Raising Up ‘Fishers of Men’ Today

By Victor Chendekemen Yakubu

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Raising Up ‘Fishers of Men’ Today

By Victor Chendekemen Yakubu

I grew up in Echondom-Danladi-Kent village of Kubau Local Government

of Kaduna State. Echondom is 77 kilometres before Saminaka on the
Kaduna-Zaria-Jos road axis of south eastern part of the state. Don’t
bother looking at your map. You won’t find Echondom village. It’s like
looking for Bethlehem on the map of Palestine at the time of Jesus.
Echondom like Bethlehem is never reflected on maps of Kaduna State and
I have to spare you the burden of suffering your index finger.

At 12 years of age, I graduated from LEA Primary School Danladi. I

knew many mischievous youthful tricks including how to use the
catapult to shoot birds and sometimes shoot bullies. On uncountable
occasions bullies would attack and beat me up due largely to my frail
physique; tall lanky frame, bulky stomach and fat head. It was my head
that suffered most due to its size which received more knocks than any
other part of my body.

I lacked ideas for revenge until I was introduced to the catapult by

Kidankum my childhood friend. It was he who tutored me on this weapon
of mass destruction against terrorizing bullies of my time. I found
joy using the catapult both for flying objects and creepy humans who
disturbed my youthful world. It worked quite well like magic. However,
I must add with great pain that I learnt an additional sport
associated with the catapult; how to run away from bullies after
hitting my target.

The visit of a major seminarian Emma Sambo to Echondom enclave changed

all that. He loved the way I gyrated my waist to the syncopation of

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Kurama drums at night in the village square and he would clap

endlessly for me. He established a trust between himself and me. He
sounded believable in whatever he said to me about priestly life which
was not my kettle of fish. According to him, my dance was funnier
compared to others and found it interesting to watch under the bright
moonlight. I think he was right. The sound of the drums in Echondom
village at night was like an advertisement to attend the premiere of
Star Wars or Titanic. It was fun. I still love the local drums. By
morning he would call me and ask me in plain English what I would like
to be or do in the future. Since I lacked any premeditated answers and
proper linguistic expressions, I would manage to laugh and smile
generously as I answered. He understood these as tacit replies of not
knowing what he was proposing for my future life.

For me, my future was to grow up in Echondom kingdom like every child,
farm as many crops as possible, inherit my father’s livestock and
eventually settle down with the daughter of whomever within the
Echondom world. This seminarian initiated the idea of sending me to a
minor seminary and began to sow the seed of a priestly life in my
heart. He did it in such a way that I was not coerced or forced nor
my parents dragged into accepting under pain of death my offer to
serve in the vineyard of the Lord. He sowed the seed and allowed the
Spirit of God take over from there. He succeeded in attracting me with
kind words and the realization of my potential which was part of my
life and little worldview.

My father consented too quickly and my mother too slowly. Instead she
proposed some arguments to puncture the idea. She did not understand
the language of a school without marriage associated with her first
son. She knew outrightly that I did not understand the implications
for myself. With my fat head hanging on my tall frame, I nodded in the
affirmative when my opinion was sought about becoming a priest.

What I knew best then was my catapult and those eerie bullies laying
ambush for me for my stubbornness. I even asked Fr. Sambo if the

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catapult was allowed in the minor seminary. He said it was allowed to

pacify my yearning. This attracted me since I could be admitted with
my catapult. Tacitly Fr. Sambo laughed but he knew that all that would
change with time. At my back, my mother was persuaded and eventually
she agreed to a minor seminary enrollment and not anything further.
That was how I landed at St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary Zaria under the
hardworking Fr. Martin Debaleh as Rector, and disciplinarian Michael
Agbante, a Ghanaian as vice-Rector.

I enjoyed their guidance and graduated from their tutelage. I felt a

call to the priestly life without any compulsion from Fr. Sambo or my
parents. I guess Fr. Sambo had sowed the seed in me and I only needed
the Spirit of God to water it. I continued to the Major Seminary and
the rest is now history as they say. But I remember with nostalgic
feelings the death of these two inspiring priests: Fr. Martin Debaleh
in 2004 and Fr. Emma Sambo in 2006. Because they and a handful of
others played such an influence in my priestly vocation, I cannot
forget them in a hurry.

Recognizing the inspiration of older priests on one’s vocation, Pope

Benedict XVI has declared June, 2009 – June, 2010 the ‘Year of
Priests’ after the example of St. John Mary Vianney, the Cure of Ars.
According to His Holiness, the year will commemorate the “150th
anniversary of the death of the saintly 'Cure of Ars', a true example
of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock." St. Vianney, a French
priest from Dardilly, lived from May, 1786 – August, 1859 and is
regarded as patron saint of parish priests for his commitment to the
spiritual transformation and community development of his flock.
Catholic historians remember him for his dedication to the sacraments
especially the mass and confession to which he would sit hours on end
listening and granting absolutions to penitents. Of the mass he said,
“The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to
the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if
he were engaged in something routine!”

