Nigerian Catholic Priest Behind Sanctioned Congregation Accepts Decision as “will of God”

Fr. Egbulefu goes on to express his gratitude to Bishop Augustine Ndubueze Echema “for having assured that the Catholic Diocese of Aba will take responsibility for the Clerical Members - the Priests and Deacons - of our Association who have been incardinated into the Diocese till the canonical erection of the Association into a Religious Institute of Diocesan Right.”

In his September 17 letter announcing the sanctions, Bishop Echema decreed that CCE Clergy take part in the a three-day “General Assembly” scheduled from 9 January 2022 and extend the invitation to Fr. Egbulefu.

“I have also gladly accepted with gratitude your invitation of me ‘to be a full participant in the General Assembly’, taking place” in January 2022, CCE founder says in the five-point letter dated September 20.

Informed by the “recent development”, Fr. Egbulefu says he has rescheduled his October trip to Rome in October in order not to “abandon the over sixty Senior Seminarians of the Association currently undergoing formation in the Major Seminaries (either in Philosophy or Theology) whom the sanction ordered to proceed on a compulsory break for two years.”

The Nigerian Catholic Priest adds in reference to the Major Seminarians, “I have to carter for them so that the Church will not lose so many vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life.”

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Meanwhile, In an interview with ACI Africa, the CCE founder has explained the possible circumstances behind the sanctions, including the Bishop’s “dilemma caused by two conflicting claims.”

“The surprise I had upon receiving this news on the 17th of September 2021 lies in the position and decision the Bishop of Aba has suddenly taken in the face of the dilemma caused by two conflicting claims,” the 71-year-old Nigerian Priest told ACI Africa September 27.

On the one hand, Fr. Egbulefu explained, “Priests of Aba diocese are protesting vehemently, saying that the number of Emmanuelite Priests in their Diocese is too much and that this is because the Emmanuelite Priests are - though only temporarily - incardinated into the Catholic Diocese of Aba.”

On the other hand, the Nigerian Cleric revealed, “About 36 of the 81 Priests of the Emmanuelite Congregation have recently written and signed a letter to the Bishop that they are no longer Emmanuelites and Religious and would want to be seen as Diocesan Priests of Aba, thereby rejecting the temporary nature of their original incardination into Aba made out of free will.”

“Put at this crossroad the Bishop means the best way to satisfy his Priests is to impose those sanctions against the Emmanuelite Congregation,” Fr. Egbulefu explained to ACI Africa.

Asked about his message to the CCE “stakeholders”, the Nigerian Priest said, “The Will of God, which has been at work all the time of our life so far, is also at work in the present situation.”

He encouraged CCE members to “trust still in God and trust in Christ more firmly than before, as what the Spirit of God is asking of me and them here and now as our collaboration with Him into whose most efficient and safe hands we have abandoned ourselves for His divine and most sure guide to the proper goal of the journey of our Congregation.”

“Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus,” Fr. Egbulefu who was ordained a Priest for Nigeria’s Umuahia Diocese in May 1976 told CCE members.

He added, “When the duration of the suspension as period of purification of intention on the side of the seminarians and period of completing the arrangements for the raising of the CCE from a Public Association of Christ’s Faithful to Religious Institute of  Diocesan Right on the side of the leadership of the CCE has elapsed, God will grant the true peace that has for long been missing; the true humility as one that results from an undergone humiliation will emerge, and the true Kingdom of God will come which we have since been seeking.”

Fr. Egbulefu is a Professor of Dogmatic Theology and the Sacraments who has served in a number of positions. In 1990, Pope St. John Paul II appointed him a Peritus (theological Expert) for the general Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the formation of Priests.

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In 1992, he was appointed a Consultor of the Pontifical Council for the dialogue with nonbelievers. Three years later, he was appointed a member of the international Historico-Theological Commission for the Great Jubilee of the Holy Year 2000; he also acted as the Delegate President of the first Synod of Aba Diocese.

As a founder and member of CCE, Fr. Egbulefu made his First profession in September 2002 and his final profession in August 2007.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.