Catholics return to CAN After 5 years of Absence

Catholics return to CAN after five years absence.

The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, CSN, has returned to the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, after five years of walking out of the national Christian Umbrella body in the country over some irreconcilable differences with the leadership.

Vanguard recalls that Catholic Bishops had in a letter dated September 24, 2012 which was signed by their President, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, and addressed to the then CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, announced the withdrawal of the Catholic church from the organisation.

However, in 2017, Kaigama led a delegation from the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, to the CAN National secretariat where, in a meeting with the CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle and his team, they addressed the identified grey areas and fashioned out wways of addressing them. Sequel to that, Kaigama disclosed the readiness of the Catholics to work with the new CAN leadership.

Last week Thursday and Friday with the appearance of the CSN delegation led by Rev Fr. Prof Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua, who represented Most Rev Kaigama, at the expanded National Executive Committee meeting for the amendment of the constitution of CAN and the quarterly meeting of the Association.

Rev Ayokunle could not hide his joy on the new development when he was reacting to their return.

He said: “Their return was one of the best things that have been happening since I was given the mandate to become the President of the Association. One of my visions for CAN is to bring our Catholic brothers and sisters back to the fold and I must acknowledge the support and understanding of my brother in Christ, Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama, President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and his team.

“I give kudos to all the Principal Officers, the Directors and some Christian leaders in the country for their support and understanding while the dialogue lasted.

“My joy knows no bond with the presence of the CSN at the Constitutional Amendment Meeting held on Thursday and at the National Executive Committee meeting of the Association on Friday. It is our prayers that the Body of Christ in the country will remain one forever in Jesus’ name.

“At a time like this when Christians are almost becoming endanger species in Nigeria, when churches are being denied the Certificate of Occupancy especially in the core North, when Christians are being denied of key public offices and when the Church is expected to speak for the voiceless especially over the economic and social hardship in our country, we cannot afford of being at war with ourselves”. Speaking further, Ayokunle who also doubled as the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention said, “Our Association is unity in diversity. Jesus Christ prayed for the Church shortly before He returned to heaven in John chapter 17 when He said, ‘I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me”’ (John 17:20&21).

Speaking in the same vein, the CAN Chairman, Northcentral, Rev Dr Israel Akanji who was among those who played prominent roles in the matter said the return of the Catholics to the Association is a sign of good omen to the Body of Christ in Nigeria.

“We are all happy with this new development, now the Body of Christ in Nigeria is one, virile and strong. We can now speak with one voice. With their return, CAN is even now stronger and greater. We have learnt one lesson or two from the challenges that led to their withdraw. Never again will any of the blocks withdraw its membership.”

The Director of Legal issues, Barrister Samuel Kwanku disclosed that the association is working on the new Constitution to ensure that “CAN has an effective internal mechanism to address any misunderstanding among its members. We are all happy with the return of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN). Our strength lies in our unity.” The CSN delegation participated fully in all the discourse while the two days meeting lasted.

CAN was formed in 1976 by five Christian blocs in the country: the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN); the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria/Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN/CPFN); Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), Tarayar Ekklesiyoyin Kristi a Nigeria or The Fellowship of the Churches of Christ in Nigeria (TEKAN)/ Evangelical Church of Winning All (ECWA).

- Vanguard.

Comments

we can now join APC in ONELGA without being killed- Defectors

PORT HARCOURT — All Progressives Congress, APC, participants in Ogba Ndoni Egbema local government area, ONELGA, Rivers state, have expressed comfort that they can now publicly claim membership of the party without fear of being focused or killed by way of partisan competitors. speakme at a gathering in Omoku, ONELGA headquarters, wherein the party chieftain and leader chief medical Director university of Port Harcourt teaching health facility, Prof Henry Ugbomah, admitted one hundred new contributors, including defectors from the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, to the APC, Ugbomah cited that common politically stimulated killings earlier than and after the 2015 widespread election completed by means of the fear of now eliminated Johnson Igwedibia, a.k.a. Don Waney, in large part targeted APC individuals and consequently deterred them from vote casting for the party in the course of elections. He stated: “The bloodsuckers who stored us in jail are no longer there...

