Politics
… clarifies Catholic position on the Association
By Kennedy Nnamani
JOHN Cardinal Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, delivered the keynote address at the 70th Anniversary of the National Association of Seadogs.
The event, which took place in Abuja on Saturday had the theme: State of the Nation.
In his speech, the Catholic Archbishop Emeritus expressed appreciation to the group for inviting him to speak on the issue, which he described as the matter that is very much at the heart of every one.
According to him, it is quite unusual for a person of his stature and ecclesiastical position to be in the midst of the association.
“We are living in unusual times. And if we want change for the better not only in our nation but in our world, such change obviously demands that we begin to learn to do things differently, breaking up new frontiers, making new friends and forging contacts.”
While speaking on his presence at the gathering of the Seadogs the ecclesiastic noted that shares the surprises on the mind of the public for associating himself with the group.
“It was a surprise that I should feature prominently in an invitation to a major event by the Seadogs otherwise called the Pyrates.
“One of my younger siblings sent me a copy on Whatsapp of your invitation card and asked; “Is it for real or is it just a fake posting?” I replied and told him, “It is 2 for real”.
“Another nephew of mine sent me a text message with serious concern asking if I really know who these people who are inviting me are. “You mean you are going to talk to pyrates?” My reply to him was that I don’t know very much about them, but on the other hand, I have not known anything about them to stop me from honouring their gracious invitation.
“Some of these remarks almost bother on a kind of query: “Why should you be going to talk at a meeting of Seadogs?” Fortunately, I thank God that I have reached a stage in my life now that I am beyond queries. Nobody queries me anymore. I do what I believe in and what I want to do. And so here I am. This is all the more reason why I am grateful for the opportunity to be with you,” he said.
Archbishop Onaiyekan, therefore noted that the surprise expressed by these friends reflects much of the general impression about the pyrates.
According to him, those impressions are largely coloured by the activities of the widespread contemporary campus cult groups that are unfortunately largely characterized by antisocial behaviours often almost criminal.
However, the Archbishop disambiguated the position of the Catholic in relation to the Association of Seadogs, noting that there is the further dimension of the negative position of the Catholic Church against anything that seems like freemasonry or secret cults.
“This also includes groups like the Ogbonis whether reformed or non-reformed.
“Beyond the classical masonic organisations, the negative attitude of the Catholic Church also spreads to other groups like the Rosicrucian, the Ekankar, etc,” he said.
He added that this general negative attitude has coloured the general impression of the Seadogs.
Differentiating the Knight of the Catholic Church from the association, the Archbishop noted that the Knight of Saint Mulumba, KSM, which is the oldest in Nigeria, was set up precisely to counter the inability of Catholics to access opportunities and advantages which membership of the masonic lodges were alleged to confer
According to him, Catholics high up in the elite strata of society saw their non-Catholic peers joining masonic lodges and getting advantages from membership.
“A Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Anselm Ojefua, who later became a monk and died a monk, came up with a good idea of a Nigerian Catholic Knighthood, taking a cue from already existing groups of Catholic knights elsewhere, like the Knights of Columbus in the USA.
“No wonder that a firm rejection of any links with secret cults was considered necessary for membership of the Catholic knighthood,” he said.
The Archbishop added: “I had to clarify that my presence here does not entail any form of official Catholic endorsement of this group, and that in no way goes against the rules of the KSM.”
Still speaking on the unequivocal incompatibility of the church and membership of the association, Archbishop Onaiyekan said: “A simple search on google on the “catholic church and freemasonry” will show very clearly that even now the official position of the 4 church is that membership of freemasonry is incompatible with the Catholic faith.
“There may well be some Catholics who are members of the secret cults.
“Technically anyone, who is a freemason ought not to receive Holy Communion in our church.
“But since such membership is normally secret, the rule is almost impossible to enforce. But the rule is there, all the same.”
Clearing the misunderstanding, hovering around the church and the Association of Seadogs, the ecclesiastic noted that to break such ignorance of what the group really stands for will require an open mind to hear and to see what they are and what they are doing.
“It may well be that Seadogs are not a secret cult like the freemasons, in which case the Catholic law against freemasons would not apply to them. But I also believe that the pyrates themselves, on their part, have to try harder to present themselves in a more transparent and positive way to the general public,” he said.
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Tags: JOHN Cardinal Onaiyekan Rev. Fr. Anselm Ojefua Seadogs
