THE MONTH OF JANUARY:
Happy New Year to you and welcome to the month of January. The first month of the year is the month of new beginnings, new opportunities and a chance for everyone to start afresh. In the first part of January, we continue our celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and in our hearts. We celebrate the wonderful feast of Mary, Mother of God, in which we honour the greatest of Mary\’s titles after which we go with the Magi to the crib as they bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh on Epiphany. Finally, we reach the culmination of this season with the Baptism of Our Lord by St. John the Baptist. With a touch of reticence, we take down our decorations and enter into the liturgical period known as Ordinary Time of the Year during which we devote ourselves to the mystery of Christ in its entirety. The liturgical colour changes from white to green — a symbol of the hope of reaping the eternal harvest of heaven, especially the hope of a glorious resurrection.
It is a new year and a time to chart a new course, do things differently and start afresh with optimism and hope for a better future. We pray God to grant us a fruitful and prosperous year 2020.
CONCERNING PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS WHO OPERATE IN THE ARCHDIOCESE WITHOUT AUTHORISATION:
our attention has been drawn to presence of some Priests and Female Religious who are operating in the Archdiocese either without due authorization of the Archbishop or else without following the process laid out for them. We refer in particular to Joylink Foundation being run Rev. Fr. Stephen Nwokemodo and Fr. Franklin Iwunwa in Festac Deanery and Missionary Daughters of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and Mary in Ajaguro Parish of Ikorodu Deanery. The people involved give the impression that they have the authorization of the Archbishop to minister in the Archdiocese. They come into the 2 Archdiocese setting up so-called Foundations and Orphanages, going to Catholic Traders from shop to shop and calling them to prayer meetings in private houses. Such activities are contrary to the principles of Religious life and would not be tolerated in our Archdiocese. We hereby call on Priests and Religious any Lay Faithful of the Archdiocese to be watchful and report anybody who tries to mislead the faithful in this manner.
DISCLAIMER! – TRIDENTINE MASS AT MODELE COMPOUND, TEJUOSO STREET, LAGOS:
We wish to call the attention of all Catholics in the Archdiocese of Lagos to a group that meets to celebrate the Tridentine Mass at Modele Compound, Near Zenith Bank Tejuoso Street, Surulere here in Lagos. They mislead people to believe that they have authorization to celebrate the Tridentine Mass and that it is an alternative place to the group that meets for Mass that holds at St Gregory College every Sunday.
We hereby call on all Catholics to be aware that this group, to all intents and purposes, is a schismatic group and is NOT IN COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH. We hereby call on Parish Priests and Priests-in-Charge to bring this information to the awareness of their Parishioners. Anyone who participates in the activities of this dissident group does so at a risk to the authenticity of his or her catholic faith and practice. We encourage everyone to be vigilant so as not to give wolves in sheep clothing a chance to lead people astray with all the consequences for our salvation.
In this regard, it has also been brought to our notice that some elements have been going around parishes in Lagos, with one of them calling himself Fr. Andrew, questioning some practices in our Church and giving parishioners contact phone numbers and addresses. We have little or not doubt that they are foot soldiers of the group that is not in communion with the church but is present in the Archdiocese as mentioned above.
2020 Celebration of Ecumenical Week (19th – 25th January, 2020):
Theme: “Christian Unity: A Response to Systematic Violence, Insecurity and Social Justice” (Is 2:4b)
Day 1(Sun) Awareness in all Parishes
Day 2(Mon) Christian Communities Face to Face with Old and New Division Day 3(Tue) Christian Communities Face to Face with Economic, Injustice, Poverty, War and Violence
Day 4(Wed) Christian Communities Face to Face with Discrimination and Social Prejudice
Day 5(Thur) Christians’ Response to RUGA
Day 6(Fri) Christians’’ Call to God’s Intervention (Ps. 44:23)
Day 7(Sat) Lagos Archdiocesan Ecumenism Day at St. Leo Catholic Church, Ikeja(Two Talk Presentations)
i. Christian Unity: A Response to Systemtic Violence, Insecurity and Social Injustice (Is 2:4b) by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah
ii. Inter-Religious Dialogue: A Panacea for Nation Building by CAN
We call on all Parishes to ensure that their programme of Prayers for the New Year does not clash with the Week of Christian Unity which is a Universal week celebrated all over the Catholic World. The Universal takes precedence over Particular Celebrations.
VALENTINE DAY WITH THE ARCHBISHOP: the Catholic Lay Apostolate Centre in conjunction with the Association of Friends of Jesus (FOJ) and Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON) invites all to the annual Valentine Day with the Archbishop
Theme: God is the Foundation of True Love
Topic: Living a Life of Love in a World Full of Hate and Strife?
Date: Saturday, 8th February, 2020
Time: 10: 00 a.m. prompt starting with the Holy Mass
Venue: St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka, Yaba
Fee: N 1,000 per participant
NB: There will be renewal of marital vows for interested couples during the Mass.
Goodwill Advert Placement costs N30,000. For more information, contact, 08026156606 or 08077003036.
Admission into the Catholic Secondary Schools: This is to inform everyone that the process of admission into JSS1 for the 2020/2021 Academic Session in all Catholic Secondary Schools in the Archdiocese is in progress. The Entrance Examination comes up on 29th February, 2020 at the selected schools. Forms can be obtained from the school of choice, all Catholic Primary Schools in the Archdiocese, selected parishes and electronically on www.cmsslagos.ng or on any of the following schools’ website. Sale of forms will close one week to the date of examination.
The 10 Catholic Archdiocesan Secondary Schools are:
1. St Gregory College, South-West, Ikoyi http://www.stgregoryscollege.ng
2. Holy Child Girls College, Ikoyi http://www.holychildcollegeswikoyi.org
3. St Finbarr College, Akoka http://www.stfinbarrscollegeakoka.com
4. Bethlehem Girls College, Abule-Ado http://www.bethlehemgirlscollegeng.org
5. Mater Ecclesiae College, Epe http://www.materecclesiaecollege.com
6. Sacred Heart College, Apapa http://www.sacredheartcollegeapapa.com.ng 7. Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School, Maryland http://www.mcssmaryland.org
8. Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Yaba http://www.olassyaba.sch.ng 9. Marywood Girls College, Ebute-Metta http://www.marywoodgc-lagos.org 10. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic College, Okomaiko
Let us give our children sound upbringing in the Catholic Faith.