The Need for Unity in the Catholic Church in Nigeria in the War Against Coronavirus

Ask the Italians. Ask the Americans. They started late, in taking measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. And of course Nigeria also is a late starter. In the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, many of us felt that the measures introduced by the Archbishop, like stopping and restarting Wednesday Stations of the Cross, receiving Holy Communion in the hand, and the dispensation given to the elderly above 65 or children below 18 not to go to Mass, were scratching the surface. Yet we also knew that they were bold steps that must have given the Archbishop sleepless nights. However, the scarier thing is that it looked like other dioceses in Nigeria may have been pretending that coronavirus is a Lagos problem because it was first identified over here ahead of other parts of Nigeria. How wrong they are! The Italian Church started the closure of churches and opening them for ‘private prayers’ and in the process exposed many priests and the lay faithful to themselves and death. Donald Trump boasted they were ready and confident nothing will happen in America, only to discover when the chips were down that they didn’t even have enough testing facilities, bed spaces and the rest. At last weekend, three of the biggest US states – New York, California and Texas were on lock down. 45 states have closed schools. Now it is the whole country. Canada had shut down like they were ready. That’s why you don’t hear much about wild infection figures. Their Catholic Church stopped Masses way back but churches are open for people to walk in and pray. And then of course online and tv sessions are aplenty. My friends in Europe and North America – both priests and lay people – also feel the Nigerian Church needs to be doing more to safeguard the clergy and lay people and help strengthen their hope in the Almighty God’s intervention which will only be of use to them if they are alive. Communion in hand as we are practicing does not really protect the priest or cummunicant. Yet, many piests were in the forefront in disobeying the Archbishop and using lay people to do same. They said it is an abominatIon and the devil’s plan to destroy the church. They fail to see that even by hand, if the priest has the virus, he can transfer it to the communicants by just touching the host or distributing it. Same goes for transfer from Communicant to priest. Drastic decisions need to be taken to prevent coronavirus spread in Nigeria. Lagos Archdiocese had to close down Churches and stop public Masses when it was impossible to meet up with the state government’s directive of no gathering of more than 20 persons, as against the 50 that was first announced. In the midst of this, other dioceses are still procrastinating and having full Masses where it is impossible to maintain social distance. If the Catholic Church in Nigeria wants to protect its members from this pandemic, it must as a matter of urgency CLOSE ALL PARISHES NOW from celebrating public Masses! Close all the Churches. NATIONWIDE! Nobody should go to Mass. No Stations of the Cross. No Chrism Mass or Triduum as it affects the public participation, at least at this time. I do not like the scenario because I love the Mass and I try to go to Mass everyday and participate in public Stations of the Cross as well as the pre-Easter and Easter celebrations. But this is a matter of life and death. Coronavirus does not seem to know age differences so whether elderly or youngster, it can infect either. It is only in the matters of immunity and fatality that we can talk of age and existing pre-conditions of health which do not relate to elders alone. The decree by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments last Friday recommended various ways to minimise public involvement in the liturgy in these trying times and I am sure there is hindsight behind the recommendations from Rome. Let me repeat. The Italians did not start on time and Italy is like Nigeria in Europe. There is no difference between Italians and Nigerians in mentality, indiscipline, not following instructions, corruption, etc. All those instructions about washing hands 50 times daily – how many people do so? How many people have access to sanitizers? Before we chorused ‘Jack Robertson’, stores had increased the price of sanitizers. The bottle I bought in February for N200 became N1200 in March. People started manufacturing sanitizers to make quick and easy money; they didn’t follow the WHO provisions of at least 60% alcohol content. Many of the bottles had oily fluid that will look and feel like dirt when washing them off, including the ones dispensed in the churches. One thing is clear – staying away from gatherings and groups is the only way to go even if you have been infected. How many people will an average church satisfy with Mass if it is 50 persons per congregation? Not many. What is the gain for those 50? The husband can’t go because he, like me, is above 65, but the wife can go if she is below 65. I have been attending the Annunciation novena at the Marian Shrine from the beginning. Last Friday, I wondered how we could reduce 1000 novena people to 50 because of the state government directive. Impossicant, obviously. The police people were said to have come that evening to take photos and check if there were more than 50 persons. Of course there were. The following day, Marian Shrine authorities had to politely ask some attendees to move over to the Church for Mass while novena hosting society and organisers alone stayed in the Shrine with the hope that they won’t be more than 50 at each location. It must have been close. However, if people are only allowed to come on their own individually to pray at different times, social distancing is easier to maintain. And the people are not being organised as a group for Mass or other activity because the official position is no Mass. No Stations. People should stay home and watch on TV or follow online. It is a little sacrifice to make to ensure there is no contact between people. There are many people who will like to stay at home but will not, since othThe Need for Unity in the Catholic Church in Nigeria in the War Against Coronavirus ers are allowed to go to Church if there is a planned activity. There are several Catholic TV stations that run Masses daily like EWTN and Lumen Christi Television. Their services are under-utilised and I am sure funding is a major issue with the owners. If the tv stations are to play a big role for Catholics in Nigeria, now is the time to support them. AIT and Silverbird are owned by Catholics and have been helpful in the past. I am sure they won’t turn the Church down at this crucial time of need to help run daily or Sunday Masses if the bishops give their approval. Coronavirus has already hit 50 infected persons in Nigeria, with one death. Top functionaries have been publicised as testing positive. There will be many regular people out there who are spreading it, including those attending Mass nationwide. There are also still many unlocated people who flew into the country on flights where infected people were discovered. They may be among us or may have already infected some church goers who can unknowingly infect others. It is scary. The authorities – the Catholic Bishops Conference should know what some of us are thinking, even though we are not medical experts. Coronavirus is not a Lagos affair. Many people in places like Abuja, Benin, Ibadan, Ekiti, Enugu and Osogbo dioceses are said to have tested positive. The time to act is NOW. From: Ogie R. Eboigbe