clergy-from-nigeria

"Many Nigerians are traveling to the developed world to enjoy the development put in place by their governments, but we have refused to develop our own country. Let us start to develop ours to make it attractive and conducive for living, so that foreign nationals will want to come."

"Our excellent relationships with other faiths are a viaticum to help ease tension and prevent clashes."

"The Church of God in Africa or elsewhere is being asked to grow to see herself as a family. The Church can do so if we intensify our catechesis on the meaning of the Church."

"The primary purpose of existence is that God wants you to achieve something for him."

"These people are working for God and humanity. They are not being paid. They rely solely on people's assistance, goodwill and kind gestures for their survival. Why go after those working out your salvation? I cannot understand it."

"The use of the electronic media along with the print media must continue unabated as we face the gigantic task of evangelising Africa."

"Let me announce to you, all those who are sponsoring killings in Nigeria, I don't want to know your name or your position, but hear me from this altar: you shall not go scot-free! For all the blood you have shed, you shall see the repercussion!"

"The example of life of Bishop will motivate and inspire other agents of evangelization to be true disciples of Christ and stewards of the Gospel. In order to ensure continuity in the work of proclaiming the Gospel, the Bishop can profitably associate some of those agents of evangelization more closely to himself as did Christ and the Apostles and form them in the manner of African apprenticeship system as future apostles."

"Pay pastoral attention to the family as the domestic church because that is where everyone's faith experience is formed."

"Community is at the center of our faith experience and journey. Jesus calls us into the community of the Church. Community is therefore integral to our faith in God, who is a Trinity of Persons. Happily, despite imperfections and challenges therefrom, the community is still a central value for many Africans and the key point of our episcopal ministry."

"Most of the young people who leave home do so not because home is unbearable, but because they are seeking a greener pasture, often with the naïve conviction that "no matter how, it will be better out there". They are deaf to any advice that they see as blocking their destiny. What is necessary is to work hard to make our nation a better place for us, and for anyone who may wish to come and live with us."

"There exist the "fanatic" Muslims — to use a bad word — just as there are also fanatic Christians; they have terrible ideas, which I absolutely do not agree with. But we always say: This is the price to pay for religious freedom, to let everyone speak. But then it's up to us to work toward necessary moderation, having a nonpartial vision of what religion is, and to do our work."

"Peace is the bedrock of development. There is no sustainable development without peace. Peace takes root when people are free from hunger, poverty, unemployment, oppression and exploitation. We have to work together to save our people from the prevailing scourge of violence and insecurity that have brought unimaginable grief, trauma and fear to our fellow citizens in the State. Consequently, I call on the gladiators in the State to shield their swords, for violence begets violence."

"The Church in Africa is to stimulate "ecological conversion" through intensive education. She is to educate people in Africa to be more sensitive to the increasing disaster caused by environmental damage and the need to minimise it. All are to be made ever conscious that future generations have a right to live in an environment that is intact and healthy and to enjoy its resources."

"I imagine that each one of you come from a family, therefore, you should respect it, support it and strengthen it. Especially in a country that has its dynamism founded on it."

"In order to minister to non-Catholic traditional rulers, priests and catechists who receive invitations to traditional festivals and burials are encouraged to take these invitations up, and use them as means of evangelization. Through this initiative, some followers of African Traditional Religion have been converted to the Catholic faith."

"We try to educate the people as a Christian community. We have meetings and prayer time together. In this way, we do not judge things in terms of majority or minority in relationship to the other Christian denominations, because we work together so that all Christians may be one."

"The way we practice religion today poses security problem in the country. If we take holiness serious, we will be able to tackle the problem of bombings in the country. There should be no sacred cows in the society. Everybody should look for the common good of the masses."

"We are just on our own doing things individually. We encourage isolation when people keep to themselves. So, it can be the cause for things like that. We are members of one another. We should move from social network community to human community. What we really need to do is to be sensitive to people around us."

"Brethren, this is the time anybody will need grace more than ever before. ‎"

"There is real danger in losing call of God"

"Go to your pastor first to consult for marriage before your parents"

"Don’t marry a girl who is lazy! Don’t marry a girl who cannot cook, she needs to know how to do chores and cook because you cannot afford to be eating out all the time"

"The early Christians compared the human mind to a constantly grinding millstone; it is up to the miller to determine what it will grind: good wheat or worthless weeds. Our minds are always grinding, but it is up to us to choose what to feed them."

"There's been no way of projecting what is happening. There's no way for the world to know, for example, what Africa really believes, what the Catholic Church in Africa believes and has achieved in the area of strengthening the family, for example, or even having a voice in the changes that have come with the concept of the family in the whole world."

"Church communications must seek all and every opportunity to promote media education and awareness to equip the public. The more critical the general public is in consuming media messages and products the more the sanity of society is protected from the real interests behind the glamor and glitter of the media."

"Reconciliation brings about the personal healing of survivors, the reparation of past injustices, the building or rebuilding of non-violent relationships between individuals and communities, and the acceptance by the parties to a conflict of a common vision and understanding of the past. In practice such all-encompassing reconciliation is not easy to realize. The experience of a brutal past makes the search for peaceful coexistence a delicate and intricate operation."

"Archbishop Ukpo was a self-sacrificing shepherd, a caring father, a mentor, a wise counsellor, a generous benefactor, a passionate crusader of human rights, a peace maker and a white head patriarch who stood out as a legendary figure."

"You may have your own wisdom but that wisdom is nothing compared to the wisdom of God who appointed you as the King over his people therefore you need to call on him before you take any decision that affect the people."

"I see a rosy future with regard to evangelisation in Calabar archdiocese, in fact vocations are flourishing and our local Catholic community is vivacious and active. Interreligious relations are not a problem. There is a small community of Muslims in Calabar with whom we have a good understanding. At the level of ecumenism, we have a large Pentecostal community with which we have dialogue, it is not always easy but we persevere."