The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev Callistus Onaga, on Thursday, described the attacks on his house and Holy Ghost Cathedral by supporters of Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka as sacrilegious.

Onaga said that by the attack the holy altar of sacrifice had been desecrated.

Angry supporters of Mbaka on Wednesday visited the Bishop’s Court and Holy Ghost Cathedral with violence after Mbaka’s followers declared him missing barely 24 hours he was summoned to a meeting by the bishop.

Mbaka, the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, later appeared and addressed his followers saying he would have been kept incommunicado by those he that held him but for their protest.

But the Church in its official reaction, called for a prayer of “Atonement and Reparation” for desecration of “the holy altar of sacrifice” by the protesters.

Onaga in statement he personally signed called on all parishes, chaplaincies and religious houses in the Catholic Diocese of Enugu to embark on the prayer.

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The statement reads partly, “On 5 May 2021, the followers of Fr. Camillus Mbaka of the Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria, violently broke into the diocesan cathedral church and desecrated the holy altar of sacrifice. Over and above this, they brutally vandalised the diocesan bishop’s residence, the cathedral parish house and the secretariat building complex.

“Therefore, I hereby declare and call for a one week union of prayer in atonement for this heinous act against our central place of worship and the sanctity of the Church. The prayer begins from Friday, 7th May to Friday, 14th May 2021. Every parish, chaplaincy and religious community in the diocese is obliged to participate in this holy activity.”