Sermon Tone Analysis
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M I N I S T R Y
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*/ Sabon-Gide Take/*
*/ Takum/*
*/ Wukari/*
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VERRE PASTORAL AREA
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VERRE PASTORAL AREA.. 1
Sabon-Gide Take. 2
Sabon-Gida-Take.
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List of Helpers.
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List of Churchs (stations) - 54.
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Nigeria.
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Bro.
John Fidelis CSSp.
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Wukari, Yola.
Verre area.
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The Verre Pastoral Area.
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*/Some Recollections by/*
*/ Bro.
John Fidelis CSSp/*
Some Recollections and Dissertation regarding my Ministry as a Missionary Brother in the Diocese of Yola, Nigeria
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!! Sabon-Gide Take
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Nigeria is a big-big country and the part of Nigeria in which I was to work was in the North East, between the Benue river and the Atlantica mountains bordering the Cameroon.
The first parish to which I was appointed was Sabon-Gide Take, at that time a huge area between the Donga river and the Taraba river.
These were tributaries of the river Benue, which itself joins the mighty river Niger at Lokoja.
Sabon-Gida Take is in the lower part of Yola Diocese.
Yola Diocese is reputed to be about as big as Ireland and it was later to be divided in to two: Yola and Jalingo.
Bishop Francis Sheehan O.S.A. was the Bishop of Yola Diocese and he was very easy to get on with.
His diocesan clergy, likewise, could not have been more helpful in their attitude to myself and other CSSp.
Confreres working in Yola Diocese.
Apart from Yola (Jimeta) most of the parishes had large areas of bush.
Sabon-Gide was one of these bush parishes, about 236 miles south of Yola and about 160 miles east of Makurdi.
At that time Sabon-Gide had 150 bush churches, or outstations as we called them.
Father Terence Casey, CSSp.
was the Priest in Charge and he welcomed me with open arms.
I had met Father Terry during his pre-noviciate and again when I went to Nigeria on a visitor’s visa (six weeks) in April 1985, travelling with Father Harry Pass CSSp.
At that time I had a quick tour of some of the parishes in Makurdi Diocese where a number of confreres were working.
Moving east to Takum and then on to Wukari I was soon taken up the road to Sabon-Gide.
Takum, Wukari and Sabon-Gide are at the bottom end of what was then Yola Diocese.
My time was limited but I quickly came to the conclusion that Sabon-Gide and Yola Diocese were my preference.
I liked the people of this large parish, who were mainly Tiv, although a good number of Igbo were in the centre as general traders.
I got on well with Father Casey and he seemed to be on the same wavelength and with very much the same attitude to mission as myself.
I returned to Nigeria in January 1986, this time travelling with Father Tony McKay CSSp.
We arrived in Kano to find that there were no planes from Kano to Makurdi.
We stayed at the Central Hotel in Kano for two nights and then hired a taxi to take us to Aliade.
Father McKay paid for this (I think the cost was about N20000:00 – about £40.)
Not bad for a 400 mile journey.
Father Vincent Griffin CSSp., the District R.S. transported me to Wukari via Abwa , where we called in to see Father Paddy Foley CSSp., and to pick up oranges.
Bishop Sheehan O.S.A. was also there and was himself en route to Wukari where he was to say Mass for the people.
Bishop Sheehan advised me to attend a course in Yola before taking up my appointment to Sabon-Gide.
After a few days in Wukari I was driven up the road to Sabon-Gide.
The road between Wukari and Sabon-Gida and beyond was very bad, with potholes deep enough to burst tyres or wreck suspension, and Father Griffin was going further up the road to Yola.
I was again welcomed by Father Casey and by the two Parish Catechists, Stephen Agber and Bernard Lokoja.
The cook, Pius Bello, made a fine meal of chicken and chips.
Terry and myself sat outside the Atte eating our meal under a magnificent starry sky with three storm lanterns (not too close) and talked and reminisced until the late hours.
