Church calls for atonement for Cathedral desecration by Mbaka followers 

Catholic Church authorities in Enugu have called for weeklong prayers starting Friday for “reparation and atonement” in the wake of vandalism at a cathedral and Bishop’s court by followers of Fr Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministry.

The vandalism followed rumours the priest had gone missing.

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The followers from the Adoration ground in Emene, Enugu, to the Bishop’s Court at Igboeze Street, Independence Layout, Enugu where they vandalized some parts of the building.

The angry supporters went further to Holy Ghost Cathedral where several church facilities were also destroyed.

Mbaka later appeared and told his followers he would have been kept incommunicado by the Bishop for 30 days if not for their protest.

“On 5 May 2021, the followers of Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria violently broke into the diocesan cathedral Church and desecrated the holy altar of sacrifice,” the Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev Callistus Onaga, said in a statement on Thursday.

“Over and above this, they brutally vandalized the diocesan bishop’s residence, the cathedral parish house and the secretariat building complex.”

The church has described the vandalism as heinous and a desecration.

It called on  all parishes, chaplaincies and religious houses in the Catholic Diocese of Enugu to quickly embark on prayer of  “atonement and reparation” over what it regarded as desecration of “the holy altar of sacrifice” by the followers of Mbaka.

In addition to daily benediction, faithful will recite five decades of the Rosary, an “Act of Reparation to the Most Blessed Sacrament” and Psalms 51 and 23.

“I enjoin you to remain sober and keep the diocese in prayer. With divine assistance and grace, we shall overcome this challenging moment,” the bishop said.