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ATLANTA--The archdiocese and the Nigerian Catholic community of Atlanta are
holding an Easter Festival April 5 and 6 to honor visiting Cardinal Francis
Arinze, the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in
Rome.
Cardinal Arinze, a native of Nigeria, will preside, along with Archbishop
John F. Donoghue, at Evening Prayer and Benediction on Easter Monday, April 5
at 6 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King, 2699 Peachtree Road, Atlanta.
Light refreshments will follow at the Hyland Center.
The cardinal will also celebrate Mass April 6 at 3 p.m. at St. Catherine of
Siena Church, 1618 Ben King Road, Kennesaw, which can seat over 1,000 people. A
reception will immediately follow the Mass, featuring various cultural
performances from Nigeria and a Taste of Africa dinner.
The cardinal was invited by the archbishop on behalf of the Nigerian
Catholic community and Father Martin-Ralph Kalu and Father Benneth Osigwe, two
priests from Nigeria serving in the archdiocese. Cardinal Arinze was archbishop
of Onitsha, Nigeria, before he was called to serve at the Vatican and
frequently visits Nigerian Catholics living outside their homeland, Father
Osigwe said. He estimated that Nigeria’s population is 47 percent
Catholic, primarily among the Igbo.
Mass is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month in the Igbo language at
St. Anthony’s Church, Atlanta. The Nigerian priests, who are assigned to
St. Catherine of Siena Church and St. Pius X Church, Conyers, strive to welcome
and develop a community among Nigerians who arrive in Atlanta as immigrants.
The cardinal’s visit “will help to bring Nigerians closer
together,” Father Osigwe said. “It is a blessing that he is coming to
help us.”
Cardinal Arinze, 66, was ordained a priest in 1958 in Rome after study of
theology at Pontifical Urban University. He was ordained the coadjutor bishop
of Onitsha in 1965 and was appointed the first indigenous archbishop of Onitsha
in 1967, a position he served in until 1984, when he was appointed
pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians. He was elevated to
cardinal in May 1985 by Pope John Paul II and made president of the
secretariat, which was renamed in 1988 the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue.
Cardinal Arinze also serves as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and many
pontifical councils and committees, including the Cardinals’ Committee for
Jubilee 2000.
The public is invited to attend the prayer service, the Mass and the dinner.
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