May 22, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 10Oakland, CA

Igbo Catholics strive for strong community

By Voice staff

One year after receiving diocesan approval as the Nigerian-Igbo community, more than 350 of its members gathered at All Saints Church in Hayward, May 7, to celebrate the formal vesting of its women’s group with a distinctive blue and gold attire that will distinguish the women as leaders in the community.

Their organization is modeled after similar groups in their native Nigeria, said Father Athanasius Abanulo, chaplain of the East Bay Nigerian-Igbo community.

The women have several roles, he said. They oversee the spiritual and cultural education of children, offer guidance and support to couples experiencing financial or marital difficulties, and provide hospitality when the community gathers for Mass on the first Sunday of every month at All Saints.
At the May 7 liturgy, Father Abanulo challenged the Igbo community to remain faithful to its cultural values, especially fidelity in marriage. He said that as the Igbo assimilate into the U.S., the problem of divorce arises.

One of his priorities is to establish programs that support family life and prepare couples for marriage in the Church.

He also encouraged the members to promote religious vocations among their children.

A priest for 16 years, Father Abanulo came to the U.S. in 2003 after serving as a missionary in the Chad Republic. Now, he said, he is a missionary to the Igbo living in the Oakland Diocese in addition to his work as parochial vicar at Assumption Parish in San Leandro.

But, he added, he hopes that all Nigerian Catholics will feel welcome at the monthly liturgies, celebrated in Igbo and English. “There is a need for unity among all Nigerians and not to be divided” by regional origins, he said.

The Igbo come from the southeastern part of Nigeria and are one of the three major ethnic groups in the country. Evangelized by the Irish Holy Ghost Fathers in the early 1900s, Igbo Catholics are said to be among the strongest in Africa.

Of the estimated 3,000 Nigerians in the Bay Area, about 2,000 are Igbo and 85 percent are Catholic. In Nigeria, however, Catholics number about 15 percent of the total population.

In addition to the East Bay Igbo Catholics, there are communities in the San Francisco Archdiocese and the Diocese of San Jose.

“We are the third and final leg of the Bay Area community tripod,” said Father Abanulo.

Chris Okeke is the elected president of the Oakland diocesan community and Chief Ambrose Anyanwu and Chief Anthony Ekeruo are the community’s representatives to the diocese.

The Igbo community will participate, along with other diocesan ethnic pastoral centers, in the annual Chautauqua celebration, Oct. 7, at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Oakland.

Father Anthanasius Abanulo, Igbo chaplain in the Oakland Diocese, joins with members of the community’s women’s organization after the May 7 liturgy at which the women displayed their new uniforms for the first time. The blue color was selected to show honor to the Blessed Virgin, their patroness.

Igbo Catholics pray during their monthly Mass at All Saints Church in Hayward.

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