Fr Chigbata has asked me to share this. Fr Chigbata is part of the Resistance in Nigeria:
https://www.cathinfo.com/sspx-resistance-news/resistance-in-nigeria-72685/
https://www.cathinfo.com/sspx-resistance-news/urgent-appeal-by-nigerian-resistance-for-financial-help/
https://www.cathinfo.com/sspx-resistance-news/appeal-for-fr-chigbata-eye-surgery/



My brief Conversion Story: From Hatred to Priesthood

I was born into a lukewarm Anglican family and grew up in a community that was predominantly Anglican. From childhood, I inherited and nurtured a strong hatred for the Catholic Church. It was not simply because of the Protestant orientation we received—which often painted the Catholic Church as an opponent and rival—but something deeper, something I could not fully explain.

This hatred was visible even in my primary school days. It was transferred to my fellow pupils who were Catholics. Though I was one of the brightest students in the class and never refused to help others with studies, I had one strong and unbending principle: I would never lend a book or writing material to anyone wearing a rosary, whether on the neck or the finger. Such was my bitterness toward Catholics.

My Journey Through the World

As I grew older, I drifted away not only from Anglicanism but from church life entirely. My resolve was clear: I would make money first, and then return to church later as a recognized philanthropist.

After primary school, I apprenticed as a motor mechanic for four years and also learned vulcanizing. But after graduation, my efforts to establish a workshop or gain employment failed. I tried to switch to other trades, but again nothing worked.

Just when I was about to return to the village to farm with my mother, a lorry driver invited me to be his conductor. At first, I resisted—this was far from the lofty dreams I had of making it big in society—but eventually, I accepted.

The Echo of an Unknown Voice

Being a lorry conductor gave me exposure to life beyond my village. I traveled across many states and handled money frequently, but the job offered no stability. You could have a hundred thousand naira today and be begging for food tomorrow if the lorry broke down.

After a year, I began to reflect deeply on my life. All my efforts since finishing primary school had amounted to nothing. An inner voice kept echoing in my heart: “Quo vadis?”—Where are you going? Had I really chosen money at the expense of my soul’s salvation?

This inner restlessness grew until I could no longer ignore it.

My U-Turn to God

Eventually, I resigned from my job as a conductor. I wanted a new beginning—one where I could both earn a living and seek God sincerely. As I searched for work, I also searched for a church to belong to.

I did not want to return to the Anglican Church, and the Pentecostal movements did not attract me either. In the midst of this searching, I met an old friend who was a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Warri. I confided in him my restlessness and desire to return to God. He invited me to their fellowship at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Warri.

At first, my old hatred for Catholics flared up, and I rejected the invitation outright. But weeks later, still wandering without direction, I decided to give it a trial. My friend assured me that the fellowship focused only on the word of God.

To my surprise, I found peace there. I continued attending, and before long, we new participants were invited to catechism classes—led, as I later discovered, by the Legion of Mary. It was during these catechism classes that my heart softened. I began to see truth and beauty where once I had seen only hatred.

The Turning Point

In 1988, I officially joined the Catholic Church. One of the first things I did was buy a rosary—not to wear around my neck, but to hold tightly in my hands. It was a symbolic act: a way of overcoming the deep phobia and hostility I had carried for so long.

That rosary became not just an object of faith, but the bridge God used to turn hatred into love, prejudice into conviction.

From Hatred to Priesthood

Today, the Church I once despised is the very Church that formed me, nurtured me, and called me to the priesthood. Truly, “the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

My journey from a bitter opponent of Catholicism to a Catholic priest is proof of God’s mysterious grace. It reminds me daily that no heart is too hardened for God to soften, no hatred too deep for His love to conquer, and no sinner too lost for His mercy to find.

Fr Michael Chigbata