Bishop Gbuji, the Man that Saw Tomorrow by Most Rev. Dr. Ernest A. Obodo, Auxillary Bishop of Enugu Diocese

Introduction:

Bishop Gbuji, the Legendry Pastor “I will give you shepherds after my own heart” With these words Pope St. John Paul II started his Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis. Since her creation in 1962, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu has been blessed with wonderful shepherds after God’s own heart. Divine providence brought each of these Bishops to Enugu Diocese when they were most needed. The great pastor, erudite canonist and foremost educationist, Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji was appointed as the 4th Bishop of Enugu on 8 November, 1996.

When he took canonical possession of his new diocese, he realized that the Diocese of Enugu was blessed with highly talented but also sophisticated clergy; product of the previous administration which, one of its cardinals focuses was the further training of priests. Armed with such talented clergy, the highly experienced, wise and diplomatic Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji wasted no time in putting round pegs in round holes, such that after thirteen years of successful episcopacy, he left Enugu as one of the most organized Dioceses in Nigeria. Bishop Gbuji and New Evangelization.

The story of the Episcopacy of Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji cannot be completed without the mention of his role in New Evangelization. The theme of Evangelization was the major focus of Pope St. John Paul II during his papacy. The first time he mentioned New Evangelization was during his visit to his own country, Poland in 1979. When he visited Nigeria in 1982, the Pope emphasized a New Evangelization which would be new in method, in zeal and expression. He repeated this when he addressed the Latin American Bishops in 1983.

The Pope was talking about an Evangelization with a new content. It was the same Good News of Jesus Christ preached with a new vigor. Rev. Fr. Tom Forrest, a Redemptorist priest started the programme of Evangelization 2000 in answer to the wish of His Holiness. After the visit of Pope St. John Paul II to Nigeria in 1982, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (C.B.C.N) gave Bishop Gbuji the mission and mandate to find ways of making the Pope’s concern realizable. Bishop Gbuji, who was then in charge of Mission and Dialogue in the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria gladly took this charge seriously.

After meeting Fr. Jim Bermingham (SSP) who was co-founder of Evangelization 2000 in 1989, Bishop Gbuji founded the Emmaus School of Evangelisation, the first school of Evangelization in Africa. His idea of New Evangelization was enriched by the idea of Small Christian Communities which he earlier emphasized during his episcopacy as the Bishop of Issele-Ukwu. When Bishop Gbuji came to Enugu, he quickly launched the New Evangelization programme in Enugu and sent some priests to Issele-Ukwu for training on this topic.

He personally trained seminarians on New Evangelization at the least contact he had with them. Enugu Diocese, therefore, became the hub of New Evangelization among all the Dioceses in Nigeria. The emphasis on New Evangelization, somehow, gave rise to the influx of many young men into tne seminaries. Because the Gospel was preached door to door, many young people took more interest in the vocation to the priesthood. Bishop Gbuji and Vocation Boom in Enugu Diocese At the inception of his Episcopacy in Enugu Diocese in 1996, Bishop Gbuji was faced with the challenge of how to manage the influx of many young people into the seminary.

The ‘vocation boom’ as it is popular known, was so enormous that the regional seminaries were rejecting seminarians sent to them for training due to lack of space. For the first three years of his reign as the Bishop of Enugu, the seminaries accepted only about one quarter of the available candidates for the senior seminary training. The other two quarters must wait until the following year. However, the number continued to stock-pile every year. Normally, a shepherd would have simply dismissed the remaining number as having no vocations. But being a good pastor, Bishop Gbuji would not throw away genuine vocations simply for the lack of space.

For him, the number was not the problem but lack of proper training, because the biblical injunction ‘the harvest is rich but the labourers are few’ (Lk 10.2) was, for him, still relevant today even in Nigeria. If Bishop Gbuji had not intervened, a quarter of the number of priests which we have today in our Diocese would have been lost. This explains why he is still deeply loved by the younger generation of priests in Enugu Diocese. His inspiration saved many good vocations. Listening to the voice of the fathers of the Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et Spes that ´the Church should read the signs of the time’, (Gaudium et Spes no.4; see also Pope St Jn XXIII, Humane Salutis, Dec.25 1961), Bishop Gbuji laid the foundation of St. Bernard Seminary hostel, Nchatancha-Nike, Enugu.

