The manifestation of our special blessing commenced in September 2014, when it pleased His Excellency, the Most Reverend Dr. Valerian Okeke, the Archbishop of Onitsha, to appoint Reverend Father John Ezechukwu Manafa, the Parish Priest of our church. Father Manafa had previously been the Parish Priest of St Gabriel, Umunachi.
As is generally self-evident, God, the Almighty Father, hands to every individual their own special gifts. St. Paul made this clear in 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11:
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now, to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Now, as Father Manafa focused on his priestly duties, it became manifest to Ndi St. Dominic that a key spiritual gift tied to his ministry was that of “different kinds of working.” Armed with this knowledge, they began to keep records of his achievements that we take the liberty to list here:
- Father Manafa renovated the rectory to a modern parish house.
- He instituted a demarcation between the parish rectory and the church building.
- He completed the perimetre fence at the back end of the rectory, so that the entire compound, including the Anakwe Memorial Primary School, was completely secured; he plastered and painted the fence and installed security lights and cameras.
- He reclaimed the land housing the disused school’s pit toilets, sand-filled the pits, and erected on it a Boys’ Quarters for the rectory.
- He built conveniences for the parish and the school; he reticulated water to them and the sacristy.
- With the consent of Chief G. C. Oranika, who had constructed the church’s Marian Grotto, Father Manafa relocated it to a more easily accessible point.
- At the space created by the Grotto’s relocation, he built the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration.
- He expanded the perimetres of the existing church, introducing a touch of modernity, adding many more pews, and completely redesigning the altar that was built courtesy of a donation willed by the late Chief Sylvester Okafor Ibegbu and executed by his family. The new-look church was dedicated by Archbishop Okeke on May 26, 2019.
- He beautified the church compound with landscaping that replaced grassy, sandy patches with eye-catching grass verges and terraces of interlocking blocks.
- He completed our Madonna Hall, a building project stalled at the foundation level for years.
Apart from what passed for purely infrastructural landmarks and improvements, Father Manafa recorded other significant successes that marked him out as a man of God who reads the Bible and takes seriously the holy book’s injunctions. For instance, the Book of Zechariah 7:9-10 says:
This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.
Apart from the spiritual well-being of his parishioners, Father Manafa also paid special and specific attention to their temporal needs. He has a dedicated place in his heart for widows, cushioning the shock of their financial pressures, paying hospital bills for some of those with health challenges, and giving them all bags of rice and poultry for Christmas, Easter, and New Year’s celebrations.
He financially empowered poor CWO members for their entrepreneurial development. He encouraged social functions, throwing parties for kids and adults to mark church festivals. He often shared gifts of shoes and clothing for children. Inevitably, there were bags of rice for him to distribute to parishioners at Christmas.
He scrapped Afa m Diya, the monthly collection of offerings for the parish’s development. Spectacularly, each time the Annual Cathedraticum took place at Dunokofia, he made sure that none of the other four Abatete Parishes donated more cows to Archbishop Okeke than St. Dominic by adding his own funds to the parishioners’ contributions.
He introduced the Children’s Mass at 7 a.m. every Sunday. Before his arrival, the Catholic Women’s Organisation (CWO) was a behemoth defiant of easy management. He split it into four manageable groups – St. Ann’s, St. Cecilia’s, St. Agatha’s, and St, Mary’s, and every CWO member is happier for the initiative.
Two critical questions arise at this point. How was Father Manafa moulded from the cradle? And just how does he manage to take on many issues with financial implications and master them all? To start with his origins. Father Manafa’s upbringing started with his parents, his siblings, and his primary schoolmates. He was born on December 15, 1973. Today, he is 51 years old, to the glory of God.
His father, the late Mr. Paul Chukwuneme Azodo Manafa, was a public servant whose long career hit the high rank of Senior Accountant before his honourable retirement from the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). His mother, still vibrantly alive, is Mrs. Rose Ucheoba Manafa, who often visited St. Dominic Parish during celebrations and important church anniversaries. The Manafas have 10 children, made up of four boys and six girls.
For his secondary school education, Father Manafa attended the All Hallows Junior Seminary in Onitsha. There, he earned his Latin Diploma. Then he left for the St. Pius X Seminary in Akwa Ukwu for his Spiritual Year. He was in the pioneer set of the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Awka.
His course in Philosophy was at the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. He had his Theology training at the Blessed Iwene Tansi Major Seminary Onitsha. He was, at the age of 32 years, ordained a priest in the Order of Melchizedek on July 16, 2005. This brief biodata of Father Manafa recalls the boast of the Jesuits to wit: Give us a child until he is five
And we shall account for him all his life.
The lesson in this couplet is that properly bringing up a child invariably leads to a life decorated with the fear of God and service to His most holy name. Father Manafa’s parents taught him well; he imbibed invaluable lessons on humanity that are bound to be lifelong.
As for his finances and his willingness to share them with many, it all boils down to the fact that, in addition to his priestly calling, he is also a businessman. People often forget that Catholic priests are permitted by Canon Law to engage in legal, extra-ministerial preoccupations from which money is earned. This is despite the existence in our midst of priests who are medical doctors, lawyers, teachers, civil servants, et cetera.
There was the extraordinary case of a South American priest who raised money for his parish by engaging in professional wrestling. What Father Manafa did was to seek and obtain the permission of his archbishop to go into business. Once his request was granted, he sought and obtained bank loans with which he set up businesses involved in the manufacturing of bottled and sachet water, the brewing of beverages, and animal husbandry.
It was the English writer Samuel Johnson who said “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” Father Manafa knows how to earn money for his labours, and he also knows where to source additional funds for the prosecution of his church and charitable causes.
These sources included friends won through his affable personality in town and villages all over, including his hometown of Aguleri, from whence came the cheerful donor who singlehandedly reroofed the renovated St. Dominic Church. On the pastoral side, the sources included Father Henry Nnajiofor, PhD, and Father Michael Nwobodo, an industrial physicist. Both priests assisted all through Father Manafa’s stint at St. Dominic.
Because Father Manafa is a cheerful giver, he routinely spreads the goodies that issue from his business successes. That is why Ndi Saint Dominic can attest without fear of contradiction that he has in the depths of his heart the words of 2 Corinthians 9:6-8:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God has paid him bountifully. He will continue to reward him. We have been blessed by his nine-year-long stay with us that commenced with expectation and ended on a note of joy and spiritual upliftment of all. Little wonder that when parting time came, there were tears on many faces. Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church. We use it here to say of Father Manafa: VENI, VIDI, VICI. He came, he saw, he conquered.
Let us praise and thank the Lord God of All Creation!
