The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, The Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba has reacted to the news of the prominent and retired Church of England bishop once tipped to become a future Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Nazir-Ali to the Roman Catholic Church.
Primate Ndukuba noted as quoted
We always encourage people to look unto Christ; the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Bishop Ali is an individual, though a very strong leader of the Church. With what has happened I think that if he feels that its what will keep him trusting and focusing and depending on the Lord until Jesus comes, I wish him the best.
But for us, we will stand for the Lord, Jesus Christ within this Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), upholding the power and the authority of the word of God, trusting God in every situation and above all, living by the word of God.
Even if you go into the monastery and you have not really decided to follow God, changing of church won’t help. It is not changing of church or changing of name, it is changing of heart.
Archbishop Ndukuba further noted that Bishop Nazir-Ali himself is a man we vouch for, he loves the Lord, but the kind of things happening around us, in the world and around the church; may make some people to give up, but God will keep His church.
“For us, there’s no going back, we keep holding unto the Lord. That is why we need to keep looking unto Jesus and not to man. Man can change at any time, but God never changes, Jesus never fails. We have come too far that we can not turn back”, Ndukuba stated.
Michael Nazir-Ali was received into the Church on Sept. 29, the feast of St. Michael the Archangel and All Angels and will be ordained a Catholic priest “in due course,” according to a statement issued by the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and the bishops’ conference of England and Wales.
The former Anglican bishop said he believed the “Anglican desire to adhere to apostolic, patristic and conciliar teaching can now best be maintained in the Ordinariate,” and that he was “looking forward to receiving from the riches of other parts of the Church, while perhaps making a modest contribution to the maintenance and enhancement of Anglican patrimony within the wider fellowship.”
“Ministry in the Church of Pakistan, in the Middle East generally, in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion remains precious to me and I see this as a further step in the ministry of our common Lord and of his people,” Nazir-Ali said. “At this time, I ask for prayers as I continue to pray for all parts of the Church.”
Pope Benedict XVI established the personal ordinariate in 2010, a canonical structure through which Anglicans wishing to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church could do so while retaining their Anglican patrimony.
Korede Akintunde