AHIARA PRIESTS RESPOND POSITIVELY TO POPE’S DEMAND

[Response Ahiara Diocesan Priests to Pope's demand for demonstration of loyalty]

The priests of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Mbaise, [Presbyterium], are responding positively to the demand of the Holy Father, His Holiness, Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ on earth and the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, that they [the priests of Ahiara Diocese] manifest total obedience to him and show willingness to accept his appointments.

In a series of meetings they held between June 10 and June 20, 2017, they reflected deeply on the numerous reports on the matter as published in both Catholic and non-Catholic news organizations throughout the world - CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, Agenzia Fides, Zenit, News.va, Crux, EWTN, National Catholic Reporter, Catholic Herald, to mention but a few. The demand of the Holy Father as published by those news organizations was also communicated officially to the priests of Ahiara Diocese by the Apostolic Nunciature In Nigeria in a letter dated June 9, 2017, and also by the Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, with his own letter dated June 15, 2017.

In his letter, Cardinal Onaiyekan noted that the message of the Holy Father communicated to us through the different news channels “has been published and promulgated in the usual official news channels of the Holy See for all to see.” The message thus published and promulgated had directed the priests of Ahiara Diocese to write an individual and a personal letter to the Holy Father manifesting “total obedience to the Pope” as well as showing willingness to accept the Holy Father’s appointments.

Reflecting on the papal demand, the priests of Ahiara Diocese reasoned that since during their priestly ordinations they promised obedience to the Holy Father, and since they had never shown any disloyalty to the Supreme Pontiff in their ministry especially since the crisis began in their diocese, they would gladly manifest their total obedience, loyalty and solidarity with him at this point in time by complying with his directives in a very massive and solid way. The priests made this decision notwithstanding their acute and poignant reservations on the visits of the said Ahiara delegation to Rome as well as on the language and claims of the papal message in the reports.

It would be recalled that on Thursday June 8, 2017, the Information Service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, [Agenzia Fides], published a piece of information on the long-running bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese, entitled, “The Pope Receives in audience the Delegation of the Diocese of Ahiara”. The delegation was led by His Eminence Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja and Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese. Others on the delegation included Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerri, His Exc. Msgr. Anthony Obinna, Archbishop of Jos and President of the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria, His Exc. Msgr. Ignatius Kaigama and the [impeded] Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, His Exc. Msgr. Peter Okpaleke. Others on the delegation were Frs. Clement Ebii, Jude N. Uwalaka, Uhuegbu Innocent Olekamma, Sister Bernadette O. Ezeyi and S.A. Stanley Pius Iwu, Traditional Chief, [all from Ahiara Diocese].

This delegation was in no way a true representation of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara Mbaise. It included no one from the 99.5% of the entire Catholic population of Mbaise that had vociferously rejected Bishop Okpaleke as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese and had been petitioning and appealing to the Holy Father to reassign the impeded bishop and permanently bar him from taking over the Episcopal see of Ahiara Diocese because of the inherent injustice that brought about his selection as the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese.

The penultimate issue of the Guide Newspaper [May 22 - June 11, 2017] had detailed how the Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan had on May 10, 2017 communicated an oral message to Ahiara diocesan priests inviting them to submit within five days five names of priests and lay people who would be a part of a delegation to have an audience with the Holy Father as well as interact with the officials of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Secretariat of the Vatican City on the bishopric crisis rocking the diocese. And with one voice the entire diocese had pleaded to be allowed a little more time to organize so as to attend the convocation more fruitfully. To make her case for more time to prepare for the convocation, the diocese submitted two powerful letters passionately pleading that the “sudden invitation to the Vatican” be postponed for a more auspicious period.

The two letters from the priests and the laity of Ahiara Diocese were properly channeled to the Apostolic Nunciature In Abuja and through the Nunciature to the Secretary of State, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Cardinal Filoni. Copies were also made available to Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, Metropolitan of Owerri Province and Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria [CBCN]. While Cardinal Onaiyekan acknowledged the receipt of his own letters, no reply was gotten on both letters submitted to the Secretary of State and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

So, while a delegation representing only .5% of the entire Catholic population of Mbaise left for Rome on the appointed dates being June 4-10, 2017, the more than 99% of the entire Catholic population was not represented at all. This minority delegation was reported by Agenzia Fides as having “made a pilgrimage ad Limina Apostolorum visiting the Tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for moments of prayer…” The audience the delegation was said to have had with the Holy Father later that day was reported by Agenzia Fides thus: “In Today’s Audience, the Holy Father, after careful consideration, spoke of the inadmissibility of the situation in Ahiara and reserved to take the appropriate measures, and entrusts the Diocese of Ahiara to the motherly care of Mary.”

