All is now set for the standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria(Anglican Communion) holding in Owerri, Imo State capital from March 1-5.
The twice in a year event, which is the executive arm of the General synod of the Church of Nigeria, would be Presided over by the Primate, His Grace, The Most Rev’d. Nicholas Okoh. No fewer than 1000 delegates including 14 Archbishops and 165 Bishops are expected to congregate at the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (CATOL) in the Eastern Heartland of this ecclesiastical brainstorming event.
Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Orlu, His Grace, Most Rev’d Bennett Okoro PhD disclosed these facts to journalists, at the Bishop’s Bourne Owerri, during the pre-event briefing.
14 archbishops, 165 bishops… its easy to draw cynical analogies with the excess number of bishops often found in western Anglican provinces, bishops who sometimes have no portfolio or only a few parishes with a handful of parishioners to look after.
But looking across at the web-site of the Church of Nigeria, it appears that they have 4,000 parishes in that country, and over 140 dioceses. So if anything, they are light on for bishops and archbishops. This is Anglicanism on a scale that we in the west cannot imagine.
Now this is a committee meeting. I wonder, with all these people coming, if they might use the assistance of the facilities and logistics group that put together the Primates meeting in Ireland.