O'STAR'S NEWSBLOG

NEAR POPE CARDINAL REVEALS THE TRUE AHIARA STORY

- O’STAR EZE; FRANCIS EKPONE.

The Rector of Pope John Paul the second Seminary, Awka, Very Rev. Fr. Dr. Benjamin Ewelu has attributed the ongoing unrest all over the world to the fact that people have not started doing the will of God. He said this while interacting with the press at the reception ceremony of Francis Cardinal Arinze in the seminaryrecently.

In his words, ‘there is a lot of injustice in Nigeria and that is why there is no peace.’ He therefore advocated for Nigerians to give justice a chance and commit to doing the will of God if they wish to experience peace. He called for everyone to show love for God and for one another. This, he said, will solve the whole problem of man.

The event, which also marked the beginning of the jubilee of mercy in the catholic faith, featured the Cardinal consecrating some of the senior seminarians who had undergone the 33 day novena for consecration to Jesus through Mary. Speaking on the importance of the consecration ceremony, one of the seminarians who underwent the process, John Mary Muojekwuexplained that it helps to consummate complete devotion to Jesus Christ through Mary. “Prayer works by action and it is more important to live out the life of consecration.”

Francis Cardinal Arinze spoke about the role of the lay faithful inevangelization; the primary vision of the church. He said that the clerics should be clear on the point that the lay people are 99.9% of the church and therefore has significant part to play in carrying out the mission of the church. God has sent his son and the son sent his apostles and the church has been termed a missionary. Everyone by the pact of baptism has taken part of the responsibility of evangelization. He made it clear that in the church there are no spectators and proposed that the clerics provide more platforms for the lay faithful to exercise their faith. He expressed surprise that some clerics see the church to refer to their class alone. Of the 6.2 billion catholics worldwide, there are 51000 bishops, 143000 priests, and so one. All the clerics and religious are less than 1 million in number. Cardinal Arinze then defined the church to mean the union of all the baptized with Christ as their head. He said the definition goes beyond the physical boundaries of the Catholic Churchto include all the other churches that are not catholic.

There were also question and answer sessions during which the Cardinal responded to question on inter-faith marriage, clergy’s role in the civic society and the AhiaraBishop crisis.

Speaking on inter-faith marriage, he reasoned that if it is difficult for catholic couples to live in harmony, it should be more difficult for individuals of different faiths to live together as married couples. This, he said, is why the Catholic Churchpersuades against such unions. Francis Cardinal Arinze however said that a bishop has the canonical right to give his approval to such intended marriages when there is vehement insistence from the intended couples and after due deliberation with the parish priest in charge. On whether it is ok for a priest to work as a military man or a lawyer or a civil servant, the cardinal said the priest is only allowed to function as a chaplain in the army and to work as the church’s lawyer as a lawyer. “Why then did you become a priest, if you want to engage in any other profession afterward?” he asked rhetorically. The Ahiara problem was attributed to the lack of obedience to the pope by the members of the diocese.

Highlights of the event were gift presentations by the seminarians to the visiting cardinal and dance performances from Ikorodo dance group from Nsukka. In attendance were so many priests including the legendary Reverend Father Arazu.