LAGOS APRIL 26, 2016 (CISA) – The Vice-President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Augustine Akubeze has described the family as the stronghold of every successful nation.
The Archbishop, who is the Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Benin, made this assertion in his homily at the opening Mass for the second National Meeting of Families, held in Lagos.
The four-day programme themed, “The Nigerian Family: Agent of Mercy and Harmony,” was organised by the Family and Human life unit of the Department of Church and Society at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN). It was held at St Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos and attended by delegates from eight of the nine Ecclesiastical Provinces in the country.
“The thrust of our argument was that, once a society can have good families, the nation will grow and develop,” said the Archbishop.
“If the family is dysfunctional, society and the nation will also be dysfunctional,” he added, “Any country that wants to build its capacity for development must start with the family. The family is the first place where children are taught values. Values such as honesty, hard work, trust in God, love of neighbour and society,” Archbishop Akubeze noted that Nigerian Bishops were greatly disturbed to learn of the involvement of parents in vices such as examination malpractices, in collusion with their children.
He described this as a tendency to “what is evil and illegal to obtain what you want.” The Archbishop went to state that if corruption were to end in Nigeria, it would have to start with the family.
Archbishop Akubeze also spoke extensively on the last Synod of Bishops on the family and Pope Francis’ new Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the Family – Amoris Laetitia.
