Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria marks 50 years

The Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria (CLÇN), has marked 50 years with greater commitment to promoting social justice and family values among faithful.

CLCN was founded on 16th March, 1973, with about 35 Catholic Arch/dioceses at inception.

It had as its main aim to

promoting Catholic faith and values among the Laity in Nigeria.

Addressing participants at the 2023 National Laity Council conference in Abuja, president of the council Sir Henry Yunkwap said, “the CLCN has recorded significant progress and has contributed a lot to the

development of the Catholic Church in Nigeria and in addition played important roles in the promotion of social justice, education, structural

developments in the Church, catechises and the spiritual improvement of the

faithful across the nation”.

Sir Yunkwap enumerated challenges and expectations to include, the prevalence of insecurity especially from Boko Haram, kidnapping,banditry and other forms of insurgences in the country.He added that.

“This has led to the closure of many churches including Catholic

Parishes/Churches due to the mass exodus of people particularly in the

Dioceses of the North Eastern part of Nigeria”.

In a keynote address, catholic archbishop of Abuja,Most Reverend Ignatius Kaigama said, “in the past 50 years, the Church in Nigeria has made phenomenal progress. Only some decades ago, our missionaries came from abroad. We depended largely on foreign help to foster evangelization and today is a different story”.

Archbishop Kaigama extol the vibrant societies of the church to include the Catholic Women Organization (CWO), the dynamic Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), and the fast-growing Catholic Men Organization (CMO), including the flourishing children ministry, all contributing to the monumental growth and progress of our local church, TRANSITING FROM A RECEIVING TO A GIVING CHURCH’.

Contributing,Director of Pastoral Agents , catholic secretariat of Nigeria, Reverend Father Augustine Okochi, said, the past fifty years, the Catholic Laity council have been the voice and the face of the lay faithful in Nigeria, promoting the formation of the laity, fostering their participation and collaboration in the mission of the Church, and advocating for justice, peace and integral human development in Nigeria.

The annual conference and golden jubilee celebration held in Abuja witnessed songs of praise,prayers and other activities to include novelty matches between the national executive of the CLCN and the Archdiocese of Abuja executives that literally defied fifa rules.