By Ononye VC
The president general of the Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), Archdiocese of Onitsha, Sir Evarist Uba, has described the recently celebrated Father’s Day as a resounding success across the archdiocese.
It would be recalled that Catholic men in the archdiocese joined other Catholic men around the country to commemorate the 2023 Father’s Day on Sunday, 7th May 2023.
In a statement by the secretary general of the archdiocesan CMO, Mr Casmir Izukanne, who spoke on behalf of the president general, he recalled that during the last general meeting of the organisation held on Saturday, 4th March 2023, at St Joseph’s Parish (now St Joseph’s Cathedral), Aguleri, Uba and the chaplain, Rev. Fr Sampson Ogbuebuna, called on the CMO to celebrate this year’s uka nna in a robust and engaging form in all the parishes.
The chaplain had called for ”sober reflection” from Catholic men by organising retreats at the parish level, which lasted between 3 to 5 days with the theme ”The challenge of neo-paganism in our faith today”. The president general, he said, called for the conclusion of the retreat activities with what he termed ”internal charity of purpose” or “in-house charity”, just as he charged parishes to show love to their elderly, less privileged, and more so dedicated members by giving out the CMO’s archdiocesan uniforms to indigent members as a sign of love, comradeship and brotherhood.
Mr Izukanne further pointed out that “after the meeting, our wonderful regional presidents went into action which started yielding fruits as parishes from 1st May 2023 started their retreats to fashion their members towards a successful and practical 2023 uka nna celebration”.
Trinitas observed that reports from parishes across the archdiocese showed that the response to participation from members were on the high side as parishes, aside having spiritual training, went into activities like traditional wrestling, as seen in St Patrick’s Parish, Mkpikpa; kingship/cabinet council contest, as witnessed in Sacred Heart Parish, Odoakpu; physical fitness drills, as done in St Patrick’s Parish, Odekpe; and a fathers’ cooking competition at St Joseph’s Parish, Atani.
Also participating were parishes like St Francis, Owerri Road; Queen of Peace, Housing Estate, Fegge; St Augustine, Oba; St Raphael the Archangel, Anumudu; St Theresa, Akili-Ozizor; Holy Spirit, Omagba; SS Peter & Paul, Nkutaku; the Most Holy Name of Mary, Abatete; St Charles Borromeo, Onitsha; All Saints, Nkpor; St Gregory the Great, Iyiowa-Odekpe; and CKP, Odoakpu.
“The success of this year’s uka nna is still reverberating as the call by the president general Sir Uba was heeded, as parishes like St Theresa’s, Akili-Ozizor, St Gregory the Great, Iyiowa Odekpe, St Patrick’s, Odekpe, gave out CMO uniforms to their members, though with confidence that many will follow suit, as they were rounding off their plans to know how many uniforms they would procure for their members,” Mr Izukanne concluded.