Our History

Our History

 

The idea that gave birth to Christ the king Catholic Church Ojo road can be traced back to the second quarter of 1970 when some Catholics living around the Ojo road area of Ajegunle but worshipping at St. Mary's Catholic church Mba the then Parish Priest of St. Mary's Catholic Church Rev. Fr. P. Laffey with the request to have a mass centre at Ojo Road.

Upon approval by Rev. Fr. Laffey, a mass centre was created at number 172 Ojo Road and on the 15th of November, 1970, the first mass was celebrated at the mass centre by Rev. Fr. Laffey. The mass centre then moved from 172 Ojo Road to Pa Olu David's compound at number 134 Ojo Road.

On the 16th of January 1972, the first church council of the Mass Centre was inaugurated with Mr. J.C Okoye (late) as chairman, Mr. J.O. Fosudo (late) as vice-chairman, Mr. P.O. Njoku as secretary amongst other member.

As the Out Station continued to grow, the need for a bigger and more comfortable space arose, this led to the movement of the centre to L.A primary school, Layeni while frantic search for a parcel of land was being made.

On Sunday 26th of November 1972, a motion for the Mass Centre to be named was moved during the church committee meeting and was supported by all. Four names were suggested. Holy Trinity, St. Patrick's, Christ the King Church and St. Jude's. Christ the King Church was randomly selected and that was how the Mass Centre became known as Christ the King Catholic Church Ojo Road.

Owing to growing spiritual needs of worshippers at C.K.C, Fr. Laffey appointed Rev. Fr. Healy in charge of C.K.C. on the 20th of November 1974. Later that year, the search for a permanent place became more urgent as the church was ejected from L.A primary School premises by the school authority. By the early 1975 the church secured a piece of land with the assistance of Mr. John O. Adjekughele in Ojo Road, the present site of the church.

The year 1975 also witnessed the birth of some societies in the church among them are, Legion of Mary, Catholic Youth Organization, Lay Readers, Choral society, Catechist Body, Altar servers, church wardens, etc.

In February 1975, the first mass was celebrated on the new site, (the present site); by that time Rev. Fr. Patrick Moore was made the priest-in-charge of the centre and closely working with him was Rev.Fr. Greening. On Sunday 27th of June 1976 the first baptism was done by Rev. Fr. Moore.

 

On 8th December 1976, the Parish Priest of St. Mary's Catholic Church Rev. Fr. P. Laffey approved the church committee suggestion to start building the first structure for the community. Mr. V. O. Oguntuga(late) was the chairman of the committee.

Sunday, 27th March 1977, saw the first church launching and the sum of N2,957 was realized. The building plan was drawn by Pa Odunsi. The same year, harvest was held and the church committee handled it as there was no separate body set up for that purpose.

In January 1978 a loan of N15,000 was granted to the Centre by His Grace, Archbishop A.O. Okogie now His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Okogie as part of the N23,000 needed for the church building, the balance of which was contributed by members according to their income. By March that same year, all was set as the sum N23,000 was raised and this led to the erection of the first church building with the steel structure.

 

The church building was dedicated on 30th July, 1978 by His Grace Archbishop A.O. Okogie. In the same year, Mr. Timothy Onyekamezie, the Centre's chief Catechist was a delegate to represent St. Mary's Parish and the country in Ireland in one of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference.

Within that same period, the Priest in charge, Rev. Fr. D. Buckley started office hour on Wednesday evenings. This was later followed by the introduction of evening masses on Wednesday evening after father's office hour by Rev. Fr. Leo Flynn. In May 1980, the flooring of the church was carried out. September 1980 saw the electrification and installation of ceiling fans. In 1982, Rev. Fr. Leo Flynn built the marble alter at the cost of ?20,000 sponsored by a philanthropic organization, he also built the Linto behind the church. By this time Rev.Fr. Michael McCabe was the center's priest. November 12th the same year, His Grace Archbishop A.O Okogie visited the center on one of his canonical visit to St. Mary's Parish, during which about 600 candidates from the perish were confirmed. Towards the end of 1984, a new Linto was built in from of the church, the center got its first generator; donated by Mr. Samuel Nwosu.

  

Due to the growing number of parishioners at the C.K.C mass center, the need to introduce a second mass arose and this officially took off in march 1987. The exposition of the blessed sacrament every first Friday of the month was also introduced with benediction.   In 1990, Rev. Fr. John Trout became the center priest of C.K.C Ojo Road. In a bid to decongest the teaming population of the church, the idea to get another piece of land became a matter of paramount importance. With the dynamic influence of Fr. John Trout, the center's priest, the parish priest of St. Mary's Rev. Fr. Sean Barry agreed to buy a parcel of land under the chairmanship of Mr. Patrick Njoku. 

