AHIARA DIOCESE CRISIS: THE UNTOLD STORIES…29

Explosion of Initiatives … [x]

There appear no better words to summarize and conclude our excursus into the wondrous initiatives of the premier bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise, late Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe, than with the old Latin phrase, BONUS PASTOR. The phrase BONUS PASTOR is literally translated as “Good Shepherd.” But its meaning goes farther than its literal meaning. BONUS PASTOR is the old Latin rendering of Jesus’ declaration in John 10:11 ff: “I am the good shepherd.” So, the phrase, “BONUS PASTOR” applies primarily to Jesus Christ the chief shepherd of God’s pilgrim people who are on their way to the kingdom of God.

Also, the phrase, BONUS PASTOR, can equally apply, although secondarily, to human beings who exemplify some qualities of the chief shepherd of God’s people, namely, Jesus Christ. Great priests, bishops and popes in history have had the phrase BONUS PASTOR applied to them in an attempt to describe the success of their ministries in God’s vineyard.

It is in this secondary sense that we dare to apply the term BONUS PASTOR to the premier bishop of Ahiara Diocese in the person of Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe. For every sincere Mbaise person, Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe of unforgettable memory was a great priest, a successful bishop and a wonderful shepherd among the people of Mbaise land. Though a human being like anyone of us, he was in fact a BONUS PASTOR par excellence. He brought about great initiatives that miraculously transformed the once starkly rural diocese given to the people of Mbaise from a state of nothingness to the wondrous state of something else.

The traditional Latin phrase, BONUS PASTOR, captures most accurately the late Bishop Chikwe’s performance of his duties in the diocese with sanctity, sincerity and dedication. He was not only a good pastor of souls in the real sense of the words, Bishop Chikwe was a great bishop, a great father to all, a humane and forgiving Christian, a kind-hearted fellow, an innovator of the highest order, and a great patriot in Mbaise land. It is difficult to find adequate words to truly describe the wondrous success of his twenty-three-year ministry in Ahiara Diocese. All one is condemned to do is to employ conventional words to try to describe his unconventional ministry in Ahiara Diocese.

As a great pastor of souls, Bishop Chikwe was totally solicitous for his flock in Ahiara Diocese. He went out of his way to look after the spiritual welfare of his entire flock in the diocese. He was one who was fully determined to share with his flock not only the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but even his whole life. There was no doubt that he gave his entire self into the vocation of being the bishop of Ahiara Diocese. He did not hold back in anything. His was a total gift of oneself to the cause of ministering to the people of Mbaise land.

Bishop Chikwe’s sole determination as he often declared was to continue the planting of the authentic Catholic faith in Mbaise land. His tenure as the Catholic bishop of Ahiara Diocese marked the natural flow of traditional and authentic doctrines of the Catholic Church from the period of the Irish missionaries into his new diocese. He conceived the evangelization of the Mbaise people as kind of a relay race whose baton he had received from the missionaries and would hand over to the next generation of Mbaise Catholics. Though not a rabid dyed-in-the-wool conservative Catholic in the way some westerners would characterize it today, he was a traditional Catholic who was deeply immersed in the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

With his feet firmly planted in Church’s Tradition Bishop Chikwe always had an eye for the reforms that would enhance the continued evangelization of the Mbaise people. As a result, he was a bishop that loved the practice of inculturation which the Second Vatican Council actively promoted. Bishop Chikwe encouraged the use of some cultural practices in the expression of the Catholic faith in his diocese. He was not one who would see every aspect of Mbaise culture as pagan. Rather he had such a positive attitude towards the culture of his people. As a culture-loving person, Bishop Chikwe was always moved by genuine cultural practices. He loved such cultural dances as Abigbo, Ekereavu, Agborogwu, Agbachaekurunwa, Omurunwa, Nwokorobo, Ese, Uko etc and permitted the introduction of some of these cultural practices in Church’s celebrations and life.

Bishop Chikwe, like the Irish missionaries, loved his priests very dearly. He saw his priests and also religious, as his indispensable collaborators in the apostolic ministry. He never saw them as rivals, or worse still, as his servants. They were rather his partners in the priestly ministry. He made desperate efforts to carry every one of his priests along. As their leader, shepherd and father in the apostolate, Bishop Chikwe went out of his way to seek for the welfare of his priests [and also that of the religious]. Until his arrival as a bishop there had hardly existed, at least in the Igbo heartland area, a bishop who could rival him in this regard, or who showed greater care and love for his coworkers the priests and the religious.

Bishop Chikwe was never a taskmaster over his priests. He never lorded it over them. He was not an overlord-kind of a person. Rather with his priests, he was like their ordinary coworker, a colleague of theirs, and, in fact, one of them in every way and in everything. He did not separate himself from the work of his priests. He shared with them in everything that was needed for the success of the priestly apostolate in his diocese. As he was once a great parish priest in Owerri Diocese, Bishop Chikwe remained a parish priest till the end. He was a team player par excellence and consulted widely in almost every issue. He always sought the consensus of his colleagues in almost everything.

