As part of the on-going efforts aimed at sanitising the Catholic Church the Archbishop of the Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has banned men with jerry curled hair, tight jeans and ear rings from worshipping in the Church.
The Cardinal, in his current crusade against indecent dressing, in a circular made available by his Director of Social Communications, Re-verend Father Gabriel Osu, recently, said "fashion that promotes lust and immorality must not be allowed inside the Church.
"They should be quietly asked to worship outside the Church", the circular quoted the Cardinal as directing all heads of parishes across the metropolis to strictly enforce the directive.
In another development, Okogie has condemned love offerings at Christian wake-keeping, which, he said, was also a new phenemenon among the Catholic faithfuls.
Though the Cardinal did not ban assistance to the bereaved, he said, such donations, should be done privately in accordance with the Biblical injunction of "not letting the left hand to know what the right hand was doing.
"Love offering for the family of the deceaced is greatly frowned at. This should not form part of the service", he said, while emphasising that Christian wake-keeping was a good practice of the Church and could be conducted by any good and God-fearing member of the faithful and not necessarily a priest".
While priests could attend such wake-keeping, if they were chanced, he said they were not bound to do so.
He also frowned at the non-redemption of pledges by some faithful, noting that it was becoming the vogue for people to make public pledges at bazaars and fund-raising activities without redeeming such.
He reminded those guilty of such act of avowal to desist from it, stating that making pledges and redeeming them was very rewarding.
"To make a pledge and fulfil it soonest is an honourable thing and is highly rewarded by God", he added.