About the Chaplaincy
A Catholic chaplaincy under the maternal patronage of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, serving the hospital community and university faithful.
Our Catholic identity
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chaplaincy, AE-FUTHA, is a Catholic community of worship, prayer and formation. It is placed under the maternal patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated under the title Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and lives in communion with the universal Church.
Worship and sacramental life
The chaplaincy gathers for daily Mass and Sunday celebrations, devotions such as Divine Mercy and Benediction, Adoration, catechism classes, confession, and the baptism of infants. See the Mass schedule for current times.
Community & Apostolates
The faithful serve and pray together through the chaplaincy’s associations, organizations and societies, guided by its chaplains and leaders.
History
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Chaplaincy serves the patient community, clinical healthcare workers, academic staff, and students of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA), Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Situated within the Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki in the Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, the chaplaincy was established to bring the healing and sacramental ministry of the Church to the hospital environment, sanctifying the daily care of the sick and providing pastoral care to medical personnel and university students.
The chaplaincy is placed under the maternal patronage of Our Lady under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Revered for centuries through her sacred Byzantine icon, Our Lady of Perpetual Help is invoked as a refuge for those who suffer in body and spirit. In a major federal healthcare setting where patients face critical illness and recovery, her maternal intercession stands as a constant reminder that Christ is close to the afflicted and that no trial is borne in isolation.
Through daily celebrations of the Holy Eucharist, regular confessions, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick administered at patient bedsides, and Eucharistic Adoration, the chaplaincy sustains the liturgical heartbeat of the hospital community. It is also the spiritual home for medical and nursing undergraduates, resident doctors, consultants, and diverse lay apostolates who collaborate to bear witness to the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.