It’s one birthday worth celebrating, says Archbishop Okeke
By Ononye VC
On Friday, 9th December 2022, the metropolitan archbishop of Onitsha, the Most Rev. Valerian Maduka Okeke, leading the entire priests, religious and faithful of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, will literally roll out the red carpet and drums to herald and celebrate the attainment of the ripe age of 90 by our most revered and indomitable father in the faith and Prince of the Catholic Church, His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze.
Preparations for the cardinal’s 90th birthday celebration were taken seriously by Archbishop Okeke as some highlights of the event were mentioned and emphasised during the last Onitsha Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Archbishop Okeke said the cardinal’s birthday was worth celebrating and wished the cardinal a blissful 90th birthday.
At 90, Cardinal Arinze has become a bridge between the old and the new generations of priests, the religious and the entire faithful. He is a global figure revered for his versatility and sagacious intellect in his chosen vocation of the priesthood and in world affairs in general.
The world respects Cardinal Arinze for his numerous contributions to global peace and reconciliation when he was the president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue at the Vatican City, Rome, after which the Holy Father graciously elevated him to the position of Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
In his capacity at the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, Cardinal Arinze brokered lively inter-faith relationships, worked with diverse faith peoples and organisations and promoted a much-needed religious peace in the world.
He is a reference point internationally, a repository of knowledge and one of the greatest African clergymen alive. It is a thing of great joy and thanksgiving that Cardinal Arinze has attained the nonagenarian age in good health and sound mind and with strong mental alertness.
The cardinal was born in Eziowelle in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, on November 1, 1932. He was ordained as a priest on November 23, 1958, and was consecrated a bishop on August 29, 1965.
According to records, Cardinal Arinze became the metropolitan archbishop of Onitsha on June 26, 1967, and thereafter was created a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church on May 25, 1985.
Insight into the early period of Cardinal Arinze’s episcopacy fell within the time of the beginning of Nigeria’s Civil War propelled by the Biafran agitation in 1967, such that with the turbulence of civil unrest and full-blown war, his enthronement and conferment of the “pallium” as a symbol of his authority was postponed till after the Civil War in March 1972.
Nevertheless, Cardinal Arinze’s ascension as the new metropolitan archbishop of Onitsha at the time emerged as not only a new era, but also a new era of evangelisation. He was thus given the onerous task of transmitting the Gospel of Christ as one who will begin the line of a new generation of native bishops in Onitsha, a baton that was handed on from a missionary to an indigenous archbishop.
Available records show that at that stage, Cardinal Arinze specifically mentioned the four major tasks that awaited him then as as the new indigenous archbishop of Onitsha, and they include the following:
- To consolidate the faith of the people after the first phase of evangelisation
- To implement the directives of the just concluded Second Vatican Council
- To promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life after the expatriation of the missionaries
- To continue to build on the strong foundation laid by the missionaries, especially in the areas of education and healthcare delivery.
Such were the objectives he achieved before handing over to Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya in April 1985.
It would be recalled that at the end of the Civil War, many of the church’s structures were destroyed. Cardinal Arinze commenced rehabilitation of the structures, which included the archbishop’s house. He was also faced with the challenge of a shortage of priests occassioned by repatriation of foriegn missionaries by the then federal government headed by General Yakubu Gowon.
In 1984 he was invited to Rome by the Holy Father, St John Paul II, to join his close staff in the Roman Curia. Though the news was received with mixed feelings of frustration and appreciation, it generally added bright feathers and credibility to the cardinal as an individual and to the Archdiocese of Onitsha in general.
Cardinal Arinze’s sojourn at the Vatican was very significant to the Church and Africa such that at the time it mattered most, he was a member of the conclave, a body of cardinals from where popes are elected. That was the zenith of his vocation!
It would amount to saying the obvious or an understatement that Cardinal Arinze gave a good account of himself at the Vatican, and is still doing so, having held many enviable positions at the Vatican, some of which include the following:
Prefect, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments
Board member, Congregation for the Oriental Churches
Board member Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Board member, Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses
Board member, Pontifical Council for the Laity
Board member, Post-Synodal Council for the African Synod
Board member, Post-Synodal Council for the Lebanese Synod
Board member, Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
A member of the pope’s cabinet in the government of the Vatican, Francis Cardinal Arinze was bestowed with many scholarly honours and has hundreds of publications to his credit. As a world figure, there’s no end to his numerous accomplishments for the love and good of humanity. He is a visionary, an epitome of charity, humaneness, humility, and discipline.
Here in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Cardinal Arinze gave strong impetus towards the formation of various church organisations like the Laity Council, Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), Catholic Youth Organisation (CYON), and many others.
At 90, Cardinal Arinze has become a rallying point and a huge fountain from where priests and the faithful drink from his abundant knowledge and wisdom.
Happy birthday, and to God be the glory.
