GREETING:
I greet you and welcome you all to the third and the last edition of our 2011 Pastoral Council Meeting. I thank all of you present for coming quite on time for this meeting. This is the last Pastoral Council Meeting this year, and I expect, that as usual, we shall allow the best of decorum for a meaningful deliberation to enable us round up and close properly the Pastoral Year. The highlights of this last meeting of the year are the reports of the various diocesan organisations, the presentation of the next year's budget and the presentation of our Pastoral Calender of Events. I invite you all to make your modest contributions for the success of the Pastoral Work in our diocese. As I always insist, remember you are representing an indispensable group in our Diocese, a Parish or an Organisation. Therefore, be attentively and actively part of the meeting so that you will be able to communicate our deliberations to the people you represent. This is one of the ways in which they can feel the pulse of the Diocese.

GRATITUDE:
We have ample reasons to thank God. First we thank Him for the end of the year which draws near. We thank Him for the progress of the work in the diocese and in the parishes. Since our July Pastroral Council Meeting, we can count many blessings on the diocesan level. In the month of August, we were blessed with Seven new Priests. They have all received their postings and are already engaged in the pastoral work of the diocese as ordained ministers. As young Priests, they need your help so that they be properly and well oriented in the ministry. Few new Parishes will be inaugurated in the next few months. We encourage them and thank the mother parishes for the new births. Our prayer is that the Gospel of Christ comes really near to all the houses in these new parishes and that God may bless all those who contributed to the realisation of these evangelical objectives.

We recently and successfully concluded the second Diocesan Synod. We thank God for being with us in the deliberations. On a very sincere note, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you, especially to the Priests for their cooperation in the ministry; to the regions and parishes for their understanding and spirit of oneness. I also want to thank all those who answered our call when we were in specific financial need throughout the course of this year that is coming to a close. May God reward your generosity by opening to you the infinite treasures of His grace and His bounty.  

THE DIOCESAN SYNOD:
The General Assembly of our Second Diocesan Synod was held at the Sacred Heart Pastoral Centre from the 7th to the 12th of November, 2011. I thank all those who worked for the success of this historic event. I thank especially Very Rev. Fr. Finian Nwaozor and the Synod Preparatory Committee for their sacrifices which made the Synod successful, the Synod Delegates, who conducted themselves with diginity, took the deliberations seriously, and collectively and critically deliberated on the materials provided by the Parishes in the Instrumentum Laboris. I thank also Parishes for participating in the proccess. While we continue to pray for the Diocese, we wait for the Synod Acta which will be published as soon as possible.

THE NUNCIO'S VISIT:
The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Most Rev. Augustine Kasujja paid us a Pastoral Visit from the 11th to 14th November, 2011, and within the visit, closed officially the Synod. I thank the Deans and the Regional Organisations for the wonderful and befitting receptions organised for him. No doubt, he left with a very positive impression of the Diocese. From every point of view, we hope that his visit will bring blessings to our Diocese.

ADVENT AND END OF THE YEAR ACTIVITIES:
The Church's Liturgical year ends the coming week, giving place to the advent season. The advent season, we all know, is a serious Liturgical season with its grace promotion. Let us make adequate use of the opportunity once more to prepare ourselves to receive Christ at Christmas. The advent leads to Christmas. May Christ be born in our hearts. Remember the high points of Catholic preparation: reflections, end of the year resolutions, confessions, reconciliation, Holy Communion and sharing with one another. Christ is God's self gift to us, and we are bound to share ourselves and our resources with each other. Please do not forget your usual generosity (your Christmas to me) on which we count seriously. Be generous to me as you have been the previous years. Little need to mention that whatever is realised from your generosity is plunged into a specific project.

THE NEW ROMAN MISSAL:
You know already that the New Roman Missal begins to be operative from the first Sunday of Advent. I have already directed that all Masses celebrated are to follow the new translation. Masses in Igbo will still be celebrated using the translations we have in our Usoro Emume Missa, waiting for the approval of the Igbo translation by Rome.

CHALLENGES IN THE NEW YEAR:
The coming year presents to us several challenges in the parishes and diocese. Primarily, we need to deepen the faith, despite the many years of Christianity in our land the faith appears to be shallow. Parish Councils should make necessary plans to enhance the teaching of the faith in schools and to all children. DOMUS CLERO - Priests' home should not be allowed to linger on. Appreciable amount of work has been done; it needs to be finished soonest.

CLOSING AND WISHES:
Once more, thank you for coming and for listening. May God be with us for a fruitful discussion and may He favour you with journey mercies as you go at the end of the meeting. I wish you already a grace-filled advent season and a peaceful Christmas.

Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Ukwuoma
Bishop of Orlu