AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …43 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 17: Verdict is for Justice [i]

The official letter Ahiara Diocesan College of Consultors would send to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, on June 7, 2013, kind of drew the curtain on the first seven months the bishopric crisis had raged. It was like a closing argument in a court trial. As Ahiara Diocese’s final argument on the bishopric struggle, the letter had stated quite categorically that the rejection of Bishop Okpalaeke as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese was true and irrevocable.

In line with the finality of its tone, the letter would appeal to the Holy Father to kindly commence a process that would facilitate the appointment of a credible bishop for Ahiara Diocese in order to save the burgeoning faith of the numerous Catholics of the diocese. The presentation of the letter to the Holy Father would herald a new era of waiting for action from Rome.

As this final argument was being made, all eyes turned towards Rome. And thus was inaugurated the period of waiting for the Holy Father to act. This would also become a period of great uncertainty. Nobody knew how the Holy Father would decide the case. Will he do the bidding of the adversaries of Ahiara Diocese by annulling the existence of the diocese and merging it with one of her neighbouring dioceses? Will he place the priests of Ahiara Diocese under interdict or inflict other forms of punishment on the entire diocese as the pro-Okpalaeke group was advocating? Will the Holy Father abandon the faithful of Ahiara Diocese to their fate as a result of the crisis?

On the other hand, will the crisis in Ahiara Diocese result in schism? Will the church in Ahiara Diocese be led into a massive division and disruption that would hobble Catholicism in the area for many years to come? There was no end to the questions every individual’s mind was generating at this time. Everybody knew that the time for decision and action on the case had come for the Vatican. But nobody knew how the decision would come down, whether Ahiara Diocese with her priests and lay people would be punished by Rome or rescued as they were praying.

As a result of the frenzied moment, we began to read every bit of statements emanating from Rome to see if we could pick up some clues on how the pope’s mind on the Ahiara crisis was working. Will he follow through with his inclination towards social justice? Will he see Ahiara crisis as a classic case for a social justice intervention by the Vatican? These and many more like them were questions that would flood our minds at that point in time. However, we would take some consolation on the pope’s sermons and utterances that portrayed him as a man who took to heart issues relating to justice and peace. We therefore hoped and prayed that the Holy Father would examine our appeals to him with the prism of justice and peace.

What the diocese was asking for and hoping to get at that time was the appointment of an independent body to come down to the diocese so as to investigate the issues that brought about the bishopric crisis. The letter of the College of Consultors had made a special request to the pope in this regard. From the very beginning the priests and laity of Ahiara Diocese had maintained that the process that produced Bishop Okpalaeke as their bishop-elect was flawed through and through. The argument by Ahiara faithful is that a flawed process could never produce a legitimate and credible candidate hence the call for the review of the process and its correction.

Some hope would be raised along the line of having an independent body or personality review the issues of the crisis when it was learned that a Vatican official in charge of Justice and Peace, Cardinal Tuckson from Ghana had already been appointed by the Holy Father as his envoy to look into a similar crisis in Makeni Diocese in Sierra Leone. When this news became known to us, there was some air of relief that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese might ultimately not result in a mass suspension of the priests and lay faithful of the diocese. The hope was that Rome would not treat Ahiara Diocese any differently than what it had already administered to the Diocese of Makeni in Sierra Leone.

A piece of news that would excite interest throughout Ahiara Diocese at this time was the invitation the Holy Father extended to all the Nuncios of the world for a two-day prayer and reflection with him beginning from June 20. An impression shared by almost all in the diocese was that that meeting would not fail to mention or at least allude to the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. As a result, we would start keeping vigil over this all-important meeting between the Holy Father and the Nuncios of the world. We would be particularly interested in trying to decipher if there could be any hint from it that the Holy Father had become fully aware of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese and was about to do something about it. We wanted also to be able to read through such hints the inclination of the mind of the Holy Father. However, our imaginations would go wild in trying to speculate about what he would tell Archbishop Augustine Kasujja, Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, who was being accused of all sorts of underhand businesses that precipitated the crisis when and if he met him in a one-on-one situation.

