{"id":69794,"date":"2025-07-06T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T12:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=69794"},"modified":"2025-07-06T12:22:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T12:22:03","slug":"catholic-church-sends-14-priests-on-mission-across-africa-europe-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/07\/06\/catholic-church-sends-14-priests-on-mission-across-africa-europe-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Church Sends 14 Priests on Mission Across Africa, Europe, America"},"content":{"rendered":"

…as Cardinal Onaiyekan calls for spiritual depth and support<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Catholic Church in Nigeria has commissioned 14 diocesan priests for missionary work across Africa, Europe, and the Americas, reaffirming its commitment to global evangelisation and missionary responsibility.<\/p>\n

The missioning Mass, held at St. Gabriel Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Durumi, Abuja, was presided over by the Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan.<\/p>\n

It marked the conclusion of an intensive seminar organised by the Department of Mission and Dialogue, CSN, aimed at spiritually and pastorally preparing the priests for their assignments abroad.<\/p>\n

In his homily, Cardinal Onaiyekan challenged the Church to take missionary formation seriously, especially for diocesan priests whose traditional training is often centred on local pastoral needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not religious missionaries who have long been equipped for foreign evangelisation,\u201d he noted. \u201cThese are diocesan priests who must now be trained intentionally for mission outside their dioceses and cultural zones. This is not something to take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned against the temptation of turning missionary assignments into a quest for personal comfort or financial security, saying, \u201cIf a priest goes abroad for greener pastures, he is no longer a missionary but a mercenary. May God not allow our priests to become mercenaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Onaiyekan emphasized that Africa, especially Nigeria, is no longer a receiving Church but one mature enough to contribute to the missionary mandate of the universal Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now adults in the household of God,\u201d he said. \u201cThose nations that once sent missionaries to us now need spiritual help themselves. We must be bold to take Christ back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also reminded the faithful of their role in supporting missionary work: \u201cSome go by going, others go by praying and giving. All are called to share in the mission of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The priests commissioned during the liturgy were: Rev. Fr. Nwode Godwin Oje, Rev. Fr. Robert Saater Achiaga, Rev. Fr. John Paul Gabriel, Rev. Fr. La’ah Lawrence, Rev. Fr. John Ikpochi Itodo, Rev. Fr. Ogbanje Elaigwu Edwin, Rev. Fr. Adebo Matthew Ocheola, Rev. Fr. Benjamin Sunday Entonu, Rev. Fr. Audu Dominic Elaigwu, Rev. Fr. Odo Peter Okopi, Rev. Fr. Audu Oyine Peter, Rev. Fr. Benedict Onakpoma, Rev. Fr. Matthew Onoja Gilbert and Rev. Fr. Samson Osagie.<\/p>\n

The ceremony included a solemn presentation of the missionary priests to the chief celebrant after the Post-Communion prayer, followed by blessings and words of encouragement from the Secretary General of CSN, Rev. Fr Michael Banjo.<\/p>\n

The Mass also featured the presence of Rev. Fr. Daniel Togo, a visiting priest from Mali, symbolising the growing bonds of missionary collaboration across Africa.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church in Nigeria continues to play a vital role in the evangelising mission of the global Church, sending both clergy and religious across borders to preach peace, justice, and the Gospel of Christ in line with the ‘Great Commission’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…as Cardinal Onaiyekan calls for spiritual depth and support By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0 The Catholic Church in Nigeria has commissioned 14 diocesan priests for missionary work across Africa, Europe, and the Americas, reaffirming its commitment to global evangelisation and missionary responsibility. The missioning Mass, held at St. Gabriel Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Durumi, Abuja, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":69795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1681],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-69794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-religion","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69798,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69794\/revisions\/69798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}