27/08/2022
THE REJECTED STONE RECEIVES RED HAT
By Father Kenneth Agwu
The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone – Psalm 118:22
After a grueling Sunday activities on May 29, 2022, ranging from celebration of Holy Mass, settling minor disputes among my ‘angels’ and attending series of meetings as pastoral exigencies demanded, I finally reached out to my phone to be greeted with most amazing news. What news?
At the end of the Regina Coeli that day, Pope Francis announced that he will hold a Consistory on Saturday, August 27, 2022 for the creation of 21 new Cardinals. The Cardinal-elects represented the Church worldwide, and reflected a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries.
As reported in the Vatican News by a staff writer, the College of Cardinals, which is the ecclesiastical body of the Roman Catholic Church, electing and advising the pope, now consists of 208 Cardinals, of whom 117 are electors and 91 non-electors. All things being equal, after the Consistory of 27 August, the number will grow to 229 Cardinals, of whom 131 will be electors.
Among the newly named Cardinals, eight of them are from Europe, six from Asia, four from Central and Latin America, two from Africa, and one from North America.
Of the Cardinal-elects, one name that rings bell across the globe and Nigeria in particular is Bishop Peter Okpaleke. Understandably, proximity is an important aspect of news value but beyond this factor, Okpaleke fits into what Mathew’s Gospel 21:42 reported of Jesus saying to the Jewish authorities.
There Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Perhaps, none expected this sweet twist of event in relation to Bishop Okpaleke after his torturous and if you like, humiliating episcopal experience in the recent past. He was taunted as a ‘bishop without a diocese’ because the flock for which he was originally appointed to head as a shepherd, rejected him on the baseless and most despicable ground of tribalism. It was hellish to say the least.
But didn’t the Prophet Isaiah already reported in Isaiah 55:8-9 of what God said in relation to his will and those of men? “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The way of God is truly unique and when God says yes, nobody can say no!
For a man marked for humiliation in men’s folly, God has set up for glorification beyond telling. This shouldn’t surprise because in electing to become a priest, Bishop Peter Okpaleke chose victimhood in the mould of his Master, Jesus the Christ. Pertaining to his excruciating experiences, we return to the Prophet Isaiah who echoed this mystery most perfectly when he thundered:
“Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem… We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted…” (Isaiah 53:1-6).
Once, in a situation very similar to Bishop Okpaleke’s, Steve Lawrence relayed what he said while speaking with a woman whose husband was rejected and told he was no longer required in his role as a Religious Education Coordinator at his Catholic secondary school without rhyme or reason. He said to her, “I’m sure good things will come from it, even if these are not obvious at the moment.”
Somehow, this is so true of Bishop Okpaleke who was born on Friday, March 1, 1963 in Amesi in Anambra State, Nigeria. He attended local schools and in 1983 entered the Bigard Memorial Major Seminary in Ikot Ekpene and Enugu, where he studied philosophy and theology from 1983 to 1990. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Awka on Wednesday, August 22, 1990.
In the twenty years following his ordination he distinguished himself as an astute leader and filled a wide variety of pastoral and administrative positions, including university chaplain, parish priest, diocesan finance administrator, diocesan chancellor and secretary, and member of diocesan boards. He also studied canon law in Rome at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
On Friday, December 7, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Okpaleke Bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria to fill the void left by Bishop Victor Chikwe who was the first bishop of Ahiara from his appointment on Wednesday, November 18, 1987, till his death on Thursday, September 16, 2010.
Msgr. Okpaleke was then consecrated a bishop by the emeritus Archbishop of Owerri, Anthony J. V. Obinna on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Because of objections to his appointment, his consecration was held outside the Diocese, in the Major Seminary of Ulakwo in the Archdiocese of Owerri.
Even at that, local clergy and parishioners of Ahiara objected to his appointment and prevented him from entering the cathedral in order to take possession of the diocese. So, a petition objecting to the fact that Bishop Okpaleke was not of Mbaise ethnic origin was sent to Pope Benedict XVI after he appointed Okpaleke bishop. The matter remained unresolved till Benedict retired.
Pope Francis who succeeded Benedict had hoped that time would heal all wounds to no avail. On Friday, June 9, 2017, he gave clergy in the diocese of Ahiara 30 days to either write a letter promising obedience and accepting Okpaleke as their bishop or be suspended. In response, the Clergy sent letters of apology but continued to protest what they saw as racial discrimination.
After a realistic assessment of the toxic situation surrounding his episcopacy and in the interest of God’s flock in Ahiara, on Wednesday, February 14, 2018, Bishop Okpaleke in emotion-laden letter tendered his resignation noting among others: “The situation in Ahiara Diocese to the best of my knowledge has not improved. Most importantly, this has been threatening my spiritual life.
“Taking the above into consideration, I am convinced, in conscience that my remaining the Bishop of Ahiara is no longer beneficial to the Church. I do not think that my apostolate in a diocese where a group of priests and lay faithful are very ill disposed to have me in their midst would be effective.