Around this time also most bishops of the province were heading for their summer vacation in Europe. During his interaction with the leaders of the knights around June 17 and the renegade Mbaise traditional rulers a day or two after, Archbishop Obinna had hinted that he was on his way to Rome and would carry some information on the crisis in Ahiara Diocese along with him to the officials of the Vatican. That little information kept us hoping and imagining that Archbishop Obinna, the metropolitan might embark on actions with the Vatican that would bring about the resolution of the crisis. But also we let our imaginations soar on a possible meeting between Archbishop Obinna and the papal nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Augustine Kasujja in one of the offices of the Vatican discussing on a possible resolution of the crisis. All our prayer would be along the line of finding some workable solution to the lingering problem so that Ahiara Diocese could return to her normal peaceful way of life.

However the interaction between the Holy Father and the Nuncios of the world would turn out to be exactly what the doctor had ordered for Ahiara Diocesan crisis. News from that meeting would provide us the needed hint that the Pope was adequately informed about the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. It would become a great relief to us to learn that the thought of the Holy Father was in total support of the position being canvassed in Ahiara Diocese. The address the Holy Father would present to the Nuncios on June 20 would more than demonstrate the fact that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese was one of the things uppermost in the Holy Father’s mind when he wrote his address. The Holy Father’s address is worth excerpting briefly here.

Dear Brothers,

…….I would like to thank each of you for your service which aids me in solicitude for all of the Churches, in the ministry of unity that is central to the Successor of Peter. You represent me in Churches spread throughout the world and with the Governments, but seeing so many of you today also gives me the sense of the catholicity of the Church, of its universality. I thank you wholeheartedly! …………….. There is always the danger, even for the men of the Church, to surrender to what I call, taking an expression from De Lubac, "spiritual worldliness": to surrender to the spirit of the world, which leads to action for self-fulfilment and not for the glory of God (cf. Meditation on the Church, Milan 1979, p. 269), in that sort of "bourgeoisie spirit and life" which leads people to settle and seek a peaceful and comfortable life ……………We are pastors! And that we must not ever forget that! …….. Dear Papal Representatives, be the presence of Christ, be a priestly presence, as Pastors…. Always do everything with deep love! Even in relations with the Civil Authorities and your Colleagues you are Pastors: always seek the good, the good of all, the good of the Church and of every person…………………………I would like to conclude by saying just one word about one of the important points of your service as Papal Representatives, at least for the vast majority: collaboration in providing bishops. You know the famous expression that indicates a fundamental criterion in choosing who should govern: si sanctus est oret pro nobis, si doctus est doceat nos, si prudens est regat nos - if holy let him pray for us, if learned teach us, if prudent govern us. In the delicate task of carrying out inquiries for Episcopal appointments be careful that the candidates are pastors close to the people, fathers and brothers, that they are gentle, patient and merciful; animated by inner poverty, the freedom of the Lord and also by outward simplicity and austerity of life, that they do not have the psychology of "Princes"…………..Be careful that they are not ambitious, that they do not seek the episcopate - volentes nolumus - and that they are married to a Church without being in constant search of another. That they are able to "watch over" the flock that will be entrusted to them, take care to keep it united, vigilant of the dangers that threaten it, but above all that they are able to "watch over" the flock, to keep watch, imbue hope, that they have sun and light in their hearts, to lovingly and patiently support the plans which God brings about in His people

In a news outtake from the address as reported by Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service, the Holy Father said about the choice of candidates for the episcopacy by the Nuncios,

It's a delicate task. Beware of those who are ambitious, who seek the episcopacy.’ Pope Francis said the best priest to choose as bishop or the best bishop to choose to head a larger diocese or archdiocese is one who is wed to his diocese, ‘the spouse of one church, who is not constantly seeking another.’ ‘I will comment (more) about this when it's not being recorded’, the pope told the nuncios, who laughed. Candidates must be real pastors and shepherds, he said, able to watch over their flock, keep them united, protect them from danger, and, especially, nourish their hope, ‘sustaining with love and patience the plans that God is working within his people.’ ‘Shepherds need to be in front of their flocks to indicate the path, in the midst of the flock to keep them united, behind the flock to make sure none is left behind,’ the pope said.

