Kaduna, Nigeria — Nigerian ritualists have re-enacted what was in vogue in Europe in the 18th century when they desecrated the altar of a church located at Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Sources at the church, known as Saint Patrick's Catholic Church said the presiding Priest, Rev. Father Augustine Madaki, arrived the church for early morning mass and discovered that the altar section where he usaully offers prayers and preaches to the congregation had been used for other purposes by unknown people.
The priest discovered to his chagrin that a part of the altar had been used to burn colour candles and that the environment oozed of unfamiliar strong cent with some parts of the rug burnt.
Rev. Father Madaki alerted the church wardens and other members of the congregation who had assembled for the morning prayers and the members went into wailing and lamentation.
The priest expressed happiness that the ritualists did not burn the entire rug or even the church and he used the opportunity to pray for the redemption of the souls of ritualists while there was still time.
Referring to the ritualists, the priest said: "They came here to perform rituals. The rug was burnt. We are lucky that they did not succeed in burning the entire rug. We are celebrating the feast of the sacred heart of Jesus followed by the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I call it evil because what they did on the altar of God in the church.
"When these type of evil people do this type of thing, they will always come around to monitor our reaction to their evil acts. Please, come and witness what I am saying when I finish with mass but I will not curse or say anything bad, rather let us pray for their redemption.
"Let us pray that God will have mercy on whoever must have done this. May God touch him or her and change such persons in the society from bad to good so that they can reap the benefits of true children of God," Madaki who was ordained about 30 years ago said.