The Marian Year is a special year dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a result of the many challenges being experienced in Nigeria, ranging from religious to economic and political and the like, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), which is both the spiritual and administrative body of the Catholic Church in Nigeria has decided to go spiritual as a way to resolve the many challenges our nation is passing through, and to this effect, has dedicated the ecclesiastical year 2017 to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to seek her intercession in ending these challenges. The CBCN charged all Bishops to inaugurate the Marian Year in their dioceses and adhere to the series of programmes and activities mapped out to mark the Year.
In Uromi Diocese, the inauguration took place on March 15, 2017, at Brother Roman Centre, where all the Priests and Religious working in the diocese gathered for the celebration. The event began with the Rosary prayer/Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and afterwards, a lecture on TRUE MARIAN DEVOTION was delivered by an expert in Mariology, invited from Abuja, Rev. Sr Doreen Okolie.
According to the lecturer, true Marian devotion must have the following qualities:
1. Jesus Christ Centred. She said that it must be in line with the desire of Mary for us to always “do whatever
he tell you” (cf. John 2).
2. It must be scriptural
3. Must be in line with the teachings of the Church.
The Mass of the inauguration began after the lecture, at 12:30pm, and was presided over by Bishop Ogun. And in his homily, he outlined some of the demands of the Marian Year to include – prayer, penance and mortification, sacrifice for one another and fellow Nigerian by extension, and very importantly too, the demand to live out faithfully the requirements of our status as Christians Clergy, Consecrated Persons, and Lay Person.
After the Post Communion prayer, Bishop Ogun officially declared the Marian Year open in Uromi Diocese, and urged all parishes to key into the national programme as soon as it is communicated to us.
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