When James Ogbonna was not yet 10 years old, his father and mother drove the family to a Mass one day that none of them would attend.

Instead the family of 11 made a terrifying journey from their home in northern Nigeria, passing through military check points to escape large-scale massacres of their people, the Igbo, a Christian ethnic group living in the Muslim north.

It was 1966, a turbulent time leading up to the Nigerian Civil War caused by ethnic, religious and economic tensions among the three ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Muslim Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the Muslim-Christian southwest and the Ibgo in the southeast.

The Ogbonna family’s parish community had been nurtured in their faith by Catholic missionary priests, the Irish Holy Ghost Fathers, a bond of friendship and faith that made the loss of neighbors even more heartbreaking.

“It began one night. They started killing our people,” said Obgonna, whose father was a school principal. “These were people you grew up with, went to school with.”

Time passed and in 1976 Ogbonna left Nigeria for England, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Portsmouth.

By 1983 Obgonna had moved to Sacramento to complete a master’s degree in public administration at California State University, Sacramento, and then went to work for the California Department of Transportation, where he is a senior transportation planner.

He and his wife Irene, son Stephen, 16, and daughter Debi, 20, became members of St. Joseph Parish in Sacramento where Irene serves as director of religious education.

Then eight years ago Ogbonna heard about a Nigerian priest, Father Christian Paul Egege, who was serving as parochial vicar of St. Philomene Parish in Sacramento. He decided to stop by St. Philomene one weekend to attend Mass to meet the fellow Nigerian.

After the two had dinner together, Father Egege, who had also been receiving visits from other Igbo Catholics living in the greater Sacramento area, decided he had to get to work on a new project.

“These people did not know one another and I realized maybe the best way to bring them together was to start celebrating Mass in our language,” Father Egege said.

On Jan. 23, 2000, he celebrated the first Mass in Igbo at St. Philomene’s chapel of adoration for seven family members of the Sacramento area Ibgo Catholic community.

Ogbonna and his son Stephen were altar servers that day.

“We in this Igbo community have a strong common bond,” said Ogbonna, who said in addition to a shared faith, about 60 percent of the Nigerian Ibgo community living in California are survivors of the atrocities of the Nigerian civil war.

It is a bond Father Egege feels must be preserved.

Born in the town of Nguru, located in eastern Nigeria, Father Egege said his father, a Catholic school teacher, determined that one of his four sons of seven children in the family would become a priest.

Since his father died while Father Egege was still a young man, it was his mother and the Irish priests at his parish who cared for his spiritual needs.

“The Irish fathers evangelized Nigeria,” he said. “I loved and admired them.”

It has not been a simple task, but over the past seven years, Father Egege, who is parochial vicar of three parishes, St. Canice in Nevada City, St. Patrick in Grass Valley and Immaculate Conception in Downieville, has been vigilant in his efforts to minister to the spiritual needs of Igbo Catholics living in the greater Sacramento area.

Its members, who followed Father Egege when he was reassigned to other parishes, began growing in number and coming together more frequently for Mass, now celebrated monthly in the Igbo language at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Sacramento.

The sacraments of baptism and marriage have also been made available to members of the Sacramento area Igbo Catholic community, estimated to include as many as 100 families.

“We continued our journey,” said Father Egege, who encourages people to bring refreshments to share following Mass. “It makes people feel they are at home and keeps us together.”

On Oct 21, an inaugural Mass celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand at Our Lady of Lourdes Church became the first milestone marking the official beginning of the Nigeria Igbo Catholic Community of Sacramento.

The joyful celebration began with a procession of children in native dress, music by the Nigeria Igbo choir and presentation of the offertory gifts by men and women dancers.

Following Mass, activities included Nigerian dance performances, displays of native dress, music and a presentation of a variety of cultural foods.

All ethnic communities and parishes in diocese were invited to the inaugural Mass as well as members of Nigeria Ibgo communities in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward.

Ogbonna said because the diocese has created an environment in which ethnic communities are encouraged to celebrate Mass in their native language, families are coming back to church and getting involved in life of the church.

“If we don’t pass on our faith, it will be lost completely,” he said. “This is helping our children to be engaged in the Catholic faith.”

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