     

On May 10th 1992, God answered the prayers of His people as six plots of land was paid for at Alaba-Oro at the sum of one million naira; with seven hundred thousand naira coming from His Grace Archbishop Okogie (now cardinal), while the parish brought three hundred thousand naira.  After securing the land, work started at the site to prepare it for worship. On Sunday 22nd November, 1992, the first mass was celebrated at the new site by the Centre's Priest, Rev.Fr. John Trout. On the 28th of November the same year, the church was dedicated and named St. kizito after the young martyr of Uganda by His Grace, Archbishop A.O.Okogie, with this development, many parishioners left for St. kizito's church Alaba-Oro hoping that would solve the problem of increasing population at Christ the King Ojo road.

       In 1993, Rev.Fr. Michael Madigan took over from Rev. Fr. John Trout who was transferred to Ketu. Rev Fr Michael in his own contribution decided to cement the compound and give it a face lift by building a porch in front of the church. Though it beautified the church, it did not solve the problem of increasing population and discomfort facing parishioners during mass. In 1995, Rev.Fr. Michael Madigan left St. Mary's parish and that marked the last exit of St. Patrick's fathers in St. Mary's parish Ajegunle. The Archdiocese of Lagos took over and sent their own priests, the first to arrive was Rev. Fr. Michael Umoh who was the first black Parish Priest in St. Marys parish Ajegunle.

He, like other priests, developed special interest for CKC Ojo Road and was determined to do something to make worshipping more comfortable for parishioners. He set up a thirty-two-man building committee which was inaugurated in march 1998 with Mr. Boniface Okoye as chairman. The initial plan was for an expansion and renovation of the church building nicknamed warehouse, the committee was given the mandate to execute this project within six months after inauguration. The committee had finished the preliminary work towards the building renovation, and the news came that Rev. Fr Umoh had been transferred to Holy  Cross and Rev . Fr. Gabriel kunle Amolegbe was brought in as the parish priest in 1999. With the coming of Rev. Fr. Amolegbe, there were changes in the architectural drawing plans, instead of renovation, it became a total demolition of the church building. This new plan included Rev. Father's house, office, conference room, etc. with a view that this outstation would one day become a parish. This project took energy, good planning, series of launching both internal and external, levies and donations to actualize. Every third Sunday of the month become a project Sunday where parishioners made their contributions to support the building project. The building was relatively completed in 2005.

On May 15th, 2005, the outstation was made a parish by His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Okogie and St. Kizito Alaba Oro became her outstation. The first Parish Priest was appointed from St. Mary's Parish in the person of Rev. Fr. Maurice I. Udoh (MSP) who was until then, the centre's priest. He moved into the parish house on July 16th 2005. Other administrative organs were put in place for effective management of the parish.

On the 10th of November 2011, a new Parish Priest was transferred to the parish in the person of Rev. Fr. Vincent Olofinkua. The coming of Fr. Olofinkua witnessed the introduction of Know Your Faith Bible Study, children mass, building of the parish multipurpose hall in August 2013, Parish priest forum with youths, youth empowerment programs, the ordination of Rev. Fr. Francis Orji (First Priest to be ordained after C.KC become a parish) on 21st July, 2012.

18th December 2013, Rev. Fr. Jude Anyaehie (CMF) took over as parish priest with Rv. Fr. Xavier Aniebiet Inyang (OMV) as associate priest. In their time the parish witnessed some structural, spiritual and human developments. In 2015, the new parish office was set up, chapel for adoration was built and linto were built in front of the church, second parish uniform was introduced and in 2017, the church acquired a parcel of land at Ayetoro and was named St. James Mass Centre Ayetoro, the parish bookshop was built and commissioned on 14/5/2017.

The parish Anthem composed by Jude Nnam was introduced in 2016. on the 3rd of May 2018, Rev. Fr. Innocent Oviemuno Obi (OMV) replaced Rev. Fr. Xavier Aniebet Inyang as associate priest. The parish altar was renovated and a new tabernacle was installed in 2019. Also in 2019, the parish received another associate priest in the person of Rev. Fr. Phillip-Mario Ageda (CMF).

The first Holy Mass was celebrated at St. James Ayetoro on Tuesday 5th March, 2019 by Rev. Fr. Jude Anyaehie and Sunday masses was introduced thereafter.

Rev. Fr. Jude was transferred on the 15th of September, 2022. and Rev. Fr. Peter Abatan was brought in as the new parish priest. Father Jude Anyaehie is the longest serving parish priest the parish has had. The coming of father Peter Abatan has ushered in another phase of developments in the parish.

 

In March 2023, the church windows were reshaped to suit a place of worship and stained glasses were installed. On March 31st 2023, a new 100KV generator was acquired to attend to the power challenges in the church. In April the same year, the church auditorium entrance gates were replaced with doors. And on Pentecost Sunday, the 28th of May 2023 marked another turning point in the church, as the church launched the installation of Air Conditioners in the church auditorium. 

 Different priests have come and gone but one thing remained the same, the drive to develop the parish both spiritually and structurally. Christ the King Catholic Church Ojo Road has continued to grow from strength to strength to the glory of God.

We thank God almighty for leading us thus far, all the pastoral teams of the parish, parishioners who have contributed resource for the growth of the church and also, the parish history committee headed by Mrs. Nwaudu Agnes Uche.