriving school in Uganda.

For Nancy in particular, that 2005 homily was personal. The visiting priest that Sunday, Msgr. John Kauta, began his homily with an unexpected question: “How many of you know about pagan babies?”

"Well, my hand shot up," she recalled to Detroit Catholic.

The question instantly brought back a decades-old memory from her second-grade class at St. John the Baptist School in Kansas City, where she grew up. As a child, she recalled the program through which students could raise money to support unbaptized children in missionary countries by "adopting" them as spiritual siblings.

Hearing about it again from Msgr. Kauta, she was quickly inspired to do what she could to respond to his call to support children in Uganda.

Paul Berrigan recalled how he suggested to Nancy a bold idea to help these children.

“As Nancy was getting ready to write a check, I said, ‘Wait a minute — let’s see if we might want to do something a little different,’” Paul Berrigan told Detroit Catholic. “Monsignor had passed out a sheet of paper that said for this much money, you could sponsor a seminarian, and for this much, you could build a school, etc.”

It was then, Paul said, that the couple decided to found a school in Chelekura, Uganda. They would call it John Paul Secondary School, in honor of their parents.

Initially, classes of five were held under a tree before the school building was completed in 2007. That year, the Berrigans visited the school for the first time and were shocked by the poverty they saw.

“We determined that we had to make it the best school around,” Paul Berrigan said.

Since then, the school has seen remarkable growth, growing from 14 students in 2007 to 831 students this year. Its academic ranking has also grown, from being ranked in the bottom 50% of national schools in Uganda in 2019 to being in the top 15% in 2024. It has added to the campus dormitories for boys and girls, teacher housing, a multi-purpose building, and a cellular tower.

Liz Comerford, who serves as the school’s treasurer, is impressed by how much the school has grown since its humble beginnings. Though thousands of miles away, Comerford said the situation in Uganda parallels the struggles of poor children everywhere, including in Detroit.

“There are a lot of parallels with the folks who are struggling to get their kids into school in Uganda," Comerford said. "The financial struggles are really the same worldwide. It might be different levels of things you need, but it's been a parallel and a blessing to serve.”

Paul Berrigan reflected on how his understanding of World Mission Sunday has deepened since he and Nancy first heard the homily that inspired them two decades ago.

“You hear about World Mission Sunday, and then — almost 20 years later — you are World Mission Sunday,” Paul Berrigan said.

“The collaboration, the people that we've met … to bring together the people that we have on our board … you learn so much about one another," Paul Berrigan added. "And to celebrate a major victory — all of a sudden it’s done, and we’re moving on to the next thing. Everybody can take part in that. It changes your whole view of everything.”