I’m a soro soke generation missionary. I speak up when things are not going on well. I know that my generation was lucky to have been born while the digital age was still modelling our current society. We were lucky to see many changes occur in our formation years. Few guys ahead of our generation were expelled from the seminary for having cellular phones. Some were even considered to have no vocation simply for asking questions. Many ahead of us were made to believe that they could not be seminarians and openly talk about love. Few missionaries before our generation had social media accounts, and almost none among those in information could make a post without considering if it could lead to their expulsion.I’m a soro soke generation missionary, and I speak up against injustice. I’m not conditioned by my tribe or my country of origin for I’m a native of the digital planet. I’m concerned by every injustice plaguing the Mother Earth. When my brother or sister in my northern Quebec community of Matimekosh-Lac John is maltreated, I’m maltreated. When the primary school students in Umura, Ugbaike are abandoned to study under a cashew tree, I’m being subjected to failure in the nearest future. The missionaries of my generation are neither of the natives of a particular tribe nor of any given nation; we are missionaries, and the mission land is our primary home.
As a soro soke generation missionary, I have to speak up, first against my household and my generation. Most of us are now either parish priests or still struggling to conclude one pastoral assignment or the other. Some are even trying out their hands in the healing ministry. They use their digital platform to immortalize the dance of the marine spirit, and through their Facebook page, they rival with the generation that their politician counterparts ruined our society. Some, even though young have become too old by their dedication to the old ways. And almost as soon as they became priests, they started thinking that they have arrived as if priesthood is a social rank.
This is why as a soro soke generation missionary, I speak up against all the young missionaries who think their role is just to celebrate sacraments. In a society that fights to redeem its soul, it’s dishonest to sit on the fence. Every young missionary in Nigeria is too privileged to even think of remaining indifferent to our decaying society. We received one of the best educations that our dead education system could offer. We were trained with the help of the entire society. We enjoyed the respect of men and women of every age and received the encouragement and support of the people and our ancestors. Any young missionary who contents himself in celebrating sacraments in a society where the citizens lack basic social amenities, and the education system, in a deep coma, is either evil or unaware of his call. We are a generation that is called to go beyond the traditional boundaries. We are called to go out to meet the youths on their ground. Are you good at football, you are called to meet them on the soccer field? It is also unchristian for a good mathematician to languish in his luxury presbytery while the children of those who feed him have no maths teacher. Get out of your parish house and soil your hands.
We are sorro soke generation missionaries, our home is our mission land, and our faithful, every living soul. We are to fight with the oppressed members of our mission land and share in both their joy and their hardships. We are a generation that should smell like the flock we are shepherding. We are the soro soke generation missionaries.
