Ibadan Archdiocesan laity Council organized a day seminar for Presidents and Secretaries of parishes and lay organizations on Saturday, 17thAugust 2024 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, Mokola - Ibadan.

The Archdiocesan Laity Council President, Mr Felix Oladokun in his welcome address stated that, the essence of the seminar is to strengthen the relationship between the Pastoral Council and Laity Council, fostering unity among us and to work collaboratively for the progress of the Church.

The Archdiocesan Laity Chaplain, Very Rev. Fr. Paul Asawale, in his keynote address encouraged the Parish Laity Presidents to be active in their individual parishes and that whatever we agreed upon should be carried out in parishes.

The seminar showcased presentation of two papers by two distinguished presenters. Sir Fidelis Fapohunda (KSM) presented the first paper on “Pastoral and Laity collaboration,impetus to the growth of the Church”.

He stated that Pastoral and Laity Councils are bodies that assist in the running of affairs of the Church.

As councils, they don’t form a separate Church but assist the parish priest in the parish or bishop or archbishop as the case may be in the Archdiocese. 

Speaking further, the laity council starts from the parish proceeds to the deanery to diocese or archdiocese, to the province and national, and from national to the international.

However, the parish pastoral council starts from the parish with the sole aim of assisting the local pastor in implementing his pastoral plans in the parish. It moves to diocesan pastoral council and ends there. The two councils have different constitutions that guide them. 

Sir Fapohunda explained further that as councilors in the two councils, we are called to serve God using our God-given talents for the salvation of our souls.

Our talents should not be exhibited arrogantly because they are gifts from God. Whether we are laity councilors or pastoral councilors, we are all laity and we must be true believers that we are.

As Disciples of Christ, we should see beyond unhealthy rivalry in parishes and dioceses. Let us promote love and harmony among one another and between the two councils, he admonished. 

As councilors, we are to suffer for Christ like early disciples in the area of strengthening the youth apostolate, children apostolate (Holy Childhood Association), the liturgical functionaries: Choir, league of lay readers, and board of Church wardens to make them more vibrant in parishes.

Bible study and “pass on the faith”should not be left out in our various parishes. Those are the areas as laity and pastoral councilors we should dissipate our energy. He added that service in the Church is not a show off. 

In conclusion, he stated that, for our parishes and archdioceses to grow, there must be harmony between pastoral and laity councilors. He prayed that may God give us the spirit of humility as we render our service in the Church. 

The second presentation was handled by Rev. Fr. Felix Adedigba, former Assistant Archdiocesan Laity Chaplain. In his paper titled “Synergy between pastoral and laity councils, the need to use our 3 Ts for the growth of the Church”.

He started by defining ‘Synergy’ as the combination of energy to work together. The combined energy of pastoral council and laity council. He added that synergy is very important and two things are involved, which are: co-responsibility and collaboration. 

Co-responsibility is about equal responsibility that is, the responsibility placed on an individual, while collaboration is giving assistance to one another in executing a project. 

On the use of 3 Ts, Fr. Adedigba said that the two councils should synergize using their time, talents and treasures for the growth of the Church in the following areas: 

Self-preservation and Church sustenance 

Formation - training, education through seminars/workshop. Formation of youth and children. 

Welfare – to care for our members

Politics – to join political parties and seek political positions. 

 

He concluded by saying that the Church is wide enough for everyone to exhibit his/her talents. 

The seminar also witnessed questions and answers session as well as group discussion with the following topics: 

Fostering religious collaboration, a vital tool for parish growth and development.

Why the lay faithful need to work collaboratively with their clergy, a sure way to make us grow spiritually.

The lay faithful must work in tandem with their clergy to foster spiritual growth and development. 

It was a wonderful experience as 93 participants including members of the executive of the Archdiocesan Laity Council attended the seminar.

At the end of the seminar, the following resolutions were issued:

To recognize our responsibility in collaborating effectively with our priests to achieve success in our parishes.

To be committed by making ourselves available for the work of God. 

To maintain effective communication with our priests through regular feedback.

To contribute to both human and physical development in our parishes by making available our talents, treasures and time. 

To build a strong working synergy between the laity council and pastoral council.

To foster spiritual growth in our parishes by ensuring that the“pass on the faith” activities are promoted and maintained especially amongst the youth and children.

To make the welfare of Lay faithful in Parishes our priority by encouraging all parishes to have a welfare team that will work with the Parish Priests.

The vote of thanks was given by Barr. Emmanuel Enikanselu. The seminar ended with a closing prayer by Mrs. Veronica Nwokoye while Very Rev. Fr. Paul Asawale gave the blessing. The participants were given a sumptuous lunch.