'Na na na na, hey, hey, goodbye'

MIAMI SHORES | Father Michael �Happy� Hoyer recalled a trip he took to Disney World with Father Jude Ezeanokwasa. He made the mistake of turning on the radio and on came a song he would hear over and over again for the next three hours.

�Wouldn�t you know, it was the Beatles song, �Hey Jude,�� Father Hoyer said during a farewell Mass for Father Ezeanokwasa � Father Jude to friends and parishioners in South Florida � who is returning to his native Nigeria after spending nearly a decade, off and on, working in the Archdiocese of Miami.

�He sang, �Hey Jude� all the way up the turnpike to Orlando. �Hey Jude� became my official introduction for Father Jude,� said Father Hoyer, pastor of St. Gregory Church in Plantation, who preached the homily at the farewell Mass Nov. 22 at St. Martha Church. The occasion also marked Father Jude�s 25 years as a priest.

Father Hoyer, who was pastor of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Fort Lauderdale when Father Jude was in residence there, thanked his fellow priest for his dedication to the priesthood. �After 25 years you have earned the title, �senior priest,�� Father Hoyer said.

Father Jude first came to South Florida in 2004 as a summer resident, returning every summer and winter until 2008 while continuing his studies in canon law in Rome.

He had been sent out from his native land to experience other cultures and work. In addition to serving at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, he also helped out at St. Henry, Blessed John XXIII and St. Luke (now closed).

Father Jude holds a doctorate in civil law and another in canon law from St. John Lateran University in Rome, and worked at the archdiocese�s Metropolitan Tribunal from 2008 to 2010, after his bishop allowed him to stay in South Florida. He became a Tribunal judge in 2010 and moved to St. Martha after Father Carl Morrison, a Tribunal judge and St. Martha parochial vicar, died.

�When Father Jude came to St. Martha�s it was a difficult time,� said Father Federico Capdepon, who was pastor at the time. �Archbishop (Thomas) Wenski said, I found you another mate for your church, Father Jude Ezeanokwasa, he�s from Nigeria. Ezeanok-what? Nigeria? When I heard his accent I realized it was worse than my Spanish accent. I�m off the hook! I thought. He had difficult shoes to fill when he came here. He did a great job and became a wonderful companion.�

At the dinner which followed the Mass, Father Capdepon, now pastor at St. Hugh Church in Coconut Grove, joked about his own farewell party from St. Martha.

�I didn�t have fancy cloth-covered chairs, and I didn�t have the Knights of Columbus all dressed up with feathers and swords,� he said of the Knights� Marian Council, who honored Father Jude because he had been their chaplain.

Several Nigerian priests currently working in the archdiocese came to the farewell party for their friend. Looking around at the priests, Father Capdepon asked jokingly, �Are there any priests left in Nigeria?�

The priests were joined by several Nigerian sisters, also working here.

The Knights gave Father Jude a certificate of appreciation, a commemorative St. Vincent coin, and a statue of a guardian angel with its wings around a child. The parish council gave him a gift check, Dominican Sister Mary Tindel, the parish music director, gave him a recording of him singing with the parish choir, and St. Martha�s Men�s Club gave him a new chasuble and alb, plus a special gift to remind Father Jude of why he became a priest: a can of peanuts.

�One Sunday, when I was a little boy in Nigeria, an older girl took me to a benediction ceremony. Before the service the priest was eating peanuts,� explained Father Jude. �She told me that only those boys who want to become priests can have peanuts.�

Father Jude was born in the village of Onitsha, in the southern Nigerian state of Anambra, whose capital city is Awka, where he will reside. He was one of seven children, four girls and three boys. In his seminary high school, he said, 136 entered and only 26 graduated. He was one of the �survivors� and continued on to the major seminary. He was ordained in 1989 and studied law in Awka and Rome.

�I�m happy that I will be seeing my family and help in the ministry of the Church in Nigeria,� he said. �Because of the law degrees that I earned I will be teaching law at my alma mater, Nnamdi Azikiwe University.�

Father Jude said that he admires the Church in the United States. �The Church stands firm in its positions. Catholic education is highly admired in the U.S.�

Nigeria is known as the giant of Africa. It has the highest population on the continent, about 175 million people. The country is split between Muslims who live mostly in the north and Christians who live mostly in the central and southern regions.

Father Jude has written a book dealing with religious liberty and the characteristics of Christian, Muslim and traditional marriages, �The Legal Inequality of Muslim and Christian Marriage in Nigeria.� He also has authored, �Towards Understanding the Bible.