Christians, Catholics in particular, have been urged to engage themselves with the mission mandate of Jesus Christ, despite the setback they encounter, and also ensure that the process of formation of the agents of evangelization is thorough and impactful, so that the goal of mission will be achieved. The charge was given by Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Saturday, May 7, 2022, during the 9th annual District convention of Serra International District 130-B, with the theme, “Priests as labourers in the Lord’s vineyard: Complementary role of Serrans”, held at St. Ferdinard Catholic Church, Ipaja, Lagos.
Noting that every Christian has a role to play in the mission of Jesus Christ, Archbishop Martins reminded those who go on mission and those that support the mission to continue to engage in the mission mandate of Jesus Christ. According to the Archbishop, this is a moment of grace that God has provided for the Serrans to come together to enrich themselves. He said: “By the grace of God, you have applied yourselves to the devotion to the service of the Lord in fostering and promoting vocations on a day such as this, in our mission of evangelization, which we are called to by the virtue of our baptism. “We are all reminded of our need to be actively involved to promote the mission of evangelization. We therefore urge you dear brothers and sisters to take full advantage of this opportunity to discuss how to fully actualise our mission mandate.
As scripture tells us ‘each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of grace in its various forms 1 peter 44:10.” Assuring of his prayers and best wishes, the Archbishop commended Serra Club for their support towards vocations here in the Archdiocese. “May our Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless your efforts so that your service to the Church may continue to bring glory to God and obtain salvation of souls”, he prayed. Delivering the convention lecture, titled “Understanding the concept of promotion of vocations to the ministerial priesthood and consecrated life as a vocation of service”, Very Rev. Fr. Melvis Mayaki, Dean Festac Deanery and Chaplain, Serra Club of Ikeja noted that the convention coincides with the celebration of Good Shepherd Sunday.
He said: “The Church invites us to pray and talk about vocations; first of all, to the priesthood and to the religious life. But generally, all of us have been given a vocation. All of us have been called, whether priests, whether sisters, whether lay people. He stated that the duty and vocation of the Serrans is to assist and accompany priests, religious and those who are on their journey to the religious life with their time, treasure and talent. In his acceptance remarks, DG Pius Tanimowo said “It gives me great pleasure and honour to assume this position of leadership in the 130-BDistrict. Am only put forward to lead and provide direction in this apostolate that we have all undertaken to perform with the Church.
The cooperation of all Serrans in the district will be highly appreciated, and the thrust of our programmes will not depart from the path we have taken in the last three years. We are going to continue with our continuous education because Serra is called the university of Christian principles. So, we will continue to educate ourselves in all that is Serra and Christian virtues. Another aspect we are going to take seriously is our spirituality, this we have started by instituting the devotion to the Eucharist, by having our Eucharistic adorations quarterly.” He called for the active participation of Serrans towards the actualization of programmes of the District, especially expansion of the Serran Movement to other parts of Nigeria. High points of the event were the installation of Serran Pius Tanimojo as 5th District Governor and other new officers of the district.
