The Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria has excommunicated a priest, Patrick Edet, who recently quit the Church warning members to avoid any dealing with him.
He was also stripped of all privileges accruing to a leader of the Church. Patrick Edet, who served for more than 11 years in the Catholic Diocese of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had announced that he was leaving the Catholic Church on August 2, through his weekly live radio programme called Grace and Inspiration.
He said that before he made the decision, he prayed and fasted for seven months asking God for direction. Besides being a radio preacher, Mr. Edet runs a crowd-pulling fellowship in Uyo, outside the control of the Catholic Church, using his Grace Family Global Outreach.
He said leaving the Catholic Church now gave him the freedom to manage the fellowship in his own style, without getting into conflict with his former church, adding that being a Catholic priest was like being restricted to “a box.”
“You cannot know God beyond that box. You cannot express God beyond that box. And any attempt for you to go beyond that box brings you label.
“The reason I am doing this is that I want to be right with God first. I want to go to heaven when I die,” he said.
In his reaction to the development, the Catholic Bishop of Uyo Diocese, John Ayah, issued a general notice to the parishioners on August 12, where he warned Catholics to stay away from Mr. Edet.
“I advise that no Catholic member should approach him to obtain any service or guidance henceforth in the name of the Church,” the bishop said, adding that the Church disassociated itself from the activities of Mr. Edet.
“Any Catholic who attends his programme or identifies with him (Mr. Patrick Edet) in any way does so at the risk of his or her Catholic faith and membership,” he said.
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