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…tells victims to run for their lives
By Olivia Obijiaku
The Associate Parish Priest of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Rev Fr. Patrick Bako Zichiyang has called on spouses whose lives are in danger to stay away from their aggressors until things are sorted out. He made this call in the parish on Mothering Sunday, 24th April, 2022.
The priest debunked the allegation that the Church forces couples to remain in life-threatening marriages and tasked parents on responsible and collaborative parenting for the good of all.
“Why beat the hell out of your wife?” Fr. Zichiyang queried. “We see crisis every day in the family. Two things that have been trending on the net for the past few weeks are domestic violence and child pornography. Some people were saying on social media that ‘with all these Church weddings, pastors deceive you to stay till death do you part.’ Please, if your life is at stake, run! Even the husband, if your life is at stake, run! One can look for safety where there is threat to life. It is called safe defense. It is there in the Canon Law that when the life of any of a spouse is as stake, he/she should run for his or her life. The Church calls that separation. You are still married but you are separated so that by the time you come back to your senses like the prodigal son, you may turn and have peace in the house. So, do not accuse the Church of insisting that you must stay even when the husband is beating the hell out of you. Even animals defend themselves when they see danger that will destroy their lives.
A cross section of women at the Mass
The world is becoming so wild and you call it digital age. How did we arrive here? We are not saying that you should not give your children a very comfortable life but be careful with what you give them. If some of you parents are to see what is in your children’s phones, you will faint because of the kind of evils that are there. So, why not make sure that you checkmate your children? Sometimes they may not be having the phones but as soon as the teacher goes out their friends click on porn sites and by the time the teacher comes back, they must have finished watching what they want to watch.”
Observing that many people blame mothers for negligence and informing that fathers are also to be blamed Fr. Zichiyang tasked both parents to maintain their pet names even in crisis and to care for themselves and their children.