PERMANENT DIACONATE

Surely it will be incomplete to discuss the development of the native clergy in Lokoja diocese without a mention of the permanent diaconate. The diocese of Lokoja remains one of the only two dioceses (the other being Sokoto) that embraced the permanent diaconate programme when the Vatican first approved it in the early seventies. Based on the exigencies of the time, Bishop A. Delisle embraced the programme, which culminated in the ordinations of Michael Olufade (Late), Benedict Owemidu, Timothy Senibi in 1976 and Aloysius Obanure in 1979 as permanent deacons. No permanent deacon has been added to this initial group, for the programme has been “suspended” because of the exigencies of our time. I used the word, suspended, advisedly, for if the experience of the developed countries is a reliable guide, the permanent diaconate programme may resurface in the future, as a necessity, not only in the diocese of Lokoja, but in the Nigerian church as a whole.