The Parish Priest of Catholic Church of the Ascension, Asaba, Revd. Fr. John Konyeke has challenged fathers to encourage their children to be better Christians for a peaceful and progressive society to be achieved.
Delivering a sermon on (22/06/14) at the grand finale of a week-long activities to mark this year’s Father’s Day celebration at the Church, Fr. Konyeke observed that fathers have a lot of roles to play in ensuring that their children are better Christians.
According to him, while the church teaches morals and the words of God, fathers in particular can effect disciplines in their children and also make them to be better Christians by ensuring that the practice what they have learnt in church.
“Diligence is the act of responsibility and fathers must ensure that their families are good because, if the family is good, the church will be good and the society will be better,” Revd. Fr. Konyeke said.
He emphasized, “parents should pay attention to the type of life their children are living, parents should not be so busy that they don’t have time to know what their children are doing.”
The Catholic Priest also urged fathers to be mindful of their behaviour in the presence of their children, asserting, “when you are a bully, your children may become bullies based on what they see you do and as the father, you should be sincere to your wife no matter the situation because, if you tell the truth, your wife will forgive you.”
“A father should not be partial while tackling family issues, he must be objective and must not have favourites,” Revd. Fr. Konyeke admonished and commended members of the Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), Ascension Parish headed by Sir Sylvester Okoh for organizing successful programmes to mark the Father’s Day.
In an interview, Sir Okoh said the programmes were organized to foster more unity among fathers and encourage married men to be actively involved in church activities.
“You noticed that members of CMO served at the Mass, we were fully in charge of the choir, including church warden activities and the programmes include novelty football match with CWO (Catholic Women Organisation), adoration and mass, lecture
on the role of the father in the family, we also visited the Prison where we donated items to the inmates, among others,” Sir Okoh said, adding, “we thank all those who participated actively in our activities and the Parish Priest, Revd. Fr. Konyeke for his support which made our activities to be successful.”
