Jos, the Plateau State capital, witnessed an
unusual event last Sunday as a Catholic
church joined 52 men with 52 women in a
mass wedding ceremony involving an
unprecedented number of couples. St. Moses
Parish of the Catholic Church located in
Tudun Wada, Jos North Local Government
Area, Plateau State, facilitated the tying of
nuptial knots by the love birds who took turns
to take marriage oaths before they were
formally joined in holy matrimony.

The mass wedding was the first of its kind
not only in Jos but the entire Plateau State.
Of course, there had been mass weddings
before that day, but none of them involved
more than 20 couples at a time. The ring road
that passes through Tudun Wada community
became almost impassable for motorists as
the community where St. Moses Catholic
Church was located witnessed the biggest
crowd in its history. The road witnessed the
most hectic traffic congestion ever as both
the celebrants and their guests and relations
as well as other road users struggled to
wriggle their ways out of the snarl. Ironically,
many of the new couples were happy that
their wedding could account for so much
traffic congestion.

Interestingly, all the couples had been
married in the traditional way and most of
them had lived together in marriage for years.
Many of them had even raised children and
were looking forward to their grandchildren.
But they felt that their lives were not
complete because they had all along shut
Jesus Christ out of their marriage. Even in
the church, there was a limit beyond which
they could not rise because as far as the
church was concerned, they were not
officially married. Even the larger society
mocked them, hence their resolve to take
their marriage oaths before the congregation.

It was observed that many of them could not
arrange for white garment wedding before
they began to raise children due to their poor
economic conditions. Because they could not
afford the cost of church wedding, the
husbands and wives agreed to go ahead to
raise children while praying for the day they
would have enough savings for church
marriage.

One of the couples identified simply as Mr
and Mrs Samuel, said: “As Christians, for
everything we do in life, we ask God to take
control of our plan. Ours is to have the plan,
it is God that executes it. We also believe
that God’s time is the best. We might have
had it in mind to confirm our marriage all this
while, but that did not come to be until today.
So, we believe that this day is the day chosen
by God for our church wedding.

“It is all for good because even without
coming before God in marriage, God has been
with us. God has blessed us with children.
God gave us boys and girls, and we consider
that as a huge blessing in our lives.”

Another couple, Mr and Mrs David, said: “All
fingers created by God are not equal.
Organising a church marriage in this modern
life is not easy. But you must get married at
the ripe age irrespective of your economic
situation. So after our traditional marriage, we
decided to postpone the church wedding
pending when we would have sustainable
income to sponsor our wedding.

“But we appreciate God for sparing our lives
till today to make our plan real. Some were
not lucky to get to this day, so this wedding
is a celebration of our married life. It is about
celebrating God for the number of children He
has blessed us with. It is also a thanksgiving
to God for our lives.”

Mr and Mrs Stephen: “It was a burden on our
heads that we were not able to have our
marriage confirmed by God. We feel so
relieved today that we have taken that burden
off our heads.”

According to the Parish Priest of St. Moses
Catholic Church, “the essence of marriage is
for a couple to live happily. These couples
have had happiness in abundance in their
lives since they have been together. They are
happy and contented irrespective of their
weak financial positions.

“So, marriage is not about money or
expensive marriage ceremony. It is all about
the couple being happy and contented with
where God has placed them in life. So I see
their holy sacrament today as a celebration
of happy life, happy couples and happy
family.”

Interestingly, some of the couples had to wait
for their children to sponsor their weddings.
They had struggled to train their children only
for the children to grow up and realize that
their parents’ marriage rites were not
completed. It became a challenge to them.

To them, their parents must have sacrificed
the money they would have used for marriage
to pay their school fees and feed them. So
when the children discovered this, they picked
up the challenge to pay their parents back by
making sure their marriage rites were
performed. The church has the record of
members who need to complete their
marriage rites. So it decided to set a date for
such members. The chosen date was October
11, 2015.

Due to the importance the Catholic Church
attaches to marriage, the oath is often
conducted by the Archbishop himself. So on
that fateful day, the Catholic Archbishop of
Jos, His Grace, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama, was
there in person to officiate. When it came to
taking marriage oaths, he asked all the 52
couples to repeat some words after him, and
they all did. The couples took the oath in
chorus, exchanged the marriage rings at the
same time and later signed the marriage
certificates under the watch of the
Archbishop.

Bishop Kaigama, who is the President of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, said:
“The Catholic Church will not relent in its
support of procreation in the country, against
the ideology of some societies campaigning
against it. The 52 couples joined today is an
unprecedented number in the growth of the
family of Christ and the diocese. The
sacrament of marriage also witnessed
alongside the sacrament of confirmation of
217 soldiers of Christ.”

