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Tag: catholic

  • Black Sunday: Facts behind killings of worshippers in Anambra

    • 8 persons killed during the attack
    • Another 18 seriously injured
    • Mastermind of killing must be an indigene of the area – Police
    • The attacker was speaking undiluted Igbo Language at the time he was firing at worshippers
    • Watch video [Scene of the incident — St. Philip Catholic Church]

    Also, watch video: ‘We are tired of being killed by Hausa,Fulani’ – Nnamdi Kanu

    The police in Anambra on Sunday confirmed that a gunman killed eight worshippers and injured 18 others in an early morning attack on St. Philip Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr Garba Umar, told newsmen in Awka that the remains f the dead had been deposited at Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi.

    Umar also said that the injured were taken to the hospital.

    He said that preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the attack was carried out by a native of the area.

    “From our findings, it is very clear that the person who carried the attack must be an indigene of the area.

    “We gathered that worshippers for 6 o’clock Sunday mass at St. Philip Ozobulu were in the service when a gunman dressed in black attire covering his face with a cap entered the church and moved straight to a particular direction and opened fire.

    “The man after shooting at his targeted victims still went on a shooting spree, killing and wounding other worshippers,’’ he said.

    The commissioner said information available to police showed that the attacker was speaking undiluted Igbo Language at the time he was firing at worshippers.

    Umar said though no arrest had been made that the police already learnt that the attack followed a quarrel between two natives of Ozubulu residing overseas.

    Describing the act as sacrilegious, the commissioner of police said it was wrong for the perpetrators of the act to extend their quarrel into the church.

    He added: “such conduct shows the people behind the act do not fear God.’’

    He said the police had launched a manhunt on those behind the act and gave an assurance that everybody behind the act would be brought to justice.

    Umar described any insinuation that the attack was carried out by Boko Haram elements as false and urged the people to go about their normal businesses.

  • Imo Catholic priest sacked for shooting his assistant

    Imo Catholic priest sacked for shooting his assistant

    Catholic Bishop of Okigwe Diocese, Rt. Rev. Solomon Amatu, has sacked Rev. Father Christian Amusuo for allegedly shooting his assistant, Rev Father Precious Osuji , who is the Parish priest of the Church, Eziama – Osuama, in the Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.

    Our correspondent learnt on Saturday that his assistant was not also spared, as the prelate equally removed him from the parish.

    The PUNCH had reported that Amusuo had on June 23 at the parish house reportedly shot his former assistant after a heated argument.

    It was gathered that the former parish priest had reportedly accused Osuji of constantly disobeying him and flouting his orders.

    Amusuo was later arrested by the police for being in possession of a firearm and shooting his former assistant.

    The cleric, however, had been released on bail after he was interrogated at the state Criminal and Investigations Department of the police command in Owerri, the State capital.

    Confirming the sacking of the priests by Bishop Amatu, a parishioner who did not want his name to be mentioned, said that a new priest had temporarily been drafted to the parish.

    The parish laity leader, Sir Jude Obi, who confirmed to our correspondent that the two priests had been removed by the Bishop, said that a new parish priest would be assuming duties in a full capacity on Sunday, July 9.

    Obi mentioned that the immediate intervention of the Bishop by transferring the two priests prevented the youths from locking up the church. He also added that the new priest drafted to the parish celebrated Mass on July 2.

  • Over 3,000 Ahiara Diocese members protest against Pope’s choice, Bishop Okpaleke

    Over 3,000 Ahiara Diocese members protest against Pope’s choice, Bishop Okpaleke

    Over 3,000 members of Ahiara Diocese of the Catholic Church on Saturday gathered at the Mater Ecclesiae cathedral, Mbaise, Imo State, for a rally to insist on the removal of embattled Bishop Peter Ebele Okpaleke.

    Okpaleke was anointed and consecrated Bishop of the diocese by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 but both the Laity Council and the Priests in the diocese rejected his appointed on the grounds that he is not an indigene of the area, among other reasons.

     

    The diocesan youth, who put on black attire, chanted solidarity songs to reject the Pope’s choice.

    Other Catholic men and women who dressed in different church uniforms, also participated in the rally, which started with a rosary procession around the cathedral.
    Addressing the congregation inside the cathedral, the President of the Diocesan Laity Council, Gerald Anyanwu

    Anyanwu insisted that Okpaleke was forced on them, and that he was not a priest “incardinated in the Ahiara Presbyterian.”

    He said, “There was no time we insisted that the bishop of the diocese must be an Mbaise son, but the prelate must be a priest incardinated in the diocese. We shall accept any bishop whether a Hausa man or a Yoruba man as far as he is incardinated in Ahiara Diocese.”

    He frowned against the activities of the Nigeria representatives of the church in Rome and urged them (cardinals) in the Vatican city to urgently look into the case of the Ahiara Diocese.

