Fake Catholic Priest Still Celebrates Mass In Imo Parishes

Barely eight months after he was released from police net, Jude Chinonso Amadi, a fake Catholic priest, is still moving about celebrating mass in unsuspecting parishes in Imo State as an ordained priest of the Catholic Church.

Amadi, a native of Nguru in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, was arrested and charged to court in December last year for impersonating as a priest of the Crossian Congregation based in Enugu. This was after he deceived his parents, community, the parish priest and the entire faithful of St. Thesesa’s Catholic Parish, Nguru in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, making them believe that he has been ordained a deacon(priest) of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis in Rome last year.

but eight months after that incident, the fake priest was still deceiving priests and churches, getting them to allow him celebrate mass in their parishes.

This time around, he succeeded in deceiving the parish priest of Holy Cross Catholic Parish, Emii in Owerri North Local Governemnet Area of the state, Rev. Fr. Augustine Onyeneke to allow him concelebrate a burial mass of a deceased parishioner, whom he claimed to be his uncle.

According to Fr. Onyeneke, on Friday September, 5, 2014, he was about to commence the burial mass of the deceased when Amadi came in and introduced himself as, Rev. Andrew Ibe from Umuoronjo Owerri (St. Paul’s Parish, Owerri) and that he was ordained a deacon for the Missionary Society of St. Paul (MSP) Congregation.

The fake priest was said to have presented some pictures of his ordination to surport his claim.

The parish priest said he allowed the fake priest to celebrate the mass with him and that after he was called by the Chancellor of the Owerri Archdiocese, who drew his attention to the fake priest.

He added that the development came after the mass had ended and the self-acclaimed deacon gone. “He deceived me and when I allowed him to perform the duty of the deacon in that mass, the young man acted like a real deacon”.

It would be recalled that Mr. Amadi had last year couched his gimmicks so cleverly that no one was able to detect his true position, until a rousing reception and thanksgiving mass were successfully held in his honour by his family, church and the community.

Mr. Amadi had, in connivance with his sponsors, forged documents for banns of his Deaconate ordination, dated July 24, 2013, written with the official letter head of the Society of St. Paul(Paulines) and signed by one fake Rev. Fr. Williams James(SSP), who acted as the delegate Superior to the fake reverend.

In the banns addressed to St. Thesesa’s Catholic Parish, Nguru, the Society of St. Paul in Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, allegedly informed that their student, Jude Amadi, had been approved for deaconate ordination.

The banns went further to state that the ordination would take place on September 7, 2013 at the St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. While this was going on, Jude had verbally maintained that his ordination took place on August 30, 2013 by Pope Francis in Rome.

The parish priest of St. Thesesa’s Catholic Church, Nguru, Rev. Fr. Ikem Ogugua, stated that he met Jude as soon as he was posted to the parish on September 1, 2010 when he gave him the impression that he was a seminarian with the Society of St. Paul.

He also said the entire Nguru community had the same impression and were not surprised to hear the banns announcing his deaconate ordination.

Fr. Ogugua had told THE LEADER, a Catholic newspaper, that they did not entertain any doubt until after the rousing reception and thanksgiving mass, when Jude began to parade himself and pontificate as a deacon of the Catholic Church.

Luck then, however, ran out on the fake priest after he had assisted at Mass at St. John’s Catholic Church, Igondu, Lagos, when the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Cletus Anyanwu asked to know his identity, the smart fake reverend introduced himself as a deacon of Paulines, Ibadan.

Fr. Anyanwu, who also had a seminarian from the Society of St. Paul, immediately invited him to welcome Jude. But, the seminarian could not identify him as a deacon of their society.

This prompted the priest to alert the Superior General of the congregation, Rev. Fr. John Watacura, who then put up a disclaimer on the person of Jude Amadi.

The matter was then reported to the home parish priest of Jude Amadi, Rev. Fr. Ikem Ogugua who commenced investigations only to discover that the said Jude had deceived the entire parish and the community. He said with the information Jude gave them about his ordination as a deacon, the parish was already preparing for his priestly ordination which was said to come in April next year.

As if that was not enough, having realised that his game with the Paulines were up, Mr. Amadi changed tactics and started claiming that he had switched over to the Crossian Congregation based in Enugu.

He then contracted one Stanley to act as his superior in the congregation.

Jude and his accomplice started making plans on how he would travel to Cameroon under the guise of the Crossians.

But, the original Crossian Congregation in Enugu got the wind of the move, they visited the home parish of Jude in Imo State where they met with Fr. Ogugua.
It was then they alerted the police about the fake deacon, and the police nabbed him for impersonation three days later on November 28,when he returned for onward movement to Cameroon.

Before his arrest, the youths of the community were said to have trooped to the Imo Airport then with traditional dances to welcome their new deacon, fake Rev. Jude Chinonso Amadi on ‘arrival from Italy’, with pomp and celebration.