Having struck and harped on the very basis the people of Ahiara Diocese were asking for a new bishop from among their own people, the Holy Father kind of took the wind off the sail of the adversaries of Ahiara Diocese. That address would become the first sign and reason to hope that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese would be resolved in a way that would not impact negatively on the priests and lay people of the diocese. But then the wait has to go on a little longer even though with diminishing anxiety. With the pope more or less tipping his hand and indicating that his mind was inclined to the position being canvassed in the crisis by the priests and laity of Ahiara Diocese, the stress and pressure of the crisis began to come down gradually.

However, the hope and expectation of most watchers of the crisis was that even with the changed atmospherics on the crisis as exemplified in the papal address, Rome was unlikely to do anything concrete about the resolution of the crisis until early in the Fall. According to people who were conversant with the way the Vatican City operated, as Summer had begun full blown, papal aids and officials who normally work to facilitate cases of the nature in Ahiara would be thinking more of their Summer vacation than doing anything that would benefit the people of Ahiara Diocese. This approximated the mood of most priests and lay people of Ahiara Diocese as the month of June began to ebb.

As the month of June entered the late 20’s, I packed up my bag and headed back to America for my summer vacation. But early morning on July 3rd, around 6.00 A.M., New York time, I turned on my computer to do some work before heading off to an 8.30 A.M. Mass. As my computer hooked on automatically to the internet router or WiFi next to my room thereby enabling my Skype connection, Fr Sylvester Iheanacho Ihuoma called me from Germany over the Skype. Joyously he told me that there was great news about our diocese. I held my breath. Fr Sylve, as I fondly call him, told me that the Holy Father had appointed John Cardinal Onaiyekan of the Abuja Archdiocese as the Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese. But Fr Sylve told me to keep the news to myself until it was made public through the Vatican Gazette.

Shortly after I had received the information from Fr Sylvester Ihuoma, phone calls started to ring all over the place that Ahiara Diocese had been given an administrator in the person of Cardinal Onaiyekan. People were being asked to Google the information because it was already available on the Vatican news services and websites. I would immediately Google the information only to discover to my great surprise that the appointment of the apostolic administrator for Ahiara Diocese had been one of the official assignments of the Holy Father announced that day as it was published alongside the other appointments of the day in the Pontifical Acts – 3 July thus: “- appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria as apostolic administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria.” And more curious and interesting to me was how that little piece of news about Ahiara Diocese gained instant worldwide attention. It was as if the entire world was waiting and watching for the next step of the pope on the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. The Catholic World News [CWN] would report the event clearly and in its proper context thus:

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Ahiara. Founded in 1987 and located in the Mbaise region of Imo State in southern Nigeria, the diocese was governed by Bishop Victor Chikwe from its inception until his death in 2010. In December 2012, Pope Benedict appointed Father Peter Okpaleke, a priest of the Diocese of Awka in neighboring Anambra State, as the diocese’s new bishop. 400 priests angered that an Mbaise priest was not appointed, protested the decision. The appointment “sends a very reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of about 500 Catholic priests that trace their origins to the soil of Mbaise, a diocese that has been globally acclaimed as the Ireland of Nigeria,” the priests said in a statement. Some priests and lay protesters saw Cardinal Francis Arinze, the retired prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as the force behind the appointment of Father Okpaleke. Cardinal Arinze comes from Anambra State. “Awka has five bishops, Mbaise has no bishop,” said a placard at the priests’ protest. “We want Mbaise son as Mbaise bishop.” Father Okpaleke was ordained bishop of Ahiara on May 21, but the ordination took place at a seminary in another diocese amid heavy security. At the time of the ordination, youth locked the cathedral of Ahiara in protest. Some protesters placed a coffin with the new bishop’s name at diocesan headquarters. The Holy See has not announced Bishop Okpaleke’s resignation from his see. Typically, the Pope appoints an apostolic administrator when a see is vacant (sede vacante), but a sede plena appointment is not unprecedented: Archbishop Joseph Miot served as apostolic administrator of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 1997 to 2008, while Archbishop François-Wolff Ligondé remained archbishop, and Bishop Thomas Olmsted was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Gallup in 2008 while Bishop Donald Pelotte remained diocesan bishop.

