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Catholic priest sacked for marrying 2 wives

A Catholic Church priest has been sacked after it was found out that he was married to two women and had children against his oath of celibacy.

Archbishop of Kaduna, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso

Sunday Sun reports that Father Zuni, a 52-year-old priest who had served for 30 years, left the parishioners in shock when an investigation showed that he had flouted his oath of celibacy and got married to two women with grown children.

It was gathered that though one of the women is late, the second wife is still alive and even has a new baby for the priest and was the one who blew the whistle over the secret marriage is said to be nursing a child for the embattled priest.

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When Sunday Sun visited the Queen of the Apostles parish, some parishioners confirmed the report which they said was initially thought to be mere rumour.

Some of the parishioners said they were shocked to learn of a petition to the Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso, that two women had children for their parish priest, an act considered to be an abomination and grave sin against the Catholic doctrine.

They pointed out that in order to cover up the priest’s ‘sin’ from spreading to the larger public, the Archdiocese allegedly organized a send off for the embattled priest to a remote village in Jaba Local Government Area of the state.

A parishioner who spoke on the condition of anonymity said:

“During the send-off, the priest was not allowed to make a farewell speech, and many people refused to take photographs with him.

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There was little or no felicitation with him because most of the time he was seen standing aloof under a mango tree without anybody going close to him.

Nobody can say when the priest committed the alleged sinful act. If it happened before his ordination, he wouldn’t have been ordained, so probably it was after his ordination, and you know, God does not sleep, no matter the length of cover-up, one day the bubble will burst. And the bubble has burst now.”

Other parishioners, however, insist that the embattled Father Zuni has been sacked from the priesthood because of the grievous sin he has committed.

Bishop Manoso who also confirmed the incident said Father Zuni actually committed the sin and has brought serious embarrassment to the entire archdiocese.

On how the bubble burst over the secret marriage of the priest, Bishop Manoso said the woman at the center of the storm confronted him with a baby said to belong to Father Zuni, and after due investigation by his office, it was confirmed that the priest was her secret husband.

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“It is very unfortunate that this thing had to happen in my diocese. It is not an easy thing for me; if I tell you what I have been going through in the past few weeks over this issue, it has not been easy for me.

Father Zuni was my classmate; we spent seven years in the seminary. At a time, he proceeded to Kaduna polytechnic and read Accounting.

But this thing happened and nobody knew. But he has to face the sanction. We sacked and disrobed him because what he did is no longer compatible with his vocation as a priest.

It was not true that he was transferred to any village. He was about to be transferred on a normal routine, but when I heard this story, I had to cancel the transfer and sacked him.

It is true that he had affairs with two women and they both had children for him, but one of the women is late already.

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We are not God, we did not know on time until now that he was having affairs with two women.

The church said the priest has to go because the church doesn’t allow priests to marry. So he had to go and look after his children and his matrimonial home.

You can now imagine what the priest is going through, either spiritually or psychologically. He must be going through hell on earth. This is my concern for him now. The woman and the kids will be going through trauma also.

I have been trying to see how I can help him, but I don’t think I have the skills to help him. But he needs help to come to terms with reality.

By December, he will be 30 years in the priesthood, and he is now 54 years old; so at this age, what can he do with his life? Nobody can employ him now.

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He spent seven years in the seminary and 30 years in the priesthood, and that is 37 years, so what can he do with his life at 54?

The church too is going through a lot of trauma, so we need everybody’s prayers for us to put this incident behind us.”

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