REPORT OF THE DAILY ACTIVITIES OF THE FORMATION PROGRAMME FOR

IJEBU-ODE DIOCESAN SEMINARIANS AT THE MISSIONARY OF PAUL

SPIRITUAL YEAR FORMATION HOUSE, IPERU-REMO, OGUN STATE ON THE
THEME “THE MENACE OF BETTING AND GAMBLING ON THE FORMATION TO
THE PRIESTHOOD” FROM 1ST TO 8TH JULY, 2023.

Compiled by Innocent Michael Idiong

Saturday 1st July, 2023

On the evening of 1st July, 2023, the Ijebu-Ode diocesan seminarians resumed for their
reunion and formation programme at MSP formation house, Iperu. Upon resumption, they
kicked on into the activities of the programme set out for them immediately. As that day was a
Saturday, the brothers joined the MSP chaplaincy choir in their choir practice, performed
liturgical practices of mass serving and chanting of divine office with labour and clean up
towards the Sunday Liturgy. This was followed by Vespers and Compline in the hostel’s chapel.
After this came dinner in the refectory by the seminarians and the Vocations Director. Finally,
the last activity for the night was the Vocations Director’s welcome and interactive session with
the seminarians. During the interactive session, the Vocations Director in the person of Rev. Fr.
Albert Osunlaja on behalf of the Bishop and the members of the Vocations Commission
welcomed the seminarians back to the diocese from their respective seminaries and congratulated
them on the completion of the just completed 2022/2023 academic and formation session.

In a special way, he welcomed the brothers who had just completed their seminary
formation in the spiritual year seminaries and urged the rest brothers to care for, direct and
welcome them into their midst as seminarians of the same diocese; the Ijebu-Ode Diocesan
Seminarians Association (IDISA FAMILY). The Vocations Director, Fr. Albert Osunlaja also
made known to the seminarians the daily activities of the programme set out already and urged
all to adapt themselves to the activities of the programme. He emphasized on the need for
brothers to redeem their image as seminarians of the diocese, this he explained as he meant that
they should give a good impression of themselves to the Bishops, priests and lay faithful in the
diocese to correct any erroneous view of themselves that might have been perceived by the
clergy and laity of the diocese. This admonition was followed by the vote of thanks and closing
prayer by the IDISA president, brother Oshunsanya John Paul.
Sunday 2nd July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by brothers attending to their morning
functions and clean-up. This was followed by breakfast at 7.30am. For the Sunday Liturgy,
brothers had their lauds at 9:30am in which some of the parishioners of MSP chaplaincy and the
MSP seminarians also joined. Immediately after laud was the celebration of the Holy Mass
chiefly celebrated by Rev. Fr. Evaristus-Mary Oduntan with two other priests namely, Rev. Fr.
Martin Yina MSP and Rev. Fr. John Sobande, MSP. The homily was given by the chief
celebrant, Fr. Oduntan. During the homily, he admonished every family present to be faithful
followers of Christ and exhorted the women to respect their husbands and also in return for the
men to love their wives faithfully.

In consonance with the Gospel, Fr. Oduntan stressed the Love of God above all and the
call for vocations and remarked that everyone has his own vocation to respond to and the need to
be sincerely open to the love of God in order to actualize his own vocation. Before the
conclusion of the Holy Mass, the MSP brothers welcomed the Ijebu-Ode diocesan seminarians
warmly and wished them a fruitful stay in their community. The brothers had their lunch later in
the day around 1pm followed by siesta and games by 4pm.

After this was Benediction with Vespers and compline at 6.30 pm. After this was dinner
at 7.45pm and some words of admonition and encouragement from Fr Albert Osunlaja to the
seminarians. After the dinner, the brothers held their official IDISA meeting that night around
8:30pm. The meeting was held to discuss salient issues concerning themselves both in seminary
and in the diocese. The meeting ended with a closing prayer and that ended the activity of the
day.

