Clergy and lay faithful from across the diocese gathered at St Benedict Catholic Church, Ubiaja, on Saturday, August 20, 2016, to celebrate this year’s Family Day.
The meeting at Ubiaja was the grand finale of a week-long programme of activites in all the Parishes and Mass Centres of the diocese during the Family Week.
The Family week celebration is an annual diocean event organised by the Family and Human Life Unit(FHLU) of the Diocese of Uromi, which exists to promote the teachings of the Catholic Church on the fmily and the human person.
The Family week celebration this year is a step – down of the previously held International and National meetings of Families. The theme for the week – long celebration was: “The Nigerian Family: Agent of Mercy and Harmony”. Items on the programme during the week included seminars on personal, family and environmental health, family catechesis, family prayer life and child – rearing methods. There were also proposals for family socialization, Parish leisure activities and works of mercy.
At the Holy Mass at Ubiaja, the homilist, Rev.Fr Churchill Odekhian enjoined on participants to be more devoted to family life as the domestic church. He said that we could begin to heal the society, which is in crisis today by paying attention to family values such as love, respect, unity and peace.
At the rectption after the Mass, the guest speaker, Sir Anthony Idonin KSM (Secretary of the National Laity Council of Nigeria), gave a lecture on family catechesis. He reechoed the role of the family in the work of evangelization and national building. He condemned the neglect of family prayers and values, stating that the rot in the society could be traced to the negligence of parental duties of good children upbringing; criminals, and bad elements in the society are all members of one family or another, he asserted.
In his commentary on the lecture, the host Parish Priest and Dean of Agbazilo Deanery, Very Rev. Fr Dr Joseph Ehimen reaffirmed the need for parents to be conscious of the behaviour, habits and practices of their children, some of which are very baffling for their ages and level of development. He concluded that the future of the church depends on the foundation we lay today through our children.
The reception also featured cultural dance, light refreshment and general interaction by participants.
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