Drama in Enugu church: Catholic priest smashes beer bottles in hallowed chamber

•Crave for autonomy tears congregation apart

On August 8, 2025, the priest of St. Paul’s Parish of the Catholic Church in Amokwe, Rev. Fr. Godfrey Olieri, was seen in a viral video confronting the women of St. Mary’s, the church’s outstation in Idedu part of the community, smashing beer and soft drink bottles, turning tables and throwing chairs as the women observed the customary August Meeting. Our Enugu State correspondent, DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA, observed the incident and reports.

On Friday, August 8, 2025, residents of the quiet village of Idedu, Amokwe community in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State woke up to viral images of Rev. Fr. Godfrey Olieri of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Amokwe, smashing beer and soft drink bottles at the venue chosen by the women wing of the church to observe the church’s annual August Meeting.

The priest’s violent reaction followed the decision of the Idedu female members of St Paul’s Catholic Church, Amokwe to hold a separate August Meeting Ifrom the one at Dt Paul’s, the parent parish in Amokwe. The incident was the culmination of a long dated desire by the church’s members from Idedu for an autonomous parish from the church in Amokwe.

Shocked by Rev. Father Olieri’s action, the women were said to have reported the matter to their husbands, who confronted the clergyman in a feat of exasperation and only stopped short of beating him up. In one of the footages from the incident, a mob is seen hurling insults at the priest.

The August Meeting is a deeply rooted and significant annual tradition in Igboland, during which Igbo women—especially married ones—were mobilised to return to their matrimonial villages for a powerful, three-day homecoming congress.

It is an occasion during which women take decisions on how to join their husbands in the development of their communities.

In most communities in Igboland, orthodox churches like the Catholic and the Anglican also use this period to hold their women’s August Meeting, which was the case at Idedu.

Following the viral video that trailed the incident, rumours were rife that the priest smashed the bottles of beer and soft drinks because he was angry that the women had the temerity to bring alcohol into the house of God. Others thought the priest was angry because the women had the temerity to hold their meeting before the Blessed Sacrament. To such people, his action was simply a reenactment of the biblical cleansing of the temple.

The various interpretations of the priest’s action were by people who had no knowledge of the crisis that had built up in the church for years. Beneath the shards of broken bottles lies a deeper fracture that has slowly torn the parish apart for years.

A house divided

St. Mary’s is not a full fledged parish. It is an outstation under St. Paul’s Parish, Ibuzor Amokwe, also in Udi LGA, within the Catholic Diocese of Enugu. For decades, this arrangement worked. Worshippers prayed together, women and men held their joint August meetings together, and peace reigned unfettered.

But in recent years, St. Mary’s has sought autonomy, demanding recognition as a full parish with its own parish priest. Parishioners have since commenced building a parish house with diocesan approval, and thus igniting quiet tension.

The breaking point came when St. Mary’s boycotted the 2025 joint August Meeting, opting instead to host their own. Some parishioners told our correspondent that their main reason for seeking autonomy from the mother parish was because of perceived marginalisation of St. Mary’s.

A parishioner at St. Mary’s said: “When it comes to financial contributions, church positions, work, it is always members from St. Mary’s that come handy. We decided that since we have the population and the resources, it is better we come home to develop our own parish.

“But they won’t want to hear that because of their selfish reasoning of unity. And they managed to convince the priest to prevent us from going.

Read Also: ADC coalition deceiving Nigerians, says Datti Ahmed

“We feel the church will be closer to us when we have our own parish.”

A woman leader from St. Paul’s, who witnessed the confrontation but asked not to be named, said: “It had nothing to do with alcohol.

“For months, the priest pleaded with them to unite. He begged but they refused.

“That day, he only went there to ask why they ignored his appeals.”

The priest at the centre

To those close to him, Fr. Olieri is not a firebrand but an easy-going clergy. Parishioners at St. Paul’s recall him struggling with a spinal cord injury yet still pushing for reconciliation.

Chukwuemeka Nebo, Chairman of the Catholic Men’s Organisation (CMO) at St. Paul’s Parish, remembered the moment distress calls flooded in. “We rushed there and saw our priest being booed. People shouted evil things. He only wanted unity, but instead, they humiliated him,” he said.

Women leaders insist the priest’s cassock bore bloodstains after the scuffle. “If he had been pushed to the ground, he might not have survived,” said Caroline Onyia. “Yes, smashing bottles looked bad. But imagine the provocation he faced. We must not forget his humanity.”

Chaos in hallowed chamber

The August Meeting of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) is meant to be a time of bonding, of solidarity among mothers and wives. On this particular day, however, church grounds echoed with the sound of breaking glass and raised voices.

Online, the images drew fierce reactions. Critics accused the priest of overstepping his bounds, likening his actions to those of angry mobs at motor parks. Supporters, however, saw zeal for the house of God. “Even Jesus once chased people from the temple,” one parishioner argued.

The wider questions

Beyond the anger and the shame, the incident raises difficult questions. Has the church lost its reverence in today’s world? Why would women bring their husbands and sons to confront a priest?

“The priesthood and the church are places of order,” said Onyinye Mama, founder of the Heroine Women Foundation.

“Instead, we see open defiance. Yes, priests must exercise self-control. But people no longer tremble at the word ‘priest’ the way they once did.”

Barrister Nnenna Anozie, a gender activist, toed a different path: “Violence, no matter the justification, is wrong. What I saw was disturbing. Disagreements in the church must never be resolved by force.”

Calls for intervention

Days after the confrontation, members of the CWO of St. Paul’s Parish staged a solidarity rally. They carried placards reading: “CWO St. Paul’s Parish is solidly behind our parish priest” and “Enugu Diocese, please ask St. Mary’s Idedu outstation to allow for peace.”

Their appeal was direct: the Diocese must act before the rift deepens.

One priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested the solution might lie in granting St. Mary’s the autonomy it craves. “This fight is unnecessary,” he said. “If properly managed, it is not rebellion but growth. The Diocese could have ended this long ago by giving St. Mary’s parish status.”

A church at a crossroads

For now, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Idedu, remains in the limbo — neither fully independent nor fully at peace. What should have been a joyous gathering of women became a reminder of how fragile unity can be when ambition collides with authority.

As parishioners await word from Bishop Callistus Onaga and the Diocese of Enugu, the image of shattered bottles inside a sacred space lingers – a haunting symbol of a faith community torn between obedience and independence.