By Mohammed Yangida
Lafia
Champlain of the College of Education, Akwanga Nasarawa state, Rev. Father Gabriel Ngbea, has refuted claims in the media alleging his encouragement of polygamy in the church.
He disclosed this yesterday to journalists in Lafia that the media quoted him out of context during the enculturation mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church Akwanga.
He added that he only made a passionate appeal to the Catholic Church to be sympathetic and consider the plight of those who were polygamous before repentance in terms Sacrament and denial of Christian burial rites.
“there is need to come out with clear guidelines regarding sacramental state of polygamist,who found themselves in that state before accepting Christ”
“This is not in any way advocating for polygamy in the church.the union between one man and one woman was ordained by God since creation of any other form of union is unacceptable”, he said.
The priest said that he also re-echoed calls by scholars on the need for the Catholic Church to study indigenous cultures with the view to introducing some of the good virtues into the doctrine in order to effectively reach the people with the gospel .
“Already, Catholics in Nigeria have started using their native names for baptism, but we will still need to encourage people to use their native languages and meaningful name for baptism”, he added.