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I write you this letter with all sense of humility
and deep respect for you and your calling as a
priest of the Holy Mother Church.
This letter has
become absolutely necessary owing to your
recent political activities which are causing the
Church huge embarrassment. As a Catholic
myself, I, as other Catholics, are now forced to
bear the shame of your recent activities and
asked questions about the transfer policies of
the Church which ordinarily should not have
caused any public inquisition if you had not
caused it to be so.
Fr, it is unfortunate that as a priest of the
Catholic Church, you have allowed your emotions
to take you beyond your allowed limits in
partisan politics before, during, and after the last
elections.
Pray, what is in a transfer of a priest in the
Catholic Church? You were transferred from one
parish to another, an exercise that is a normal
routine in the Church, and instead of you to
move quickly and quietly as expected, you
caused a whole lot of needless hullaballoo and in
an attempt to curry public sympathy, made your
transfer look like anything but usual in the
Church. The razzmatazz and revelry that graced
your movement to your new parish is alien to the
Church! You are gradually eroding the very fabric
that makes the Catholic Church unique and
uncommon among others.
Were you the only priest transferred? Why did
other priests not cry to the public about their
own transfers? Did you reach an agreement with
the Church on the day of your ordination that you
should be exempted from transfers? Fr, you need
not be reminded that you are a priest of the
Catholic Church and not a pastor of any other
denomination. It is no longer news that priests of
the Catholic Church do not belong to themselves
but to the Church wholly, fully and entirely,
hence, you took an oath of not only obedience to
your Local Ordinary, the Bishop, but your oath
also included that of poverty. So, the Bishop
exercises his prerogative to transfer any priest
serving under him to areas where their services
are most needed among other considerations.
Just like you were transferred from somewhere
else to Christ the King Parish, GRA, Enugu, you
have also been transferred to Our Lady Parish,
Umuchigbo, Njinike also in Enugu.
It would be ignorant of me to think that you
actually thought Christ the King Parish, GRA
Enugu would be your parish forever. No priest of
the Catholic Church would ever think a particular
posting of his would last for too long. For
example, in Abuja Archdiocese from where I
write you this letter, there are brother-priests of
yours who have been transferred from the
highbrow area of Maitama to a parish in a
remote village like Yangoji in far away Kwali LGA,
just as there have been priests transferred from
Igu, also a very remote village in Bwari LGA, to
Our Lady Mother of Perpetual Help Parish,
Gwarinpa, and then to Our lady Queen of Nigeria
Pro-Cathedral, Garki, and so on and so forth. Are
you not aware of brother-priests who have been
transferred from the comfort of parishes in
Nigeria here to remote places even in war-torn
and less developed countries like Chad, Sudan,
Mali, Sierra-Leone, Burundi etc.
Some of them in areas so remote cars cannot
even get there nor is there electricity, yet, they
went in obedience and without noise. Fr, how is
yours supposed to be different?
You complained about the parish house you are
to occupy as being too small and by implication,
not comfortable for you. The question is, was it
not a brother-priest that just used and left there?
Are you saying that other priests can remain to
serve God’s people perpetually in a one room
self-contained apartment while you enjoy the
comfort of a gigantic parish house perpetually?
Fr, John the Baptist served God effectively in the
wilderness; all the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ left all the comfort of family and wealth
and followed willingly and without complaining,
the Son of Man who had no place to lay His
head. Fr, from which part of the scripture did you
get your reason for complaining?
To describe your transfer as a witch hunt is the
most uncharitable comment any priest can make
against his bishop especially in public. You are
not a Pentecostal pastor or a General Overseer
of any church, you are a priest of the Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church. You own no
church and you own no parish. The gifts of the
Spirit (miracle, healing, prophecy etc) which God
has blessed you with are not the emphasis of
the Church. The Catholic Church places more
emphasis on the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is
what ultimately helps a man to make heaven: “…
Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out
demons in your name and performed many
miracles in your name. But I will reply, ‘I never
knew you. Get away from me, you who break
God’s laws’”. There is no ordained priest no
matter how gifted that has survived a
confrontation with the Church. They go quickly
into oblivion soon after while the Church waxes
stronger. Fr, be very careful!
You lamented about the assets of the Adoration
Ministry and where you were going to keep them
since your new parish is too small to contain
them. I understand your concern especially as I
am also aware of the enormity of the assets
being an archdiocesan official of the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria, Abuja, myself.
However, just like you admitted, you have “given”
the assets to the Catholic Church in Enugu. So, if
you have “given” the assets to the Catholic
Church, why not just hand them over to your
Bishop who knows how most appropriate to take
care of them. Why do you still cry over that
which you have “given” out? More so, you know
that as a Catholic priest, you own nothing! There
is no major asset even including a car that you
can own without the consent and blessing of
your bishop. This is how the Catholic Church is
structured. This is how the Catholic Church
works. So, those assets never belonged to you
ab initio, they have always belonged to the
Church. Just take an inventory of them and hand
them over to the appropriate authorities. They
know what to do with them.
One of the reasons why our priests are not
allowed to own anything of their own is so that
when the call of service comes and they are
asked to go anywhere at the shortest notice,
they would not have to look back at what they
would be leaving behind so that they do not drag
their feet on obeying the call to service. Lot’s
wife looked back and turned to a pillar of salt. Fr,
why are you looking back?
As I end this letter, let me remind you that your
gifts of the Holy Spirit do not come in isolation.
They come with enormous responsibility! Enough
of this ridicule you have subjected the Church to.
Focus your attention on your apostolic calling
and leave politics for politicians. If you are so
interested in joining politics and making your
mark there, you know the right thing to do. Stop
parading about like a colossus that the Church is
so badly in need of. No one man or group of men
can hold the Catholic Church to ransom. Even if
the Lord decides that you answer the eternal call
today, Enugu diocese will never fold up!
I pray that God will lead you aright in all your
endeavours.
Jude Ndukwe is a political analyst who lives and
works in Abuja, Nigeria. He tweets from@
stjudendukwe.
