Marriage: Curse or Blessing? …Christian Group Urge Couples to be Tolerant, Seek Understanding

ThankGod EMEH…

In well calculated measures to spice up family Union and reduce the high rate of family breakups in society, the Catholic Men’s Organization, CMO of St Mark Catholic Parish New Owerri, in a one-day seminar urged couples to always tolerate and love one another like Jesus unconditionally loves the church.

This is coming in a time and world where tolerance as a vital key in Marriage is seen in recent times as a sign of weakness as the CMO sued for Peaceful cohabitation in the workshop held at St. Mark Catholic Parish, New Owerri on Saturday April 12, 2025.

Speaking to the participants who came from all walks of life on the Theme “Marriage: a Curse or Blessing”, the Lead Lecturer, Rev Fr. Prof. Anthony Onyeocha decried that “Marriage is only a curse for couples who married for the wrong reasons and are in unhappy union” and as well failed to invite God into the union, hence charged couples not to deny their spouses their intimate rights.

Fr. Onyeocha roundly stressed that Marriage is an ample blessing, quoting the scripture that “a man who finds a virtuous wife finds a treasure more valuable than rubies; and a woman who finds a righteous man derives great honour from her marriage to him; just as Paul describes Marriage as a blessing that reflects Christ’s love for His church”

“Three great blessings are ascribed to the sacrament of matrimony: the first is the procreation and education of children for the worship of God. The second is fidelity that each of the spouses must observe towards the other. The third is the indissolubility of Matrimony -indissoluble because it signifies the indivisible union of Christ with the church.

“Marriage is a blessing because it is made by God for the purpose of companionship, procreation and the reflection of His covenantal love”

Fr. Onyeocha however charged couples and intending husbands and wives to spice up their unions, noting that “faith in God, mutual love and respect, communication, forgiveness, patience and understanding and the habit of prayer” are the six ingredients that must be followed to the later for a successful Christian marriage, just as he charged all to shun all adulterous acts.

Adding his voice, the Rapporteur of the Programme, Prof. Charles Agbaegbu urged the participants to always strive to lead exemplary lives, noting that many spouses enter into marriage without knowing what they signed up for.

Prof Agbaegbu who is a lecturer at the federal University of Agriculture Umudike advised couples to love and compliment each other, adding that tolerance and commitment towards better understanding and fair hearing spices up marital bonds.

The Rapporteur equally called on the participants to reexamine themselves to trace the root of marital problems among others.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, the parish priest of St. Mark Catholic Parish, Rev Fr. Frankline Mbah lauded the CMO members of the parish for supporting the activities going on in the parish and advised them not to relent as he prayed for God’s continued blessings on them and their entire families.

Fr Mbah urged them to take the lecture of the day serious as marriage is one of the sacrament instituted by Christ.

In his open remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, Prof C.C Alugbuo welcome the resource persons and the participants to the seminar while he urged them to pay serious attention to the lecture as the theme of the lecture is very important in Christian families.

Prof Alugbuo decried the rate of at which marriage is crashing on daily basis. He thanked the organizers of the seminar for choosing the topic. He was too confidence of the resource persons whom he described as genius in handling the topic.

Chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council, Mr. Dominic Okoro said many unwarranted and unresolved issues of marriage in recent times informed the need for the workshop because most couples do not know the basic requirements before entering into matrimony.

“We notice that marriages are breaking apart hence we thought it wise to invite the Resource persons of repute to learn from them.

“The teachings were perfect as we brought the best of brains who touched every aspect of marriage breakdown”

The Pastoral Council Chairman extolled the  Resource persons for doing justice to the topic while thanking the planning committee for ensuring the success of the programe, which he described as one-of-a-kind that will go a long way to saving the cardinal point of society with faith that the CMO members and other participants will put the teachings to practice.

