History will be made today in Owerri Catholic Archdiocese as Archbishop Anthony Amarachi Obinna quits the position for Bishop Lucius Ugorji to take over.
On reaching the mandatory age of retirement, Obinna will today hand over the mantle of the church leadership to Ugorji, who was formerly Bishop of Umuahia Diocese.
A maverick priest noted for his outspoken disposition to societal ills and other matters affecting people, like politics, the clergy and laity of the Archdiocese will bid him bye today for retirement.
Born June 26, 1946, to late Mr. & Mrs Michael Obinna of Emekuku, Owerri, Imo State. Archbishop Obinna was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church on 9th April 1972, graduating that year from the Bigard Memorial Seminary and the Pontifical Urban University Rome, with a First Class honours Bachelor’s degree in Divinity (B.D.)
In 1975 he earned the Licentiate Degree in Moral Theology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome earning at the same time a diploma in Counselling Psychology.
In 1976 he was employed to teach at the Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri, in the Department of Religious Studies. He worked at the same time as Catholic Chaplain to the College Community.
From 1979 to 1984 he was on study leave at the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. where he earned a Master’s degree in Religious Studies (M.A.) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Religious Studies and Education.
In 1984 he returned to Nigeria and continued to teach at the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, rising to the rank of Principal Lecturer and Head of Department of Religious Studies. Concurrently in 1984/85 he taught Fundamental Theology at the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu.
While on Sabbatical leave in 1993 in the United States of America, he was appointed bishop of Owerri to succeed his revered predecessor, the late Bishop Mark O. Unegbu. He was ordained bishop 4th September 1993. On March 31, 1994, he was appointed Archbishop and Metropolitan, Owerri Ecclesiastical Province. He is currently the Chairman, Education Commission, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria.
Under Archbishop Obinna the parishes in Owerri Archdiocese have grown from fifty to ninety three thereby increasing the pastoral challenges before him. He continues to face the responsibility of training seminarians for the priesthood, rebuilding the educational system with new schools, rehabilitating the Archdiocesan health care system with new structures, taking new project initiatives and helping church and society to grow in a healthy way.
His Episcopal motto is: “To Serve God and His people”
Obinna is credited to several innovations in the Owerri Catholic Diocese which have put his name on the sands of time as a great evangelist of our time.
Lucius Ugorji, before the new designation was the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia and former Apostolic Administrator of the Ahiara diocese.
The Catholic Pontiff, His Holiness, Pope Francis, made the appointment.
With the appointment, Most Revd (Dr.) Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji becomes the second Archbishop of the Diocese, one of the oldest in the country.
Pope Francis, represented by Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, His Grace, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, made the announcement on Sunday in Abuja, at the opening ceremony of the ongoing first plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in 2022.
Ugorji will take over from His Grace, Archbishop Anthony John Valentine (AJV) Obinna, who has been in that position since March 26 1994.
Archbishop Filipazzi said Pope Francis has accepted the voluntary retirement of Obinna after the Archbishop reached 75 years.
The mandatory retirement age for bishops in the Catholic Church is 75.
Obinna was born on June 26, 1946 at Emekuku, Owerri and was ordained a priest on April 9, 1972.
He became the Bishop of Owerri Diocese in 1993 and was upgraded to the position of Archbishop in 1994 when Owerri ecclesiastical province became an Archdiocese.
Lucius Ugorji biography: The new Archbishop of Owerri, Lucius Ugorji, was born in January 13, 1952. He was first ordained a priest at the age of 25 and was appointed a Bishop by Pope John Paul II when he was 38 years old.