Monday 3rd July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by lauds and meditation at exactly 6:30 am
which all brothers participated actively .The Holy Mass was celebrated by the Vocations
Director, Rev Fr. Albert Osunlaja at 7:30 am. In his Homily, Father admonished the seminarians
to go into the world and preach the Gospel without fear because the saint and the apostles have
built the foundation for us or have create a path for us to follow, he also encouraged them not to
doubtful in their vocations like saint Thomas who looked for signs before he could believe the
news of the resurrected Christ. The Mass was followed by brothers attending to their morning
functions and breakfast at 8am.

At 9am, the seminarians had an interactive session with Rev. Fr. David Mary Odunsi
titled ‘Betting and its effect on the family’. During the session, the chief speaker, Fr. Odunsi
espoused on betting defining it from different perspectives from a particular to universal level
and its dangers especially in the family. According to him, the family is the heart of all
institutions out of the five grades of institutions he mentioned which are the religious, cultural,
economy, academic and political institution. He emphasized that gambling or betting could affect
these grades of institutions in the sense that it could easily lead to financial crisis which is one of
the biggest challenges in our world today especially our country Nigeria. He also pointed out
some ways by which affected seminarians can eradicate gambling from their lives and the church
at large. Some of the possible ways according to him are purity of conscience, purity of heart,
purity of minds, purity of actions.

This was followed by lunch at 1pm and evaluation of the morning session during
lunch. The brothers had their siesta after lunch and were out for games at 4:30 pm. After this was
Benediction with Vespers and compline at 6.30 pm. The day ended with dinner and some words
of admonition and encouragement from Fr Albert Osunlaja to the seminarians from 7.30 pm to
9pm.

Tuesday 4th July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by lauds and meditation at exactly 6:30 am in
which all brothers participated actively. This was followed by brothers attending to their morning
functions and breakfast at 8am. At 9am, the seminarians had an interactive session with
Evangelist Stephen Gbogiaran titled ‘Managing Financial Crisis and Failures’. During the course
of the session, the chief speaker dwelt on financial crisis and how to ameliorate them. He started
by saying that life’s crisis including financial crisis are unpredictable. He said anybody cannot be
a victim of financial crisis. That is, nobody is immune from financial crisis. He said that financial
crisis and stress are rampart nowadays.

He gave the definition of crisis and that of financial crisis in particular. He enumerated
the categories of financial crisis which are; global, national and personal financial crisis. He
focused on personal financial crisis. He proceeded to define personal financial crisis and failure
as a situation when someone has no commensurate resources to meet his/her financial needs. He
went further to state some of the causes of financial crisis which range from
unforeseen/unpredictable natural occurrence like illness, accident, to economical cause like
unemployment and so on. He suggested some steps to redeem oneself from financial crisis. The
following were suggestions he put forth; preparedness for negative emotion and see it as normal
phenomenon, acceptance of financial situation, talking about one’s financial situation, being
honest with one’s family about the financial situation, commitment to staying positive in any
situation. After he enumerated the points above, he took a step further to state the means of
managing financial crisis and problem. The following were enumerated; Identifying the financial
problem, making a budget to help to solve one’s financial problem, lowering one’s expenses,
buying and settling by cash so as to avoid unnecessary spending with credit cards, buying second
hand items instead of new ones so as to cut high rate of spending and borrowing what is
expensive as new item.

This was followed by the Holy Mass celebrated by Rev. Fr Henry Obiagbalasi. In his
Homily, he admonished that Christ is the way, the life and the truth. He also beckoned on
brothers to put Christ in all that we do, and not to turn back from the teaching of God. He also
admonished the seminarians that they should have faith, that God has already giving us all the
necessary things we need to carry out the good works we had to do. The Holy mass was followed
by lunch and siesta. At 3.15pm, the seminarians and the Vocations Director paid a visit to the
correctional center at Sagamu. A brief introduction was given by the head officer of the
jurisdiction, and he make us to understand that they have the Christians and Muslim among
them. Brothers were able to know how most of the inmates are being kept and how most of them
are being punished for what they knew nothing about.

He also made brothers to realize how their cases are being delayed and how the DSS,
police carry out their investigations on them. He also explained on how their jurisdiction could
arrest anybody who have guilty of a criminal offence in places like Iperu, Remo, Ogijo, and
Sagamu. Brother John Paul Oshunsanya addressed the inmates and encouraged them to be
steadfast and not give up on God in their conditions. Some of the inmates also interacted with the
seminarians and questioned them about the meaning of their names, how to pray the rosary, etc
and which they were all attended to duly.