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One area of similarity with my life is that at the age of 20 Vianney

was granted permission by his father to leave the farm and start
studying for the priesthood at the nearby village of Ecully. In my
case, I began at the age of 12 and transferred from the farm house of
Echondom to Zaria and “have not ceased to be in the temple of God.”
The spirit of Vianney is very much alive in raising up fishers of men
for the vineyard of the Lord. Collectively we shall celebrate with joy
the marvels of the Lord to end the ‘Year of Priests’ on the Feast of
Sacred Heart, the 19th of June, 2010 at St. Peter’s Square with
representative priests from all over the globe in attendance.

I hope to grace this occasion and share priestly solidarity with

different priests and religious from many nationalities under the sun.
Like myself, every priest has his story to tell about how Jesus
recruited him to become a priest of “the one, holy, catholic and
apostolic Church.” Already my mind is telling me that such an event
will be a grandiose celebration of brotherhood, solidarity and
communion under the banner of the pontiff, a visible reminder of the
establishment of Unity of the Church with Jesus as guide. The Church
can assist in leading souls to heaven through the power vested in the
priesthood though unworthy of such a call to the vineyard of the Lord.
The sense of this celebration is better experienced than imagined.

Vocation to priestly or religious life is a divine call. Looking back

at my near fifteen years of service as a priest, I attribute my call
to those priests whose love for me attracted me to their kind of life.
I praise these priests wholeheartedly because were it not for their
inspiration, I wouldn’t have been offered this opportunity to share in
the evangelizing mission of the church. I would have been in the
jungles of Echondom tending my father’s numerous farmlands, livestock
and doing those things villagers love to do. Today I am proud of my
priestly calling. I have served in several positions of church life
with gratitude to my superiors. I enjoy service to the teeming
faithful people of God whose love, compassion and support serve as
fuel for my priestly life in a world that is fast loosing value when

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it comes to discussing priestly ministry. There can be no priestly

ministry if the people of God do not support whatever good work the
priest is doing.

This declaration by Pope Benedict XVI is coming in the nick of time

for two reasons: recognizing the contributions of priests and creating
awareness of priestly vocations. First and foremost, priests need a
constant reminder that their call is fashioned after the event by the
Lake of Galilee. In Mark 1: 16 - 20 Jesus sighted a set of two
brothers; the first being Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish.
The second set is that of the sons of Zebedee; James and John getting
ready to cast their nets with their old father Zebedee in the boat.
Jesus offered them an invitation, “Follow me and I will make you
fishers of men.” Instantly, they left everything behind and went with
him for a higher duty.

This is a reminder to every priest that our call is a call to a higher

duty under the leadership of Jesus. There is nothing more joyful than
realizing that priests are not alone, because they act in persona
Christi. They are constantly in solidarity with the leadership of the
Church which serves as a guiding light in transforming the lives of
numerous peoples on the face of the earth. A further worthy point
associated with this is from the life of Jesus is the event by the Sea
of Tiberias as found in John 21: 1- 17. Simon Peter, Thomas called
Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee and two
other disciples went fishing in the Tiberias after the resurrection of
Jesus. All night long they caught nothing. When it was clear that
nothing could be done for a catch, Jesus Christ manifested himself
amongst them. He said to them, “Throw your net out in the deep, and
you will make a catch.” When they did, they made such a large haul of
fish that their nets were breaking.

These two examples signify that Jesus is the master of the catch.
While the sons of Zebedee, James and John and the two brothers; Simon
and Andrew were enjoying their trade. They never imagined that

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fishermen could be useful for anything other than hauling fish. Under
this condition, Jesus knew that they could do better in a higher
challenge and invited them for his mission. In my own case, Fr. Sambo
might have thought in his mind, “Since Victor loves to use the
catapult, maybe he could use it to catapult people into the spiritual
realm.” When he saw me handling my catapult and dancing those Kurama
dances, he must have thought, “I will make you into a catapulter of
men.”

Were it not for the fact that he accepted I could use the catapult in
the seminary, I probably would have avoided him like a bad toothache.
But instead he affirmed my use of the catapult in the minor seminary.
I carried it along with me inside my iron box into the sanctity of the
minor seminary. I never thought of using the catapult until I met my
Mathematics teacher Mr. Idoko. Though I never used it, this teacher
made me hate the subject with his assignments and out-of-this world
theorems like the Pythagoras theorem that I cannot fathom its meaning
even today.

Anyway, Jesus calls us from our single location within our abilities
taking all our sinfulness and incapabilities and transforming these
for a positive purpose. Imagine Peter and the rest of the disciples
leaving their fishing trade only to be fishers of men. Imagine my
dropping my catapult and sweet Kurama dance, to serve as priest. It’s
just incredible! It feels just good with content in the heart. It is
like being enrobed in a princely garb when you are just a pauper
deserving something less. Yet, in this condition Christ takes the
glory and He lives in our work as the chief shepherd of our lives.

