By Fr Michael Nsikak Umoh
The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, is among the many prelates and lay faithful who poured glowing tributes on Archbishop Joseph Edra Ukpo during his funeral Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral in Calabar on Thursday 23 March, 2023.
The Archbishop of Owerri described the deceased former bishop of Ogoja diocese and Emeritus-Archbishop of Calabar as a “polished gentleman and an articulate prelate who was esteemed and fearless, courageous and outspoken prince of the Church, a man of noble character with rich vast experience.
“Archbishop Ukpo was a self-sacrificing shepherd, a caring father, a mentor, a wise counsellor, a generous benefactor, a passionate crusader of human rights, a peace maker and a white head patriarch who stood out as a legendary figure,” the Owerri metropolitan added.
In a similar vein, The Bishop of Ikot-Ekpene, Most Rev. Camillus Umoh, like his counterpart in Uyo Diocese, Bishop John Ayah, described Archbishop Ukpo as a patriarch of the Catholic Church in Calabar province whose death signaled the end of an era.
Bishop Camillus Umoh particularly noted how “so eloquently and judiciously” Archbishop Ukpo not only served the Church in Calabar province, but also in Nigeria as a distinguished and resourceful member of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN). In the province, he was the last man standing as a link between the past era of the missionaries and the present era of the indigenous clergy. He is one of the direct successors of the missionaries, while others can be described as successors of those who succeeded the missionaries.
Bishop Umoh described the deceased Archbishop as “a custodian of everything we needed to know about the Church in Calabar province,” and added that “we are all now challenged to put into practice those things he taught us and particularly the examples of his life and the legacies he left.
For Bishop John Ayah, the preacher at the funeral Mass, “there are many things that made the late Archbishop stand out in our generation: first he belongs to the stock of the first generation of Christians in the present geographical location of Ogoja diocese; second, he was among those foremost indigenous Nigerians to embrace the vocation to the priesthood; and third, he is the last of the early fathers in the province to depart the world.” “Having shared the episcopal ancestry with the likes of Dominic Cardinal Ekandem, Archishop Brian Usanga, Bishop Silas Obot, all of blessed memory, one can say without fear of contradiction, that Archbishop Ukpo is the last of the nobles,” he affirmed.
“Archbishop Ukpo is one of those who took over from the early missionaries. The priests and bishops in the province now are those who saw those who saw the earliest missionaries and their toils. This is the age of the indigenous priests.”
Bishop Ayah went further to describe the deceased Archbishop as a great icon of the Calabar province “whose death marks the end of an era and signals a new dawn, a new age. Also coming to an end in the province is the episcopal heritage of those who received the faith from the early missionaries themselves.”
The preacher also commended Archbishop Ukpo for his concern for the education of his priests both as the shepherd of Ogoja diocese and later in Calabar Archdiocese, describing him as an intergenerational bridge and a pioneer extraordinaire.
Bishop Ayah expressed the conviction that the late Archbishop was not just a shepherd on earth, but he is also now an intercessor in heaven. “Whoever knew him in life, and saw him in death, will surely understand the encomiums heaped on him today.”
