Christians, Catholics in particular have been urged to imbibe the attitude of championing godly activities and invest the resources that God has endowed them with in things that will lead people, especially the young ones to righteousness of life. The charge was given by Bro Cyril Oghaego, Chairman, Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Satellite Deanery, during the Grand Finale of Deanery Children’s Quiz Competition, 2022, with the theme, “Knowing the Holy scriptures from your childhood (Tim 3:14-17)”, held Sunday, August 28, 2022 at Amen Bandstand, St. Patrick Catholic Church, Ojo, Alaba, Lagos. Oghaego stated that if adults do not invest their resources in engaging children and youths in godly affairs, definitely some other groups will engage them in devilish and worldly activities. He said: “As individuals or groups, we can achieve righteousness not just only in the aspect of Bible quiz competition, but also in other godly things we can involve ourselves in order to help our children, even we adults also not to live worldly lives. He said the main vision of the programme is to catch the children young, adding that they cannot live godly lives without the knowledge of the Bible, doctrines and current affairs of the Church and Charismatic. He noted, “It is important to catch them young. The Bible says train up a child in the way you want them to grow.
A lot of people have made costly mistakes and before you know it, from childhood to adolescent and youth some of them are already confused about life, especially when the child is not rooted in godly ways. “We know what is trending these days, even with children in the boarding school; primary school, secondary school and higher institution. We have seen a lot of them lost.” On the prize for winning, he said: “The aspect of the prize is just for motivation. Winning the first prize or the second prize or the third prize is not the main thing; the prize is just something they will look at and they will be encouraged to continue to strive because practice makes perfect. Urging other deaneries and Lagos Archdiocese to key into activities such as the children’s quiz, he said, “We know that some other groups are doing similar things. It’s not something new, but a times, before you know it people drop good things like this. So, it’s a kind of reminding them, reawakening people’s consciousness to what is very, very important and of value to them. Speaking on the occasion Very Rev. Fr. Francis Anyanwu, Parish Priest, St. Patrick Catholic Church, Ojo, Alaba and Dean, Satellite Deanery expressed his happiness, adding that he is impressed with the children’s performance at the Quiz.
He urged the organisers to keep teaching and guiding the children who look up to the adults for good examples not just for the moment, but also in the future. He commended the children for their efforts in taking time to study and for their good results. He prayed that God will keep enabling them with wisdom and understanding, protect them from evils of the time and keep them safe at all times. He reminded parents that the children are gifts from God and responsibilities entrusted to them. He added that the children are the future of their families, of the Church and the world. He said: “They must be guarded like eggs and treated with all seriousness and every sense of dignity that they deserve as children and in such a way that God will be happy that he gave them to you as gifts.” For his part, Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Okeke, Chaplain CCRN, Satellite Deanery, commended the children for their efforts, as he thanked the organisers for such an event which keeps the young ones engaged as such activities would improve their biblical and Church knowledge. The keenly contested competition which had six teams locking heads, had the Glory of God, St. Anthony, Okoko Team emerge as winners while Alaba Community, St. Patrick, Alaba came second and Onireke community clinched the third position. The first three went away with N400,000, N250,00 and N150,000 respectively, as others also got consolation prizes.
