Rather than criticise and riot, pray for the clergy
The media is full of scandalous stories about the church; both the laity and the clergy. The clashes on September 22 in which the Catholic faithful in Arua Diocese demonstrated against their Bishop Sabino Odoki are the most recent.
Not too long ago, in Ankole, Christians from Church of Uganda rejected their bishop. These incidences are scandalous and should never happen.
It is not enough to just send policemen to put out ‘fire’ - people must receive both body and spiritual education; because man is made up of body and soul.
It would appear that Uganda is blessed with many mushrooming Christian sects, but they have a very poor Christian education structure. They are actually prayer groups, sensu stricto, with no institutional structure of a Church.
In the Catholic Church, it is the Pope who appoints a Bishop; in Church of Uganda, it is the House of Bishops.
Rejection of the appointees by the faithful demoralises the appointing authority. I believe that there are procedures in place within these institutions to handle issues of indiscipline of the clergy rather than running to the media or rioting.
St Paul in his letter to the Philippians 2:3, says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves”.
St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 4:1-6, says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received… Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”.
Disobeying lawful orders is a sin. The more physical authority we have over another’s life, the more Spiritual power our words carry for that person; in this case bishop, priest and laity.
We must pray for the clergy and for ourselves because we are all human. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the Church - and you as a member is part of the Body of Christ, the Church.
When you leave the Church, which is the source of your inspiration, or when you disobey, you lose the gifts; but the devil takes them over as false gifts. You are now caught up with the spirit of pride and materialism.
1Cor 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace”. The Gospel teaches us that “Whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much” (Lk 16:10).
Many priests/pastors who claim to have gifts of healing have become very rich through offertory and this is not the will of the donors (the faithful).
Many of them under the disguise of charity ministries have set up lucrative businesses outside the Church. I do not believe that this is correct and is in line with the teaching of the Gospel.
The Christians who give this money to be prayed for would want charity done but within the Church. That is what the missionaries did when they put up hospitals and schools from money donated from Christians abroad!
They bought cars and built Churches and houses for parishes not for personal use because they no longer belonged to themselves but to the Church, the Body of Christ.
If the gifts of the Holy Spirit were to be used for personal gain, then the priests who have been given the gifts of healing would have an advantage over the ones with gifts of preaching and yet the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the same purpose.
In conclusion, let us pray for everyone, priests as well. St. Mother Teresa said, “Pray much for priests, because we need holy priests. The holier the priests are the more holy we religious will be…the more holy will be the families of God … and have many holy vocations”.
Dr Okoth is a concerned Christian
[email protected]