15 Questions to ask a girl Before you Marry Her

Here are 15 of those questions that should guide you to make wise pre-marriage inquiries 1. Do you still have feelings for an ex? 2. What’s your love language ? Do you even believe in love languages? 3. How do you handle stress, pressure? 4. What’s your take on feminism generally? What do you think of gender roles in marriages? 5. What do you think of money’s role in a marriage ? 6. Is the idea of a joint account repulsive to you? 7. Do you think there’s a limit one should stop at when it comes to religious beliefs and followership, or do you just follow all the way? 8. How many kids do you want? Do you like big extended families or the small, intimate circle of most important family members. 9. When we fight, how do you think we should settle them? Are you confrontational? Do you scream and shout and/or have long periods of silence afterward? 10. How are you when you are angr...

5 Important things to discuss with your fiancee ever before Marriage

Marriage is a lifelong commitment and as such, must be carefully planned and prepared for. It’s so easy to get carried away with the preparations, aso ebi and party planning, and forget what actually matters, the marriage you’re trying to build , No matter how many butterflies your fiancé gives you before you get married, some of them will disappear during marriage. This is not a curse, it’s just a statement of fact. The kind of love that builds a marriage goes beyond Telemundo and R and B. It takes real work and real commitment. And that work must start before the wedding. To avoid arguing with your spouse daily and feeling like you are married to a stranger, both of you need to lay out some ground rules while you are still engaged to ensure that you two have the same vision and expectations for your marriage. 5 things to discuss before marriage 1. Accommodation You need to first sort out where you will live and start your family before your wedding day...

Wike's SSG Kobani arrested for N70b fraud

Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Mr. Kenneth Kobani and another politician, Mr. Samuel Okposo were docked today in Port Harcourt for a six-count charge of money laundering. The amount involved was N750million, part of the $115million pilfered from the treasury by former oil minister, Diezani Alison Madueke. All the three men appeared before Justice B. Bilikisu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the accused collected the money from the Garrison branch of a new generation bank in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on the eve of the 2015 general elections . The money was part of the infamous $115million Diezani Alison- Madueke cash deployed to bribe many politicians and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election . Kobani allegedly collected N50,000,000 out of the heist while Okposo alle...

Forbes Rates Dangote among top 75 most powerful People in the world

INDUSTRIALIST Aliko Dangote has been ranked among 75 most powerful persons on the planet. He is ahead of United States (U.S.) Vice President Mike Pence. Dangote, according to the Forbe’s latest 2018 ranking of the World Powerful people, is ranked among world leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump – all of whom were ranked first, second and third. Dangote, who is chairman of Dangote Group, was ranked 66th most powerful person in the world ahead of Pence (ranked 67) and Qamar Javed Bajwa, the highly influential Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, ranked 68. The Africa’s richest man is the only Nigerian on the list and one of the only two Africans, who made the list with the other being the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who was ranked 45th most powerful. Dangote produces 44 million metric tonness of cement annually across the African continent and still plans...

NHIS: REPS TO PROBE ALLEGED 10BN WITHDRAWAL

The Nigerian House of Representatives resolved yesterday to investigate the alleged illegal withdrawal of N10 billion from the account of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). It has mandated its committees on Healthcare Services, Anti-Corruption and Finance to look into the matter and report back, for this reason. The decision was die to the adoption of a motion on the need to investigate the Illegal withdrawal of the sum of N10 billion from the “Insured Persons” Fund of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) sponsored by Hon. Chike Okafor. In his debate, Okafor noted that for the purpose of carrying out the mandate of the Scheme, a fund made up of five per cent contribution by each insured person is maintained with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy for the administration of the Scheme. He also noted that the withdrawal of monies from such designated accounts under the TSA at the Central B...

WIKE: what I will do if Buhari Visits Rivers State

The Government of Rivers State has reacted to the President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned visit. The Rivers Government said the visit would afford the people of the state a rare opportunity to inform Buhari of the total neglect of the state by the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government since it came into power. A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, said, “The impending visit is a welcome development. He’s president for all Nigerians, and not the president of a particular part of the country or political party. “The visit would afford us the opportunity of interacting with him, if his programme would permit, so that we tell him the challenges we are facing and also, the contributions and efforts we are making towards building a stronger and more united nation. &#8220 ;We will use the opportunity to also tell him about the peculiar security challenges that Rivers State is facing and the fact that we have...

MY SURE NEWS

Search This Blog