Bishop Chikwe enjoyed the confidence of a great number of his priests. On his part, he wanted the best for every one of them. He was very sensitive to the needs of his priests, both collectively and individually, and usually went out of his way to try to satisfy them as much as he could. He made sure that priests received the best education both within and outside of Nigeria. Until his arrival in the scene, there had perhaps never existed in the Igbo heartland a bishop who pushed his priests more vigorously towards the achievement of excellence in their endeavours. He would come to overseas and be persistent in pushing some of his priests who were either wobbling with their studies or becoming lazy and indecisive to shoot towards the ultimate goal.

Unlike many other bishops in the Third World, Bishop declared that he wanted as many of his priests as possible to be PhD holders. He hated mediocrity among priests. He was not a friend of wishy-washy priests. He wanted priests to become experts in various fields of endeavors. He often said that he needed in his diocese priest-lawyers, priest-engineers, priest-architects, priest-musicians, priest-teachers, etc. And whenever he got any priest accomplishing any of these, he celebrated him to the high heavens.

We can make bold to say that till today, there is yet to exist, at least in our knowledge, a bishop who celebrates the academic success of his priests more than Bishop Chikwe. He took the success of every priest as his personal success. He announced it throughout the diocese whenever any of his priests accomplished a milestone in academics or even in anything praiseworthy. He celebrated a priest who defended his PhD dissertation and/or accomplished a professional goal in academics like being elevated to the rank of a university professor or being called to the Bar, etc. He begrudged no priest of his individual successes. He was just a plane Christian who celebrated success whenever it occurred and mourned with his colleagues whenever they were in sorrow.

The female religious in the diocese occupied a very special place in the heart of Bishop Chikwe. He went out of his way to serve as the father and mentor of all religious men and women in the diocese. He saw them as people who could easily be left out in the scheme of things; people who could easily be skipped over in the planning and budgeting in the diocese. As a result, he went out of his way to take care of them.

In many convents in the diocese he made sure religious women lived in decent houses, had means of movement and had food on their tables always. In many convents in Ahiara Diocese, Bishop Chikwe built modern houses for the sisters. He provided them with means of transportation and provided for their feeding on a regular basis. He was a plane Christian who was his brother’s keeper in every way.

Another group of people whom Bishop Chikwe had particular love for were the fathers and mothers of the diocese. He bonded very closely with the Christian fathers and had such a special love for the Christian mothers. The activities of the Catholic Men Organization [CMO] and Catholic Women Organization [CWO] he treated with maximum priority in the diocese. He would never miss any of their celebrations or activities. He hardly delegated anybody to stand in for him whenever any of these groups was celebrating anything. He enjoyed their company very much. He was ever open to any ideas that could help foster the activities of the Christian fathers and mothers of the diocese.

The youths of Ahiara Diocese Bishop Chikwe always treated like his precious jewels. The Catholic youths and the Mary League girls were extremely dear to him. He would hardly give any sermon in any Church throughout Mbaise land without mentioning the young people and the role they must play to keep the flag of faith flying in Ahiara Diocese. He was a shepherd who constantly showed anxiety not only for the present time of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land but even more so for its future. He had a vision of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land that would grow from strength to strength until it became a dominant force in world Catholicism. He saw the young people as being vital in the realization of his vision.

As a result of his vision for young people of the diocese, Bishop Chikwe took their apostolate very seriously. He always told the youths that the foundation the new diocese was laying was for them to build it up to a glorious level in the future. He often challenged them to brace for the work of keeping the faith aflame in Mbaise land. Bishop Chikwe wanted to commit the youth individually and collectively to ensuring that Ahiara Diocese remained the bastion of Catholicism in Africa. That was his goal, and, in fact, his anxiety all the time. He did not envisage a diocese that would retreat, nosedive or crumble when he and his generation of priests and bishops were no longer on this earth. He wanted the good work begun in Mbaise land by the Catholic Church to continue forever and ever. And he saw the young people of the diocese as the custodian of that mandate.

Bishop Chikwe would be terribly mortified by what is happening to his diocese today. Never in his wildest imagination could he have believed that Ahiara Diocese would slide into crisis when he was no more. Associating the diocese with crisis would have been the last thing in the mind of Bishop Chikwe when he exited this world. In fact, he made it as his last statement on earth. He said that “Ahiara Diocese is in good hands”. The unexpected crisis that has engulfed the once beautiful and peaceful diocese of the Mbaise people is putting that last statement and prayer of the late Bishop Chikwe in serious doubt today. A diocese in such a serious crisis can hardly be said to be in good hands any more. It is rather in the hands of people who could never have been trusted by the dying bishop. This is the tragedy of our time!

Another set of people Bishop Chikwe as a Good Shepherd lavished his love for were little children. The late bishop of Ahiara Diocese was a lover of children. He was absolutely consumed with the desire to keep aflame the apostolate to little children throughout the whole diocese. As he often said, he wanted to build the Catholic faith in Ahiara Diocese from bottom up. His launching pad for this project of his was children. The two-pronged apostolate that catered for the welfare of little children in the diocese Bishop Chikwe took extremely seriously. The Block Rosary Crusade and the Holy Childhood Association [HCA] the bishop would never joke with at anytime. He kept his eye constantly focused on them. Apostolate to little children was a major priority of the late bishop.

