Fada Onyii – My Running Mate & I

Last Friday, 19^th August when Helen and I marked our 33^rd Wedding Anniversary, another gentleman was also marking his anniversary in another part of the world the same day. It was not his wedding anniversary because he is a priest of the Catholic Church.

Rev. Fr. Paulinus Onyekwelu Anaedu marked his 27^th Priestly Ordination anniversary last Friday. He was ordained a priest along with 16 others on August 19, 1995 in the Diocese of Awka. He now lives in Austria but came to Nigeria two years ago to celebrate his silver jubilee with friends and members of the four different parishes where he served in Lagos and also in his home Diocese.

One of those parishes is Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Aguda, Surulere where he was posted to serve as Parish Priest in year 2000, a couple of months short of his 5^th priestly anniversary and at 32 years old. That was where we met; although we had left the parish about 10 years earlier, we still maintained a relationship with Aguda and the parish priests, societies and parishioners would still invite us for events and even to receive awards for past contributions.

Fada Onyii, as he is popularly called, filled the large shoes of previous older and more experienced parish priests, including his immediate predecessor, the charismatic Fr. Emmanuel Abela, Frs. Sebastian Appiah, Anthony Obanla (Now Msgr. and Chancellor of Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos), Michael Akintolu, Benjamin Bello, Festus Ogunsakin and the pioneer Parish Priest, Patrick Moore, all of whom we served with in various capacities.

Now, discovering that Fada Onyii and I shared the same anniversary was not the only thing that brought us close. We also found out that we shared the same birthday – 12^th February! Same vocation anniversary and same birthday are as uncanny as you can get, I believe, but that is how it is. He and my family have remained close and we more or less ‘celebrate’ our anniversaries together annually, he in Austria where he moved to in February 2004, a few days after our birthday, and I in Lagos, Nigeria.

From all the things we share, I call him my running mate (after all, I am older than him, both in age and vocation, even though he is Fada!). He is as humble as they come and it is the same way he is cerebral. Even though I am a writer, I am still struggling to publish my first book but he has already published three!  His number one book, ‘God’s Name is not Jehovah’ was first published in Nigeria in 1998 in his third year as a priest, with a revised edition in 2018. He describes it as a ‘historical analysis of the mutilation of the biblical name of God from Yahweh to Jehovah’. His second book is titled, ‘The Roman Catholic Priesthood: An Experience’, first published in 2006, while his latest book is, ‘Reminiscences of an Accidental Missionary’, which is a more detailed account of his life as a priest.

Although he is a priest, Fr. Anaedu is as restless as they come and that shows, when he visits Nigeria from Austria. He would pack movements, schedules and travels from one city to the other and celebrate Masses from one parish to the other. Before you know it, he is on the plane back to his adopted country, Austria, with a promise to spend more time with you next time. Well, you will have to pursue and track him to fulfil that pledge, but it is always good to meet and discuss online, while trying very hard to avoid debates on the political and poor social comparisms between Nigeria and Austria and how things can be better at home.

The same restlessness appears to follow his postings as a priest, even though he was not responsible for the transfers. In the eight years he worked in Nigeria as a priest, he seemed to have always been on the move. In the two Dioceses – Awka and Lagos – he did not stay in one parish for more than two years. After ordination in 1995 until 1997, he served in the village of Umuawulu in Awka Diocese. It was from there he was posted to Lagos Archdiocese to serve in St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, where he was from 1997 to 1998, under the Dominican pastor/parish priest, Rev. Fr. Tom McDermott. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Assistant Parish Priest under then Rev. Fr. (Now Msgr.) Edmund Akpala in St. Anthony’s, Gbaja, Surulere. 2000 was when he came to Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Aguda, Surulere as Parish Priest and when we first met to begin our ‘journey’.  His last posting in Lagos and Nigeria was as Parish Priest of Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Mushin, Lagos, from 2002 to August 2003, where he took over from Msgr. Bernard Okodua who was then Vicar-General of Lagos Archdiocese.

Regina Mundi was his last priestly post before leaving for Linz, Austria, in February 2004 for further studies. In 2009, he received his Doctorate Degree in Biblical Theology (New Testament) from the University of Salzburg, from where he also got a post-doctoral Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies in 2013.

Now 54, (he was born February 12, 1968, when I had just entered Class One in Immaculate Conception College, Benin City), there are 14 years between us but we keep celebrating with each other and we pray for more years to do so.

When is he coming ‘home?’ I don’t know. I know the Austrian cold dealt with him very much when he first arrived but after moving from one parish to another and even serving as Dean in the Diocese of Linz in the State of Upper Austria, coupled with the Bishop of Awka extending his stay, I cannot guarantee if they will let go of their ‘Black Pastor’ who has taught them so much about the Word of God. I know he misses those Nigerian delicacies though!!!!!

Happy 27^th Priestly Ordination Anniversary to my anniversary and birthday mate, Rev. Fr. Paulinus Onyekwelu ‘Onyii’ Anaedu.

IMAGE CREDIT: breakyourownnews.com