{"id":75967,"date":"2025-10-01T18:51:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=75967"},"modified":"2025-10-01T19:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:00:04","slug":"incla-graduates-new-missionary-leaders-unveils-pilgrimage-centre-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/10\/01\/incla-graduates-new-missionary-leaders-unveils-pilgrimage-centre-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"InCLA Graduates New Missionary Leaders, Unveils Pilgrimage Centre Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Institute of Consecrated Life in Africa (InCLA), Bwari, Abuja, recently held its second convocation ceremony, awarding certificates and diplomas in Theology, Formation of Formators, and Spiritual Direction to its graduating students.<\/p>\n

The event drew church leaders, faculty, religious, and well-wishers, who joined in celebrating the milestone described as both a moment of academic accomplishment and a testimony of God\u2019s faithfulness.<\/p>\n

In his address, the Director of InCLA, Very Rev. Fr. Peter I. Okonkwo, CMF, urged the graduating class of 2025 to see their formation not as a personal achievement but as a mission of service to humanity and the Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe knowledge and formation you have received here are not just for personal advancement, but for the service of humanity, the enrichment of the Church, and the transformation of Africa,\u201d he told the graduands.<\/p>\n

Fr. Okonkwo, while acknowledging the support of Veritas University, partners, and faculty in nurturing the institute\u2019s vision, appealed for scholarships and endowments to support indigent students and reward academic excellence.<\/p>\n

He also announced plans for a new pilgrimage centre to deepen prayer and retreat experiences at InCLA.<\/p>\n

“…we have acquired the mountain behind the grotto to enable people who come on retreat and special programme of InCLA to pray and meditate better.<\/p>\n

“So we encourage people to come to InCLA and take advantage of the quiet environment of InCLA for prayers and meditation,” he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the President of the African Claretians (ACLA), Rev. Fr. F\u00e9lix-Obaga Eworo Bilogo, CMF, congratulated the graduates, describing them as \u201cprotagonists of a hopeful future,\u201d while commending the faculty for their commitment to preparing consecrated men and women for the challenges of modern society.<\/p>\n

Also speaking, the Catholic Bishop of Bauchi Diocese, Most Rev. Hilary Nanman Dachelem, who played a pioneering role in establishing the institute, expressed gratitude to InCLA\u2019s founders and collaborators, noting that the vision behind its creation was already bearing fruit.<\/p>\n

He urged the graduates to become ambassadors of the institute by drawing others to its programmes.<\/p>\n

Delivering the valedictory speech, Rev. Fr. Josaphat Nwana, CMF, expressed gratitude to God, the faculty, and their religious institutes for investing in their formation.<\/p>\n

He described the occasion as \u201ca celebration of mission and renewal,\u201d stressing that knowledge without holiness remains incomplete, while holiness without mission is unfruitful.<\/p>\n

He praised the institute\u2019s courses in Scripture, Canon Law, Conflict Management, Psychology, and Theology of Mission, which he said had equipped the graduates to serve with wisdom, justice, and zeal.<\/p>\n

Quoting St. Teresa of Calcutta, he urged his colleagues to embody simplicity, fraternity, and extraordinary love in their ministries.<\/p>\n

The ceremony ended with thanksgiving and congratulations to the Class of 2025, who were charged to go forth as leaders of integrity, witnesses of hope, and disciples of peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0 The Institute of Consecrated Life in Africa (InCLA), Bwari, Abuja, recently held its second convocation ceremony, awarding certificates and diplomas in Theology, Formation of Formators, and Spiritual Direction to its graduating students. The event drew church leaders, faculty, religious, and well-wishers, who joined in celebrating the milestone described as both a moment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":75968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,183,172,1681],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuja-reports","category-education","category-news","category-religion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75967","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=75967"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75972,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75967\/revisions\/75972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}