MARY THOMAS RETURNS TO HER CREATOR

 Paul Obi pays tribute to Mary Thomas, a nun and first Reverend Sister of Ogoja and Abakiliki Catholic Dioceses

“May we be transformed to be agents of mercy, seeking to protect, defend, and uphold the dignity of all people.” 

 – Sr Norman Pimentel 

The events all started in 1923 when Mother Sr Mary Charles Magdalene Walker was upon invitation by Bishop John Shanahan, CSSP, recruited Walker, an Irish nun of the Sister of Charity to pioneer the education of young girls in the then newly amalgamated Nigeria, within Calabar Ecclesiastical Province. In 1931, Walker would go ahead to found the Handmaid’s of the Holy Child of Jesus (HHCJ) as a congregation for the moulding, grooming and teaching of young girls as part of the evangelical mission of St Patrick’s Missionary (SPM) and other Catholic missions in the then colonial Nigeria – a British territory. 

Three years after the establishment of HHCJ by Walker, Mary Thomas Bisong was born on 8th May, 1934 in Basan Community, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. At the time of her birth, Ogoja Province was a melting pot for Catholic missionaries. One that has stood the test of time more than hundred years and still counting. It was in Ogoja that Mary Thomas would be influenced by Catholicism, choosing to be a religious, willing and ready to serve in the Lord’s vineyard. As part of her preparatory course for her profession, Mary Thomas enrolled in the Holy Child Primary School (Roman Catholic Mission) in Igoli – Ogoja. 

After her preparatory and elementary school, she attended Teachers Preparatory Training College, Mount Carmel Convent, Ogoja, going ahead to obtain Teachers Training College (TTC) Grade II certificate. It was at this juncture, that her aspiration to become a Nun became clearer and even resolute. In 1952, Mary Thomas would commence that process where she would be hooded in Afikpo in present day Ebonyi State. From there, she was made a postulant of the Handmaid of the Holy Child of Jesus (HHCJ), setting the pace and becoming the first Reverend Sister of both Ogoja and Abakiliki Catholic Dioceses in 1956 under the then Bishop Thomas McGetrick. If Archbishop Joseph Ukpo was the first for Ogoja as a priest; Bishop Michael Okoro the first for Abakiliki, Mary Thomas stood first for the two ecclesiastical enclaves. 

With her first missionary journey being, in Edem Ekpat, present day Akwa Ibom State in 1956, Mary Thomas would become a remarkable teacher and influencer not just for the grooming and profession of religious sisters, but for the very foundation of the girl-child. She was far more than a Catholic nun, a mother susceptible to parenting and the provision of care and ultimate love. 

In total, her ecclesiastical engagement and evangelical missionary journey spanned 68 years, traversing Nigeria, Cameroun, South Africa, England and Ireland. In all, she encountered about 20 postings across board. In those 20 postings, five from 1970 to 2001 were in Handmaid of the Holy Child of Jesus Novitiates and Convent, Kakwagom, Boki. It is to her credit that the two HHCJs in Nigeria, the one in Kakwagom and that of Akwa Ibom have become historical monuments that great stars were and are born. 

From a classroom teacher, a nun, novice trainer, Novitiate Mistress, principal, guardian, mentor, sister and a pace-setter, Mary Thomas was a colossus in many ways and reach. From Oron, Ezzamgbo – Ebonyi State, Dublin, Cameroun, SA, Dublin, Ireland, Mount Carmel Ogoja, Kakwagom down to Bansan, she was the epitome of go-to kind of a teacher, whose moral compass illuminates young girls and others to the cradle of well-groomed and responsible citizens. Girls were willing to learn and grow; not today’s slay queens. 

Beyond being a religious sister, she had a mien that was attractive; very welcoming, and more so kind that she become a symbol of an exemplary life both for girls who wanted to be hooded and even those that took the secular path. Mary Thomas also had a broad smile and a whispering of oscillating love from God above. Her beauty was solely for the celestial God, and so she reserved the precious for the great Elohim. It was still in such construct that many young girls even with abundant beauty took to celibacy and Novitiate. One, in Kakwagom then, just like her name suggests, she was richly blessed with beauty, but chose to follow Mary Thomas’s footsteps and embrace a nun. 

When the final bell tolled in St Patrick’s Kakwagom on 19th February, 2022, closing nearly a century chapter of her life at the age of 88 years, those who benefited from her wealth of knowledge, kindness and sacrifice bear the brunt of a departed soul. But in history, will Mary Thomas’s soul and legacy be recalled? In Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Ebonyi States, she did so well; laying the foundational grounding of the girl-child education. During her era, culture wage a war for the education, emancipation, civilisation and freedom of women; but today, Nigeria’s dome of liberty and freedom (National Assembly) ironically is waging that war and shutting the door against women – by rejecting gender bills.

As the chief beneficiaries of her magnanimity here on earth, it is incumbent on the governments of Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Ebonyi States to find a place in history and immortalize the soul of Mary Thomas for setting the path of freedom for their women folks in teaching and grooming.  Ironically, the Church is so deep and differs; Mary Thomas as the provision of her ecclesiastical oath and HHCJ rules implies, will not be buried in Bansa, or Kakwagom or Ogoja, she will be laid to rest today, 15th March, 2022 in the Seat of Wisdom Chapel, Eriam Afang Obong, Akwa Ibom State where her first missionary journey started. And as St Paul’s epistle postulated, she has fought a good fight and can now adorn the crown of glory in union with her divine creator, singing in praise the numeral valour of favours and flavours. Fare Thy Well, Rev Sr Mary Thomas. Adiòs

Obi, is a journalist and an Altar Boy at St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Kakwagom, Boki, Cross River State