A Note from Tom McDermott in Nigeria
January 12, 1998Thank you for giving some space to the Province of Nigeria on your website. Here is some more information you may want to use:
- The Province has, as of today, 116 friars affiliated to it. These are indigenous brothers from mostly Nigeria and Ghana. There are also nine friars assigned from other provinces, bringing the total affiliated and assigned to 125.
- The Province has one bishop: Rt. Rev. Ayo-Maria Atoyebi OP, Bishop of Ilorin. Formerly he was the novice master.
- We have nine pre-novices and ten novices this year.
- Of the 116 friars affiliated to the Province of Nigeria, 68 are in basic formation.
- African Dominican priests of this Province serve as missionaries in the following places: Archdiocese of Seattle, Diocese of Harrisburg, and the Diocese of Port Elizabeth in the Republic of South Africa.
- Dominican Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Ibadan is the only Dominican institute of its kind in all of Africa. It is the centre of intellectual studies for the Province. Other communities also send their students there for studies: Redemptorists, Capuchins, Missionaries of Africa. The school is open to female religious and lay people.
- We presently have 44 African priests (Nigerian, Ghanian, and Sierre Leone) as sons of this Province.
- A new five-floor, twenty-seven bedroom St. Dominic Priory in Yaba, Lagos, will be blessed by His Grace Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie on January 25, 1998. The new priory also contains the Provincial Office.
Hope that's not too much. If you need more information, please let me know. It's 85 degrees F here and lots of dust from the Saharra making it cooler than usual and very dry. The season is called the Harmattan.
Fraternally,
Tom McDermott OP
Provincial
E-mail:domlagos@rcl.nig.com