SUFFERING IN COMMUNION WITH THE LORD
(Christian Witnessing in Action)
LENTEN PASTORAL LETTER
Appreciation
On the 10th day of November 2021, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, appointed my humble self, the Chief Shepherd of the flock of God in the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi. Accordingly, I took canonical possession of the diocese with my installation on the 10th day of February, 2022. It is, therefore, barely one year of my Episcopal ministry in this diocese. What can I say unto God and unto you my dear people of God? All I have to say is thank you. I am full of gratitude; to God, who, in his wisdom and mercy, called me in spite of my human weaknesses, and who has continually supported me by His grace; to the Church, for entrusting me with this onerous, but dignified responsibility in the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi; to the priests, religious men/women and the entire lay faithful of this great diocese, for their marvelous demonstration of joy at my appointment, their heroic reception and continued solicitude till this day. If asked to express my innermost feelings so far, I will say it has been a wonderful experience, nothing could have been better than my ministry among you. No regrets at all. I am very much fulfilled and, therefore, very much grateful to all of you indeed!
Journey So Far
- It has all been a record of progress in the advancement of the kingdom of God. We have maintained a steady growth in numbers and in the faith of the people of God. Some changes and new methods of approach have helped us to sustain novelty in continuity. New parishes and offices have been created; new priests and deacons ordained to their various ministries; and new appointments and reappointments made where necessary. It is also pertinent to note that I assumed duties as the bishop of Nnewi at a very precarious time in faith witnessing among our youth. A time when the young persons are abandoning the Church en masse for diabolic cults and crime; a time when insecurity of lives and property has risen to quite alarming proportions; a time of high level economic crisis and poverty. Hence our principal commitment has been to, through drastic pastoral actions, engage the people, especially the youth and government, so as to find remedy to the challenging times. Gradually, God is blessing our humble services, confirming them with abundant signs. Remember that as the Chief Shepherd, my primary work is to ensure the salvation of souls and the sanctification of the temporal order. I have embraced these duties with all eagerness.
Visible Projects
- More visibly, the Cathedral Church is speedily moving towards its completion. God willing, it shall be dedicated by the end of this year. Also, the new bishop’s house located at the boundary between Nnewi and Amichi towns has been completed. It was blessed on the 13thday of December 2022 by His Excellency, the Most Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor, Bishop of Awka. On the same day, the Blessed Iwene Tansi Priests’ Centre was commissioned by His Eminence, Peter Ebere Cardinal Okpaleke. Already, about seven (7) of our retired priests are happily living therein.
- Among other competing projects, we have commenced work at the Holy Rosary College Amichi, St Patrick’s Special Boy’s College Nnewi and Assumption Seminary Okija. These institutions are envisioned to be international best colleges of integral human excellence upon completion. They shall provide the needed physical, moral, and spiritual development of our children, so as to qualify them for the title of “leaders of tomorrow.” We shall stop at nothing, with God’s grace and your assistance, in having these projects completed at a record time. More so, paper works and technical negotiations are ongoing in respect of the affiliation of St Paul College of Education, Nnewi, with the Prestigious Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka for the award of Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Similar efforts are underway for the establishment of the Assumption University of Technology, Ozubulu. Please have us and these projects in your generous plans and prayers.
- It may also interest you to know that plans have been concluded for the relocation of St Gabriel’s Spiritual Year Seminary, Ozubulu to be in close proximity to the new Bishop’s House. This will facilitate my knowing the Seminarians personally and closely, modeling them after the mind of the Church and in line with the best formation strategies available. In the same vein, the erection of an Ultra- Modern Pastoral Centre for the Diocese will be starting in earnest. All paper works and feasibility studies are completed to that effect. Any moment from now, we shall move to site by the Grace of God. In a similar development, before the year runs half way, we, in partnership with Anambra State Association of Women in USA, (ASA), shall begin the erection of an International Cancer Diagnostic & Research Centre. Do please pray for the progress of these projects.
