How the Devotion came to United States of America
The Apostolate got to the shores of America in the year 2001, through a devotee named Maria Agnes Cooma who travelled all the way from Singapore to the USA.
One of the early devotee Maria Agnes Cooma found during her evangelization was a woman, Patricia Fason from Florida, whom she recommended to the national executive council in Nigeria, to be made the first coordinator of the Apostolate (Now known as National Server) in the US.
Unfortunately, Patricia Fason after some wonderful years of leadership, could not continue to work in obedience under the direction of the international headquarters of the Apostolate in Nigeria. She, however, continues to spread the devotion in her own way, by not working under the supervision of the visionary Bro Barnabas, and the apostolate national council in Olo Nigeria. This hindered the smooth spreading of this new apostolate in the US, that needed clear catechesis from a well-trained server to avoid wrong teaching and interpretation.
As a result of this, the national executive council in Nigeria, then appointed another server, late Aurora Protomartir from the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas as the Director of the Precious Blood Apostolate in the United States of America. She held this position until her death in the year, 2015.
Then the 3rd International Conference of the Apostolate in Olo, Nigeria in response to the urgent need for mission to propagate the devotion, selected new servers for the US Apostolate. The following were selected: national server: Maria Monica Cruz assistance server: Rosario Brewer, secretary: Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, assistant secretary: Benjamin Osemenam, Fausta Oparaji, financial secretary, treasurer: Magali Crux, Public Relations officer: Emeka Ebirim, assistant public relations officer, Lucy Pajiilagha,
The US apostolate even though was experiencing some growth, but like every other new devotion, however, continued to go through some serious challenging moments ranging from lack of proper leadership structure to division among the diverse groups maybe due to language and cultural differences, and proper understanding of the apostolate. The apostolate was left to function for years without the guidance of a priest -chaplain or spiritual director. They were like sheep without a shepherd.
The archbishop of the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, in light of pastoral needs of the Precious Blood Apostolate, appointed Rev. Fr. Sebastine Soja Okoye as the (chaplain) spiritual advisor in accord with canon 324 §2, effective June 1, 2016. The chaplain then initiated dialogue with both the national servers and other members of the apostolate and started reaching out to pastors and bishops of different parishes and dioceses where they have members of the apostolate. Such initiative has been yielding good fruits for the evangelization of the apostolate.
In August 24-27, 2018, the apostolate held her 1st national conference at Notre Dame parish Houston, Texas. The Father Founder of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, His Lordship Bishop Emeritus, Catholic diocese of Ilorin Nigeria, Ayo Maria Atoyebi presided over the national conference. In attendance also was Rev. Fr. Martin Atumanya, a spiritual director of the apostolate archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria. There were many new members who got themselves consecrated. We also had 16 devotees including Rev. Peter Le.
On January 12, 2020, the national executive council of the Precious Blood Nigeria, appointed Rev. Fr. Sebastine Okoye as the national chaplain for the North America and gave him the mandate to convoke and moderate the 2nd national conference in 2021.
The 2nd national conference Titled, “That They May Be One” John 17:21, was held in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Huston, Texas at St. Mary Star of the Sea parish Freeport, Texas, May 13-15th 2021. There were 56 members consecrated and 15 members who received Rose of Perfect Purity. The conference conducted the first general election in the US soil, that produced the first National and Regional servers, following the draft constitution of the apostolate. There was also the creation of eight (8) (diocesan) by merger; cities and states close to each other were merged into a region with regional (diocesan) servers. It equally created two new positions: Business Manager and Evangelization.
The following members became the first elected national servers:
National Server: Leonor Gomez
Assistant: Anthony Delgado
Secretary: Obinna Ezukwo
Assistant Secretary: Quilcie Hidalgo
National Business Manager: Jesse Ayala
National Treasurer: Dr. Emenike Agbim
Financial Secretary: Victor Trejo
Public Relations Officer: Dianne Williams
Assistant: Jenny Fernandez
Evang & Communication: Maria Isabel Diaz
Assistant: Teresa Mendez
The eight Regions:
Region# 1: Illinois/Michigan/Minnesota/Iowa/North & South Dakota
Region# 2: New York/Maine
Region# 3: Houston / Austin / Cleveland / El Paso
Region# 4: Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington/Grand Prairie/Odessa
Region# 5: Maryland/Virginia/Pennsylvania/Washington DC
Region# 6: Florida / Georgia
Region# 7: Arizona/Nevada/California/Utah/New Mexico
Region# 8: Colorado/Nebraska/Kansas
Following the creation of regions, consecrations were held by regions, which continues to foster greater unity and evangelization. The chaplain started making pastoral visits and holding retreats and consecrations for different regions. He appointed other priests as spiritual directors for every region he visited.