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By Madu Obi
Worshippers at St Martin of Tours Catholic Parish, Ihiala have marked one year of worshipping without Eucharistic celebration in the church following a protracted misunderstanding between them and the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, Most Rev Jonas-Benson Okoye.
Although they attend weekly church service there, no priest has celebrated Mass for them in the church since the misunderstanding began.
Such spiritual activities like confession, baptism, Holy Communion, weddings, anointing of the sick, etc, have not taken place there for one year, and the matter is yet to be resolved.
In a pathetic statement to mark the occasion, the worshippers said: "Today marks the anniversary of the abandonment of St. Martin of Tours Parish, Ihiala, by His Lordship, Jonas Benson Okoye, the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi diocese."
"By this action, the Bishop, in the past 12 months, has deprived the lay faithful of their spiritual benefits in the church."
"The Bishop and his diocesan priests have delisted St Martin of Tours from Nnewi Catholic community and barred them from participating in diocesan activities; while the Catholic Church hierarchy appeared to be insensitive to the matter that concerns the lay faithful, which is the pillar on which the church stands."
"To ensure that our faith as devout Catholics does not fade, and in order not to allow the faithful to scatter, we took the challenge as a test of our faith to celebrate Holy Mass every Sunday, undertake all the important church programmes, like Corpus Christi, Holy Week and Easter activities, Advent, Christmas; burying the lay faithful etc."
The statement was signed by the Parish presidents of CMO, Linus Nnubia; CWO, Comfort Okolie; CBO, Izuchukwu Ikudike; and CGO, Chimuanya Uba.
Others who signed were the vice chairman of Parish Council, Angus Ohaeri; spokesperson of Concerned People of Ihiala, Nonye Chukwu; and leader of Concerned People of Ihiala, Orjiewuru Udeorji.
To them, St Martin of Tours, Ihiala, are presently like sheep without a shepherd.
They recalled that in November, 2022, Bishop Jonas-Benson Okoye, on assumption of office as the Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, gave ultimatum to Holy Ghost priests residing in the Parish to vacate St. Martin of Tours, Ihiala, which is the regional headquarters of the Holy Ghost priests, to enable him assign his diocesan priests to the parish.
The move by the Bishop, according to them, met strong resistance from the parishioners, which made the Bishop to remove the spiritual powers of the Holy Ghost priests to celebrate Holy Mass.
He also dethroned St Martin of Tours from being the Southeast regional headquarters of the Holy Ghost priests, and further barred the parish from participating in diocesan activities.
They further recalled that St Martins Parish, Ihiala, was established on its present location in 1908, and that since then, has been serving as evangelization center from which the Holy Ghost priests have traversed the Southeast, preaching the gospel and establishing other mission centers, with St. Martins as their patrimonial home.
They insisted that any attempt to push the Holy Ghost priests out of their patrimonial home in Ihiala will be constantly resisted.
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