The Real Mike Behind the Skull Cap[i]
22.11.2015
When he sat on the professorial chair of Ethics and Psychology, he was the darling of all students. Msgr. Jerome Okechukwu Anaetoh is the parish priest of St. Mulumba’s, Azuiyiokwu, and was the first priest in the Diocese to be ordained by the Bishop. Before then he was his student at Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. He still recalls the manner the Bishop would summarize his lecture. “Keep in mind that good must be done and evil avoided,” he would say at the beginning or end of his lecture.
Msgr. Muo, the Vicar General and a former student, says the Bishop is “a very intelligent deep sighted and far-sighted person.” Mr. Eze Martin echoes the same point: “His mental alertness is second to none. His ability to recognize, articulate and analyze activities makes him a good shepherd. He has a high aptitude for recognizing faces and remembering names.”
Not all intelligent people smile but Bishop Okoro does. His smiles are contagious. He does want someone’s anger to reflect in what one says. He tells his priests: “Preach the gospel and don’t abuse them; don’t scold them nor frown at them.” This has become so characteristic of him that it leaves enemies wondering whether he harbours anything against them. When one has a problem he welcomes one and laughs with him or her as if nothing exists. He always encourages those around him. Chief Martin Elechi is right when he says: “No matter the situation, if he sees you he greets you with a smile. No matter the problem he is carrying, he would welcome you with a smile.” For Chief Elechi, such a gesture has a healing effect. “As far as I am concerned that is a great therapy,” he admits.
Fr Emmanuel Obuna’s experience of the smiling Bishop is not personal as he claims: “I have personally witnessed where his own priests would insult him and humiliate the Bishop in public. And to my greatest surprise, the Bishop remained absolutely calm and would not utter a single word in response to all the insults. That reminds me what one of our professors once told us that ‘the greatness of a man is measured by the things that make him happy.’ In other words, if petty things make you angry, then you are nothing but a petty character,” Fr Obuna reveals.
Bishop Okoro creates atmosphere of happiness around himself. Fr Obuna recalls an incident which once took place at the Bishop’s refectory. “Once all the Bishops of English-speaking West Africa visited Nigeria and a group of them came on tour to Abakaliki Diocese. After their excursion that day, they converged at the Bishop’s refectory; part of which consisted in the Bishop’s secretary playing some Congo music on his guitar and Bonny, the Bishop’s cook joining in with some acrobatic dance- the old Makossa style. At the end of it all the Irish Bishop of The Gambia gave a vote of thanks. He concluded his speech with a typical Irish sense of humor saying that in his lifetime he had travelled round the world but nowhere had he ever met a Bishop with “a singing secretary and a dancing cook except here in Abakaliki Diocese.”
Chief Mrs. Chinwendu Muoneke confesses that he is “a wonderful and exciting host to his visitors with little or no protocol, welcoming all and sundry with his infectious smiles.” She adds that the Bishop does not leave his visitors without one or two words of wisdom.
When Bishop Okoro smiles, he listens as well. The listening quality of the Bishop has caught the admiration of Msgr. Alphonsus Iwueke who has known the Bishop for the last 50 years. Besides being the Cathedral Administrator since January 3, 1992, Msgr. Iwueke as a junior seminarian and an altar boy, served at the Bishop’s priestly ordination Mass on 19th December 1965 at Mater Field, New Site Afikpo. He has since followed the Bishop closely in different capacities. After the priestly ordination he would later meet the Bishop in 1970 as a Professor of Ethics and Psychology in the Faculty of Philosophy when he (Msgr. Iwueke) entered the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. He didn’t just see him as a lecturer but worked as his private librarian. And when Bishop Okoro left Bigard to become the Cathedral Administrator in 1974, Msgr. Iwueke was later posted to work under him as a curate. Msgr. Iwueke alongside Fr. Lawrence Eke flanked the Bishop during his episcopal ordination in 1977 and in 1978, he became the parish priest of the Bishop’s home parish, St Mary’s, Afikpo.
Msgr. Iwueke while applauding the listening quality of the Bishop says: “He has a listening ear, especially for one who opens up to him.” According to Msgr. Iwueke, the Bishop’s listening quality makes him to trust every priest until one proves himself otherwise. “He is very open, hospitable and friendly. He is always ready to engage one in dialogue anytime, patient and very considerate in his dealings with people. He has fellow feeling and always conscious of his priests’ health…”
Chief Mrs. Chinwendu Muoneke describes the Bishop as “an efficient “Shock Absorber” who has very high capacity for tolerance and ability to accept all the challenges encountered along the execution of his episcopal duties from both the religious and the laity with a high measure of philosophical calmness.”
The Bishop’s driver, Mr. Fidelis Nwiboko revealed that in the past 37 years he has lived with the Bishop, everyday has always been like the same, peaceful relationship. “We never misunderstood each other; he always gives me advice in many ways and fields” Mr. Nwiboko recounts.
For Eze Martin, the Bishop is “an attentive listener and a good counselor: He will patiently listen to your complaints, ask questions and probably proffer solutions. As a good counselor, he helps and supports people out of their predicaments, hence a guardian.
Again, like Christ who came to serve and not to be served, the Bishop has remained faithful to this call. While recognizing his other many good qualities, Fr. Obuna says: “Our Bishop literarily serves. I know many dioceses where the Bishop has definite days of the week for attending to priests, religious and the laity. But our Bishop makes himself available to his priests almost 24 hours of the day! His priests troop in to see him whether at breakfast, lunch or supper- even during siesta, he leaves his door open for priests to come in without knocking and telling him their problem. Once he was sick he could not get up from his bed to go to the office. Yet, lying in his bed, he was still attending to priests. When I came in I teased him by telling him that he is the only Bishop that I know who runs his diocese lying flat on his back. He laughed but it was literally true.”
Many priests recount occasions where priests would troop into his refectory during meals and his cook would be overwhelmed by the number of unexpected guests and the Bishop would get up, go into the kitchen and help the cook prepare extra meal. He would then come out from the kitchen with a tray full of dishes and serve his own priests at table. As an excellent cook, the Bishop sometimes cooks with his cook. Needless saying that he taught his own cook how to cook some 30 years ago when he took him into his service as a young teenager.
Conscious of the Bishop’s hospitability, Mother Helen Eze says: “He is a balanced personality, lovable and approachable. He is cherished by all and many consider him a beacon of excellence in service.” And Martin Eze insists that His Lordship is approachable: “He has little or no protocol for you to discuss issues with him. He gives you audience at any slightest approach.”
[i] Published November 22, 2015
