Parents have been called upon to pay close attention to the spiritual well being of their wards, in addition to giving them qualitative education, and providing them with the good things of life. This was the position of the Quiz committee, Satellite Deanery Catholic Charismatic Renewal, CCRN, Lagos Archdiocese at the grand finale of 2021 Deanery children quiz competition, with the theme, “Knowing the holy scriptures from childhood” (2nd Tim 3:14-17), held at Amen Bandstand, St. Patrick, Catholic Church, Alaba International, Ojo, Lagos state. While noting that it takes God-fearing digital age parents to nurture digital children, the committee noted that the use of technology has eaten deep into the fabrics of the present generation, with little or no attention given to the spiritual life of children. In his welcome address, Mr. Cyril Oghaego, Chairman, CCRN, Satellite Deanery said the quiz competition is aimed at instilling in the children, the culture of studying the Bible, living the Bible, having in-depth knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic faith and current affairs. He said: “This quiz competition is targeted at achieving the culture of instilling studying of the Bible, living the Bible, with in-depth knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic faith, current affairs and CCRN vision for our children.
This is with the aim of selling the vision to the entire Archdiocese of Lagos and beyond.” Quoting Proverbs 22:6, Oghaego said the competition is a way to encourage Christian parents, guardians and other faith educators to invest their resources on events and programmes that can add godly value to human lives. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”, he said. He said the programme is necessary because the Church is losing a large number of its children in tertiary institutions to the world, to religious sects and cultism owing to shallow foundation of their Christian faith. “Moving forward, foundation of everything matters a lot, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3)”, he said. Very Rev. Fr. Francis Ike, Dean, Satellite Deanery and Parish Priest, St. Patrick, Alaba International, represented by his Associate, Rev. Fr. Henry Ukaegbu commended the organisers of the programme and the contestants for their efforts on the competition. He disclosed that he was impressed with the children’s knowledge of the liturgy; the Mass, the Sacraments and the Church as a whole. “We take it for granted that they know the Bible.
The way they answered these questions, some of the parents don’t know the answers to those questions. “They need to know these things, and I am glad that you are building a wonderful foundation for them. So, please, do not relent. “As we know the scriptures, we must also know what the Church is saying. We must also know what is happening in the mind of the Church. We must also know the sacramental mind of the Church; it is very, very important. And I believe if you get them now, you have gotten them forever”, he said. For his part, Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Okeke, Chaplain, CCRN, Satellite Deanery and Parish Priest, Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit, Onireke, while commending the initiators of the competition, urged them to do all they can, to encourage the children to study the scriptures and Sacraments more. “I look at this and I said how I wish we can do this in a way that the best community can go with a bus, it will make news because it’s done in other places, and most times, the things they do, don’t have moral value.
But when we do things like this, as bringing children to compete, it will make them to begin to study their bible, begin to study the Sacraments; start preparing for the next one because they are sure if they come first, their parish will go home with a bus. So, we can take such things to the next level”, he said. Expressing his happiness on the occasion, he urged the organizers to keep it up, adding that it is a way of getting young people interested in godly things. “It is good to catch them young, and when you catch them young, you have gotten it. If only we can make a strong foundation, then, you can imagine the next 20 years, when the chairman and the rest of you will be elders, these children will be coordinators, you see that when they remember what they did, they will plan more, and they will want to take the Charismatic to the next level”, he said.
At the end of the keenly contested competition, that saw six communities competing, contestants from Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit, Onireke Community came tops, while Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Ojo Cantonment finished in second place, as St. Patrick Catholic Church, Amen community came third. The winners went home with the sum of 250,000 Naira, while the second and third positions got 150,000 Naira and 100,000 Naira respectively, as the fourth, fifth and six positions got consolation prizes. Those in attendance included, Mr. Uche Anyanwu, Chairman, CCRN, Lagos Archdiocese, as well as present and past executives of CCRN Deaneries in the Archdiocese of Lagos.
