Lafia: We must learn to protect our Catholic heritage – Fr. Patrick Agbo
Rachel Kogi
Standing inside one of the oldest Parishes in Lafia Diocese, St. Aloysius, Doma, is a unique small hut, visibly renovated, identified as the first Parish house that served the Parish. It was built and inhabited by Rev. Fr. Douglas Bluett, SMA, an Irish Missionary Priest.
In response to the call to care for the environment by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Parish Priest of St. Aloysius, Doma, who is also the Acting Chairman, Environmental/Historical Commission of Lafia Diocese, Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbo, on Thursday, August 18, 2022 emphasised the need for continuous preservation of history and the environment, especially as it relates to the Church.
Fr. Agbo made this position known during a visit of the National Director of Social Communications, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh to his Parish, as part of activities for the two-day working visit of the CSN Communications team to the Bishop of Lafia and Episcopal Chairman of Social Communications, Most Rev. David Ajang.
The Commission Chairman noted that it was necessary to preserve the memories of Fr. Bluett and by extension the history of the Church hence the restoration of the small hut which was on the verge of total collapse when he assumed duty at the Parish. The hut is now transformed into a shrine of a sort where prayers are offered, and his intercession sought. “This is how the canonization process begins”, Fr. Agbo maintained.
The Parish Priest further explained that the Environmental/Historical Commission was instituted by the first Bishop of Lafia who is currently the Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev. Matthew Ishaya Audu, “to respond to the Pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si, on care for the earth and to ensure the preservation of Church history.” He affirmed that “history is continuous and it is the next generation that segments the history of the past.”
Fr. Agbo lamented the poor culture of continuous history at the moment, observing that people have forgotten the fact that history is continuous. However, the commission was rolling out a template to improve on the situation. In line with the expectations of the commission, a tree planting campaign was ongoing in the entire diocese and in St. Aloysius, the trees planted by Fr. Bluett were being tended to continue growing while the dead ones were being replaced. “This way, we are preserving both the history of the Church and the environment”, he said.
Thrilled by the ingenuity of Fr. Agbo through the commission, Fr. Umoh expressed pleasure with the project, stressing the need to respect Church history and archives. He noted that “the breaking news of today is the history of tomorrow” and therefore stressed the need for proper documentation and reportage of events. The Communications expert also identified the need for seminaries to draw the attention of seminarians to the importance of archiving, noting that “the Church is an institution that respects history and does not joke with archiving.”
The restored hut in memory of Fr. Bluett is presently a sanctuary of prayers in the Parish and is hoped will grow into a pilgrimage centre in the near future.
