Activities marking the end of the celebration of the Year for Priests in Nigeria took place at the arena of the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha on Thursday June 3, 2010, with the ordination of 20 priests from all over the country and the proclamation of Nigerian born Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi as the patron of Nigerian priests.
The event which began with Vespers in the Basilica and lectures on the lives of St John Mary Vianney and Blessed Iwene Tansi on Wednesday June 2 brought together 34 Archbishops and bishops, over 2.500 priests, about 1000 women religious, a huge number of Christ’s faithful and dignitaries from all works of life including the Executive Governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi and the immediate past governor, DR Chris Ingige.
Representatives of various organizations of the Abuja Archdiocese, dressed in their colourful uniforms and the youths were at the Airport to add colour to the short but memorable ceremony. Prominent among the organizations were the Knights and Ladies of St Mulumba and St John International, Catholic Men Organization (CMO) and the Catholic Women Organization (CWO) led by the National President, Mrs. Felicia Onyeabor.
It would be recalled that the Holy Father, Benedict XVI declared the period between June 2009 and June 2010, the Year for Priests, with the theme, Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests. Since then seminars, Retreats, colloquia and other religious and social activities have been organized at the universal, continental, Regional, National, Provincial, Diocesan and Parish levels.
Welcoming the teaming crowd to Onitsha “the gateway to the Igbo Nation”, the host Archbishop Valerian Maduka Okeke, thanked God “for the gift of the priesthood of Christ which we are celebrating….for extending the dignity and nobility of this exalted privileged office to mere mortals”. He prayed that, “this holy event will be a blessing to our country Nigeria, to our state Anambra and to the Church-the family of God in Nigeria”. “May the life of each participant change for good due to this celebration”, he concluded.
In his homily at the closing Mass presided over by Archbishop Felix Alaba Job, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, the Bishop of Uyo, Most Rev Joseph Ekuwem, highlighted the reasons for the priesthood, models of the priest, the lives of St John Mary Vianney and Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi, the relevance of the priesthood today and the challenges facing the priest today.
According to bishop Ekuwen, “Jesus remaind the culminating point of all priestly, kingly and prophetic services before his birth, for all these pointed at, and led to him. He remains the High Priest of the New and eternal covenant”. Thus, “A priest of the New Covenant cannot be effective if he does not model his life after Jesus Christ the High Priest, into whose priesthood he has been inserted and in which he participates (cf. CCC 1551)” he noted.
Reflecting on the models for priests, Bishop Ekuwem said, “Today, the great Cure of Ars, who is the universal Patron of Priests, is a model for priests in his preaching, advice and assistance at the sacrament of reconciliation, holiness of life , humility and pastoral commitments”. Furthermore, he noted that, “In our reflection on models for priests within the context of this celebration, we cannot fail to mention the heroism of faith displayed by the Blessed Cyprian Iwene Tansi …he remains a model in the priestly life, especially to us, Nigerian priests”. “We can emulate from his life, the virtues of humility, charity, holiness of life and above all, a conscious struggle, with the help of God’s grace, against the yearnings of the flesh and materialism, which the present Pontiff describes as a virus imported into Africa from the Western world. This virus did not affect Tansi but is affecting many of us Nigerian priests today”, he maintained.
Bishop Ekuwem included the negative influence of the media, pornography, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution, legalization of abortion, uninhibited and unrestrained human trafficking, child abuse and violence among the negative practices in the modern world that challenge the priest today. Among the negative tendencies is the son-of-the-soil syndrome, which “raises its head in many forms especially when a cathedral is vacant and there is need for a new bishop”, he added.
The homilist condemned the attitude of those priests who are neither available to the people nor committed to their pastoral responsibilities, priests who place material gains first before their duty to the people, those priests who would not carry out their pastoral responsibilities unless they have something human or material to gain and those who run away in the face of challenging pastoral situations. These priests he noted “should learn to attend to the concerns of Christ and his sheep before their own, being reminded that they are called to serve the people and not to be served”.
He enjoined the priests to “Support the religious, particularly women, for they share with you, in an eminent manner, the collaborative ministry as an invitation for communion of charisms in the Church”.
Concluding he pointed out that “the priesthood and therefore the priests remain ever relevant today, perhaps than it was in yester-years”, and enjoined the lay faithful to persevere in praying for their priests.
In his closing address, the Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Fr Michael Ekpenyong, reiterated the importance and the centrality of the ordained priesthood in the Church pointing out that “This celebration has offered us the opportunity to celebrate our beloved Priests and to appreciate the role they play in the life of the Church. Their eschatological and heavenly lives challenge the world to focus on the realities of heaven, while still on earth”.
In conclusion, he thanked all and in particular Onitsha archdiocese that “single-handedly financed and executed this national closing of the Year for Priests”.
FR Ralph Madu
Director, Social Communications
Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria |
