By Fidel Ozugha
Mr. Innocent P. C. Okoye is the Catechist of Holy Spirit Parish, Omagba, Onisha, Anambra State, Nigeria. For solid twenty five years, he has been into this sacrificial service to God and humanity. To appreciate God for giving him the opportunity and accompanied grace to work in His vineyard, he invites friends, relations, well wishers to him in a Silver Jubilee Celebration come May 25, 2025 being Sunday. NationGuardNews cornered him and the following conversations ensued
NGN: With your 25 years of experience, what does it take to be an outstanding Catechist which you represent?
P. C. When you know that the work is not yours and you are not doing it for any body, but for God, then you add patience and humility with prayers. You invite the Owner of the work to assist you, you can then make it.
NGN: What are the challenges and your strategies to overcome them?
P.C. There are many challenges on the way both from the priests and parishioners, but what you need is courage and patience as i said earlier, because bible says in Matt.24:13 that he who endures to the end will be saved.
NGN: How do you count your blessings, or is the work devoid of any?
P. C. There are many blessings in serving the Lord especially when you are truthful and faithful to yourself and to God, He will surely bless you from this earth with various blessings both spiritual, material, social, etc. Peace of mind is there. Self confidence which is the grace of God is there. Ability to add values, rich values to humanity is there. The grace to withstand and overcome various temptations is there. The blessings are too many to mention but the biggest and best of them all is that at last, God will bless you with His kingdom.
NGN: What other things, socially, can you say that you have gained in serving God and humanity this way, the benefits?
P.C. My benefit as a catechist is that I have many friends and know many people both rich and poor people and they like me because of my prudence and availability in the service. Also some of them like to do good things to me even when I did not ask them. It gives joy that people can trust you in many ways. That people can believe, can see God through you and can appreciate God because of you. So itis a great thing to serve God in humility and obedience.
NGN: Your message to those who aspire to attain your height in serving God.
P. C. My message to those that want to emulate me is that you will be contented on what you have, focus your attention to God it is not easy, but you depend on God he will not disappoint you. He will send helper from no were to you. Catechist is the priests coworker, people can trust you and give church money with trust, so don’t miss use the trust.
NGN: Do you have people who played special role in making the job very easy for you? Appreciate them.
P. C. First I thank God Almighty and Holy Spirit of God who strengthens me for this 25 years and our blessed Mother Virgin Mary the great intercessor. She intercedes for me, and that makes the journey easy for me. I thank my wife and children for their understanding for the time I leave house and time I come back from work. I thank the Parish Priest and priests that I served.
I thank my friends Prof Fabian Chukwuezi, Mr Oliver Ononiwu, Mrs Eunice Ezeani and many others too numerous to mention, all the parishioners for their encouragement and advice. May the Lord reward them abundantly in the Mighty name of Jesus Amen.
