When St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Gbaja, was dedicated in 1961, the Parish Pastoral Council was not born with it.  It was the Board of Church Wardens that performed some of the functions now being performed by the PPC.  The striking features of the infant church were that the church was new, the congregation was not very large, and some aspects of control and administration were left in the hands of the elderly members of the church. These elders worked very closely with the Parish Priests who reposed a lot of confidence in their administrative control and discretion.

The first Parish Pastoral Council was set up in 1970 by Rev. Fr. Omisesan, pooling membership from the twelve recognized societies as Parish Councillors.  Mr. A.B. Falodun was the PPC Secretary from 1970-1972.  In 1971, Messrs M.O. Bamgbose and M.O.D. Osiegbu were elected represen­tatives to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Mr. M.O. Bamgbose was elected the Secretary of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council in 1971 and his tenure lasted through 1978.  In 1973, Mr. O. Ogunbanjo was elected Secretary of St. Anthony's Parish Pastoral Council in which position he served until he left the parish in 1980.  

He was succeeded by Mr. M.O. Bamgbose who was elected Secretary in 1980.  By 1988 (when this book was first compiled), the Council had Rev. Fr. V. Ade Pratt as the Chairman, Sir M.A. Otedola the First Vice-Chairman, Sir M.A. Seweje Second Vice-Chairman and Mrs. M.O. Onasanya Secretary.  There were two main Committees: the All-Purpose Committee headed by Mr. Bode Afolabi, and the Liturgical Committee headed by Mr. M. Aliba.  Mr. M.O. Bamgbose and Chief (Mrs.) F.J. Okuribido were the council's representatives at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

Today, the PPC is chaired by the Parish Priest, Msgr. Bernard Okodua, along with the Assistant Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Ogunyase.  Mr. Emmanuel Oghuman and Mrs. Clara Fejokwu are serving the Council as First Vice-Chairman and Second Vice-Chairman respectively, while Mr. Emmanuel Silas is serving as Secretary. The current PPC is turning out to be the most vibrant, activity-laden, mission-driven Parish Pastoral Council in recent times.  It was reconstituted early in the year (February 2009) by Msgr. Okodua, with the infusion of some of the usually reticent (“quiet”, unobtrusive Sunday-Sunday) parishioners, mostly vibrant and accomplished professional men and women.  And it has been a very busy but exciting time ever since, with the Council breaking into Committees to tackle the various challenges of church infrastructural development and maintenance, evangelization, security, the environment, etc.  A quick highlight of some current PPC activities;

Church Infrastructure:  In addition to normal routine church maintenance efforts, St. Anthony’s PPC is currently carrying out major renovation works on the church building and the premises, including some structural adjustments here and there and the painting of the entire church building (interior and exterior).  The church hall is also being renovated to turn it into a modern civic center with contemporary fixtures and features.  Upon completion, the hall will continue to serve as the 8:00 am Mass Centre, and will remain the social centre for wedding receptions and social functions, harvest bazaars, etc.  It must be remembered that the new-look Church Clinic was renovated by the PPC.  All church maintenance and physical development activities are handled by PPC’s Land/Building/Maintenance Committee which consists of eleven Councilors and is headed by Mr. Dave Nwanze.

The Environment:  The PPC is trying very hard to turn our premises into a tidy, orderly and safe environment, especially on Sundays when we confront the problem of parishioners being generally careless with litter, children throwing biscuit wrappers and empty pure-water sachets all over the place, and nursing mothers dropping nappies even inside the main church.  The PPC is also very conscious of security not only for the parishioners but also especially for our priests who live on the premises and are susceptible to attack by God-less hoodlums.  Security is a universal challenge not just for St. Anthony’s but rather for the entire Catholic Church throughout the country.  These environmental and security matters are being handled by PPC’s General Purpose/Welfare Committee which, as the name implies, treats all church welfare matters including, among others, the recently successfully implemented computerization of our Parish Register, the parish internet facility and the website which is now under construction. The General Purpose/Welfare Committee consists of fourteen Councilors and is headed by Mrs. Rebecca Pyne.

Parish Forum:  The Parish Forum is the baby of the PPC, which holds every last Saturday of the month.  It is a forum which is open to all parishioners (and visitors) who want to know about the Catholic Church, where all questions, whether religious or secular, are permitted and are answered by our very erudite and versatile Parish Priest, Monsignor Bernard Okodua.  Incidentally, Monsignor Okodua is also the second-highest authority in the Archdiocese of Lagos.  Parishioners are advised take advantage of his time with us by sharing in his profound fountain of knowledge.  The Parish Forum is one of the many other activities being handled by the PPC’s Evangelization/Education Committee, headed by Mr. Clement Chenimuya.

Other Activities:  The PPC’s other committees include the Liturgical/Pastoral Committee (headed by Mr. Raphael Abayomi-Bishop) which, in addition to normal liturgical work, plans and executes such events as the Easter and Christmas programmes, the Corpus Christie procession, etc., the Health Committee (headed by Mr. Frank Irabor) which runs the Parish Clinic; the Vocation/Marriage/Family Life Committee (headed by Mr. Andrew Ofuani) which is working on strengthening married people in their vocation, etc., and the Finance Committee (headed by Mr. Franklyn Wiggle)  which generates the funds with which PPC activities financed.