WE HAVE NOT PULLED OUT OF CAN-CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Catholic Church through its secretariat, The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) has refuted reports that it has pulled out of the Christian Association of Nigeria. According to the CSN, the source of the alleged “pull out must have spoken of his opinion.” According to the Communications Director of CSN, Rev. Fr. Ralph Madu, in an interview with The PUNCH on Thursday, said the alleged pull out was false.

He said, “The Catholic Church has not pulled out of CAN. We have not pulled out. We have so many states where our bishops are chairmen.These include Cross River, Imo and many others states. We have not pulled out of CAN, and that is the truth.“Whoever made the allegation that the Catholic Church is pulling out of CAN is entitled to his opinion, and that is what it means. It has been in the news that  the Catholic Church has pulled out of CAN.“I think, perhaps what he wanted to say was that the Catholic church had put on hold activities at the national level of CAN because of certain issues that needed to be ironed out by way of dialogue. That was what he meant, which  was interpreted by the media to mean pull out.

“If we had pulled out of CAN, all these bishops, who are chairmen of CAN at the state level, would not be there. That is the tradition, when you talk about pull-out, it sends a very strong meaning. To pull out means that we are no longer members of CAN. It is generic and the word, pull-out is not correct. I have seen his text; the church has not pulled out. He might have been misinterpreted.”The Catholic Church was reported to have decided to pull out of CAN, alleging that the Christian body no longer stood for the objectives for which it was set up.The Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, had at a news conference on Tuesday, alleged that CAN had become an arm of government.He had said CAN, under Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, had derailed from its objectives, adding, “The Catholic Church took its stand before the purchase or the aircraft was donated to him.”