By Rev. Fr. Anthony Adetayo

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu-Ode Most Rev. Francis Obafemi Adesina made this statement at the presentation Mass of the Diocesan pastoral plan and the graduation ceremony of the first set of graduands of the FRALAN Management Institute which took place on 14th August 2021 at St. Sebastian Catholic Cathedral Ijebu-Ode beginning from 10:00am.

In his brief homily, the Bishop said “We are here for two reasons The presentation of the Diocesan pastoral plan and the graduation ceremony of the graduates of Fralan Management Institute.”

“We are not closing our doors to the outside world but we need to show that we are grateful with these resources around us and use it to empower ourselves”.

According to the Bishop, “today we stand on two solid traditions of faith; the tradition of Bishop Anthony Sanusi and that of Bishop Albert Fasina. He says we cannot do anything today without these traditions and that is why we chose as a plan for our Diocese, “Moving forward in faith and action.”

“I can describe Bishop Sanusi as our Moses who started the journey and Bishop Fasina as our Joshua who led us into the promised land. Now Bishop Adesina has been mandated to return the people of God to their covenant with Him in the promised Land like Elijah did. This plan shall guide our endeavors in the Diocese henceforth so that our focus is set aright. I hope and pray that through this promulgation of the Diocesan pastoral plan we shall be energized to move forward by the Holy Spirit.

The program continued after the Mass where the Bishop officially promulgated the Pastoral plan into law with a promise of commitment from the representatives of the Priests, Religious and Laity.