AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …33 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 13: The Die is cast [i]

As we turned our back to Easter festivities of 2013, the whole pressure-cooker situation returned to Ahiara Diocese. The cloud all over Mbaise land was dripping down tension in torrential downpours. It appeared as if the whole land was preparing for a big war. Aided by the writings of Professor Amadi-Azuogu, the whole anxiety was geared towards preventing any attempt to ordain and install Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese before April 7, 2013. As April 7 was to mark the final canonical date for Msgr. Okpalaeke to take a full canonical possession of Ahiara Diocese, all efforts were geared towards defending the diocese until that day had come and gone.

In response to this siege mentality, Catholic youths of Ahiara Diocese intensified their activities around the Cathedral and secretariat compounds. Movements in and out of these compounds were completely restricted. Everybody going into the bishop’s residence and the secretariat compound was either physically searched or subjected to some curious and wary glances that amounted to harassments and sight-searches. The youths, who were taking orders only from their relatively invisible leaders, did not mind who was approaching the secretariat gates. Distinguished clerics such as cardinals, archbishops and bishops and even some government officials like governors, senators and legislators were subjected to the same embarrassing treatments. Everybody was subjected to some harassment perhaps to indicate to the one that all was not well with Ahiara Diocese.

According to the reasoning of Professors Amadi-Azuogu and Anthony Nwachukwu, whose writings on the internet helped to propel the spirit of the period, as well as all those whose reaction to the crisis was influenced by the internet essays, or based completely on their reading of the canonical provisions, April 7 was the deadline in which a canonical possession of the diocese would have to occur for Msgr. Okpalaeke to be declared a legitimate bishop of Ahiara Diocese. This is because since Msgr. Okpalaeke was appointed on December 7, 2012, he would complete his final month for taking canonical possession of the diocese on that date. As a result there were frenetic efforts to prevent anybody from forcefully seizing the Cathedral compound for the ordination of Msgr. Okpalaeke on or before that “sacred” date.

All these were happening when there was hardly any knowledge in Mbaise land that the bishop-elect had already applied for and obtained a Vatican extension till May 25 for him to be ordained and take possession of the diocese. In the absence of this vital information, the thinking was that since Msgr. Okpalaeke was stopped from being ordained and installed within the first three months stipulated by the canon law, he and his supporters might try to pack everything concerning his ordination within the last month the law required him to be ordained and take a canonical possession of his diocese. So, immediately after Easter festivities, fortification of the cathedral compound returned.

As that all important date in early April approached all eyes were focused around Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral as a place where some skirmishes might occur. Sentries were planted all and around the diocese to monitor events. Driving past the cathedral gate a few times in a day became a daily routine for almost every priest of the diocese. Everyone wanted to be an eyewitness of the epic battle that would take place at the cathedral gate should Awka people attempt to invade the place in order to get their son ordained and installed as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese. But fortunately that day would come and go without any significant incident. There was joy all over the diocese that another very important milestone in the struggle had been chalked off as successful by the priests and lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese.

And with this feat recorded, a very serious Caucus meeting was convoked to prepare for the visit of the executive of the diocesan priests association of the Igbo speaking dioceses of South-eastern Nigeria whose acronym is ANIMAEE. At the meeting, different committees were set up to oversee different aspects of the preparation. I would be a part of the small group producing the welcome address. We would work hard so as to use the occasion of the ANIMAEE visitation to present the position of Ahiara Diocesan priests and lay faithful to the rest of the world on the bishopric crisis. The pedestal to make this case was seen as the welcome address. As chairman of the welcome address drafting group, I decided that we would steer the address to unveil the history of injustice that had over the years been meted to the people of Mbaise in the Catholic Church.

As we had planned, the day of the ANIMAEE visitation came. And the highlight of the day was a very historical welcome address we would present to the executive of the association that sounded like apologia pro vita sua. We would use the address to present our grievances to the rest of the world. Members of the executive of the ANIMAEE who would sit through listening to the address were stunned to hear that such level of injustice had been meted to Mbaise people all through years. Copies of the address were giving to each and every one of them as keepsakes. They were told to help present the grievances of Mbaise people to their colleagues at home.

