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Information steaming from the Catholic Church in Nigeria declared that the Despite Rise in terrorist Attacks Targeting Christians in this country especially in the Northern Part, over 700 Catechumens were baptized on Easter Sunday in the Nigerian Catholic Diocese Katsina. What is obtainable in this part of the world is also witnessed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and in some other West African countries shielded from media coverage.  The Catholic is truly built on Pater, the solid rock, and no human force can interfere or pull it down.

As part of the numerous events slated for the just concluded easter celebration, the roving Camera of the Correspondent of RECOWACERAO NEWS AGENCY, RECONA based in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria captured one of the young Bishops in Nigeria, Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Catholic Diocese of Katsina with some of the candidates who received Baptism during the Easter Vigil Mass.

Over 700 Christians were baptized on Easter Sunday in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Katsina which is witnessing a rise in attacks that mainly target Christian communities.

In an interview with the Easter season which looked into his activities so far, Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa rejoiced at the successful celebration of Easter, the Diocese’s first.

The Nigerian Catholic Bishop said, “It was a very great celebration as we had priests gathered in the cathedral for that celebration for the first time.”

“Despite the insecurity challenges we face as a Diocese, we had over 700 people who were baptized and received Holy Communion. That is an incredible number,” the pioneer Bishop of the Nigerian Catholic Diocese that Pope Francis erected last October said.

He continued, “This tells us that in little ways, God is at work. Even in remote places, even in places that you think are having a Christian minority, God is at work. And we thank God for the harvest that we have. Harvest in terms of the increasing number of members that we have.”

“We believe that with time, we will have a greater number of people who are converting to the faith, a greater number of people who are going to be baptized. We believe that we’ll have a greater number of people who will be more committed to their faith,” Bishop Musa told ACI Africa.

He continued, “The challenge we’re having which affects evangelization is the challenge of insecurity.”

The bishop noted that in the southern part of the state, thousands of people had already been displaced by those he described as “bandits.”

He said that within the Lenten season, he visited 45 families who were displaced from local governments in Katsina State. “And they are not just the only ones,” Bishop Musa said, and added, “There are about 300 communities that have been displaced.”

The 53-year-old Nigerian Catholic Bishop, “This affects the work of evangelization because these people have a church. They had to vacate the church to go somewhere else and live. They want to go back to their homeland, but it is difficult because the insecurity challenge is still there.”

However, Bishop Musa is hopeful that his Diocese will continue to sustain new converts who have embraced the faith.

“We want to develop a system whereby those who are converted to the faith as well as those who are in the faith will have a good formation. And we want to develop long-term formation or lifelong formation,” the Local Ordinary of Katsina Diocese since December 2023.

“Formation does not end only with catechism that prepares us for Holy Communion. Formation does not only end with catechism when we are preparing for baptism. But faith formation should last throughout life so that our people continue to grow in the faith,” he said.

Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu
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