The CMO Chairman of St. Mark Catholic Parish New Owerri, Dr. Kingsley Echendu said the theme of the Programme “Marriage: a Curse or a Blessing” was not only thought-provoking but encapsulates the biblical background of the blessings of Marriage, noting that without marriage, there would have been nothing like procreation as he expressed appreciation to the Resource persons; Fr. Prof Onyeocha, Prof Agbaegbu and Prof C.C. Alugbo for their far-reaching teachings.

He noted that the programme x-rayed the fundamental role of love and tolerance as the basic spices for a happy home, noting that when practiced in homes will put an end to divorce among other silent issues in marriage.

“Marriage is an institution instituted by God and sealed with true love; with true love, every other challenge will overcome because the problem comes in when love, understanding, respect, humility are very far but with God at the centre of the marriage, couples will see themselves as partners.

The Vice Chairman of the 2025 CMO Day celebration Organizing Committee, Engr. Chukwuma Nwaohiri expressed appreciation to all and sundry who supported the successful outing among other programmes building towards the 2025 CMO Day billed for May 4, 2025 adding that a lot have been put in place to mark the day.

“We are bringing a lot of innovations into the ceremony and the Marriage Seminar is one of the them and the topic ‘Marriage; a curse or a blessing’ was informed because of the things we see happening in society today by the way marriages are crashing and the youth being afraid to marry hence we thought it wise to deal with the issue.

“We looked for somebody who can handle the topic very well and we found Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Onyeocha, Prof. Charles Agbaegbu and Prof. C. Alogbuo worthy to do justice to the lectures.

Mr Nwaohiri however charged the participants to ensure their families feels the impact of the seminar by having and creating a beautiful home.

“We don’t want marriages breaking up and the youths running away because of issues happening across boards”

Reacting to the marriage teachings, the oldest CMO member in the Parish, Chief Joseph Ozojie noted that the lectures are wonderful counsel that will not only impact married couples but will also serve as journey guide to Intending couples.

Chief Ozojie also charged intending husbands and wives to approach marriage with love and understanding for what God intended marriage to be in order to cohabit peacefully.

“God intended marriage to be a cohabitation with symbiotic life where aan helps the woman to grow in health and spirit as well as the woman helping the man to grow in maturity, health and strength. This is what the message of today’s seminar tells us to always bear in mind”

Commending the Resource persons and organizers of the programme, a participant, Mrs Otito Nwokeji who described the seminar as life-changing outing, advised parents to live aright while urging intending couples to study, understand and love one another unconditionally.

“Both father and mother should relate mutually even in the presence of the children. Whatever the man is doing, let the woman and the children know what is going on.

“My advice to the younger generation is for them to always study what is happening and who they intend to marry before they involve themselves in marriage. Let them find a good reason for marriage. Let their reason not only be for the wealth”

Another participant at the event, Miss Olachi Ukaegbu who described the marriage lecture as insightful commended the organizers of the seminar for the heartwarming teachings that she noted changed her psyche about marriage.

“Being someone who has been having doubts in terms of marriage recently, I learned that love, communication and understanding are key to building a happy marriage and home”

Miss Olachi equally called for effective communication, mutual understanding, as well as emotional and mental preparedness especially among youths going into marriage

“I advise that people should always cultivate the habit of listening to one another because lack of communication kills every relationship.

“Communication involves more of listening as sometimes you don’t have to say anything but keeping quiet and listening to the other party attentively, to understand better. And most times, you find out that most people say a lot of things that move people unnecessarily just for the sake of talking and not communicating”.

Speaking at the end of the occasion, the Chairman of the planning committee, Chief Chris Akaraonye thanked the parish priest Fr. Mbah for his support and guidance on the lecture and all the activities lined up for this year’s CMO celebration in the parish.

Chief Akaraonye who is the immediate past chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalist, NUJ Imo State also thanked the resource persons and they participants for attending the seminar which he described as first of its kind in the parish.

He appealed to the parishioners to support the committee in the remaining two programs coming up on 27th April and the ground finale on the 4th of May 2025 when five outstanding parishioners will be honored.