By Michael Nnebife
St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Awka, Anambra State, was on Saturday, April 25, agog with celebrations as the members of the Catholic Men’s Organization, CMO, Awka Diocese, converged on the Cathedral, for the flag-off ceremony of the 2026 CMO Week.
The ceremony, which began with a Holy Mass, kicked off on Friday, April 24, with a football match, and was concluded on Saturday, April 25, with Igba Eze Cultural Dance Competition by deaneries.
In the football match, Amawbia Deanery emerged champions, while Adazi and Agulu Deaneries clinched the first position in the Igba Eze Cultural Dance Competition.
According to the Diocesan Chaplain of the CMO, Rev Fr Jude Ubah, and the Diocesan President, Sir Victor Meju, represented by the Vice President, Hon Henry Ogbuezi, the competitions, were the first of their kind in the annals of the Organization, aimed at engendering a spirit of love, peace, and unity among fathers in the Diocese.
In his remarks, the Diocesan Chaplain, Rev Fr Ubah, thanked the Bishop of the Diocese, Most Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor, for his fatherly support to the CMO, as well as the organizing committee of the 2026 CMO Week, for their service and commitment.
While speaking with Fides, the Chaplain advised fathers, who had taken to neo-paganism in search of solutions to problems confronting them to come back to God.
’God is the only solution to every problem. So, if they come back to God, keep believing in him, and commending their problems into His hands, He will definitely take it over,’ Fr Ubah said.
Ubah, who described Fathers’ Sunday as a moment to remind fathers of their vital role as the head of the family, which he described as a domestic church, charged them to instill morality and discipline in their children, for the children to be successful in life.
The Catholic cleric described fathers as the first teachers that should teach their children the basic principles of morality and discipline.
’If they give their children these principles, when they are thrown into wider society, they become well accomplished persons,’ he said.
In a homily during the Holy Mass heralding the event, the CMO Chaplain, Neni Deanery, Rev Fr Michael Jude Nwajiobi, urged Catholic fathers to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ.
Fr Nwajiobi, who titled his homily, ”CMO as Christ’s Ambassadors”, argued that fathers should show Christ in all their conducts, both in their homes and in larger society as the heads of families.
Nwajiobi urged them to be humble, obedient to the word of God, available for and committed to the things of God and the Church for them to be worthy ambassadors of Christ.
The Chaplain, who expressed dismay over what he described as the backwardness of CMO members in the activities of the Church, reminded them that as the heads of their various homes they were viable instruments in God’s hands for the spreading of the Gospel, urging them to rise up and take their pride of place in the Church.
In his remarks, the CMO Diocesan President, Sir Meju, expressed gratitude to the Diocesan Chaplain; the Assistant Diocesan Chaplain, Rev Fr Raphael Agbanu; the event organizing committee; the deanery coordinators, among others, for their services.
While reflecting on the aim of introducing the competitions as part of activities marking CMO Sunday, the President expressed joy over the effects of the competitions.
’In fact, the kind of love, joy and conviviality that I saw those who participated in the competitions exhibited was very awesome,’ he said, expressing the belief that the activities would entice young fathers to join the CMO.
Speaking with Fides, the CMO helmsman advised Catholic fathers in the Diocese to be faithful to God and committed to the things of God and the Church.
In a vote of thanks, the Secretary General of the Organization, Comrade Philip Ibik, who described the event as a uniting force, especially for young fathers in the Diocese, expressed gratitude to the dignitaries that graced the event.
The epoch-making event also featured award presentation to Engr Emmanuel Okolomma, who chaired the event; and Chief Boniface Egbutu, who, during the event, donated one million Naira in sponsorship of the Igba Eze Cultural Dance Competition.
While presenting the awards, the CMO President said, the wards were to appreciate Engr Okolomma and Chief Egbutu for what he described as their unwavering support to the CMO and the Church.