After the correctional center visitation, the seminarians also visited Fr. Evaristus Mary
Oduntan, as he marked his 20th Priestly anniversary that day. During the visitation with Fr.
Evaristus Mary Oduntan, he admonished brothers to keep on going stating categorically that the
church needs young people to take over from them. The day ended with vespers and compline at
7pm and dinner in which the day’s activities was evaluated from the morning session, the
visitation at the correctional center and the session with Fr. Oduntan on his priestly anniversary.

During the evaluation of the day, brothers made mention of how the inmates were happy
and still having the hope in God that things might change one day. With all the difficult
situations around them they still had the strength to learn or have a skill while in the correctional
center. Almost all of them looked depressed already but they still put on smiling faces. A few
recommendations were made by seminarians. Firstly, that the prison chaplain in the diocese
should make sure that something is being carried out in so as to to help the inmates to keep on
putting their hope in God such as celebrating mass for them. Also, the parish within the
jurisdiction should ensure that they gave the priest a total support to carry out the task of charity.
Also, there should be more visitation to the inmates, because that serves as a means of seeing
new faces. This was followed by some words of admonition and encouragement from Fr. Albert
Osunlaja to the seminarians from 7.30 pm to 9pm.

Wednesday 5th July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by lauds and meditation at exactly 6:30 am
which all brothers participated actively. This was followed by the Holy Mass celebrated by the
Vocations Director, Rev Fr. Albert Osunlaja at 7:30 am. The reflection was given by brother
Johnpaul Oshunsanya on the theme ‘God’s interest in the redemption of human life’. He stated
that the readings centred on the interest of human life making reference to Morning Prayer and
evening prayer. He further espoused that God loves the human life he has created which was
seen evidently in the first reading and the gospel where in the first reading, God showed mercy to
Hagar and her son, and in the Gospel, the merciful heart of Jesus made him cast out a demon,
this he explained was to show God’s mercy to his man. The Mass was followed by brothers
attending to their morning functions and breakfast at 8am.

At 9.30 am, the seminarians ably led by the Vocations Director paid a hospitable visit to
the sick and aged of St. John Vianney parish, Iperu to help them in some small tasks, having a
moment of interaction, and by and large sharing God’s word with them. They also shared their
experience of life with brothers and made brothers to learn from their past experience. This was
followed by lunch at 1pm and evaluation of the morning session during lunch. The brothers had
their siesta after lunch and were out for games at 4:30 pm. After this was Benediction with
Vespers and compline at 6.30 pm. This was followed by dinner and evaluation of the day’s
activities by 8pm.

During the evaluation of the day, brothers emphasized on care for the sick, aged and the
need to beware of youthful exuberance. Recommendations were also made, such as the frequent
visit to the aged and sick of Iperu parish community and also, not restricting the visitation to
Iperu Parish or deanery alone but spreading it to other parishes and deaneries. This was followed
by some words of admonition and encouragement by Fr. Albert Osunlaja to the seminarians from
9pm and the day came to a close.

Thursday 6th July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by lauds and meditation at exactly 6:30 am in
which all brothers participated actively. This was followed by brothers attending to their morning
functions and breakfast at 8am. At 9am, the seminarians had an interactive session with Rev. Fr.
Michael Oguntade titled ‘Canonical/Pastoral Implications of Betting and Gambling’. Firstly, he
began with the definitions of betting and Gambling, where he used the general understand of
betting and gambling according to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Betting is an
agreement between two parties that stake (usually money) will be paid by the loser to the winner.
Gambling is an activity characterized by a balance between winning and losing that is governed
by a mixture of skill or chance, usually with money wagered on the outcome.

The question now is, is betting or gambling a sin? No, Michael Oguntade says "... for the fact
that something is not a sin does not mean we should engage in it". Using the analogy of alcohol,
which many people term sin. However, it is the excessive drinking, that is sin in the real sense of
it.

