Priests, Religious and the entire Lay Faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta have been charged to rededicate themselves to the mission of spreading the gospel to the nooks and crannies of the Diocese. This call was made by the Bishop – Most Rev. Dr. Peter Odetoyinbo at the recent Diocesan Mission Congress.   He encouraged Priests, religious, catechist, married couples and all baptized Catholics to continue to put in their best into the mission of Christ, especially at this period of Synodality when the Church calls everyone to Participate in Communion with one another in order to fulfill the mission.
The Bishop in his keynote address, titled, "Do not be afraid am with you (cf. Isaiah 41:10)  "delivered at the Diocesan Mission Congress, held at Divine Mercy Pastoral Centre, Obada-Oko.
charged everyone to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her total submission to God. “Let it be done to me according to God's will, this absolute trust like that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will make us prevail over the challenges and difficulties we may encounter in our mission".
"Our mission may be challenging and difficult but rather than being dismayed, let us surrender them to Jesus. Let us place ourselves into the hands of God and He will do with us whatever He wills. Our absolute trust in God will surely bring us comfort, solace and help, deliverance and victory in difficulties and challenges we may encounter in ministry and apostolate".
"I urge you to be more inspired with great and beautiful dreams, innovations, and ideas in the parishes, apostolates, societies in the church etc, that will enhance the mission and never to jettison such dreams and ideas because of fear".
"My dear priests, religious and laity, we must always invoke the Holy Spirit to grant us fortitude, for we are called to witness to the Gospel, just as the way the apostles and saints did. Without the spirit of fortitude, we may never be authentic witnesses to Christ in our troubled world. Our world needs more witnesses, we are the light and salt of the earth, our witnessing allows the light of Christ to shine into many darken hearts".
"The loneliness and isolation open the door for fears and dismay. God knows all struggles, he sees all our distress, he feels all our pains, he hears all our yearnings. He is always by our side to give us strength, to bring us help and deliver us with his right hand. God in various ways in the scripture assured the people of his presence, even when we desert him, he searches for us, for the sake of his great love for us".
"Let us keep our gaze on Jesus, He is always with us. When we focused on our situation rather than Jesus, we may likely sink totally into our problems and may never triumph. Jesus owns the mission, sends us on this mission and assures us of his presence because He himself is the Mission in union with the Holy Spirit".
"As a young and vibrant diocese, 25years old of its creation, the future is still bright despite how cloudy it may be. With the trust in God, we can collectively, advance the mission of Christ in Abeokuta diocese".
"As we journey together, we must never go weary or tired but continue to look onto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. With His assuring and abiding presence we can do exceedingly beyond our thoughts and imagination. Our strength alone is Jesus, our comfort alone is Jesus, our refuge alone is Jesus, let us draw closer to him as he  assured through his word  not to be afraid, for he is always with us".
"The Blessed Virgin, the Star of evangelization and mission is always ready to accompany us in this mission. The achievements recorded in the past 25 years are testimonies of this abiding presence of Jesus and his reassuring words. So we are not afraid to move on and be committed more to the mission".
Fear is an obstacle to great dreams and vision in life. The apostles experienced hostility and persecution, but the presence of the Holy Spirit filled them with courage".
"One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is fortitude. We must invoke the gift of fortitude, to enable and help us to confront and overcome our fears and obstacles in this mission".
"My dear Priest, Religious and Laity present, the numerous challenges we face as Catholics, as a nation, as people of God needs new approaches and systems of mission, they are yokes which  must continue to bear and offer to Jesus the Saviour in all our efforts". "This invitation of Isaiah is an invitation to trust in God.  We need to embrace and encourage this absolute trust in God who is ever there who has sent us on this mission with the Holy Spirit as the powerful force. The love of God endures forever, God is ever faithful even though we are unfaithful.  Some are afraid to even live and teach the faith, what scares them one cannot really tell. Some are ready to compromise the faith and mission at the expense of daily food and material benefits". "Sometimes one can experience the sale of the sacraments to a highest bidder for material gains and favours. The loss of the Sense of the Sacred, sense of the Church and her mission, self discipline, commitment to the calling as Priests, Religious and married couples and Christian living are rampant now and manifested by all".
