By Valentine Obienyem
I got the news of the resignation of Bishop Peter Okpaleke as the Bishop of Ahiara, which the Holy Father, Pope Francis accepted on Monday afternoon.
The event that is playing out at Ahiara is not good for the Church, but those at home with Church history know that she will certainly overcome that. With their rude fist, the presbyter of Ahiara smashed the cake of clerical obedience. But in fairness to them, they have the right to protest what they, rightly or wrongly, felt was an injustice to them, but the indictment from people like me is that they did so without limits imposed by their vows and by their humanity.
It was not appetising at all to see Rev. Frs of Ahiara Diocese behaving like plain unbelievers. I am sure people like Martin Luther will be laughing at them wherever he is.
As the crisis is evidently coming to an end, my prayer remains that my premonition that Our Beloved Bishop would be drafted to Rome to join the Pope in the steering of the ship of the universal Church will come to pass. Yes, the moment the Pope made comments about Okpaleke’s incredible patience, I knew he had taken personal, but Holy Spirit-induced interest in him.
Oh yes, with the way Bishop Okpaleke handled the crisis in Ahiara, and the way he carried out his bishopric duty, his qualification to serve the Church from Rome even while brandishing the red, cardinal’s cap is not in doubt.
Having watched him at close range, whom do we compare him to? Like Bishop St. Athanasius, he remains steadfast in his basic fidelity to Christ even from “exile”, but unlike Athanasius, he was not even allowed to take possession of his See even for once. Two of them are united in their belief that the Church, being the representative of Christ in the world, shall remain faithful to the Gospel at all times.
Obienyem, a staunch Catholic, wrote from Awka.