Now concerning Gambling or betting in regards to seminarians, according to canon 285

paragraph 1, addresses the fact that doing things that does not befit ones status in life as a priest
(in this context as seminarian) . As said earlier, Gambling or betting is not a sin. But it is the
addition to gambling is what is the sin here, in the same light, it will be make one contrary to
what canon 225 paragraph 1&2 and Vatican council II says, " as leaders you are to animate the
world with Christian spirit ". And as seminarian if we 'gambler' then we will not animate the
world with with spirit but Gambling spirit because that is what we possess "Nemo quid non
habet". Canon 113 paragraph 1&2 and 116 paragraph 1&2, give a clear distinction on the
different types of persons in the church, namely: the physical persons and the juridic persons.

Through betting, a church can die. If may occur when the money of the church is
squandered on betting. As a backup, canon 1254 paragraph 1&2 and 1284 paragraph 2 no 2.
Says that "it's fundamental for the church to access property independently of the civil authority.
Furthermore, its highlights the proper purposes of the church, they are to order divine worship,
for care and support of the clergy and ministers, to exercise the apostolate towards the needy, etc.
Father concluded by saying that betting as an act is not bad but as the qualities of a good
seminarian is concerned, thus he urged that all seminarian do not engage in gambling or betting.
This was followed by midday prayer at 12.30pm and lunch at 1pm. The brothers had their siesta
by 1.30pm and were soon out for a theoretical and practical cooking interactive session with
Miss Olushola Oduntan Grace by 3.30pm.

During the Talk, she explained that catering is from the root word cater meaning "to take
care of". Catering means providing food and drinks for people to enjoy. (Food table determines/
shape one’s shopping list). She gave the Basic kitchen safety rules:

 Use head net

  Do not wear long sleeves, bangles or wrists watches to kitchen. NB. If these things
dangle it may cause fire outbreaks or clash with appliances
 Be focused
 Do cutting on the chopping board and never soak knives or shape objects in the sink
 Close all drawers and cabinets doors immediately after use to avoid bruises
 Keep all electrical appliances from water and do not step on wet surfaces
 Keep flammable materials away from the range (i.e around the cooker)
 Keep all chemical substances from food and lock in a cabinet well labelled to avoid food
poisoning
Kitchen utensils
Knives, cups for measuring (sauce pan, frying pan), fork, spoon, table knives
Skills for preparing food
1. Heating: There two kinds of heating, they are: dry heat (done for baking, barbecuing and
basting) and moist heat.
2. Frying: there are four (4) kinds of frying, namely: deep, shallow, sustaining and dry
frying
3. Blanche, this is when your food vegetables into boiled water to wash after sometime.

Preservative measures

Smoking, salting, sun drying(dehydration) and canning

Kitchen management skills

 Planning
 Make a work plan

She concluded by saying that it is important to note that catering and kitchen management is
a broad course which cannot be exhausted in a day and as such, seminarians are to at least learn
the basics of cooking. After this was the celebration of the Holy Mass with Vespers at 6.30 pm.
This was followed by dinner and evaluation of the day’s activities by 8pm. Brothers commended
the efforts of the vocation commission for this new initiative and confessed the immerse
immense impact on their life as seminarians and also expressed their gratitude to the Vocation
Commission for the resource person who delivered the talk on the canonical/ pastoral
Implications of betting or Gambling and on the cooking basics also. This was followed by some
words of admonition and encouragement from Fr. Albert Osunlaja to the seminarians which
ended the day.

Friday 7th July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by lauds and meditation at exactly 6:30 am
which all brothers participated actively. This was followed by the Holy Mass at 7:30 am chiefly
celebrated by the Bishop of the diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Francis Obafemi Adesina and
concelebrated by the Vocations Director, Rev Fr. Albert Osunlaja. In the homily, the Bishop
emphasized on the need for seminarians to embrace discipleship as the apostles did and portray
the right attitude worthy of their calling. He also urged them to be selfless in their attitudes
towards people, and not dwelling on self-praising for the good deeds or sacrifices they think they
have don; rather humility and simplicity should be practiced amongst them. This was followed
by brothers attending to their morning functions and breakfast with the Bishop at 8am. At 9.30
am, there was an interactive session between the Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Francis Obafemi
Adesina, and members of the Vocations Commission which were Fr. Albert Osunlaja, Fr. Peter
Onabamiro, Fr. Emmanuel Ani, MSP, Sr. Monica Adeiya, Sr. Beatrice Nwachukwu, CP and Dr.
Mrs. Afolashade Ilori and the parents/guardians of seminarians. Fr. Henry Obiagbalasi was also
present at that meeting.