The news that the Holy Father had acted very promptly on the crisis in Ahiara Diocese by appointing an Apostolic Administrator of the calibre of Cardinal Onaiyekan was for me and many others in Ahiara Diocese a veritable bolt from the blue. This was far beyond our expectation in Ahiara Diocese. The most we had hoped for in the crisis at the moment was a visitor from the Vatican to interview the priests and laity of the diocese on the issues of the crisis. We had not expected such a miraculous solution being delivered to us on a platter.

Before I would leave for America by the end of June, I had participated in a few informal workshops to prepare the minds of our people in case there would be a papal delegation from the Vatican wanting to talk to a few of them either collectively or individually. We were convinced that we would get to the point in the crisis in which a panel of inquiry would come down from Rome to dialogue with the people of our diocese. We had worked so hard in preparation for that kind of visitation, even to the extent of providing copies of talking-points to many people on how to answer inquiries and interviews. We had wanted everybody to be on the same page because we were hoping and praying for an investigative panel from Rome.

But never in our wildest imaginations did we think that the Holy Father would bypass all the protocols about investigation and go ahead to appoint an apostolic administrator for our beloved diocese. That would become a stunning development as far as the crisis was concerned. Moreover, we were hoping that should the pope find the need to appoint an apostolic administrator to supervise the affairs of the diocese pending the resolution of her crisis, it would be one of the retired bishops in Nigeria. Everybody was praying that the bishop emeritus of Orlu Diocese, Most Rev. Gregory Ochiagha would be given to us as our apostolic administrator.

This hope and longing was predicated on the fact that since the death of Bishop Chikwe, Bishop Ochiagha had become some kind of a foster father for our orphaned diocese. We believed that should he be given to us as our interim apostolic administrator, he would feel the pulse of the people more than any other bishop that could be available for such an appointment.

Also, it did cross our minds that the Holy Father might annex Ahiara Diocese temporarily to Owerri Archdiocese under Archbishop Obinna as the issues of the crisis were being investigated. We told ourselves that should such become the case, we would be glad to live with it. But there was never a time we had looked forward to having the great Cardinal Onaiyekan as Ahiara Diocesan Apostolic Administrator. So it was a great surprise.

When the euphoria on the appointment settled in, some of us began to wrestle with the Latin qualification of the appointment. Cardinal Onaiyekan, according to the Pontifical Acts’ publication, was appointed Apostolic Administrator AD NUTUM SANCTAE SEDIS for Ahiara Diocese. I remember asking myself; what on earth would this added qualification mean for our beleaguered diocese going forward? While the translation of Sanctae Sedis is universally known as the Latin equivalent for the Holy See, whatever was the meaning of the phrase AD NUTUM was largely unknown to many people.

As we searched for the meaning of the enigmatic AD NUTUM, opinion became divided. Some were of the opinion that it was a way of designating Cardinal Onaiyekan as an interim authority of the diocese since the See had not been declared vacant. Others noted that the phrase AD NUTUM meant that Cardinal Onaiyekan would be responsible directly to the Holy Father and not to any other authority either in Nigeria or at the Vatican. However, many took the position that no matter what the phrase might eventually mean, they were just happy that somebody had taken control over the crisis in the diocese.