Wednesday, July 15, 2009

More Nigerians Joining The Priesthood

The Catholic Church in Nigeria is recording aboom in the number of young persons interested in religious vocations, a cleric said yesterday in Abuja.

``An increasing number of young persons have indicated interest to become priests and reverend sisters,'' Rev. Fr. Aloysius Udo, Associate Priest, Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Nyanya, Abuja, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Udo said the country was not facing any crisis in vocation unlike the declining figures of priests in the U.S. and Europe.

The priest said senior seminaries in the Archdiocese of Abuja were witnessing a rise in candidates interested in such vocations.

``There is a tremendous response to vocation by our youths, both boys and girls. In fact, we can jokingly but emphatically say there is a vocation boom in Nigeria.

``In Africa, we have a tremendous response to vocation, to religion and priesthood, quite unlike in countries of Europe and the United States where vocation is minimal in religious congregations.

He attributed the response to religious vocations to the need to live a life devoted to God and the service of humanity.

On celibacy, he said the position of the Catholic Church in Nigeria had not changed.

``The principle of celibacy is still maintained in the Western Church, to which Nigeria belongs. This is to give full attention to the mission of Christ, which is primary and uppermost in the mind of any candidate going into the senior seminary or formation to be ordained into priesthood,'' he said.

Udo, however, acknowledged that the growth in priestly vocations and the proliferation of churches did not mean that Nigeria was a religious nation.

A study had, more than a year ago, rated Nigeria as the world's most religious nation.

The priest expressed dismay at the unbridled corruption, injustice and social malaise in the country, saying: ``For me, the more we think we know God in Nigeria the more stiff-necked in evil we become.

"We must mix our prayers with good works; our faith must be bound to good works. The Church has been encouraging good leadership through sermons and prayers for the nation, and we thank God that few are changing because of the appeals,'' he said.

Udo, who was ordained a Catholic priest in 1984, launched a book entitled ``The Golden Rule'' on Saturday to commemorate his 25 years in the priesthood.

Meanwhile, the Reverend Father has revealed that the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja plans to review downward fees charged by its educational institutions.

He noted that formal education in the country was introduced by the early missionaries who used it as a means of civilisation.

He, however, said that tuition fees charged lately by many mission schools had become a source of concern, with some private institutions charging between N250,000 and N400,000 per academic session.

The priest said the Archdiocese of Abuja had constituted a committee to fashion out modalities for a review.

"We have a programme, and we are trying to see how we can make education less expensive for an average person,'' he said.

He, however, noted that the fees charged by mission schools were influenced by the absence of government subsidy and the cost of providing quality education.
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