The opening prayer was led by Fr. Peter Onabamiro, and then there was the introduction
of all the seminarians present together with their parents by name, parish, seminary and class.
The welcome address was given by the Vocations Director talk where he welcomed everybody
present and urged all to feel at home and raise questions and clarifications during the course of
the meeting. The talk for the day was given by Dr. Mrs. Afolashade Ilori. During the course of
the talk titled ‘The Christian family and the call to announce the Gospel’, she emphasized on the
need for Christian families to embrace love, peace and teach their children and seminarians the
way of the Lord and how to imbibe the Christian virtues. In her words, the Christian family
ought to be a physical sign of God’s presence, divine love and grace by showing love and
praying together.

Fr. Emmanuel Ani, MSP and Sr. Monica Adeiya also contributed to the talk by saying
that children who are fruits of the family should be guided by their parents and that there is the
need for compassion and love. After this was the Bishop’s address. In his address, he welcomed
all present and spoke on seminarians allowing themselves to be formed and not imbibe the vices
of the modern world where he mentioned the addictive nature of gambling, smoking, drinking,
etc which should not be seen amongst seminarians. He also advised the parents to see to the
human formation of their children seminarians and purify the quality of their hearts. Fr. Peter
Onabamiro also spoke on the dangers of gambling which should not be practiced amongst
seminarians.

This was followed by questions, comments and clarifications by the parents and
seminarians present where the parents also advised the seminarians and the seminarians narrated
the fruitful ordeal of their stay at Iperu to the Bishop. After all said and done, the Bishop
officially announced Rev. Fr. Albert Osunlaja as the Vocations Director of the diocese; prior to
this time, he had been the acting Vocations Director. The Bishop also announced that Rev. Fr.
Gabriel Olanrewaju has become a member of the Vocations Commission and officially
welcomed Fr. Peter Onabamiro who was also present as a member of the Vocations
Commission. The IDISA president, Oshunsanya John Paul gave the vote of thanks and the
closing prayer was led by Sr. Beatrice Nwachukwu, CP while the benediction was given by the
Bishop. This ended at 11.53am.

After the close of the meeting, the parents/guardians of seminarians had their lunch with
the seminarians in the refectory. The activities for the day followed as usual, the brothers had
their siesta after lunch. After this was Benediction with Vespers and compline at 6.30 pm. This
was followed by dinner and evaluation of the day’s activities by 8pm.

During the evaluation of the day, brothers chose themes to be used in their next MSP
Iperu reunion. This was followed by some words of admonition and encouragement by Fr. Albert
Osunlaja to the seminarians pertaining the resumption of their pastoral work and how to conduct
themselves in the various parishes they had been posted to. The posting of seminarians to various
parishes had already been announced two days ago. After the words of admonition from the
vocations director, they all went to retire for the day.

Saturday 8th July, 2023

The day began with rising by 6am followed by the celebration of the Holy Mass with lauds
at exactly 6:30 am in which all brothers participated actively. The Mass was celebrated by the
Vocations Director, Rev Fr. Albert Osunlaja. In his homily, he exhorted the seminarians to use
all they have learnt during the course of the formation programme at Iperu to bear good fruits in
their pastoral parishes of assignment. He stated that there was the need to make useful impacts
on the lives of the parishioners and that brothers should conduct themselves and see themselves
as servants of God in their pastoral mission and not as lords and masters.

After the Mass, the brothers attended to their morning functions and had their breakfast at
8am. After the breakfast, there was a light cleanup of the compound and its environs as brothers
prepared to leave the community. Brothers departed to their various parishes of pastoral
assignment after the cleanup and light labour of the compound by 11am.