The fatherly tone of cordiality that was reported by Agenzia Fides as having characterized the Audience with the Pope on June 8, changed dramatically when on June 9, a very unsavory address was published in many media organizations across the world and attributed to the Holy Father during that audience. The two documents, namely, the Agenzia Fides report on June 8 and the publications of June 9 would be sent to Ahiara Diocesan priests via a courier service on Tuesday June 13, 2017, by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Nigeria, Msgr. Javier D. Fernandez G.

Some of the strange comments in the so-called address of the Holy Father on June 9 included “the Church [and excuse the wording] is like a widow [our emphasis] for having prevented the Bishop from coming to the Diocese. Many times I have thought about the parable of the murderous tenants [our emphasis], of which the Gospel speaks [cf. Mt 21:33-44], that want to grasp the inheritance [our emphasis]… Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke taking possession of the Diocese wants to destroy the Church…. I listened and reflected much, even about the possibility of suppressing the Diocese [our emphasis], but then I thought that the Church is a mother and cannot abandon her many children. I feel great sorrow for those priests who are being manipulated even from abroad and from outside the Diocese[our emphasis]….I think that, in this case, we are not dealing with tribalism, but with an attempted taking of the vineyard of the Lord[our emphasis]…. However, I decided not to suppress the Diocese[our emphasis]. Instead, I wish to give some indications that are to be communicated to all: first of all, it must be said that the pope is deeply saddened. Therefore, I ask that every priest or ecclesiastic incardinated in the Diocese of Ahiara, whether he resides there or works elsewhere, even abroad, write a letter addressed to me in which he asks for forgiveness, all must write individually and personally. We all must share this common sorrow. In the letter

1. One must clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope, and

2. Whoever writes must be willing to accept the Bishop whom the Pope sends and has appointed.

3. The letter must be sent within 30 days, from today July 9th, 2017. Whoever does not do this, will be ipso facto suspended a divinis and will lose his current office.

Continuing the Holy Father noted in the published address: “This seems very hard our emphasis], but why must the Pope do this? Because the people of God are scandalized [our emphasis] Jesus reminds us that whoever causes scandal must suffer consequences. Maybe someone has been manipulated without having full awareness of the wound inflicted upon the ecclesial communion.”

The reading of this address attributed to the Holy Father during their meetings alarmed the priests of Ahiara Diocese. The initial response was that our amiable Pope Francis, the Pope of Mercy, could never have written such an unsavory address to his suffering children in Ahiara Diocese. As a result there was a massive doubt regarding the authenticity of the authorship of the address by the Holy Father. Till today, many priests and lay faithful in the diocese cannot accept that the Holy Father, Pope Francis penned such an unfriendly address to his children that love him so much in Ahiara Diocese. For them, the address was perhaps written and subsequently attributed to the Holy Father by the enemies of the diocese who had built a cottage industry that thrives in misinforming the Holy Father and the authorities of the Vatican about the actual situation of Ahiara Diocese. However, a letter from the Apostolic Administrator dated June 15, 2017 would seem to lay to rest any case against the authenticity of the letter. Cardinal Onaiyekan states, “I confirm that the document is authentic and contains the authentic words of the Holy Father. I therefore fervently urge everyone to take note and take appropriate action on this papal message within the deadline indicated.”

Toward the end of the address the Holy Father tended to embark on a mea culpa sort of by acknowledging that the address “seems very hard.” And it was generally seen as indeed “very hard” by the priests and lay faithful of the diocese. The Holy Father attributed the hardness of the address to the fact that “people of God are scandalized.” But he could not quite acknowledge the fact that the real scandal to the faithful of Ahiara Diocese is not in the crisis itself but on the dubious way the impeded bishop was chosen and announced as the bishop of the diocese. The Holy Father appeared not to have been correctly informed about the situation in the diocese. The big scandal of Ahiara Diocese has remained the flawed selection of Bishop Okpaleke for the Episcopal see of the diocese. The injustice was so obvious that the people could not take it. The priests and lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese believe that the only possible way Bishop Okpaleke was announced as bishop of Ahiara Diocese was through bribery and corruption. And that seems where the real SCANDAL is.

