The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop, Mathew Hassan Kukah has encouraged lay people to use their talents and gifts to serve God for the progress of the church and the society at large.
The Archbishop gave the encouragement at the sidelines of the commissioning of Radio Maria Nigeria, and celebration of the Feast of mother Mary, at the Catholic Media Service Center, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
He explained that, the initiative of Radio Maria started by lay people in Pari Milan who decided to take the words of Jesus Christ with utmost seriousness by spreading his gospel of truth via the airwaves.
The Archbishop said, the initiative followed the need to announced the gospel of Christ and call for conversion through the catholic religious and social teachings.
Kukah called on the church, and the Catholic in particular to draw a lesson from that initiative by ensuring that the lay people in the church who have different talents and gifts are given utmost priority, to enable them step up and serve the church effectively.
“We must pose and reflect today to know that, first, radio Maria was not founded by the Vatican, the Pope or cardinal and bishops, but by the lay people in Pari Milan, and five years later it became an independent of parish, to radio Maria association as a way of lay people deciding that they are going to have to carry the words of Jesus Christ much more seriously by spreading the word of God”
The Archbishop lamented that, people’s voices tend to be louder in a secular pursuit, but when it comes to serving the church many tend to be reluctant especially in the Catholic.
“We the clergy are less than one percent of the sheep of Chris that have been entrusted to us, and as we know, there are many lay people seating here who are Medical doctors, lawyers, professionals, better educated than we are, but very often, we tend to think that we just stand on the alter, look at them and give them orders”
“It’s only in Catholic church that you have a medical doctor, a lawyer, and people of different profession, and they’ll just tell you ohhh, I just came, to do my work for the church, I don’t want to distract anybody”
“The people who’ll not come to chair Baza, the people who’ll not come to join parish council, go to their town union meeting and see how they are competing, how they are paying money and struggling to become president of their town union”
“A man who’s silent and cannot talk in the church, women who are quiet, they want to contest outside to be woman leader of party SRP, there’s no Party like that, When Emmanuel Foirrario founded radio Maria, his dreams were modest, he said.
Bishop Kukah who explained that the commissioning of the Radio was alongside one of the most important celebration in the Catholic world noted that the Marian Feast, also known as the Immaculate Conception of virgin Mary, and the mother of Jesus Christ.
According to the Archbishop, the Radio Maria Nigeria, Kaduna would serve as a platform to proclaim the gospel of God, as part of effort to appreciate the role and place of the blessed mother Mary without whom he said that no Christian or Catholic can claim to believe in Christ.
In his address, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna diocese and the metropolitan Kaduna ecclesiastical province, Bishop Mathew Man Oso, Ndangoso said the mission of the Radio Maria was to spread the message of love, peace and reconciliation, and to also contribute to Peace Building efforts by government and other humanitarian organizations.
He further pointed out that, Radio Maria is a non profit media organization that relied solely on free will donations and contributions of members.
On his part, the President of Radio Maria Worldwide, Mr. Victorio Virkardi, represented by his vice, Diken Micheal Josh waylard expressed optimism that radio was in good hands, and urged them to use it to champion the voice of peace, love and reconciliation.
In a message, zonal Director, National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Mr. Jamilu Jega Yahaya told them to produce contents that would not be against the ethics of journalism and the media in its entirety for the common good of the society.
There were goodwill messages by religious and traditional leaders, as well as other stakeholders who were optimistic that the radio would produce the desired result.
