By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West, Nigeria
The 2026 Laity Week Celebration at St. Jude Catholic Church, Mafoluku, Lagos, south west, Nigeria, opened with a strong call for a paradigm shift in how Nigeria approaches national progress.
In a keynote presentation, the Chairman of the Catholic Men Organization (CMO), St. Jude Catholic Church, Mafoluku, Lagos, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, KSM, warned that any development effort failing to prioritize the human person was ultimately hollow.
Addressing the congregation on the topic “Promoting Human Dignity as the Basis of Development in Nigeria: The Catholic Social Teaching Approach,” Ogbuefi Nweke asserted that true development could not be measured by infrastructure alone, but by the dignity afforded to every citizen.
Nweke reminded parishioners that because every Nigerian, regardless of tribe, status, or creed, was created in the image of God, treating individuals as mere tools for profit or political gain represented a fundamental failure of social justice.
He further situated the CMO’s mission within the framework of the Church’s legal structure, explaining that as a Public Association of Christ’s Faithful, the organization’s mandate was rooted in Canon Law (Canons 298–329), which empowered the laity to form associations to foster a more Christian life and carry out the apostolate.
This mission, he noted, required the Gospel to permeate every sector of Nigerian society, from media and technology to commerce, ensuring that the human person remained the beginning and end of all social and economic activity.
He extended an inclusive charge to all men attending the Catholic Church, emphasizing that the responsibility for ethical leadership was universal challenging them to lead by example in their professional lives by paying fair wages, ensuring honest business dealings, and refusing to participate in dehumanizing systems.
Furthermore, he identified the family as the “first cell of a dignified society,” noting that a man’s respect for his wife and children was the foundation upon which a better nation was built.
Concluding his presentation, Nweke urged the laity to act as the architects of a new Nigeria by building on the solid rock of Catholic Social Teaching.
He noted that while physical structures were important, development without a foundation in human dignity was like a house built on sand, calling on all parishioners to leave the celebration as active ambassadors of Christ’s dignity within their workplaces and communities across the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
