Nigerian prelate’s pastoral letter on ‘menace of Boko Haram’
November 11, 2014
A Nigerian bishop whose diocese has borne much of the devastation wrought by Boko Haram has written a pastoral letter on the Islamist terrorist movement.
“The menace of Boko Haram: to say that we are experiencing [a] severe test of our faith in this diocese hardly requires an emphasis,” wrote Bishop Oliver Doeme of Maiduguri. “Therefore as a Church, families and individuals, we are wounded, traumatized and devastated.”
“My dear people of God, we will not hear any response to our questions now, until God achieves his purpose through these our painful experiences,” he continued. “But for sure the ultimate result of our pains and anguish is for God’s name to [be] glorified and for our own purification and edification. Moreover, God does not need to take permission from us; before he brings any experience into our lives be it joyful or sorrowful.”
He added:
My dear people, let us keep our faith alive. We should never get discouraged. Our faith should make us see beyond the immediate experience and look at the future – that is, after this temporal life with its pains and suffering, we shall share in the eternal glory of our Lord. And so we need to have unshakable faith in God despite what we are experiencing. I always tell you my people that there are two precious gifts of the Lord that on no account should we allow anybody to separate us from them. And these are our faith and our souls.
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