BODIJA JOURNAL | A Philosophico-Theologal Journal

Consecrated persons are those who are conscious of having received a special call from God to love Jesus Christ and the following of him through spreading the gospel of joy and peace. They live out their vocation and unique charism in the human society. Hence crisis and violence and crisis may affect their mode of operation. Nigeria has become the buzzword of most media houses in recent time. This is for rather obvious reason, the radical Boko Haram (Bandit/Herdsmen), causing havoc in some part of the country and an air of uncertainty now surrounds the future of the nation. No doubt, this has sent shockwaves round the world. Fortunately, the country is still under the semblance of a democratic government. However, every part of the country has had or is having its fair share of violence and crisis. This is where consecrated persons as expected to work. The questions that loom large here are: what do consecrated persons do? How do these situations challenge persons of consecrated life? Can a consecrated person or group offer any help in controlling violence and crisis in Nigeria? Consequently, this paper discusses the role of consecrated persons in witnessing amidst the challenges that confront them in situations of violence. It proceeds by way of identifying some forms of violence that persons of consecrated life are confronted with and then a panoramic view of the Nigerian context is given consideration with a view to establishing the prophetic role persons of consecrated life are called to play.

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