“Exercising the ministry in a diocese where priests who are supposed to be my immediate and closest collaborators, brothers, friends and sons are at war with one another, with the laity and with me as their chief shepherd would be disastrous and a threat to the salvation of souls – including my own soul.
“Your Holiness, for the spiritual good of the diocese, I, Most Rev. Peter Ebere Okpaleke, hereby freely and humbly present, my resignation to you and pray that you relieve me of the responsibility of being the bishop of Ahiara Diocese of Nigeria.”
Expressing his willingness to serve the Church he added, “Please, permit me to categorically state that if it still pleases God and the Holy Father, I am still well disposed to serve God and the Church in any other area of assignment. Once more, I express my gratitude to God and to you, our dear Holy Father for giving me the opportunity to serve in my unworthiness. While renewing my fidelity and obedience to you, I humbly request for your blessings.”
Upon the reception of Bishop Okpaleke's letter, on Monday, February 19, 2018, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Bishop of Ahiara and appointed Bishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, then Bishop of Umuahia, an Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara, and granted to him all the faculties of a Bishop. In part, one can say that Bishop Peter’s wound is finally healed. But like Steve Lawrence said:
“Our wounds, when healed, don’t disappear, but they do become access points for God to enter into our life in new and wonderful ways. Even more so they become sources of grace for others. Our healed wounds become part of our missionary credentials to be offered for others. The trials we have to endure are means by which God equips us with gifts that we cannot otherwise receive.”
This is true for Bishop Okpaleke as on Thursday, March 5, 2020, just over two years after accepting his resignation as Bishop of Ahiara, Pope Francis appointed him the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekwulobia, a newly created diocese in Anambra State which formerly had its territory under the jurisdiction of Awka Diocese. Bishop Okpaleke was installed there on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
In retrospect, his travails in Ahiara was a blessing in disguise because God works in mysterious way. Certainty, God allowed the disaster of his rejection like of Christ, not because it was a good thing in itself, it was terrible and God’s heart was broken as a result of it; but because God knew He would bring a greater thing from it.
It was in the midst of those dark years that indomitable faith was planted in his heart, that the practice of prayer was deepened, and that a desire to trust God totally grew. Priesthood is not possible by human strength alone, and so it was the grace of God that he learned to seek. There is no security in anything else but abandonment to God, no matter what storm is swirling about.
In recognition of his love and fidelity to the Church, his humility, his indomitable faith in God, and his willingness and zeal to serve the Church wherever the Holy Father wills, on Sunday, May 29, 2022 being the 56th Anniversary of the World Communications Day, Pope Francis announced he would make Bishop Okpaleke a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 27 August.
After this epochal event, His Eminence Peter Cardinal Okpaleke has gone down in history as the fifth Nigerian Cardinal. He was preceded by Dominic Cardinal Ekandem, Francis Cardinal Arinze, Anthony Cardinal Okogie and John Cardinal Onaiyekan.
The link between Cardinal Okpaleke, Cardinal Onaiyekan and Cardinal Ekandem is worth noting. Cardinal Ekadem was Nigeria’s first Cardinal and the first Bishop of Abuja Diocese. Upon retirement on Monday, September 28, 1992, Bishop Onaiyekan who was his Coadjutor succeeded him. When Abuja became an Archdiocese on Saturday, March 26, 1994, Onaiyekan became its first Archbishop and was later created fourth Nigerian Cardinal on Saturday, November 24, 2012.
When it became impracticable for Okpaleke to take possession of Ahiara after consecration, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Onaiyekan Apostolic Administrator ad natum Sanctae Sedies of the Diocese of Ahiara on Wednesday, July 3, 2013 and he served till Monday, February 19, 2018.
Earlier Cardinal Ekandem performed similar role in the Diocese of Port Harcourt. When it was impossible too for Bishop Godfrey Mary Paul Okoye, CSSp dubiously tagged “the most Biafran of the Biafran Bishops,” to go back to his diocese after the Nigerian/Biafran War, at the instance of Pope Paul VI, Bishop Ekandem of then Ikot Ekpene, was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Port Harcourt on Tuesday, March 17, 1970 and he served till Tuesday, October 16, 1973.
On the other hand, of the five Nigerian Cardinals, only the first, that is Cardinal Ekandem and the fifth, that is Cardinal Okpaleke, were elevated to the Cardinalate when serving as Bishops of their respective Ikot Ekpene and Ekwulobia Dioceses; Cardinals Arinze, Okogie and Onaiyekan were all Archbishops heading Archdioceses of Onitsha, Lagos and Abuja respectively when elevated.
In the life of Cardinal Okpaleke, it has become very clear that when grace speaks, men have no choice but to listen. His life like that of Cardinal Okogie who was similarly rejected as Auxiliary Bishop of Oyo, has taught us that rejection is sometimes a blessing in disguise if we allow God to act. We wish His Eminence Peter Cardinal Okpaleke the best in life and God’s eternal reward.