He saw the future, the birth of St. Bernard Seminary Hostel Veritatis Gaudium published by the Congregation for Catholic education on December 8, 2020 directed that seminaries which seek the continued affiliation with papal universities in Rome must seperate the places of human, spiritual and pastoral formation from institutes of learning where academic activities are pursued. That means that seminaries should be places of proper human, spiritual and pastoral formation, separated in space from the place where academic formation goes on.

In Nigeria, a religious congregation like the Clareratian Missionaries had long separated its house of formation from its Institute of academic formation which is now open to both male and female religious as well as to the laity. That was exactly Bishop Gbuji’s idea of founding St. Bernard Seminary Hostel, as a place where his seminarians would be given human, spiritual as well as pastoral formation while going to Bigard Memorial Seminary for their intellectual formation. If he had his way, Bigard Memorial Seminary should have been tumed into a pure institute of academic pursuit.

Basing his idea on the Post Synodal Apostolic Exortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis of St Pope john Paul II published on March 15 1992, Bishop Gbuji wanted a more thorough preparation of the candidates for the priestly ministry. Despite the criticisms of some that such house of formation as St. Bernard Seminary Hostel, would produce future priests of Enugu Diocese who would be parochial, rather than universal in outlook, the products of St. Bernard, for nine years, have vindicated this pastor per excellence.

The priests formed in St. Bernard wear a more mature outlook in the four areas of priestly formation: spiritual, intellectual, human and pastoral formation. This means that Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji, as an experienced pastor saw the future while living in the present. He Gave Us A Structure in Enugu Diocese Upon assumption of office as Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji saw the need to restructure Enugu Diocese in line with the canonical stipulations of the 1983 code of canon law.

The diocesan curia, presbyteral council, college of consultors, deans of deaneries, episcopal vicars, finance Council and pastoral Councils at both the parish as well as at the diocesan levels were the major diocese structures set up by Bishop Gbuji for the smooth running of the pastoral life of the Diocese. After some experimentations, he set out creating six denaries, each manned by episcopal vicars known as deans. He created 31-different commissions to oversee the various aspects of the pastoral life of the Diocese, ranging from biblical apostolate commission to youths’ commission.

The deans, episcopal vicars and heads of various commissions are meant to meet regularly with the parish priests, subsidieres and members of their commissions to deliberate on various diocesan plans in order to generate a pastoral harmony which flows from bottom to top. In this way he created a pastoral synergy which still works perfectly in Enugu Diocese. In addition to the establishment of St. Bernard Seminary, Nchatancha, the experienced pastor, Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji established the St. Paul Institute of Evangelization to give some academic credence to his evangelization programmes in Enugu Diocese.

He strove to unite the various academic institutes in Enugu Diocese into a unified Cor Unum University. His ideas were brought to fruition by the establishment of the Godfrey Okoye University spear-headed by Very Rev. Professor Dr. Christian Anieke who became the pioneer of this very First diocesan University in Africa. Making an Interesting Retirement through Prolific Writing As we celebrate this erudite canonist, foremost educationist and pastor per excellence at 90, we want to point out one of the secrets of his longevity.

Bishop Gbuji happens to be one of those celebrated bishops who believe that’ the best ways to preside over a diocese is through prayerful reflections before the Blessed Sacrament in deep adoration as well as through continuous research. This explains the reasons why he made his library one of the most important rooms in his residence. Bishop Gbuji believes that reading maketh a man, writing an exact man and conference a ready man. His beautiful homilies and reflections are always written down. The days of his retirement have blossomed into a wealth of knowledge carefully articulated into relevant books.

Infact one would say that Bishop Gbuji is not just a prolific writer but also a famous media giant who gives conferences, talks and reflections in various radios and televisions since after his retirement. One would believe that this is one of the contributory factors of his longivity. At retirement, Bishop Gbuji is not tired. He has started the New Evangelization Research and Ministries, NERAM.