"Just as God offered comfort to the son of Israel, God is also offering his comfort and solace to us as a diocese and in a special way for those priests, religious, catechists, prayers leaders who carry out the mission in the difficult situation and parts of our diocese".
"However in one way or another we have our fears, worries and anxieties, pains which we encounter every day as we struggle to adapt to difficult political, academic, religious, social and economic policies and situations".
"The insecurities, banditries, kidnapping, arm robbery, fraudulent practices, deadly high ways, family challenges, health issues and many others which threaten our peace of mind and discourages us from carrying out the mission. In fact, everything around us tend to scare us and we feel lapsed, lazy, weak and lukewarm and isolated.  And we spend our lives and times complaining, lamenting and rejection this call to mission. This affects everyone, Priests, Religious and Laity". 
"The realities confronting us as Nigerians and Catholics, and various modern ideologies, policies and problems have severe influences on our spiritual, psychological, family, economic and political life. A little surf on the social media will clearly reveal realities of the time we live in. There is a continuous eroding of values, increase in moral decay, lack of regard for human life and loss of the sense of sacred even by the Priests and religious who are called to uphold and teach and live it. The influence of Pentecostalism on our Catholic faith is another obvious effect".
"The introduction of the traditional religious ceremonies recognized by States have brought to fore the challenges the mission will face in our State and Diocese. This is clearly seen in our choice of choruses, pattern of prayers, other practices which sometimes do not conform to the traditional teaching of the church as said in order to meet up with the new reality of worshippers, which does not explain why we must abandon our traditional culture and practices as Catholics". 
"Priests are most guilty in this aspect as they have lowered the Catholic teaching and values in the way and manner they lead prayers, celebrate the Liturgy and this has affected homes and even schools".
"There is also increase in nonchalant attitude toward deepening of the faith. There is general lack of interest in deepening the Catholic faith.
"As a matter of necessity, our catechesis must be taken seriously, especially for the young ones, for we need to catch them young and deepen their faith. Intense preparation should be done in preparing the children for sacraments".
"Beyond the few months or years of catechism class, continuous formation and ongoing catechesis of the faithful in our parishes must be fostered. The more constant and consistent we are in guiding, and teaching the HCA, CYON, CWON, CMON, MARRIAGE CONSELLING, SCHOOLS, INTESIFY CATECHETICAL SUNDAYS ETC, and other societies the better we will at least sustain the mission within and encourage the mission without that is outside the Catholic members to others Muslims, Pentecostals, traditional worshippers alike.
"The family is also expected to deepen the faith sown by the church. The family is the centre for faith formation, our family must have a fixed time for prayer, bible study, catechesis. Unfortunately, the struggle for survival, meeting up with the physical and financial needs of the children has kept many parent from fulfilling their duty as pastor of their home.
Many families today have been torn apart by hardship and difficulties they experienced in their marriage. The Vatican II domestic Church image and injunction comes in here for parents and family. If this is taken seriously, the stress on the Priests and catechists will be complemented. The programs organized for couples like the marriage course, worldwide marriage encounter, should be embraced by all Priests, counsellors and the couples themselves before and after marriage. The Lagos Provincial Marriage counselling manual will soon be published for use in this regards.
"We experience the exodus of many youth, especially Catholic ladies from the Church. Some have been taken out of the church through marriage, despite their promises signed in the dispensation form. Many celebrated their marriage in the Church to please their parents and after the ceremony they abandon the faith. This attitude to the faith indicates little or no regard for Sacraments. Similar to this is the loss of the sense of sacred, disrespect for sacred places, while the sacred moments are longer cherished again especially in the Liturgy".
"I appreciate your courage, sacrifices, pains, commitment to this mission in the past years. It has always been our God carrying our through us the mission to save the world".