elele 2

The Awo-Omama event made the then Superior of the Holy Ghost Fathers... 

very Rev. Fr. James Okoye C.S.Sp. change the initial arrangement... 

and he reposted Father Edeh to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Elele - instead of the Philosophy House Isienu, Nsukka. Father Edeh, in obedience, left practically with nothing to Elele, and indeed became the parish priest on 1st September, 1984. 

Arriving in Elele, Father Edeh celebrated the first mass on the 1st of Sept., 1984, the Mass which according to the catechist who has been the parish catechist till date was 'a pointer to the greater things to come to the parish. As a matter of fact, that Mass signalled the departure from a stagnated church to a viable and lively church in Elele and its environs.' 

These inspired words of the catechist in no distant time came true, as the people soon began witnessing the gift of special and effective intercession in their parish priest Father Edeh. 

It is pertinent to mention here that Elele at that time was a very remote village. 

Many Biafran war victims took the area for refuge, as they fled from the Nigerian soldiers. 

Elele was known as a dumping ground for war victims. The situation was worsened by the inflow of over thirty thousand dehumanized victims from the Maitatsine uprising from the Northern part of Nigeria and later those displaced by Boko Haram insurgency [opstand]. People were war-torn and disoriented. The reality of human suffering was written on the faces of countless humans. 

There was no food in the land and many were dying of hunger and kwashiorkor [ondervoeding]. People were homeless, many maimed [verminkt], rejected and dejected [neerslachtig]. There was no functional school, hospital, and even market. Consequently, death in interval of hours was taking its tolls on mankind.

The above situation was what confronted Father Edeh, the Parish Priest of Elele. 

From the first Mass he celebrated on 1st Sep.1984, the suffering people of God spared him no rest. They began flocking to him first in tens, then in hundreds, then in thousands seeking help for their different needs. 

Many families, villages and towns set against each other by the war brought cases of land, and other property for settlement. Father Edeh will sit for hours mediating and amicably settling their cases. Orphans and destitutes who had no home came to him for shelter and care. Father Edeh readily made make-shift houses like tents for them, and cared for them spiritually and materially. 

He would go to his farm, harvest food crops. Even went as far as hunting, to provide food and rat meat for them. The sick and the injured he would provide medic-care, wash and bandage their wounds. The place became a haven [oase] for all suffering people. 

Once they came ,many would not go back, as they had practically no place to go. Holy Masses, prayers, consultations, confessions and dispensing of other sacraments and sacramentals took part of the spiritual care. All over the country, the name Father Edeh became a household name, described as a Priest who became all things to all men.

At a time, when the then Bishop of Port Harcourt Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Edmund Fitzgibbon of blessed memory came visiting, after staying with Father Edeh and watching what he was doing - how many people he is living and working with, those he feeds by himself, many blessings and favour of God on the people - he marvelled and said: "All I have seen is Catholic, all the activities are centered on prayer, in fact, it is a ministry inspired by the Holy Spirit. Therefore the place should be called ‘Catholic Prayer Ministry of the Holy Spirit.’"

As the number of people kept increasing, it became obviously impossible for the parish premises to accommodate them and also for Father Edeh to combine attending to their needs and the running of the parish. This made the then Bishop of Port-Harcourt diocese, and the then Superior of the Holy Ghost Fathers to separate the activities of the ministry from the parish. 

The bishop also advised Father Edeh to look for a land separate from the parish, in order to accommodate the teeming [krioelend, wemelend] population. The advice he accepted and acquired a land. The Catholic Prayer Ministry left the Parish lands of Our Lady of Lourdes, and moved into the new acquired land in 1989, when the Bishop of Port Harcourt blessed and inaugurated the new site. 

The Foundation Stone of the Centre was later blessed by Saint John Paul II... 

on March 22nd, 1998 at Oba in Onitsha... 

during the beatification of Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi.

[bron]