Members of St. Maria Goretti Prayer Group, Maria Assumpta Cathedral Owerri, during the feast.

It was a day of thanksgiving, socialization and fellowship on the 7th day of July, 2013 as the St. Maria Goretti Group, one of the prayer groups in Assumpta Cathedral Parish, Owerri celebrated her annual feast day.  The well attended ceremony started with a Holy Mass presided over by the Cathedral Administrator, Rev. Fr. Andrew Nkwocha who congratulated St. Maria Goretti Group for their active participation in church activities and prayer life.  He commended the prayer group anthem: St. Maria Goretti, anyi abiala (3x) buru ekpere anyi bugara Chukwu.  The anthem was composed by the foundation President of the group, Nneoma (Lady) Bernadette Njoku.

The second part of the ceremony featured a talk by the Patron, Prof. (Lady) Victoria Nwigwe, a Papal Knight of St. Sylvester (KtSS) and Emerita Member of the Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF), Vatican, Rome (1988-1994).  In her address, Prof. Nwigwe reviewed the life and times of St. Maria Goretti, a peasant girl who at a very tender age of twelve opted to be stabbed several times to death than lose her chastity to an assailant who wanted to rape her.  St. Maria Goretti professed fully her faith in God.  For her love of Jesus, she preferred death.  She is today a Martyr venerated all over the world in all Catholic churches, institutions and prayer groups now and in generations to come.

Prof. Nwigwe stated that chastity which is the virtue Maria Goretti exhibited is the motto of St. Maria Goretti Prayer Group.  Chastity, she said is a cherished virtue in every decent home and in tradition, stressing that a married woman should maintain this virtue by living up to the tenets of the sacrament of matrimony – the sacramental marriage vow demands that a wife keeps her body for her husband only and in that way remains chaste.  Chastity is a virtue for both young and married people.  Adults can be chaste for life, she admonished.

She urged the audience to give more time and attention to their husbands and children moreso at this time when crime rate in the society is on the increase.  Parents should shield their children and wards from the enslavement of modern communication gadgets by moderating the television and video programmes and the times of viewing as well as monitor the sort of literature the children read.  Pornography in the mass media is a major factor in the recent alarming rate of sexual violence in the society.  It is shocking and terrifying as one reads almost in all newspapers on daily basis shameful cases of sexual violence on children and women alike.  It is more worrisome when government seems to treat this crime wave in society with kid’s gloves; prescribed punishments for such crimes are not effectively enforced.  This is why these crimes are on the upsurge.

She therefore pleaded with mothers and families to intensify their prayer life so that the society may turn to appreciate the innocence, beauty and sacred virtues that characterized families and society of yesteryears and change for better.

She posited that our homes should be real homes and not just houses.  Homes where love, respect for human dignity and discipline reign supreme rather than the contemporary quest for materialism that engender societal vices and risks to human life and dignity.

Speaking at the occasion, the Assistant Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Augustine Opara praised the women for their devotion as a prayer group.  He acknowledged their hard work in involving their young ones in the group activities.  He admonished them to instill in their children right from the young ones the love for Igbo language by using Igbo to communicate in the homes.  He advised them to invite their husbands in future feasts celebrations.

The President of the group, Adaoma (Mrs.) Mercy Iwe expressed her joy and happiness at the success of the occasion and thanked all who contributed to the success especially her Vice-President, Lady Victoria Egbulefu, the Chairperson of the 2013 Planning Committee, Mrs. Ngozi Amaraegbu and her team.  Special thanks were given to Rev. Fr. Augustine Opara for sharing the day with the group and for his advice to the gathering; to the Patron, Prof. (Lady) Victoria Nwigwe, for her usual support and continuing education of members of the group.  Prof. (Lady) Nwigwe belonged to St. Maria Goretti’s House in her school days and has since then held on to the devotion. The President also thanked the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion and a foundation member of the group, Hon. Barr. Ugochi Nnanna-Okoro, Imo State Commissioner for Community Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for her support and interest in the group and promised her of the group’s goodwill and prayers for God’s guidance and protection as she achieves success in her ministerial duties and on the home front.

Among the highlights of the occasion were the display of St. Maria Goretti dance and the cutting of the ceremonial cake.

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