Cardinal Okojie's reaction on Father Mbaka's new year message

 

The retired Catholic  Bishop of Lagos State, Cardinal Okojie has reacted to the  new year message delivered  by Father Mbaka on his Adoration ministry in Enugu state. In this interview with Vanguard, he said that such utterances cannot come from God but another spirit.



 How do you see the statement credited to
Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka?
Any serious priest will not speak the way he
spoke. I am not saying that he is not serious.
I will not agree with the things he said.
According to what I read in the newspapers,
a few weeks earlier, the First Lady, Mrs.
Patience Jonathan, visited his Adoration
Ground in Enugu and he prayed for her. At
that occasion, he was said to have lambasted
the opposition party, APC, and now to turn
around overnight and start lambasting
President Goodluck Jonathan shows that
there is something wrong somewhere.
Personally, I felt bad because it is not the
place of a priest to go to that extent. He can
have his personal opinion, but to go to the
extent that he went is abnormal. I want you
to know that he wasn’t speaking for the
church. He said he was moved by the spirit,
and I wonder what kind of spirit was that.
He said he was under the inspiration of the
spirit. If he was under the inspiration of the
spirit, I wonder if the spirit is that of God. I
don’t think the spirit he’s referring to is the
spirit of God. He must have been under the
influence of another spirit. He must have
been listening to a wrong spirit.
Is the statement not embarrassing to the
Catholic Church as a whole?
Indeed, it is. But I must say to you that he
was not speaking on behalf of the church.
No! No!! No!!! Anybody with such opinion is
in error. The man cannot hold brief for the
church. Pardon me, but how can I say you
are bloody fool and anybody takes that to
mean that all journalists are bloody fools.
It’s very funny.
In a situation such as this, what does the
Catholic Church do?
Well, the Catholic Church is structured in
such a way that there are dioceses where
each priest belongs. This particular priest
happens to come from Enugu Diocese, so it is
left for the bishop in charge of that diocese
to discipline him. If the priest fails to obey
the discipline, then the bishop is obligated to
report the mother to the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Nigeria, CBCN.
You may have heard the Bishop of Abuja
Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, who said
that if the priest were to be in his diocese, he
would discipline him straight. But he is not in
his diocese. The best anyone of us can do is
just to advise him that he had gone too far
and he is free to take our advice and he may
not. God gave every one of us a free will and
we are at liberty to use the freewill as we
choose.
What  kind of sanction can be given to such a
priest?
It depends on his bishop. You cannot dictate
for his bishop. Don’t forget that this same
man was at loggerheads with a former
governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke
Nnamanni, and it was the same Adoration
Ground in Enugu. If I have my way, we should
close that place because a lot of things have
been happening there that are out of tune. I
think Gov. Peter Obi also went there for
prayers at one point. If I have my way, I won’t
go there for anything…