By: Joy Odor/Kaduna
The Catholic Church Archbishop of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Most Reverend Dr. Matthew Man’Oso Ndagoso has called on the newly ordained eight Archdioceses Deacons to pray to God for grace to carry out the service to humanity as they are being sent on mission and service to the people.
His Grace who made the call during his homily to the preparation of the Priestly ordination on New Year’s day Tuesday, January 1st, 2019 at Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church, Kakuri, Kaduna State pointed out that the church is sending them out on mission and service to the people and they should open up and allow the grace of God to take control.
According to him, the significance of the Day of the ordination was that it was a remarkable day of celebration which is New Year, being the day Jesus Christ was circumcised, the eight day after his birth.
Bishop Ndagoso called on them not to mind about title, adding that his title as a Bishop is for mission and therefore it is a challenge to participate in salvation history.
He asked, “What is the level of your participation in salvation history. Mary the mother of God said, yes, so she took major part in salvation history. You are challenged to be active participant.
“All of us are invited to take part. Take note, Mary was a Divine Motherhood and Universalhood, not just title. It was a title of service for the salvation of mankind.
“We should celebrate the role of motherhood played by Mary in bringing salvation to the world because she said, yes, by accepting invitation by the Angel who told her not to worry. So she accepted and said, be it done to me.
“That was unlike Ahaz who rejected invitation because he did not trust God. Many were given the chance given to Mary but they never took it to be part of salvation history” he said.
Speaking on the role of the newly ordained Priest in this political dispensation, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, told them that their duty is to educate the people and let them know the things they should look out for.
He also said their duty is to form the conscience of the people, especially in democracy which is about making choice that can help the country move forward and develop also.
“If you are in government, and you want your mandate renewed, then, people should be able to know if you have delivered when you were there.
“It is the duty of the religious to educate the people, inform their conscience so that when they go to make choice they will be able to make informed choices that can help the country move forward and develop.
“In the Catholic Church, priests and religious and those who give their lives to God are not supposed to be partisan.
“Of course every human being is political, but then any religious who becomes partisan and even ventures to use the pulpit for political purpose doesn’t deserve to be a religious” Bishop Ndagoso stressed.
While on the state of the nation, His Grace enjoined Government at all levels to wake up and do the needful and called on the government to provide the security agencies with the tools they need to protect the Country.
“Government should do what is right. The security challenges in the country are so rampant. As it is now so many places is on fire, BAGS in Borno, Zamfara.
“There are a lot of challenges, so government should primarily protect the citizenry. We call o the government, security agencies to provide our men with the tools they need in order to protect us.
“We hear cases that our soldiers are not taken care of whereby there was mutiny because of the way a d manner they were being treated. So those doing the actual fight should be well taken care of. I think the security agencies are doing their best but the government should do well by providing them with tools they need” He noted.
Shortly after the Priestly ordination, the new Priest who speak on behalf of other Reverends, Reverend Michael Ugwu, thanked all those who were part of their success story.
He said, “I wish on behalf of my fellow Reverends to deeply appreciate our Formators at the Seminary for the good job they are doing in the training of seminarians.
“I also thank the priests who always correct us and help to put us right. Above all I wish on behalf of all of us today it is a great privilege to thank His Grace most sincerely.
“I want to let you know that His Grace has never failed to pay our school fees and on time too. He made sure we did not face any problem. May God bless you Your Grace” he prayed.