The Pontifical Yearbook for 2009 reveals that the number of Catholics
has increased by 1.4% worldwide from 1.131 billion to 1.147billion in
one year. Catholics form 17.3% of the world population, a percentage
that has remained stable from year to year. The document states that
the number of priests has increased from 407,262 in 2006 to 408,024 at
the end of 2008.

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The greater majority of this number is coming from Africa, Asia and
Oceania. The total number of seminarians stands at 115,919 worldwide.
This is encouraging considering that we had two decades of inertia due
to the rise in liberal theories from the ‘70s. The seminaries in
Nigeria have highest numbers of seminarians in Africa and this has
nothing to do with the economic stress experienced all over the world.
Nigerians love the Church and are contributing their sons and
daughters to the service of the Universal Church.

Pope Benedict XVI himself said, “Whoever wants to be a friend of Jesus

and become his authentic disciple – be it seminarian, priest,
religious or lay person – must cultivate an intimate friendship with
him in meditation and prayers.” Nigerians love the Church and I cannot
pretend about their conviction for worship, their dance and their
music in matters of God. The high numbers of seminarians is Nigeria’s
contribution to the growth of the Body of Christ despite its
precarious economic woes necessitated by bad leadership and greed.

While many countries of the world are facing dwindling vocations to

the priesthood and religious life due to the increasing secularization
of modern society, Nigeria is enjoying an increase in enrollment
numbers. The priesthood is facing challenges from the modern age.
Although we are grateful to God that in Nigeria, many young people are
rushing to be enrolled, the story is not all rosy as rising costs of
training seminarians keep some dioceses from accepting more candidates
for training. However, the boom Nigeria is witnessing in vocations to
the priestly and religious life should be maximized. This calls for a
vocations’ drive to raise more seminarians into the vineyard of the
Lord with ardent support from the laity who can volunteer to sponsor
candidates to the priesthood and religious life.

The call to the priestly life entails prayer, meditation and

commitment to service as commanded by Christ, “Go to the whole world,
proclaim the good news.” As priests, we engage daily in these forms of

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commitment with the divine through the celebration of the Eucharist to

refresh ourselves in the mission of Him who is the Word Incarnate.
St. John Mary Vianney realized the importance of the Eucharist and
encouraged his parishioners to come for daily communion and frequent
confession. “Come to communion, my brothers and sisters, come to
Jesus. Come to live from him in order to live with him. Of course you
are not worthy of him, but you need him!” he would preach to his
listeners. His life attracted so many that he was always giving to the
poor and denying himself any form of luxury. This is what I
experienced in Frs. Emma Sambo, Martin Debaleh and a host of others
who denied themselves certain forms of joy for my sake.

When I look back today, I realize that my call to the priesthood was
an opportunity offered to me to be counted as someone privileged to
“hold the Body of Christ” each day at mass. No amount of explanation
can relate what this experience entails other than to keep on praying
for a world that is losing respect for that which is sacred. Like
Peter and Paul, I daily realize my limitations and it is only through
meditation and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, that I realize that
this call is not a profession but a vocation freely given to me by
Christ. If through my life other young people are influenced to offer
themselves to the priesthood, then it becomes a circle of gratitude.
What Fr. Emma Sambo inspired can be replicated in other aspiring
youths.

Without blowing my own trumpet, I thank God for the lives of those
seminarians who are studying to the priesthood through my
encouragement, and those priests already ordained, a word of gratitude
to God for allowing me to play a role in their vocation. As an
African, I feel indebted to my people who are deeply spiritual and
committed to the cause of God. Our critics say that poverty is the
motivation for vocation boom in Africa. My response to this is that
when hunger was decimating the Irish population in the late 19th
century; many young people still offered themselves to the priesthood
and became missionaries to Europe itself, India and Africa. So in our

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case, if economic stress has led to an increase in vocations, what can

we say other than to praise the Lord of the harvest! This must be the
work of God. Pope Benedict XVI desires an expansion of the good news
to all the ends of the earth and Africans are contributing their human
resources towards its success in this age.

In the case of evangelism, God can raise up stones to offer Him

praise. Yet, since we are more than stones, let’s do the right thing
now and raise up a formidable church with vocations through the
priesthood and religious life. As Henry Venn said, we need a Church
that is self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting.

When young men come from places like Echondom into the priesthood, it
shows the unbiased nature of the Church in embracing all the cultures
of the world as Christ showed his generosity when he said, “You too go
into my vineyard” Matt. 20: 4. At the end of the ‘Year of Priests’,
let us hope that more young people will be inspired by Jesus to offer
themselves for “many are called, but few are chosen.”

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V.C.O Yakubu, former Director Media Service Centre Kaduna, is priest of the
Catholic Diocese of Zaria working in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona USA.

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