Before the meeting rose for the day, the ANIMAEE executive agreed to get back to Archbishop Obinna who had sent them over to Mbaise and report back to him their findings. Having not been informed that the date of the ordination had already been scheduled, the ANIMAEE executive agreed to suggest to His Grace to suspend any arrangement for the ordination of Msgr. Okpalaeke under such a hypersensitive situation and initiate dialogue as a way to resolve the situation. As we would learn some days after their visit to Ahiara Diocese, the ANIMAEE executive did return to Owerri and report back to Archbishop Obinna on their findings in Ahiara Diocese. They did also suggest that a dialogue be preferred in the efforts to resolve the crisis in Ahiara Diocese.

By advocating dialogue as a means of resolving the crisis in Ahiara Diocese, members of ANIMAEE seemed to be enjoying a communion of spirit with the new pope, Pope Francis, who replaced the retired Pope Benedict XVI. In a letter that would be addressed to Archbishop Kasujja, Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria by His Eminence, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, it was revealed that the new pope, Francis, was urging dialogue as a means to resolve the Ahiara Diocese problem. The letter dated 8th April 2013 with an identifying number as PROT. N.1380/13 reads:

Your Excellency,

During the encounter which I was cordially given by the Holy Father, Pope Francis on the 4th of this month, I had the opportunity to inform Him about the nomination of the Bishop-elect of Ahiara, Msgr. Peter Ebere Okpalaeke, and of all that happened in the Diocese after the 7th December 2012.

On becoming aware of this particular situation, the Holy Father invites all the faithful and in particular the clergy and religious to welcome the new Bishop of the diocese with generosity. He also encourages Msgr. Okpalaeke to enter into a process of dialogue with all concerned. Above all, His Holiness would appreciate the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, of as many bishops as possible for the Episcopal Ordination and in particular that of the Archbishop of Abuja, H.E. John Cardinal Olorumfemi Onaiyekan. Regarding this request, I have personally spoken with His Eminence on Sunday 7th last, on the occasion of the ceremony of the taking possession by the Holy Father of the Basilica of St. John in Lateran.

I take this opportunity to send you kind regards, as I remain,

Yours fraternally

[two signatures appended

____________________________

His Excellency

The Most Rev. Augustine KASUJJA

Apostolic Nuncio in Nigeria

Abuja.

This letter would be extensively quoted in another letter the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Kasujja would send “To all the ordinaries and Catholic Bishops Emeritus of Nigeria [with enclosure]” dated “Abuja, 13th April 2013.” The letter reads:

Apostolic Nunciature In Nigeria Prot. 3329/13

Your Eminence/Your Excellency,

Dear Monsignor,

I have the pleasure to share with you the message of His Holiness Pope Francis concerning the state of affairs in the diocese of Ahiara following the appointment of H.E. Most Rev. Peter Ebere Okpalaeke on 7th December 2012. In the letter Prot. N. 1380/13 dated 8th April 2013, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, writes as follows:

[Then the quotation of the entire body of the letter up till the mention of H.E. John Cardinal Onaiyekan]

According to the Report I have received of the Emergency Meeting of Owerri Ecclesiastical province, held on 13th March 2013, the Bishops of that Province and the Diocesan Administrator of Ahiara, resolved that the ordination and installation of Most Rev. Peter Ebere Okpalaeke will take place at Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral Ahiara on Tuesday May 21, 2013, at 10.00 a.m.

While I pray with the Members of the CBCN for the Bishop-elect and for the diocese of Ahiara, I remain

Fraternally yours in Christ

[Signature appended]

+Archbishop Augustine Kasujja

Apostolic Nuncio

But despite this concurrence of minds between the members of ANIMAEE and the Holy Father, Pope Francis, on the use of dialogue to resolve the Ahiara crisis, and despite the exaltation of dialogue in the letter Cardinal Filoni sent to the bishops of Nigeria through the apostolic nuncio, what would follow in Ahiara Diocese after the ANIMAEE meeting was nothing like dialogue. Just a day after the ANIMAEE visitation, on April 12, 2013, the Diocesan Administrator, Msgr. Theo Nwalo called an emergency meeting of the Presbyterium of Ahiara Diocese. In that meeting, Msgr. Nwalo read to the hearing of the priests present what he described as the minutes of the recent meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Owerri Ecclesiastical Province. In the said minutes, it was announced that the CBCN of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province had scheduled the Episcopal ordination and installation of Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke as bishop of Ahiara Diocese on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral, Ahiara. This announcement would be greeted with uproar, utter disdain and signs of total rejection of both the bishop-elect and his said ordination on May 21, 2013.

