Nigerian Catholic Bishop Decries Negative Effects on Marriage Institution, Authentic Love

Minna, 04 June, 2023 / 11:22 AM

Negative tendencies including “selfishness and destructive ambitions” have negatively impacted on the institution of marriage, a Nigerian Catholic Bishop has said.

In a report published on Wednesday, May 31, Bishop Luka Sylvester Gopep also laments the seeming loss of “authentic love”.

“We have seen how the virtue of authentic love which supports and upholds marriage is crumbling and in its stead is the rapid rise of the vices of selfishness and destructive ambitions,” the Auxiliary Bishop of Nigeria’s Minna Diocese says.

He also decries same-sex phenomenon and the craze to legalize anti-life and anti-family unions, which he says are also negatively affecting the marriage institution. 

Ideologies, which are "gradually but fast" coming to Nigeria "are not for the good of marriage and conjugal love", the Catholic Bishop who chairs the Family, Health and Human Life Unit (FHLU) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) says in reference to pro-choice movement advocacies. 

He calls for concerted efforts between the Church and pro-marriage/life organizations "to renew the vocation of marriage and strengthen its structures in the society." 

“We are to help married couples in our various Dioceses, Archdioceses, and communities to rekindle the flame of the love of their married lives and to fan it to become sources of light to other marriages especially those experiencing difficulties,” Bishop Gopep says.

He goes on to underscore the need to sensitize the people about God's plan for love and marriage, saying, “As those sharing in the mission of Christ, it is our duty to teach and emphasize the true and authentic concept and meaning of love and marriage. We need to do it fast and with an urgent sense of mission before it is too late.”

The Auxiliary Bishop of Minna Diocese since February 2021 also calls for a pre-marriage instruction program and a post-marriage accompaniment program.

Such programs, he says, "will aid those seeking to marry to make informed decisions and choices.”