It was good to be back with plenty of work to do.
A happy time.
On Monday 3rd February 1986 I went to Yola to attend a training workshop.
I stayed with Father Eamonn McAteer CSSp., at St. Mary’s parish in Yola town.
The workshop ended on Friday 7th February and on Saturday 8th I went back to Wukari.
I contracted malaria and it lasted a week.
I returned to Sabon-Gida on 15th February.
Terry was away in Yola from Monday 17th February until Saturday 22nd February.
On his return we went to Wukari for a send-off for Father Philip Marsh CSSp., who was returning to the English Province.
Monday 24th we returned to Sabon-Gida.
A young boy was brought into the Centre with a bad scorpion sting.
Terry put on a blackstone and the boy recovered quickly.
I had no ministry this week and I was able to catch up on the paper work and accounts etc.
A young girl was brought in with a snake bite, also a man with a snake bite.
Terry put on blackstones and sent them to the local Clinic for injections (Penicillin).
After a short period Bishop Sheehan gave Terry permission to institute me as Minister of the Blessed Sacrament.
It was my birthday, the 24th April, I was 59.
The Bishop also gave me (through Father Andy O’Sullivan C.S.Sp.) his consent for me to Baptise children (under the use of reason).
Bishop Sheehan in his generosity also gave me a car, a Volkswagen 115, so that Father Terry and myself could divide the work to be done.
Sabon-Gida-Take is on the tar road between Wukari and Newman, it is about 100 km up the road from Wukari and is basically a Farm Produce Collection Centre.
Yams, casava, maize, beans, groundnuts, millet, benny-seed (sesame seed), bambra nuts (a type of ground-bean) and rice are grown, with the accent on yams and cassava.
The land on which these crops are grown is rich alluvial land that is part of the Benue River basin.
All this land was originally the land of the “Quara-Rafan”, a very powerful tribe who had their Centre in a walled town, Quara-Rafa.
This tribe at one time had laid siege to Kano.
In more recent times, having lost their power, they changed their name to “Jukan”.
The mud-walled town of Quara-Rafa has been abandoned to the elements.
In more recent times a new town called Dan-Anacha has sprung up on the tar road bypassing where Quara-Rafa had been.
Dan-Anacha (about 10 km nearer to Wukari than Sabon-Gida-Take) is also a Farm Produce Collection Centre.
St.
Patrick’s, Sabon-Gida, was a thriving parish, with many Congresses.
The people of the parish were mainly Tiv, although in the centre there was a good number of Igbo traders and a few Jukan Catholics.
Just down the road at Atsua there were some Hausa Catholics who had migrated from the northern side of the Benue river.
This station was eventually to become the centre of the new parish of Dinia.
People of a particular zone came together for Mass or Communion Service and for the instruction and enrolment of catechumens, also for the Baptism of adults.
Father Casey and myself tried to cover as many stations as possible.
On Monday letters would be given out in the market by the catechists to the various church leaders for the coming week.
These letters informed the church leader who would be coming to their station, what day and time, and for what reason.
For example: Brother John --- will come to --- Achtisongo --- at 8a.m. on Wednesday the --- 2nd --- of June, for the --- Baptism of Children.
--- Stephen Agber, the Parish Catechist, will arrive the day before to conduct the scrutiny.
--- The Baptism will be followed by Communion Service.
The two Parish Catechists would go out to Bush after market on Monday afternoon.
Each had a motorbike and would travel to each station in turn until Sunday morning, when there would be Mass or Service in the Centre Church, and then at a selected out-station.
The Tiv people, who had migrated to the rich land east of Wukari and especially east of the Donga river, were in a way frontier people.
They are good farmers and the relatively empty land between the Conga and the Traba rivers was an irresistable attraction.
As I have said earlier, this land is Jukan tribal land.
Most of the Jukan are not Christian, and even if they are not Muslim they do seem to have some affiliation with the Fulani and Hausa.
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