Another issue that rattled the priests of Ahiara Diocese and made them most uncomfortable during their meetings was the images the Holy Father was said to have invoked to describe current situation in Ahiara Diocese in his address to the delegation. The images include “widowhood”, “murderers or murderous tenants”, “grasp the inheritance.” The presence of these images increased the doubt of many priests who believed that the Holy Father could never have authored such an unprecedented address. For the address skeptics the Parable of the Tenants in Matthew 21: 33-44, can hardly ever apply to the current situation in Ahiara Diocese. No one has been murdered or widowed since the beginning of the struggle in the diocese. The Catholic faithful of the diocese have endeavored to keep their grievances peaceful. The little skirmishes have come only when the super-minority supporting the impeded bishop has tried to employ brigandage to install him and give him possession of the diocese.

Moreover, Bishop Okpaleke has no inheritance in Ahiara Diocese. The diocese is not an inheritance of any bishop or priest. It is a very uncomfortable theology for the Holy Father to allegedly describe a diocese, a local church, as an inheritance of any bishop. We have long passed that era of a feudalistic theology. And if Bishop Okpaleke is being depicted by the address as the son of god who was sent to take over and inherit the kingdom of his father in Ahiara Diocese, he has not been seized and murdered yet. And it is not the wish of the Catholic faithful of Ahiara Diocese to seize the impeded bishop and murder him. In fact the whole effort of appealing to the Holy Father to reassign him is to save the impeded bishop from being harmed by some rogues who might want to do so in order to bring infamy to the Mbaise people. The choice of biblical images in the address is about the most unfortunate thing about the whole convocation in Rome.

On reading from the address that the Holy Father contemplated suppressing the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, the priests and lay faithful rejoiced in spirit that the Pope of Mercy, Pope Francis did not thread that route that could have unleashed chains of reactions that could have changed the face of Catholicism in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. They praised the Holy Father for not adding insults to injury. According to them, Ahiara Diocese should not be suppressed because it refused to drink a poisoned bill that was administered to her with the bishop she was given. The priests reminded the Holy Father and those advising him that when a small pot is looked down upon it boils over and quenches a big fire [E lelia nwa-ite, ya agbonyuo oku].

On the allegation that the priests were being manipulated from abroad, the priests took a great exception to that. According to them, the facts of the case are clear for every Mbaise person whether Catholic or non-Catholic to see. No true Mbaise person is manipulated to join the struggle. It comes to them naturally. And any Mbaise person who is engaged in the battle from abroad is doing so on his own accord and does not represent those in the diocese. The comments of Mbaise people of all walks of life do not necessarily represent those of the priests of the diocese. The people who speak authoritatively and authentically for Ahiara Diocese are the College of Consultors and the Ahiara Diocesan Priests Association. Any individual outside this group who speaks does so out of what he or she believes is his or her patriotic duty. Such private individuals cannot manipulate any priests in the diocese and no priest ever takes orders from them.

The allegation in the address that the issue of the crisis is tribalism or ethnicity shows that what has allowed this crisis to linger on is the massive misinformation our adversaries have been feeding the Vatican with. There is no tribalistic or ethnic issue in the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. The main issues are clear. They include injustice, corruption, domination, neo-colonization, cheating, insults, etc. Anybody reading ethnicity into the crisis in Ahiara Diocese has been fed with a terrible misinformation.

Lastly Ahiara Diocesan priests are stunned that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Pope of Mercy, could reach as far back as the Council of Trent which held some five hundred years ago to borrow a language to address the issue of injustice in Ahiara Diocese. Many priests believe that the pope’s banding of his demand on the priests with ipso facto seems like the council of Trent binding its demands with anathema sit.

In spite of the many bones that are being picked on the address that was credited to the Holy Father during the convocation, the priests of Ahiara Diocese unanimously decided to express their profound loyalty, obedience and solidarity with him both collectively and singularly. According to the many priests we interviewed for this report, the Holy Father, Pope Francis occupies a very special place in the heart of every Ahiara priest. This is because he is the father of us all in the Catholic Church. He is a Pope who is powered by the great force of divine mercy. According to them if the Holy Father is fed with the right information about te actual situation in Ahiara Diocese, he will do the right thing.