The homilist at the burial Mass for the victims of a terror attack on a Catholic church on Pentecost that killed dozens did not mince words in recounting the horror of the atrocity, but he also counseled hope in God’s grace and the promise of resurrection.
“We have seen tragedies in Nigeria and we have seen brutal murders but few can really compare with the brutality and gruesomeness of the event on that Pentecost Sunday,” Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of the nearby Diocese of Oyo said in his homily.
“In these coffins, a part of Nigeria lies dead, too. … Because lying down here with these deceased ones are the joys and hopes and aspirations of their families and loved ones, of the Church of God, of the various communities from where they come, and indeed of Nigeria. Even the ones who are maimed and wounded themselves wherever they are, represent Nigeria with all her self-inflicted wounds, bruised, brutalized, and violated. So I ask: For how much longer shall this continue?”
The bishop also spoke out against Nigeria’s federal government, claiming it has shown “no desire to protect the Christian religion.”
On June 17, the Mydas Event Centre in Owo was packed with parishioners and priests, with dozens of basic wooden coffins — Badejo said there were “over 40” — decked with flowers at the front.
On Facebook, the three-hour funeral Mass was live-streamed.
Gunmen suspected of being Islamic extremists opened fire on Catholic parishioners attending Pentecost Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, southeastern Nigeria, on June 5. According to initial estimates, more than 50 people were murdered, including children, and many more were injured.
At least 40 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 60 people have been injured and are still being treated in hospitals.
The victims ranged in age from two and three years old to 85 years old.
The onslaught lasted 20-25 minutes, according to a priest who was present at the time. He said he heard three or four explosions in addition to shooting.
Bishop Badejo, who is also the President of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS), preached the homily, which was also attended by the Bishops of Ondo, Jude Arogundade, and Sokoto, Matthew Kukah.
Noting that Ondo is nicknamed “The Sunshine State,” Badejo darkly remarked, “Indeed, if the sun shone on Ondo state at all on that day, it surely did not penetrate the sordid darkness within the hearts of the murderers who visited St. Francis with guns blazing on that Sunday.”
“The event catapulted the Catholic Church in Owo, the Catholic Diocese of Ondo, and Ondo State of Nigeria into the limelight of world attention, unfortunately for the very wrong reasons. Since then, the entire world has condemned the crime perpetrated against humanity and against God in this state.”
“I could almost hear the victims as they were attacked right inside the Church, crying out like Jesus Christ, ‘Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani: My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ May that desecration of the sanctuary, the desecration of the body of Christ, and that crime against humanity expressed in their lament not go unpunished,” the bishop said.
Despite his condemnation of the slaughter, Badejo expressed hope that the loved ones who died are now with God in heaven, and that the bereaved will see their loved ones again one day at the resurrection.
“What a pity and yet what good fortune!” Bajedo proclaimed, noting that the victims died in a church, under the cross. “For as the Christian religion teaches us to always lay all our troubles and sorrows down at the foot of the cross, we know that they, our dead, are safe in the arms of Jesus.”
“People of God — tragedy and sorrow, small or great, have the capacity to batter and crush us only if we succumb to them,” Badejo preached.
“So, dear grieving families, friends, the parish of [St. Francis], all gathered here, I appeal to you to refuse to be crushed by the tragedy which we have before us because of your faith in Christ. Today, difficult though it is, let us choose more to give thanks to God that he gave our departed brethren the life, the faith and the privilege of belonging to Him and of returning to Him even in this incomprehensible manner.”
Despite his words of hope, Badejo fiercely criticized Nigeria’s government, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari, for what he saw as inactivity in the face of Christian killings in the country. Badejo observed that many people believe nomadic herders and insurgent groups are currently more powerful than the federal government.
“We are not walking corpses merely waiting to be killed. … So we are compelled to ask: Are you still our leaders? Are we at war? Have you abdicated leadership? How many more must die?” he said, addressing the federal authorities. At the same time, he thanked the governor of Ondo state, present at the funeral, and other local officials “for having done all in their power since (the attack) to bring succor to the affected people and to the Church.”
Nigeria has more Christians slain for their faith than any other country in the world, with at least 4,650 martyred in 2021 and roughly 900 dead in the first three months of 2022 alone. Some relief agencies and academics are even putting together evidence that the killing of Christians in Nigeria is genocide.
“Ritual killings, abductions, murders, lynching, kidnappings, armed robbery still increase the bloody tally of innocent deaths and suffering in Nigeria day by day,” Badejo lamented.
There exists a right to self-defense in the Catholic Church, he noted, stating that life “must be defended in the face of unprovoked aggression and imminent danger.”
Badejo addressed the perpetrators of the attack, calling them to repent and to give their lives over to Jesus Christ.
“The God of life calls on you to repent. The Church of Christ invites you to a change of heart, to cast away your arms, to repent and embrace peace,” Badejo said, addressing the attackers.
“Why would you be agents of destruction of (the) life in which you yourself share? Why be an instrument of bloodshed in this beautiful country given to all? Why would you abuse and destroy humanity of which you yourselves are part? You may make us cry and mourn but we shall never stop inviting you to come share in the love and joy of God who loves you as he loves everyone. Fill your heart with love and cast out hatred,” he urged.
Government officials have identified ISWAP, a Boko Haram breakaway faction, as the likely perpetrator of the Pentecost attack, but Ondo State, where the incident took place, is far from ISWAP’s regular operating territory in the north of the country.
The diocese has reached out to other parishes for assistance, according to the priest who witnessed the attack, and the local government, as well as non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross and other groups such as Muslim groups and imams, “are coming to our aid practically and financially.”
Father Andrew Adeniyi Abayomihe also said that in his view the faith of parishioners is very much alive and strong despite the attack, saying that “From my encounter with parishioners, I have not seen a loss of faith, but a strengthening.”
Bishop Badejo emphasized the relative unity among Muslims and Christians in the diocese he shepherds, located in the southwest, in an interview with CNA in 2020.
“My diocese is actually one of the centers that I use as an example of good, peaceful coexistence among religions in Nigeria, and has often been noted as well by the Vatican, as an example of what a peaceful coexistence should be like,” Badejo told CNA in 2020.
Although his diocese experiences fewer cases of blatant violence than places in the north, he observed at the time that there are some more systemic and covert forms of persecution, such as government appointments and written legislation that appear to favor Islam over Christianity.
“It’s no secret that in Nigeria, especially with the (President Muhammadu) Buhari government, there are all written laws that have not favored Christians at all, that have favored, in other words, the Muslims,” Badejo said, noting that Buhari is himself of Fulani ancestry.
“The Christian Churches have protested, Christian leaders have protested, but the federal government has not said any word in order to show any desire to protect the Christian religion.”