By Cosmas Omegoh
Recently, Catholic knights in the Archdiocese Lagos marked a milestone. Members of the Order of the Knights of St Mulumba, Nigeria, Festac Town Sub Council and their ladies, friends and ‘worthy brothers’ celebrated their 10th anniversary at a ceremony an observer dubbed “night of the knights.” During the event, the group’s members proved themselves a potent force in the life of Catholic Church through a chain of events they put together, including a lecture that equipped them in their long walk as knights and ladies of the Catholic Church.
On June 23, 2007, Daily Sun was told, 37 men and 37 women –knights and their ladies – were inaugurated as members of the Festac Town Sub council with Mr Philip Umunakwe as their first grand knight. But 10 years after, that number has nearly tripled; the council now has 81 new members and their wives. It has also begotten two others: Satelite and Ojo sub councils. These feats were worth celebrating. In doing this, they invited other knights to Holy Family Catholic Church, Festac Town to be part of them and a priest, Rev Fr Paul Anthony Thompson from Ibadan to discus the theme of the event: “Knights, the Catholic Church and challenges of modern society,” and he did not disappoint.
The day opened with holy Mass co-celebrated by the Parish Priest of Holy Family Catholic Church Festac Town, Rev Fr Simeon Irabor and the Dean of Festac Deaconry, Very Rev Fr Jerome Akinyemi. The homilist, Fr Irabor, warned the knights to be firm and not fear. “Fear can mean two things: ‘Fear everything and run and then ‘Fear everything and rise.’
“Fear can be good because it makes people to face challenge. But there are some people who out of fear fail to live.”
He charged his audience to shun fear and rise in defence of their faith, noting that if ever they were to fear, it should be failing to do the will of God.
Holy Mass over, the party proceeded to the church’s event centre close by where the social segment of the celebrations held.
In his opening proceedings, the Grand Knight of the Festac Town Sub council, Stephen Obi, recalled the humble beginning of his group and its modest contributions in the areas of charity, church growth, which had helped to expand the frontiers of Catholicism in the region. He particularly expressed happiness with the members for drawing from the sacraments of the church, stressing that this had helped contributed to their spiritual uplift.
In his contribution, the Chairman, of the event’s organising committee, Dr Jude Mbama, a physician, expressed joy at the creation of two sub councils out of the existing Festac sub council.
“This anniversary offers us an opportunity to celebrate our worthy brothers and sisters and to wish them well and reflect on our achievements and roles as soldiers of Christ.”
He announced that as part of the anniversary celebrations, the group would be presenting 25 indigents members of the society with micro grant awards to help them start petty businesses.
The highpoint of the event was a discussion focusing on the theme of the event. Rev Fr Thompson told the gathering that: “Generally Knighthood is an institution with very deep roots in the history of the Church. Nearly 900 years ago, the great St. Bernard of Clairvaux described the ideal Christian knights as Godly men who “shun every excess in clothing and food. They live as brothers in joyful and sober company (with) one heart and one soul. There is no distinction of persons among them, and deference is shown to merit rather than to noble blood. They rival one another in mutual consideration, and they carry one another’s burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ.”
He recalled that “knighthood started in the middle ages with Catholics forming themselves into small armies to escort Christian pilgrims to and from the Holy Land. These early Catholic knights literally laid down their lives in defence of the Catholic faithful and the Catholic faith. When the dangers to Christian faith and terrorism subsided or were eliminated, the knights continued their services not only to the Christians, but also to the community at large.
They bound themselves into fraternal organisations with the general objectives of fighting evil and promoting good. In particular, they set themselves the necessary task of uprooting the systematic and structural evil in the society.
He said many of the knights who rallied to the liberation of the Holy Land did so out of genuine zeal for the Cross. He added that “now, the values and reasons that made the knights take up swords in battle many years ago still exist with us today in other forms. As such, the methodology of battle has also changed. Knights today are still in battle in the name of the church but the battle today no longer requires the sword.
“Every knight should fight not by war but by engaging the world guided by the churches social teachings. This represents the new swords we all are called to use to conquer the world for Christ. Through the churches social teachings each knight can affect and change the world.” He noted that “the church through its social teaching proclaims that human life and human dignity are inseparable.”
He highlight some of the key issues at the heart of Catholic social teaching as life and dignity of human person, call to family community and participation, rights and responsibilities among other things.
One of the beneficiaries of the micro credit award, Mrs Josephine Obodoeze, thanked the knights for their gesture. She said she would use the money she received to start a business.
“I’m overwhelmed by this offer. It shows that they the knights are practicing what they are teaching. I urge them not to relent in doing this,” she said.