Catholic priest married two wives

Chibaby naija 1 gathered that parishioner at Queen of Apostles
Catholic Church, Kakuri parish, Kaduna
State, are still in shock following
revelation that the parish priest, Very
Reverend Father Peter Zuni, 54, was
engaged in a secret marriage to two
women, an act that led to his being
disrobed and sacked from the priesthood.
Chibaby naija 1 gathered that one of the
wives is already late, while the surviving
one who blew the whistle about three
weeks ago over the secret marriage is
said to be nursing a child for the
embattled priest.
According to the doctrine of the Catholic
Church, only unmarried men are ordained
into the priesthood as they are obligated
to swear to an oath of celibacy and
observe perfect and perpetual service for
the sake of the kingdom of heaven. This,
it is believed, would enable the priests to
easily remain close to Christ with an
undivided heart, and dedicate themselves
more freely to the service of God and the
congregation.
Chibaby naija 1 visited the premises of
the Queen of the Apostles parish, some
parishioners confirmed the report, which
they said was initially thought to be mere
rumour.
The parishioners who spoke on condition
of anonymity said they were shocked and
surprised to learn of a petition to the
Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop
Ndagoso Manoso, that two women had
children for their parish priest, an act
considered to be an abomination and
grave sin against the Catholic doctrine.
They pointed out that in order to cover
up the priest’s ‘sin’ from spreading to the
larger public, the Archdiocese allegedly
organised a send off for the embattled
priest to a remote village in Jaba Local
Government Area of Kaduna State.
“During the send off, the priest was not
allowed to make a farewell speech, and
many people refused to take photographs
with him. There was little or no
felicitation with him because most of the
time he was seen standing aloof under a
mango tree without anybody going close
to him.
“Nobody can say when the priest
committed the alleged sinful act. If it
happened before his ordination, he
wouldn’t have been ordained, so probably
it was after his ordination, and you know,
God does not sleep, no matter the length
of cover up, one day the bubble will
burst. And the bubble has burst now,” the
parishioner said.
However,chi baby naija 1 contacted
the disrobed priest on his telephone line,
and sought comments on his alleged
controversial transfer from the city to a
remote village, he said: “Nobody is
ordained to remain and work in the city. I
have spent five years as parish priest of
Queen of Apostles, so I can work
anywhere, city or village.”
On the allegation of his involvement in
secret marriage to two women who bore
children for him even as a Catholic priest,
he neither denied nor confirmed the
allegation. Rather he said: “I find it
difficult myself to believe what people
are saying about me. I will not comment
on it now. I will follow due process to
invite you for an interview, but I am
afraid, the newspaper of the archdiocese,
The Cross News, may carry this story
before you (Sunday Sun).”
Rev Fr. Zuni further said he is currently
based in Suleja, Niger State. But Sunday
Sun gathered that parishioners were
made to believe that the embattled priest
was transferred to Gumel village in
southern Kaduna, while he was actually
sacked from the priesthood.
Unfortunately, parishioners lamented that
the controversial priest’s first name,
Peter, reminded them of the biblical
Peter who denied Jesus three times
before the cock crowed.
Archbishop in tears
When contacted, the Archbishop of
Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Bishop
Ndagoso Manoso also confirmed the
report to Sunday Sun in his office along
Tafawa Balewa Way, Kaduna.
Bishop Manoso who was almost in tears
when he spoke on the matter, said
Father Zuni actually committed the sin.
He said that what the priest did, brought
a sad moment and embarrassment to the
entire archdiocese.
The embattled priest was his classmate
in the seminary more than 30 years ago.
Bishop Manoso said that he could
imagine the spiritual and psychological
torture the priest could be going through
over this sinful act.
The Archbishop also expressed worry
over the health condition of the disrobed
priest who is known to be diabetic and
dependent on daily injection of insulin.
On how the bubble burst over the secret
matrimonial relationship, Bishop Manoso
said the woman at the centre of the
storm confronted him with a baby said to
belong to Father Zuni, and after due
investigation by his office, it was
confirmed that the priest was her secret
husband.
Bishop Manoso said, “It is very
unfortunate that this thing had to happen
in my diocese. It is not an easy thing for
me; if I tell you what I have been going
through in the past few weeks over this
issue; it has not been easy for me.
Father Zuni was my classmate; we spent
seven years in the seminary. At a time
he proceeded to Kaduna Polytechnic and
read Accounting.
“But this thing happened and nobody
knew. But he has to face the sanction.
We sacked and disrobed him because
what he did is no longer compatible with
his vocation as a priest. It was not true
that he was transferred to any village.
He was about to be transferred on
normal routine, but when I heard of this
story, I had to cancel the transfer and
sacked him.
“It is true that he had affairs with two
women and they both had children for
him, but one of the women is late
already. We are not God, we did not
know on time until now that he was
having affairs with two women.”
He spoke further: “The church said the
priest has to go because the church
doesn’t allow priests to marry. So he had
to go and look after his children and his
matrimonial home.
“You can now imagine what the priest is
going through, either spiritually or
psychologically. He must be going
through hell on earth. This is my concern
for him now. The woman and the kids
will be going through trauma also.
“I have been trying to see how I can help
him, but I don’t think I have the skills to
help him. But he needs help to come to
terms with reality.
“By December he will be 30 years in the
priesthood, and he is now 54 years old,
so at this age what can he do with his
life. Nobody can employ him now. He
spent seven years in the seminary and
30 years in the priesthood, and that is 37
years, so what can he do with his life at
54? The church too is going through a lot
of trauma, so we need everybody’s
prayers for us to put this incident behind
us.”
Celibacy outdated
Meanwhile the decision of the Catholic
Church to disrobed and sack the priest
has stirred reaction from a non-Catholic,
Dr David Ehimhen, an optometrist and
Pentecostal Christian, who said that the
practice of celibacy which was
compelled on individuals seeking to
become ordained priests in the Catholic
Church has clearly become outdated as it
had always been contrary to the bible
right from inception. He said that early in
the Church Age, Catholic priests were
free to marry and have children, but later
popes now imposed celibacy on priests.
Over the last 60 years or more, many
priests have fallen foul of the rule of
celibacy by having secret wives and
children. His words: “Well, right from
time, we have always had people that
were either in support or against Catholic
priests marrying. They have their
reasons. Some believe that the person
would fully concentrate on the work of
God; that is why they say that if you are
a priest you should consecrate your life
to serving God because they see
marriage as a kind of distraction. I don’t
think that I am competent to make an
official statement that the doctrine of
the Catholic Church is right or wrong.
But personally speaking I don’t believe
that celibacy is right. That is one of the
reasons why I am not a Catholic. The
bible does not say that if you are married
you cannot serve God to the best of your
ability or you must remain unmarried to
be able to serve God well. When you give
room to such things, that is why some
people may be burning with desire and
yet they say they are priests or that they
are reverend sisters and yet they are
burning with desire. That on its own is a
sin. Why not just be yourself? If you are
a Catholic, and want to remain one and
you have the grace to remain unmarried,
you can go on and become a priest, but if
you don’t have the grace, it is better you
stop deceiving yourself because such
people will not make heaven because
they are living a double life. And that is
why Apostle Paul also said that people
who cannot be celibate but burn with
desire should marry.”by chibaby naija1