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“Be a father to all Church members”: Nuncio in Nigeria Advices Newly Ordained Bishop

Bishop David Ajang of Nigeria's Lafia Diocese. Credit: Courtesy Photo

The Pope’s Representative in Nigeria has advised the newly ordained Bishop of the country’s Lafia Diocese, David Ajang, to practice fatherly love in his episcopal ministry.   

“I urge the newly ordained Bishop to be a father to all Church members. He needs not to show any form of segregation by offering his service equally to everyone,” Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi said in his homily Thursday, June 26 at St. Williams Cathedral of Lafia Diocese. 

The new Bishop, Archbishop Filipazzi said, “also needs to embrace all Christians in the region whether or not they are Catholics because Christ loves us all.” 

The Apostolic Nuncio who presided over the episcopal ordination further called upon the Clergy, women and men Religious, and Laity of Lafia Diocese to accord Bishop Ajang cooperation and respect saying, “he will sit at the Cathedral as a representative of Christ.”

Bishop Ajang takes over from Archbishop Matthew Ishaya Audu who was transferred to the Archdiocese of Jos in January last year. 

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In his speech, Archbishop Audu thanked God for sustaining him for the 20 years he shepherded the people of God in the Episcopal See and further acknowledged with appreciation the collaboration he received from all the personnel in the Nigerian Diocese.

“I call upon all members of this Diocese, the Clergy and Church leadership to extend the same love they gave me to the newly consecrated Bishop,” Archbishop Audu said.

On his part, the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Bishop Augustine Obiora Akubeze, congratulated the newly ordained Bishop and welcomed him to the Episcopal family in Nigeria.

“On behalf of Bishops in the country, I would love to congratulate the newly ordained Bishop and offer him our prayers and goodwill as he joins us in the conference. We pray that he will pick up from where the outgoing Bishop left from,” said the Catholic Church leader who is the Local Ordinary of Nigeria’s Benin City Diocese.

Advising the newly ordained Bishop, the CBCN President said one of the most convenient ways to head the Diocese is to offer a listening ear to the people of God for this, he said, will enable him to make more informed decisions for the good of the Church.

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Newly ordained Bishop Ajang was appointed on March 31.

Born in Nigeria’s Zaria Diocese in March 1970, Bishop Ajang was ordained a Priest in December 1994 and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Jos.

Following his Priestly ordination, the Nigerian-born Bishop held various positions among them, Parish Vicar, Vocations Director of Archdiocese of Jos, Youth Chaplain of the same Archdiocese; Administrator of the Our Lady of Fatima Cathedra, Jos; and as formator at Saint Augustine’s Major Seminary in Jos.

Since 2012, Bishop Ajang had served as member of the college of consultors of Jos Archdiocese; Chaplain of the Governor of the State of Plateau since 2015; Parish Priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish and Dean of Zaramaganda in Jos since 2018.