On Monday, April 15, 2013, Rt. Rev Msgr. Theophilus Nwalo, administrator of Ahiara Diocese, convoked yet another meeting of the defunct Pastoral Council of Ahiara Diocese which consisted of representatives of all the seventy three parishes in the diocese. He also read the CBCN, Owerri Ecclesiastical Province’s minutes to the members present and announced the CBCN’s date for the ordination and installation of Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke as bishop of Ahiara Diocese on May 21, 2013. The response to the announcement was even more vociferous and virulent as those present voiced their opposition to both the bishop-elect and his ordination.

To make sure he got the clearest picture of the level of acceptance or rejection of the announcement and the bishop-elect, Msgr. Nwalo called for a vote. Out of the 88 lay men and women who had attended the meeting, only 4 voted in favour and while 84 voted against the acceptance of the date of the ordination and the bishop-elect. And out of the 55 priests that were present, 53 voted against the date and the bishop-elect, only 2 voted in favour. And with the lopsided vote against the ordination, Msgr. Nwalo concluded that he had no mandate to set up a committee to begin the preparation for the ordination as the provincial bishops had directed. As a result, he decided to send a report of the meeting back to the metropolitan and the bishops of the province.

As the diocesan administrator worked on his report, the Ahiara diocesan indigenous priests association decided to send a letter stating the rejection of the date of the ordination and Msgr. Okpalaeke as their bishop-elect. The letter dated April 17, 2013, and addressed to Most Rev. AJV Obinna, metropolitan archbishop of Owerri Diocese, first referenced the two emergency meetings the administrator had called to announce the ordination date of Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke and the reactions the announcement had elicited among the priests and the lay faithful of the diocese. Then the letter concluded:

We therefore wish to inform Your Grace and the bishops of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province that your bishopric candidate, Msgr. Okpalaeke and the date you chose for his ordination and installation in Ahiara Diocese have been soundly rejected and repudiated by the overwhelming majority of Ahiara diocesan priests and lay people. And this restates and reinforces the numerous representations we had made to Your Grace in which we stated unequivocally that Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke was unsuitable for our diocese and therefore would not be acceptable as bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese. We wish to once more restate our resolve to oppose his ordination and installation on any date in Ahiara Diocese.

It will be very unfortunate if after all these appeals Your Grace and the bishops of the province go ahead to embark on any action that is capable of destroying the faith of the Catholic faithful in Ahiara Diocese as well as causing a breach of the peace and a breakdown of law and order. We stand on our decision to reject Msgr. Okpalaeke as our bishop. That is our final position. And we will not move an inch from it.

As shepherds of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we urge you to work for the salvation of the numerous souls of the Catholic faithful of Ahiara Diocese by restarting a process of choosing a credible bishop for the diocese. It is unconscionable that you would want to expend your energy trying endlessly and fruitlessly to realize the coronation of a young man with a vaunted ambition whose potential ministry as a bishop in Ahiara Diocese will only lead to unimaginable disasters on the simple faith of our people. For this simple reason, we are determined to resist it to the last.

Once more, we appeal to Your Grace and the bishops of the province as well as those of the nation to desist from coming to Ahiara Diocese on May 21, 2013, or on any other day for the Episcopal ordination of the very unpopular Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke as bishop of Ahiara Diocese. His ordination and installation if allowed to take place will destroy the glorious Catholicism of the Mbaise people and imperil the salvation of the souls of our Catholic faithful. So, on the principle of Salus Animarum Suprema Lex, we will continue to oppose the appointment of Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke as the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese until our voice is heard by our Holy Father, Pope Francis who has a passion for social justice.

The letter signed by the different representatives of the priests and lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese would be copied to all the bishops of the province as well as to Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke. Meanwhile, Msgr. Nwalo sent his own report to the metropolitan that had included the result of the impromptu vote he had taken to accurately measure the opinion of the priests and lay faithful of the diocese on the proposed ordination and installation of Msgr Okpalaeke. But he was asked to remove the result of the vote since he had not been asked to conduct any vote to ascertain the level of acceptance of the directive to the people of Ahiara Diocese. Shortly after effecting the necessary amendments the administrator sent in his report which paralleled the earlier one sent in by the officers of the priests and lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese.