In Enugu State, Nigeria, a priest named Rev. Fr. Linus Okwu did something surprising. He is from St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Agbani, and he was very upset with the church members.
Rev. Fr. Okwu was angry because church members didn’t cut the grass around the church. This included women, girls, and choir members. He showed his anger by hitting them with canes.
The priest entered the church while the choir was practicing. He asked them why they hadn’t cleared the church field. When he didn’t like their answers, he told them to kneel down and started hitting them hard with the cane.
One of the people who got hit, a young woman, said she went home with bruises all over her body. She asked not to be named. She said she would never forget this shocking experience.
“The Priest was very angry,” she said. “He told us that since we don’t follow the church’s rules, he would make sure we do by using the cane.”
She continued, “I was sitting with the teenagers in the choir. When he started hitting everyone, I moved to the back, thinking he wouldn’t hit adults and mothers. But to my surprise, he did.”
“When I tried to stop him, he said if my father can hit me at home when I’m wrong, he has the same right to hit church members. I was badly hurt when he finished,” she added.
The Director of Communication for the Diocese, Rev. Fr. Anthony Aneke, has not yet commented on the incident.