CWO BEYOND MONTHLY MEETINGS

Never will any amount of encomium poured out for women, our mothers, Ezinne (Good Mothers), be considered too much. Undoubtedly, mothers are the strong pillars of any home and the stability of any family revolves around them; the power to make or break a home. In most homes, mothers are the ones that stay behind to spend more time with the children, teaching them morals and basic tenets of life. My mother had a strong effect on my early life and still has, till today even.

The church as one family, united in Christ has the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) as her mother. Viewing this noble organisation with this eye makes it easy for us to see how much more responsibilities this organisation is bestowed with; much more beyond coming together once every month to meet and collect dues, levies or fines. (Although coming together in itself is something good because it helps to foster unity, understanding and rejuvenate our dying communal living which by far supersedes western individualistic lifestyle, it shouldn’t end there however. There is a gap yearning to be filled.) The same role women play at home should be translated into the church.

One of the things I expect to see in the nearest future from our mothers, our CWO, is them developing an NGO which will generate funds to help other mothers that have been widowed through giving them soft loans or grants. This will go a long way in making them feel like a part of the family, save them from ‘religious prostitution’ and bring succour to their children who are in fact, the responsibility of the community. Like the Igbos say, nwa bu nwa ora nile. A child is the child of the community.

Secondly and most importantly, our youths are going astray and in need of motherly care and advice. Many families today are in disarray because both parents, father and mother, leave very early in the morning for work, returning very late in the evening. The children are left at the mercy of the house helps, peers or themselves (Please! am in no way advocating for our mothers to become house wives. That era is gone, long gone and should be left there). Mothers can still make out time from their busy schedule to talk to their children. That one minute can make a whole difference. The truth is that, most men are carefree about their children but care more for their business and ever ready to shift blames to the mother when the child goes wayward.

Translating the same scenario into the church, CWO can make herself relevant in the lives of the youth, her children, by delegating a member or two to speak to the Catholic Youth Organisation of Nigeria (CYON) on every meeting. They could also organise skill acquisition workshops for our youths, bringing in facilitators where necessary to teach our youths how to ‘catch their own fish’ rather than jumping from one place to another in search of one favour or another, sometimes jumping into trouble in the process. The CWO should for once forget about capital projects and think about growing pious, intelligent and self-sustaining minds. Capital projects are important; indispensable. However, the church can do without them but the church will crumble if the level of decay in the minds of our youths is not checked, fast. Therefore, inasmuch as infrastructures are important, spirituality and intellectual should not be relegated. Just like the bible said in proverbs 22: 6, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.