A Traditional Catholic School in Nigeria

by Uchenna Okezie

On 2nd October 2023, we started a school for the children in the village and I am in charge of running it. We have forty-three boys and girls aged three to fifteen. The patron saint of the school is St Therese of the Child Jesus, and we are blessed to have Fr Angelo Van der Putten, FSSP, as our chaplain. We also have Fr Charles Ike, FSSP, and six former sisters of the Franciscans of the Immaculate among our sixteen teachers. The boys’ school is separate from that of the girls’, and so far it has been quite a joy seeing their eyes light up and watching them learning how to read and learning Catechism, Grammar, Math, Science, Geography, Art, Music, Literature, Bible History, Igbo, and sports.

The Catholic Faith is young here. It was just about 100 years ago that Irish missionaries came and converted us, and they were sent away by the military government in the early 1970s. Most Catholics today do not know about the Latin Mass. Forming Catholics who are truly balanced and seeking virtue has been the goal of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter here, especially over the last ten years. The mission of Una Voce Nigeria, therefore, is hampered by the need to first achieve unity in seeking the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We refuse to pander to the more popular position of ideological indifferentism or to side with one of the larger groups. So the growth of our apostolate is relatively slow because many traditional Catholics in Nigeria have not practically accepted our leadership. We understand this and we are focusing on building a Catholic community one place at a time, and nurturing Catholic culture one marriage at a time.

Uchenna Okezie is the President of Una Voce Nigeria.