Over 700 Baptized on Easter Sunday in Nigerian Catholic Diocese Despite Rise in Attacks Targeting Christians

He continued, “This tells us that in little ways, God is at work. Even in places that are remote, even in places that you think are having Christian minority, God is at work. And we thank God for the harvest that we have. Harvest in terms of the increasing number of members that we have.”

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Katsina

“We believe that with time, we will have a greater number of people who are converting to the faith, a greater number of people who are going to be baptized. We believe that we'll have a greater number of people who will be more committed to their faith,” Bishop Musa told ACI Africa.

He continued, “The challenges we're having which affect evangelization is the challenge of insecurity.”

The Bishop noted that in the southern part of the state, thousands of people had already been displaced by those he described as “bandits.”

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Credit: Catholic Diocese of Katsina

He said that within the Lenten season, he visited 45 families who were displaced from local governments in Katsina State. “And they are not just the only ones,” Bishop Musa said, and added, “There are about 300 communities that have been displaced.” 

The 53-year-old Nigerian Catholic Bishop, “This affects the work of evangelization because these people have a church. They had to vacate the church to go somewhere else and live. They want to go back to their homeland, but it is difficult because the insecurity challenge is still there.”

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Katsina

However, Bishop Musa is hopeful that his Diocese will continue to sustain new converts who have embraced the faith. 

“We want to develop a system whereby those who are converted to the faith as well as those who are in the faith will have a good formation. And we want to develop long-term formation or lifelong formation,” the Local Ordinary of Katsina Diocese since December 2023 said.

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Katsina

“Formation does not end only with catechism that prepares us for Holy Communion. Formation does not only end with catechism when we are preparing for baptism. But faith formation should last throughout life so that our people continue to grow in the faith,” he said.

Abah Anthony John is a Nigerian Journalist with great enthusiasm and interest for Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication from Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria. He has vast experience in Print,  Electronic and Multi-Media Production.