The Rt. Rev. Christian Onyia, Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Nike in Enugu State, has charged fathers to give priority to welfare and care of their families.
Onyia gave the charge recently in a homily he delivered at St. Luke the Physician Specialist Hospital, Trans-Ekulu in Enugu in a special fathers’ programme – “Men in His Presence”.
The programme was organised by the Nike Diocesan Christian Men’s Fellowship (DCMF).
He said that fathers should arise and take their rightful place of being both the administrative and spiritual heads of their homes and “provide needed fatherly love and direction to every home”.
According to him, each home and children within each home needed the fatherly direction due to negative orientation and ideas of some groups and persons are propagating in the society today.
“Fathers must lead their families with love and understand; while shunning all forms of hatred, wickedness and lack of forgiveness.
“Today, you must go home and reconcile with your family members; while dropping your ego or holding up to wrongs individuals in the family did to you previously.
“Have you lost it, and you have started staying and keeping concubines outside the home; it is time to return and reconcile with your immediate family; which should be your top priority,” he said.
The bishop said that men are rejected or abandoned in old age due to how they had treated their family members with neglect and lack of forgiveness for long.
“When the man needs the family members the most, when his strength cannot carry him again, they are nowhere to be found.
“So there is need for reconciliation and accommodation of all family members notwithstanding differences and challenges within the family,” he said.
Onyia urged fathers to draw near to God to be able to draw spiritual strength in the word of God and prayers to be able to carry their numerous challenges and triumph over all.
“One of the benefits of being a child of God is that God always fight your battles; especially as you follow him sheepishly as he continue to direct you to the path of successes,” he said.
He advised fathers to take good care of their health and commitment their health always to the hands of God and “take issues easy but maturely within their families”.
The cleric also prayed for the health and economic well being of fathers as well as restoration of broken families.
