By Cosmas Omegoh
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Rt Rev Dr Alfred Adewale Martins, has asked Christian families to persevere in the face of hunger and poverty plaguing the nation, while urging married people to make their marriages like fine wine.
Archbishop Martins spoke at the 2024 annual conference of the Provincial Marriage Advisory Care (PMAC) themed “The Challenges Confronting Christian Families in Contemporary Times.” The event held yesterday, October 19, 2024, at St Agnes Catholic Church, Merryland, Lagos. PMAC is a body whose members prepare intending couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony in the Catholic Province of Lagos, Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta.
Archbishop Martins who was scheduled to give a keynote address at the event, spoke through the Catholic archdiocesan marriage tribunal vicar and chaplain of PMAC, Monsignor Philip Hoteyin. “Strive to make marriages be like fine wine,” the cleric said, adding, “it is through that way that we can make our families and society better.”
He reminded all and sundry that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, and that is the concept, urging everyone who wants to go into the institution to ensure that they are the real. This according to him is to ensure the sanctity and sacredness of the marriage institution.
Yesterday’s event featured five priests among them were Monsginor Hoteyin, Rev Fr Matthew Ogunyase for the Archdiocese of Lagos who served as the event’s moderator; Rev Fr Marcellinus Teko who presented the lead lecture, “The Challenges Confronting Christian Families in Contemporary Times,” and Rev Fr David-Mary Odunsi from Ijebu-Ode Diocese whose lecture focused on “The Spiritual Challenges Confronting Christian Families in Contemporary Times, as well as Rev Fr Joseph Odozi, judicial assistant to the Lagos archdiocesan marriage tribunal.
The event also featured Dr Mrs Henrietta William, a specialist in gynaecology who co-presented a paper on “Medical and Health Challenges Confronting Christian families,” with Rev Fr Rev Fr Joseph Ogodo, from Ondo Diocese. Mrs Bose Ironsi did justice to the “Economic and Financial issues in Contemporary Families.”
President of PMAC, Mr Babatunde Oyafemi, who expressed gratitude that PMAC turned 30 this year, noted that the body had stayed focused on its key mandate of preparing couples with the core catholic tradition in mind.