Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has supported the N1billion St. John Mary Vianney Priests Home (SJMVPH) project for retired priests in Maryland.
SJMVPH project director, Biodun Olumide, an engineer, said Sanwo-Olu supported the Catholic Church’s Lagos archdiocese project with an undisclosed amount even as a non-Catholic.
Olumide made this known while addressing parishioners on the project during the St John Mary Vianney feast day ceremony held at St Agnes Catholic Church in Maryland, Lagos.
He said the project is a six-floor building.
He said: “Technically we started in April this year and we have brought the first structure fully completed and heading to the superstructure which is the upper structures.
“The project is a six-floor one and in total it has 30 rooms for elderly priests.
“In terms of funds raised so far, we have realised the sum of N321,995,000 and N82, 071,000.00 in pledges.
“The projected cost of this project N99,000,000. We have come a long way already, we still need over N500,000,000 to hit our mark.
“We are immensely grateful for this level of support and will continue to commit to being transparent, by sharing progress updates.”
Chairman of the the SJMVPH committee and Parish Priest, Rev. Fr Anthony Fadairo, said it was the archbishop’s idea for the committee to celebrate the feast day as well as appreciate donors who have contributed to the N1billion project target.
He said: “The Archbishop has called us to gather and celebrate and thank the various groups that are supporting this project.
“St John Mary Vianney is the patron for priests, so, because of his position we named the home after him.”
Fadairo called on all Christians, most especially Catholics, to support the project.
According to him, the priests spend most of the time in the service of man and God with no time for self.
A retired priest, Rev. Christopher Boyo, said a retired old priest’s home is necessary because many of them have nowhere to go after retirement.
He said: “We need it because a lot of priests who are old don’t have anywhere to stay. Some of them have died; some are 90 and so on. I’m 82 years old others are older.
“We need this project, it is about time we had it. In other places outside Nigeria, they have homes for old retired priests so it is about time we had our own.”
He thanked the archbishop and many others who had contributed to the project.
Most of those who attended the event believe that the time has come for the church to take better care of it priests.
They expressed hope that the project will not suffer any setbacks and will be completed on time.
St John Mary Vianney, a French Catholic priest, is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and is the patron saint of the parish.
The Saint’s feast day is celebrated every August 4 and 8. He was canonised on 31 May 1925 in the Vatican City by Pope Pius X1.