Days with Our Benefactors and Our Priests
- On the 8thday of January, 2023, we had our first “Meet-Talk,” since my assumption of office, with the Benefactors and friends of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi. It was a huge success, as it was well attended. Prominent sons and daughters of this great diocese demonstrated, in that forum, great enthusiasm towards what we are doing, and with great joy, they supported the work of God in very significant ways. With that, we were encouraged all the more to keep winning more grounds. In a similar development, on the 9th day of January 2023, I had my first re-union with all the priests of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi at the Blessed Iwene Tansi Priests’ Centre. It was remarkable as almost all our priests living; studying and working overseas were with us at the reunion and participated actively.
- These, and many more achievements not chronicled here, comprise the mainstay of the journey so far. Nay, not without challenges. My overall sentiment is strikingly expressed in the following piece by John W Peterson:
It’s not an easy road
We are travelling to heaven
For many are the thorns on the way;
It’s not an easy road,
But the saviour is with us,
His presence gives us joy every day.
General Elections
- Very soon, starting from the 25thof February, 2023, the General Elections will be held. Politicians and their cohorts are already roving the streets in aggressive campaign, making ambitious promises, publishing lofty manifestos, all wooing us into voting for them. I exhort the politicians not to employ violence and falsehood throughout this electioneering period. Insist on free and fair elections. To the rest of the people of God, I exhort you as follows; do not forget that this country has suffered so much in the hands of bad leaders, wolves in sheep’s apparels. Do not mortgage your children’s destiny for a piece of coin and few cups of rice and all. Open your eyes, prayerfully too, and exercise your franchise for the good of our dear country Nigeria and for posterity. The future of our children will pass judgment on all of us if we fail to get it right this time. It is critical. The power for the needed change is in your hands. Choose wisely and vote reasonably. It is a moral obligation for all Christians to co-operate in the renewal of this part of the temporal order called Nigeria, our country. The time is now. I urge you all to disregard the threat of certain Simon Ikpa who is enjoying better life with his wife and children in far away Finland and come out en masse to vote.
Family of Joy and Hope
- My 2022 (maiden pastoral letter) was well received, and from a plethora of feedbacks coming from priests and lay faithful, it appeared to have impacted significantly on the lives of the Christian people. I thank God for that. The substance of the letter was to present the Church as God’s family of Joy and Hope, living in the concrete setting of increasing suffering and distress, restiveness and disorientation among the youth, attack on the family, failure of socio-political systems, persecution and abuse of true religion. It emphasized that the “people” are at the center of every authentic meaning of the Church. It proposed the promotion of the good of the human person at all levels of existence as the prolegomena to the needed flourishing of the Church on earth. Consequently, I made a clarion call on all the members of Christ’s body to be fully committed to this all important task of building the Church as a Family of Joy and Hope, and so to renew the temporal order. Hence, the Bishops, as successors of the Apostles, should now more than ever, and with the greatest tenderness, shepherd the flock committed to their charge. The priests too, as ministers of joy and hope, were exhorted to a humble appreciation of their work as dispensers of the word and sacraments, with the fullest sentiments of mercy and love for the people, looking up to Christ as their true model. I challenged the priests to closely identify themselves with the people of God, in their travails, trials, changes and chances of their lives, so to enkindle in the people the joy and hope of one family of God. In a similar way, I charged the consecrated men and women to more clearly demonstrate their call as true bearers of joy and hope by witnessing to fraternal life in community. In this way, their lives and work will evidently broadcast hope and joy in the world of men and women. And as Samaritans of joy and hope, I called on the lay faithful to strive to the end of renewal of the temporal order, promotion of just socio-political structures by active participation in politics, etc.
