Catholic Diocese of Lokoja, in Nigeria, Revokes Ordination of 4 Deacons after it was “deceived” and “misled”
The Diocese of Lokoja, in northern Nigeria, Africa, said in a July 19th statement that four deacons were ordained earlier this month under false pretenses, Apparently, a priest claiming to be their religious superior presented false documentation authorizing their ordination.
The diocese wrote that it was “deceived” and “misled” — and that it discovered a ruse when one of the men was recognized after the ordination, by people who had seen him already presenting himself as a priest and pretending to celebrate Holy Mass.
The Lokoja diocese said that since it has discovered the fraud, it is “now seeking appropriate canonical means to address this unfortunate matter.” “On account of so much falsehood about the said diaconate ordination, I hereby decree that … the ‘diaconate ordination certificates’ issued by me to the four men named above are hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” the bishop’s statement said. “They are not to be recognized by any ecclesiastical authority or any other authorities, including civil ones.”
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According to its statement, Bishop Martin Olorunmolu of Lokoja was approached by a priest earlier this year, who said he was the superior general of the “Congregation of the Paraclete Missionaries, Nigeria Delegation.”
The priest, who presented himself as Fr. Stephen Obioma Nwaigwe, told Bishop Olorunmolu that the Paraclete Missionaries community was an association of priests and brothers, founded in a Tanzanian diocese.
The priest had some paperwork to back that up. He explained that the community had seven priests and 15 brothers working in Nigeria, and that they needed a bishop to ordain four of their seminarians as transitional deacons.
The bishop asked for the paperwork, and Fr. Nwaigwe came back with seminary records and recommendations, and with dimissorial letters (canonical letters which would allow Bishop Olorunmolu to ordain them), while incardinating them in the Paraclete Missionary community, The diocese proceeded with the ordinations on July 12. But after the Mass, someone apparently recognized one of the men — and told the diocese that he had been at a local military base impersonating a priest, and celebrating Masses.
The diocese examined the evidence, and one week later, said the men were frauds, and that diocesan officials had been deceived. To date, the Diocese of Morogoro, Tanzania where the order of Paraclete Missionaries, is supposedly based, has not made a statement, or responded to media questions.
The Paraclete Missionaries are not listed in any directory of religious congregations and orders.
There are two Facebook pages reportedly connected to the Paraclete Missionaries — one was launched in May, and the other in June. A YouTube channel supposedly connected to the order has posted seven videos. The first was posted in 2021.
Canon law stipulates that “through the reception of the diaconate, a person becomes a cleric and is incardinated” into some ecclesiastical structure, like a diocese or religious order, which is able to incardinate.
They are automatically suspended from exercising their diaconal orders.
The men, if belonging to a real order, are likely incardinated in their religious institute, per canon 266 §2 of the Code of Canon Law: “Through the reception of the diaconate, a perpetually professed religious or a definitively incorporated member of a clerical society of apostolic life is incardinated as a cleric in the same institute or society unless, in the case of societies, the constitutions establish otherwise.”
The diocese is expected to write to the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, and petition for the men to be laicized — and likely that the Vatican will grant that petition quickly, given the circumstances.
The men involved could also face some canonical penalty — including the imposition of an ecclesiastical fine — for falsifying ecclesiastical documents.
According to its statement, Bishop Martin Olorunmolu of Lokoja was approached by a priest earlier this year, who said he was the superior general of the “Congregation of the Paraclete Missionaries, Nigeria Delegation.”
The priest, who presented himself as Fr. Stephen Obioma Nwaigwe, told Bishop Olorunmolu that the Paraclete Missionaries community was an association of priests and brothers, founded in a Tanzanian diocese.
The priest had some paperwork to back that up. He explained that the community had seven priests and 15 brothers working in Nigeria, and that they needed a bishop to ordain four of their seminarians as transitional deacons.
The bishop asked for the paperwork, and Fr. Nwaigwe came back with seminary records and recommendations, and with dimissorial letters (canonical letters which would allow Bishop Olorunmolu to ordain them), while incardinating them in the Paraclete Missionary community, The diocese proceeded with the ordinations on July 12. But after the Mass, someone apparently recognized one of the men — and told the diocese that he had been at a local military base impersonating a priest, and celebrating Masses.
The diocese examined the evidence, and one week later, said the men were frauds, and that diocesan officials had been deceived. To date, the Diocese of Morogoro, Tanzania where the order of Paraclete Missionaries, is supposedly based, has not made a statement, or responded to media questions.
The Paraclete Missionaries are not listed in any directory of religious congregations and orders.
There are two Facebook pages reportedly connected to the Paraclete Missionaries — one was launched in May, and the other in June. A YouTube channel supposedly connected to the order has posted seven videos. The first was posted in 2021.
Canon law stipulates that “through the reception of the diaconate, a person becomes a cleric and is incardinated” into some ecclesiastical structure, like a diocese or religious order, which is able to incardinate.
They are automatically suspended from exercising their diaconal orders.
The men, if belonging to a real order, are likely incardinated in their religious institute, per canon 266 §2 of the Code of Canon Law: “Through the reception of the diaconate, a perpetually professed religious or a definitively incorporated member of a clerical society of apostolic life is incardinated as a cleric in the same institute or society unless, in the case of societies, the constitutions establish otherwise.”
The diocese is expected to write to the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, and petition for the men to be laicized — and likely that the Vatican will grant that petition quickly, given the circumstances.
The men involved could also face some canonical penalty — including the imposition of an ecclesiastical fine — for falsifying ecclesiastical documents.
Source: The Pillar Catholic and Nigerian Catholics Facebook Page
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