Finally, Bishop Chikwe as a great shepherd was a lover of the poor and the less privileged of the diocese. We can boldly claim that his capacity to embark on charitable works was enormous. He always had an eye on what he could do to help the poor, the physically challenged and the less privileged of the diocese. He always dreamed of a period when he would complete laying the foundation for basic infrastructure of the diocese so that he could embark on building facilities for the poor and the less privileged. He had in his vision the building of such facilities as Cheshire homes, orphanages, Food Pantry, etc. But death cut him down quickly and would not let him continue with his revolution throughout Ahiara Diocese.

On the other hand, Bishop Chikwe as great shepherd who cared for the security and safety of his flock was extremely suspicious of the new wave of Pentecostalism streaming into the Catholic Church in Nigeria. He always emphasized the need to continue the teaching of traditional Catholic doctrines throughout the diocese. He loved and fostered the organs of continued evangelization throughout the diocese. The offices of Religious Education and Catechesis at the diocesan secretariat he showed particular interest in. And the agents of evangelization in the diocese such as the catechists and the lay volunteers of catechism teachers had a special place in his heart. He wanted nothing but pure and untainted Catholicism in Mbaise land.

In the same vein, he showed little or no love at all for the new wave of Pentecostal Christianity invading the Catholic Church throughout Nigeria. He was extremely reluctant to welcome and associate with priests and even lay people who were over their heads in that type of spirituality. He was very suspicious of their motives and very skeptical of their objectives and end-result of their Pentecostal projects. Bishop Chikwe always warned against the new wave of miracle-seeking Pentecostal Catholicism. He often described it as a mere passing fad that would leave many Catholics hungry for the true doctrines whenever the wave ran its full course. As a great pastor of souls, he believed that Catholicism was a life that one needed to constantly grow in. Authentic Catholicism for him was far deeper than the shallowness being offered as an alternative in neo-Pentecostal movements.

At the beginning of the diocese, Bishop Chikwe hardly allowed the neo-Pentecostal ministry of Fr Emmanuel Edeh CSSp into Ahiara Diocese. It took a long time before he would offer him a very limited permission to visit and conduct his ministry in Ahiara Diocese. He never permitted even for one day the ministries of such neo-Pentecostal priests as Fr Ejike Mbaka, the late Fr Peter Ifeanyi Anozia, the late Fr Stephen Njoku, to mention but a few. At one time at the beginning of Ahiara Diocese Bishop Chikwe banned such neo-Pentecostal ministries from operating in the diocese leaving out only that of the late Fr Charles Anyanwu at the request of his then Vicar General the late Monsignor Matthew Onyemma who promised to keep a curiously close eye on him. He usually described the neo-Pentecostal ministries as ABRAKABRA ministries that were a huge distraction to the Church.

Despite the glorious apostolate of Bishop Chikwe as the premier bishop of Ahiara Diocese, his life would not be all smooth sailing. As the pioneer shepherd of the diocese, Bishop Chikwe suffered most tremendously in every way that could only be imagined today. Life was not easy for him in this rural diocese. He laid the foundation of this diocese with bare hands. He made untold sacrifices to make sure that this diocese survived. He was very afraid of letting Mbaise people down. As a result he spent himself completely in building the diocese. By the time he died he had dropped every ounce of his blood in the building up of this once rural diocese.

But while Bishop Chikwe was exerting and spending himself most profligately little did people know that he was doing so amidst some serious illnesses that would instantly hobble any other person who did not have his type of will power. For the greater part of his life and ministry in Ahiara Diocese, Bishop Chikwe was a veritable sick man. He was enduring some serious illnesses while performing his miracles all over Ahiara Diocese. He did extremely well covering up his serious illnesses. He put up such a brave face in the face of serious health challenges. Many who were not close to him hardly knew that he was carrying about such a heavy cross with his deteriorating health. But he bravely marched on as he pursued his vision of transforming the diocese.

The progressive deterioration of Bishop Victor Chikwe’s health would begin to mark an anti-climactic end to an otherwise a gloriously successful episcopate in Ahiara Diocese. His failing health situation would unleash an avalanche of forces both within and outside the diocese that ultimately plunged Ahiara Diocese into the monumental crisis it is suffering today. As the great bishop became distracted with his failing health, the diocese began to experience some features that could never have been imagined when he was completely healthy.

Unfortunately, death would come too quick and too sudden for the great bishop to put his house in order. The result is the whirlwind that we are harvesting today in the name of Ahiara Diocese crisis. If death had been merciful enough to allow the great bishop to put things in their proper places, the glorious story of Ahiara Diocese would have been completely different today. But that did not happen and the result is what we are going through today in name of Ahiara Diocese bishopric crisis.

In every situation, we give God all the glory.

To be continued ….