Catholics Diocese of Nnewi In Crisis As Bishop Sacks Reverend Fathers

Members of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, Anambra State, have protested Bishop Jonas Benson Okoye’s decision to dismiss several of the diocese’s priests.

The Holy Ghost Fathers residing at St. Martin’s de Porres Catholic Church in Ihiala were reportedly fired by Bishop Okoye.

The Holy Ghost Fathers have been overseeing St. Martin’s Church for more than a century while also living in the parish until recently, when Bishop Okoye fired them, according to information obtained by Anaedoonline.ng.

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Some diocese members protested the priests’ dismissal on Monday, denouncing the Bishop’s decision and claiming that the priests’ safety was now in jeopardy.

Mr. Nonye Chukwu, the protest’s organizer and secretary of the Coordinating Committee of the Concerned Ihiala Citizens, claimed that the residents of Ihiala had written to the Bishop urging him to drop the notion of firing the priests and regretted that he had not responded to their message.

Chukwu who spoke to journalists said: “We are having a problem with our Bishop, he issued an order that Holy Ghost Fathers who stay at St. Martins should pack out and that he doesn’t want them in Ihiala anymore. This didn’t go down well with Ihiala Catholics.

“Where does he want them to go to? We have every reason to say no, irrespective of the fact that he has all the powers on earth as Bishop.

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“These Holy Ghost priests sustained our people during the war as some of them were even emergency pilots who brought relief materials to the war-ravaged areas of the country.”

As calls to the bishop’s cell number revealed that his phone was off, the director of communication for the Nnewi Diocese, Rev. Fr. Tobenna Onwudiwe, was unable to respond to the claim on the bishop’s behalf.

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