He added: “We, as leaders saddled with the
responsibility to shepherd the flocks of God,
the church would continue to support
procreation in the world because the living
God said we should go into the world to
multiply and fill the earth.”

Bishop Kaigama expressed deep concern
about the negative ideology of some
countries in the world championing same-sex
union and want to compel other nations in
Africa and other parts of the world to legalise
the same-sex ideology.

He said: “Let me use this opportunity to warn
the rest of the world not to accept the
ungodly ideology of same-sex.”

The Parish Priest of St. Moses Catholic
Church,Wada, Jos, Rev. Father Joseph
Mancha, who used the opportunity to eulogise
the Bishop of Jos Catholic Diocess, described
Bishop Kaigama as a true Shepherd whose
selfless work is not just within the diocese
but the world at large.

Father Mancha described Kaigama is an
ambassador of peace, following his recent
award by an Italian based reputable
international organisation, Archvio Disarmo or
Richerche International Institute as the
recipient of their Golden Dove for Peace.

Mancha said: “This is the fruit of your local
and international tireless and selfless efforts
in building bridges and the consensus of
ecumenism on the interfaith dialogue,
peaceful co-existence and inter-religious
harmony in the world.

“By this, we are proud to note that you have
joined the illustrious company of great
statesmen like Nelson Mandela, Perez De
Cuellar, Jesse Jackson, Mohammed Elbardei
and Jane Goodall in building a peaceful
society in the world.”

Mancha stressed that the parish and the
parishioners were blessed with the presence
of the Kaigama, adding that the bishop had
strengthen the spiritual growth of his people.

The newly confirmed couples marched out of
the church to have their photographs at the
end of the service. Most of them later took
their guests to their family homes for
reception as there were no enough parks or
gardens in the city to accommodate them and
their guests. Besides, it was obvious that
most of them could not muster the funds to
rent a park.

Included among the new couples were: Mr.
Chrisantus and his wife Lucy; Mr. Jonathan
and his wife Catherine; Mr. Thomas and his
wife Christiana; Mr. Kenneth and his wife
Evelyn; Mr. Augustine and wife Mary; Mr.
Bitrus and wife Josephine; Mr. Francis and
wife Catherine; Mr. Ishaya & wife Patricia:
and Mr. Bitrus and wife Angela.

Others were: Mr. Joseph and wife Margaret;
Mr. Samson and wife Pekes; Mr. Raymond
and wife Justina; Mr. Joefrey and wife
Cecilia; Mr. Peter and wife Mary; Mr. James
and wife Grace; Mr. Haruna and wife Charity;
Mr. Emmanuel and wife Roseline; Mr.
Williams and wife Esther; Mr. Bitrus and wife
Margaret; Mr. Victor and wife Tabitha; Mr.
Anthony wife Grace; Mr. Francis and wife
Regina; Mr. Sunday and wife Rose; Mr. Peter
and wife Sarah; Mr. Luka and wife Mary; Mr.
Thomas and wife Esther; and Mr. Ernest wife
Esther.

Also on the roll were: Mr. Godwin and wife
Ruth; Mr. Isaac and wife Magdaline; Mr. John
Paul and wife Hanatu; Mr. Thomas and wife
Victoria; Mr. Daniel and wife Josephine; Mr.
Lawrence and wife Grace; Mr. David and wife
Charity; Mr. Samson and wife Mary; Mr.
Theophilus and wife Antonia; Mr. Boniface
and wife Tabitha; Mr. Yohana and wife
Deborah; Mr. Cletus and wife Longret; Mr.
Peter and wife Grace; Mr. Joseph and wife
Abigail; Mr. Kefas and wife Charity; Mr.
Moses and wife Ruth; Mr. Moses and wife
Mary; Mr. Peter and wife Angelia; Mr.
Raphael and wife Margaret; and Mr. Stephen
and wife Gloria.

source: www.thenationonlineng.net/history-in-jos-as-church-conducts-mass-wedding-for-52-couples/

Ask abokis, kano conducted mass weddg 4 1000 n anyway wsh d newly wed blissful matrimony.

The Church encouraging cohabitation before marriage.
Hmmm!

On top wetin mbok

Me I no fit oooo.....me I want classy wedding oooo...only me...the one wey person no go pass for airport

Btw it's good sha...really reduces cost...but crowd oooo

#3rd to comment

The posters above are hackers

The one below me tho

Nice.. .