Fr. Richard OMOLADE

Recently I have been involved in Cooperative Mission Appeals on behalf of Ibadan Archdiocese. This is a programme of assigning dioceses from Mission territories to parishes in the US and Canada with the aim of soliciting financial help for various ministries of the Church. Owing to this, I have been to many states and cities, rural and urban. It is an incredibly good learning experience. What follows are some of the lessons I have learnt.

Faith matters! The openness to accept missionaries to engage with local Catholics is borne out of faith. Since we are in the same business of working for the kingdom, parishes in Canada and América are all too glad to offer help to needy countries. It is also a matter of love. It is this love that often makes pastors open their rectories to total strangers like me and provide the assistance needed from airport shuttle, to feeding arrangements or hotel accommodations when rectories are not available. While love moves pastors to engage us, a lot of organizational details would have been sorted out, without which no mission appeal is possible. Kudos must therefore be given to dioceses and parishes that participate in cooperative mission appeals yearly.

The Nigerian Church must learn and implement this programme, such that no one makes any appeal without proper authorization of the Church. The requesting diocese must send letter of suitability for his representative, and the host diocese must approve the same. In many cases, the mission appeal representative simply visits the assigned parish, celebrates masses assigned and makes his pitch and leaves. The welcoming parish is the one authorized to collect the funds, remit it to the host diocese before it is then forwarded to the account of the diocese making the request. This process ensures transparency and accountability. It also helps the host diocese to monitor the flight and distribution of resources from the diocese. Priests making appeals must be prepared. Americans and Canadian Catholics do not spend long hours at Mass. Hence, since one must still preach the good news, conscious efforts must be made to feed the people of God with spiritual message following from the Sunday’s reading before moving onto one’s story.

Furthermore, it is imperative to be precise, catchy, and honest. With tonnes of materials online, people can crosscheck the veracity of some claims and it will not be good to be found out to be lying or exaggerating the story we tell or the problems we face.

Another lesson is that people give not because they are rich, but because they care and want to do something about the problem they heard. It is important that those making appeals be sincere, and transparent. Frivolity must be eschewed and they must be focused on the great needs of their Church and the people. For instance, it is easier to get funds for motorcycles for Catechists than vehicles for pastors. It is easier to get money to drill boreholes for the community than to build Father's house. While appeals could be made every year, the host diocese is not likely to invite you again if no report is received about what you have done with the funds you collected the previous year.

Through it all, one gets the sense that we are a Church, a family united in faith and love and when one part suffers, the whole body feels it. It is this awareness that makes Churches in faraway land always eager to lend their helping hand. As is true for all families, we cannot remain recipient of the generousity of others, we too must become givers.

 

The Church in Nigeria must also extend the hand of fellowship to other Churches in need. An effective way to do this is to embrace and implement this cooperative mission appeal between rich and poor dioceses. There is already a template for us to use, and we can adapt it to suit our local situations.

Indeed, there are many poor dioceses in Nigeria that will benefit from this programme. Within the same diocese, the same programme can also be implemented between rich and poor parishes. This will go a long way to demonstrate the unity of the Church and help us to concretely put our faith into action. The Church has always relied on charity, which is love. This love cannot be only in words, it must be felt and this is possible only through the sacrifices we make for the good of those in need.

Of course, charity is not limited to institutions. Many of us have already experienced it from our friends. We must continue to practice it because this is the essence of our Christian faith. Our faith is not just intellectual assent; it is a concrete way of life involving the sacrifices we make so that others may enjoy some of the good things of life. Through our generousity, some people will experience healing and comfort, kids will grow in knowledge, the homeless will have a place to shelter in and no one in need will be abandoned. It is these practices that make our faith beautiful and a gift to share with others. It is now your turn to put faith into action. God bless you as you do so.