The highpoint of the letter was my call for a collaborative establishment of healthy Church and State relations as an important outreach of the family of Joy and Hope. Particularly in this regard, I brought forth for consideration the relevant canons which prohibit priests from common political involvements. But in the light of the canon law, I further insisted that where it becomes expedient for the protection of the rights of the Church and the common good, the right to a more active intervention of the priests in politics will be invoked, subject to the permission of the Holy See. In the last chapter, I highlighted some relevant issues of financial importance in building up God’s Family of Joy and Hope namely; the need for stable patrimony and finances, the norms of acquisition of ecclesiastical goods and accountability.
Reasons for the Choice of the Theme of My 2023 Pastoral Letter: Suffering in Communion with the Lord
- The choice of this current theme of my 2023 Pastoral Letter was informed by a number of reasons some of which are listed below:
First, to pursue a continuation of an issue raised in Chapter two of my Maiden Pastoral Letter. In the said Chapter, I called attention to “some disturbing realities” of the times which include, suffering and poverty, restiveness of our young people, crisis in the families, failed socio-political institutions, use and abuse of people’s faith and persecution of the Church. With that, a proper foundation was laid for the instant Pastoral Letter which operates to elaborate on and situate those “disturbing realities” in the context of suffering with the Lord.
Second, is the fact that suffering is a sine-qua-non, indeed, a connatural experience with man in the world. It remains an important key to unlocking the plenitude of creation and for the development of the peoples through progress in science/technology and the arts. Yet, the modern man, especially in our clime and time, particularly the young persons, opt for suffering-free-patterns of life, success without exertion, and wealth without investment: all these, to the detriment of integral human flourishing.
Third, the whole world, as it were, is facing a lot of crises in these times. These include, but are not limited to, natural catastrophes, wars, epidemics, economic adversities here including fluel scarcity, as well as naira redesign with its consequences, to mention but a few. In our dear diocese, some persons were recently displaced by flooding and are suffering greatly. In all these, humanity suffers great afflictions which most of the times affect man’s overall attitude towards God and neighbour.
Fourth, the proliferation of superficial Pentecostalism and the fake resurgence of African traditional religions which have characterized this era of our historical existence, especially here in Nigeria, have radically, albeit unfortunately, alienated our people from seeing anything good in suffering. The popular creed is, “suffering is evil, meaningless, and is not the portion of a child of God.” This rather dangerous narrative has set the modern man against the Christian message of patience, endurance and redemptive suffering.
Fifth, in the four Local Governments that comprise the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, the marauding so-called unknown Gunmen have caused unimaginable suffering for the people. Lives are being lost and property being destroyed on daily basis; liberty of free men taken over by kidnappers, and freedom of movement and right to commercial engagements violated with reckless abandon. There appears to be no time as bad as these moments. And so, as the Shepherd of the people in this Family of God, I have found it opportune to console, encourage, and catechize the members of God’s family in respect of these evil days.
Conclusion
- Let me conclude with the very words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis in his 2023 Lenten Message entitled:Lenten Penance and the Synodal Journey “Lenten penance is a commitment, sustained by grace, to overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the cross. This is precisely what Peter and the other disciples needed to do. To deepen our knowledge of the Master, to fully understand and embrace the mystery of his salvation, accomplished in total self-giving inspired by love, we must allow ourselves to be taken aside by him and to detach ourselves from mediocrity and vanity. We need to set out on the journey, an uphill path that, like a mountain trek, requires effort, sacrifice and concentration. These requisites are also important for the synodal journey to which, as a Church, we are committed to making. We can benefit greatly from reflecting on the relationship between Lenten penance and the synodal experience.” The Holy Father concluded: Dear brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit inspire and sustain us this Lent in our ascent with Jesus, so that we may experience his divine splendour and thus, confirmed in faith, persevere in our journey together with him, glory of his people and light of the nations.”
I wish you all a fruitful and faith filled Lenten Season.
Given this 22nd day of February, 2023, the Feast of Ash Wednesday at the Assumption Cathedral, Nnewi.
Signed:
Most Rev. Jonas Benson Okoye
Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese