The first attempt by the Roman Catholic Mission to establish a mission in Ikem Nando was made between 1885 and 1891 as Nando was the third place the missionaries visited after Onitsha and Aguleri. Unfortunately, Ikem Nando was very far from the river and the missionaries couldn’t trek. They therefore resorted to sending catechists.
It could be said that the main instrument of evangelization used by the church was schools as Rev. Fr. Holohan established St. Francis primary school at Ikem.
From Inception, St. Francis has been an outstation of St. Joseph’s Aguleri and when St. Anthony’s parish Igbariam was carved out, it moved with her as an outstation. In 1987, the people of Ikem Nando gathered together to plan for the constuction of the church building and as such, donations were made to achieve this. The construction of the church building kicked off between 1987 and 1989.
This parish was created out of St Joan Parish Nando on the 12/8/2009 with Rev. Fr Donald Udeaja as the first parish priest. I arrived this parish as the fourth parish priest on the 15/10/2021, I took over from Rev. Fr Anselm Chidiume. On arrival, I met a foundation of a school building, I started filling the foundation until the level the building is today. All these were done under the Archdiocese of Onitsha. On the 17/3/2023, AguIeri became a diocese with Most Rev Dr Denis
Isizoh as its first Bishop, this automatically made St Francis Parish Ikem Nando as one of the parishes in AguIeri diocese.
Since then, 83 persons have received the Sacrament of Baptism in the parish. On the 27thof August, 37 persons received First Holy Communion; a total of 12 couples have wedded, and 12 funerals have taken place. On the 14of December 2023, the parish started a three-day crusade,
conducted by Rev. Fr Michael Okagbue. This came to an end on the 16th December when the remains of Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi were brought by Msgr. Emmanuel Nwosu for veneration. Earlier this same day, one of our sons Christopher Edozie was ordained a Deacon of the holy Roman Catholic Church in the Cathedral of St Joseph Ugwundiuka AguIeri, It was a day of multiple blessings for the parish. The parish General Harvest Thanksgiving and Bazaar that took place on the 31/12/2023.
Parish Pious Societies: legion of mary, our lady of perpetual help, tansi solidarity, st. anthony’s society charismatic renewal, mother of perpetual help, sacred heart, Block rosary crusade
parish priest: Rev. Fr. ignatius OTIWU, HFFBY
