Not less than 222 candidates
were confirmed with the
Sacrament of Confirmation
recently at St Flavius, Oworonshoki
by Archbishop of Lags, Most Rev Al-
fred Adewale Martins.
The event which coincided with
the Feast of the Holy Family was wit-
nessed by thousands of parishioners
who came out in their numbers to
welcome their Chief Shepherd. Also
on ground to usher the Archbishop
to the parish and assist him in all the
proceedings was the Parish Priest,
Rev Fr Femi Pius Oladele MSP.
In a short words of welcome be-
fore the Mass, Fr Femi,on behalf of
the pastoral team and lay faithful,
thanked His Grace for honouring
the invitation, assuring him that the
222 candidates being presented for
confirmation had been duly pre-
pared and properly tested.
In his homily on his first Mass in
St Flavius, which he concelebrat-
ed with the parish priest and the
priest-in-residence, Fr Emmanuel
Ikeri, the Archbishop congratulat-
ed the candidates for their faith and
submission to the formation that
qualified them for confirmation.
He reminded them of the impli-
cations and demands of the sacra-
ments of initiation, adding that with
baptism they are children in the
church.
“With this sacrament of confirma-
tion you all have received the full-
ness of the Holy Spirit and are now
adults and soldiers of Jesus Christ.
You are to live by faith, defend it
with the lives you live so as to attract
others to the Church, just as the
Apostles did when they received the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost.”
In his short address before the con-
cluding rites, the Vice Chairman of
the parish pastoral council, Patrick
Amasodi thanked the Archbishop
for coming to celebrate the Holy
Eucharist and recalled that the first
visit to St Flavius was a very brief one
on 2nd of November 2013 during his
familiarisation tour of the Archdio-
cese shortly after his installation as
the Archbishop.
He intimated His Grace of some
developmental strides recorded in
the parish such as: installation of
solar panel to ensure regular pow-
er supply; fencing of the church;
building of the Grotto of Our Lady
of Perpetual Help; digging of water
borehole and purchase of Parish
uniform as well as filling the church
with pews. He also enumerated the
parish effort in the area of economic
empowerment of parishioners.