By Sunday Iduh
According to Wikipedia, honour is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos that manifests itself as a code of conduct and has various elements such as valour, chivalry, honesty, and compassion.
It further describes honour as an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or institution such as a family, school, regiment or nation.
Accordingly, individuals or institutions are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large.
From the vivid explanation of what honour entails by Wikipedia, the honour bestowed on the late Reverend Father Michael Murphy by Governor Samuel Ortom recently was well deserved. The governor renamed the St. Dominic High School Road as Reverend Father Murphy Crescent in recognition of the late Priest’s selfless service in the state.
Reverend Father Murphy who was the longest serving Catholic Priest in the state and the immediate past Parish Priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church Sachi, Makurdi, was an epitome of selfless service by all standards.
Governor Ortom while eulogizing the deceased during the brief ceremony for the renaming of the road, acknowledged the exploits of the deceased priest in evangelism in the state and beyond. “He was an exceptional servant of God who preached salvation and positively impacted everywhere he served.
“The support and contributions of the late Priest to the people and government of the state through his charity works to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially during violent attacks on citizens of the state by herdsmen can never be forgotten.
“He was a great soldier of Christ who would stop at nothing to convey the message of salvation to the people no matter the odds.
“Rev Murphy was a unique priest. He was calm but blunt and frank to a fault. He upheld the sanctity of truth at all times. He craved for a peaceful society where justice, fairness and equity should be the grundnorm.
The Irish born priest was born in 1932 and ordained into the priesthood in 1960. Since his ordination, he had worked all his priesthood in Nigeria.
The late Reverend Father Murphy deserves immortalization due to his unprecedented missionary work in the state and beyond and Governor Samuel Ortom has truly recognized the contributions of the Irish priest.