Archbishop Valerian Okeke of Onitsha, NigeriaCHARLOTTE — The Most Rev. Dr. Valerian Okeke, archbishop of Onitsha, Nigeria, traveled to the Diocese of Charlotte June 29-30 for a pastoral visit and to build support for a Catholic university project.
Leader of the Onitsha archdiocese since 2003, Archbishop Okeke shepherds more than 2 million Catholics in Anambra State, Nigeria. The archdiocese encompasses 136 parishes, five hospitals, seminaries, a microfinance bank, and 123 schools that Archbishop Okeke overhauled after the Nigerian government returned them to the Church in 2010. The reforms have made Onitsha’s schools among the top in the country.
Archbishop Okeke’s latest project is Shanahan University in Onitsha, which aims to educate young men and women in fields such as healthcare, business and information technology – providing them with the skills to transform their communities, but with a Catholic worldview.
This project is what brought him to Charlotte, where he conducted a mission appeal at St. Thomas Aquinas Church and visited with the local Nigerian Catholic community. He also met with Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese.
“In all, Shanahan University is conceived to really make a difference that transforms the society,” Archbishop Okeke told the Catholic News Herald in a recent interview. “In doing so, we intend to make visible and bring back into ordinary discussions, the idea of God.”
Shanahan University opens in September to 500 students and is the first of its kind in Nigeria with all students attending on scholarship for all four years. Scholarships are based on excellence in specific areas of study or if a student is unable to afford school but meets qualifications.
The university is named in honor of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, who built a network of schools in Nigeria in the mid-1900s. The schools thrived until 1970 when, after the Nigerian civil war, the ruling government confiscated faith-based schools. This caused a steep decline in education and morality, Archbishop Okeke said.
Forty years later the government returned the schools to the Church. Under Archbishop Okeke, they began to thrive in the formation of faith, character and academic excellence.
“Learning without character becomes injurious to society, and that becomes dangerous,” the archbishop said.
Father Innocent Amasiorah from the Archdiocese of Onitsha is the campus minister of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and coordinated the archbishop’s visit. He said the Shanahan Education Foundation needs the help of all people of good will.
Father Marcel Amadi, campus minister at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, agrees.
“It’s a huge project – the first of its kind. It’s going to encourage a lot of students, especially people from poor families,” he said. “Lives will be changed, and saints will be made.”
— Georgianna Penn