“I have come to cast fire on the earth, and I wish it were burning already,” Luke 12:29.
The Military Church, Jaji – Kaduna: Thursday, May 6, 2021. The flame our Holy Father Founder, St Anthony Mary Claret, ignited tens of years ago, is being kindled everywhere even in the military camouflaged community of the Nigeria Armed Forces through Rev Fr Major Luke Swem Beba, CMF. On the above date, the ceremony marking the Dedication of St Peter’s Military Catholic Church Jaji, Kaduna, built under Fr Beba’s pastoral charge, took place inside the magnificent landscape of the Kaduna Military establishment.
In respect to history, it should be noted that the Claretian Missionaries, Delegation West Nigeria, attentive and responsive to the call of the Nigerian Military for well-trained personnel to attend to the delicate spiritual needs of the Catholics in their ranks, offered Fr Beba to that unique mission. Through him, the Claretians, utilising ‘all means possible’ for what is ‘most urgent, opportune and effective’ (Padre Claret) strive to “become all things to all people” (Paul of Tarsus, 1 Cor. 9:22), and in this case, dressed in Military uniform in Military barracks.
However, that same joyful day the edifice was dedicated, it was commissioned by the representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, ably represented by Maj. Gen. S. O. Olabanji. Interestingly, Gen. Olabanji the Commander and a member of the Protestant Communion was the brain behind the sponsorship of the project.
The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria in Kaduna State, Most Rev. Jonathan George Dodo, under whose pastoral jurisdiction the Chaplaincy resides, graced the occasion. Also present was Most Rev. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, CMF, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria Liaison Bishop of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Bishop Anagbe is the Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, in Benue State, North Central Region of Nigeria. A handful of priests from various dioceses within and beyond Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province was in attendance including few Claretian Missionaries.
The dedication ceremony was accompanied by the commissioning of Lectors while the Sacrament of Confirmation was administered on many faithful of the Chaplaincy.
It was jubilant and successful. A celebration worthy of thanks and praises to the Lord.
