AFRICA/NIGERIA - The Archbishop of Onitsha rejects the statements of a religious that risk fomenting ethnic hatred

Monday, 21 February 2022 local churches   bishops  

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - "The Catholic Church is not a tribal institution and should", says His Exc. Mgr. Valerian Maduka Okeke, Archbishop of Onitsha, in a statement in which the Archdiocese warns the faithful that Fr. Ebere’s position "does not represent that of the Catholic Church".
"Fr. Magnus Ebere, is a priest of the Congregation of the Society of Divine Vocations (SDV). He is not a priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha and has no faculties or rights to operate within the Archdiocese of Onitsha", says Mgr. Okeke, according to whom the religious has illegally started his own ministry in the Archdiocese, called Canaaland Adoration Ministries without informing the ecclesiastical authorities.
Fr. Ebere released a video in which he accuses the Igbo, one of the main ethnic groups in southern Nigeria, of dominating the Nigerian Church.
"In his video which has now gone viral, Fr. Magnus Ebere made many unchristian statements which need to be publicly condemned", says Mgr. Okeke. "We therefore totally condemn and repudiate such unwarranted utterances like “Igbos are Igbos, anywhere we are, we are dominion"; "if you remove Igbos in the Catholic Church in Lagos, there will be no church there", etc. this is not the position of the Catholic Church in Igboland". "We once again warn the faithful of our Archdiocese that the activities and teachings of Fr. Magnus Ebere are dangerous, deceitful and inimical to their faith. Anyone who participates in his illegal activities at Nnobi does so at his or her risk. Any Catholic who accepts his erroneous teachings is operating outside the traditional and authentic teachings of the Catholic Church", said the Archbishop. "We also publicly warn Fr. Magnus Ebere to immediately stop all his illegal ministries at Nnobi. If he is truly a Catholic priest, which he claims to be, he needs faculties from the diocesan bishop to carry out any form of ministry in the Onitsha Archdiocese. No such faculties have been given to him neither in the past nor in the present. Please be warned", concludes Msgr. Okeke. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 21/2/2022)


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