    Also addressing the gathering, the Provincial Ambassador, Laity Council of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Lawrence Opara, dismissed as propaganda, reports that the Mbaise priests would be sanctioned by the Pope if the agitation continued.

    Opara, who is also the Secretary, Ahiara Diocese Laity Council wondered why the case was different and difficult to resolve since it started in 2012.

    He said, “This is time of propaganda but the truth must be told. They gave us a bishop by hook and crook means. We cannot accept him.

    “It is biblical that if a priest is given to a people of God and he is rejected, he should go and be assigned to another people, who will accept him.”

    Opara described the rumour that the Mbaise priests would be sanctioned as false, maintaining that no priest had been derobed without his bishop’s consent and approval.

    The traditional ruler of Okirika-Ama, Umuokirika in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area, HRH Eze Dominic Okoro (75) also faulted the claims that some traditional rulers from Mbaise visited the Pope in the Vatican.

    He said, “Those people they said went to Rome to see the Pope were not our true representatives. Those who went from Nigeria deceived the Pope by telling him that they were the representatives of the Diocese.

    “I am a traditional ruler and in the way we conduct our traditional institution, no royal father would leave for the Vatican City without all the Ezes knowing.

    “We are not in any way against the authority of the Pope, but what we are fighting is injustice, corruption and evil among other vices in the Catholic Church.”

     

  • Just in: Catholics worldwide begin Lent Season March 1

    Just in: Catholics worldwide begin Lent Season March 1

    Catholics all over the world will on Wednesday mark the 2017 Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the 40-day season of lent.

    Msgr. Gabriel Osu, the Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, said this on Tuesday in Lagos.

    According to Osu, the Lent Season is a period of 40 days during which Christians are encouraged to intensify prayers, abstinence, fasting and alms giving.

    “In Catholic Churches all over the world, the faithful are expected to receive ash on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and a reminder that we all come from ash and will someday return to ash.

    “Here in the Archdiocese of Lagos, the faithful will be led into the Lent Season by the Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Adewale Martins at the Holy Cross Cathedral,’’ Osu said.

    According to Osu , at this period of lent, we are all expected to draw nearer to God by constant prayer, forsaking sins and being at peace with our fellow men.

    “It is a season of renewal of our faith in our creator by renouncing all fleshy desires that tend to weigh us down and purifying our spirit for the greater glory of God.

    “But it should not just end at this lent season. Our prayer is that the fruit of the season will continue to germinate and bear more fruits in our daily lives,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter.

    Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline.

    The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ, his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.

  • Catholic Bishop condemns Southern-Kaduna killings

    Catholic Bishop condemns Southern-Kaduna killings

    The Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama, has condemned the recent killings of innocent lives in some communities of Southern part of Kaduna State.

    Kaigama, who is the President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), said this in an article titled: ”The Sacredness of Life Versus the Slaughter of Innocent Nigerian Citizens Today”.

    The article was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos.

    The cleric, who expressed worry over the wanton destruction of lives and property in Southern Kaduna, added that Nigeria had gone through difficult moments lately, hence in dire need of total peace.

    He said the attacks and counter attacks in southern Kaduna would rather aggravate Nigeria’s challenges, and would further impoverish the poor masses.

    The cleric said that no one had the right to take the life of another person at will, unless God, the creator and giver of life.

    ”At the New Year Mass on Jan. 1, I preached on the need to always show gratitude to God, correct the mistakes of our past.

    “And to value our civil leaders for little acts of mercy we were getting from their programme of political governance.

    “I also reminded Nigerians of the need for hard work and patience.

    “I, however, woke up this morning feeling depressed and angry; this is almost a contradiction to the spirit I had asked people to avoid in the New Year.

    “Many questions propped up in my mind as to our safety in our country.

    “If enough is being done to protect us; how long the hunger I see written on the faces of many widows, children and youths will last.

    “What of the inflation that has made life so miserable. What about the reckless and needless killings. How can human lives are so casually terminated.

    ”It is a pity that the younger generation in Nigeria is growing with an unfortunate impression that life is very cheap and can be taken away by anyone or group.

    ”We have had rough, tough and bad times when innocent Nigerians lost their lives as it is being experienced now in Southern Kaduna.

    ”Before now, it was Agatu, Madagali, Gwoza, Yobe, Plateau, parts of Taraba, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and other parts of the country and where next.’’

    He advised government at all levels to proffer solutions to these acts of savagery.

    The cleric commended the security agencies for responding swiftly to the Southern Kaduna crisis, and urged them to be highly professional and apolitical in the discharge of their duties.

    The Archbishop called on President Muhammadu Buhari to break the silence, adopt stringent and proactive measures to end the killings in Southern Kaduna and other crisis prone areas in the country.