By Emma Ihemeje
Hundreds of parishioners of SS John & Paul Catholic Church, lba Pope, Awada, recently converged at the church premises for their annual parish crusade organised by the Catholic Men Organisation of the church, as a prelude to the celebration of the forthcoming Fathering Sunday.
The crusade, which featured a three-day seminar with the theme “No more delay”, was attended by the Catholic archdiocesan director of social communications, Rev. Fr George Adimike, and other priests.
Speaking at the occasion, a Catholic faithful and guest preacher, Bro. Joshua Emenogu, focusing on St Paul’s epistles of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, harped on the perilous times in which we presently live, which are characterised by “lovers of selves, pride, arrogance, worldliness and other characters unbefitting of a committed Christian”.
He called on Christians to resist the influence of the devil, now conspicuous in every nook and cranny of our society, including the Church, regretting that not even the Church was doing enough to sensitise its followers of the workings of the evil one, leading to all sorts misconduct among Christians.
Emenogu reminded Catholic priests of the need to teach relevant and sound doctrines which will enable Christians to withstand the wiles and caprices of the devil, so that they will not continue to fall prey to the enemy in these last days. He also called on mothers to live up to their family responsibilities of training their children in the ways of God, lamenting that our girls and some mothers dress immodestly—a situation he described as tragic to a devout Christian. He told mothers, “You cannot be a good mother if you are not a good wife.”
On a very serious note, the guest preacher specifically warned all those who work at the altar of God not to approach it with defiled bodies because the place is holy. He especially called on Mass servers and scripture readers of the danger of coming to the presence of God in a polluted state.
On the side of parents and guardians, he reminded them of the need to monitor their children’s activities because of the prevailing corruption in our society, to which some of our school teachers contribute by corrupting those entrusted in their care.
He disclosed that the Catholic Church is a powerful institution, but noted that some are desecrating it. He warned such people to leave as the Church has no place for thieves, fornicators, seducers and wilful evil-doers.
