Christian faithful hold special prayers to curse thieves after raid on bishop’s kraal

The priests and Christians of St Patrick Catholic parish, Madera in Soroti diocese have sought for God’s intervention over the frequent incidents of theft of church properties.

This comes after unidentified thieves allegedly broke into the church Kraal at St Patrick’s catholic church, Madera Parish in Soroti Diocese and stole two cows worth over Shs2 million that were offered to the bishop for the construction of a Shs8.2 billion Regina Caeli church building in Aminit.
Quoting the book of Deuteronomy: 19:1:21 and Zachariah: 5:3:4, the parish priest Fr. Henry Agit who was joined by other Christians conveyed special prayers to God and performed special rituals at the Kraal as they laid curses upon the thieves who broke into the kraal to steal cows.

READ: Two clerics injured as robbers raid Catholic church

Clerics for hire or victims of state capture?

The ritual was performed after a failed attempt to recover the cows through a peaceful means.

“This is the curse which is to go forth over the whole earth in accordance with it shall every thief be swept away and in accordance shall every thief be expelled from the plant earth. I will send forth says the lord of horsts and shall come into the house of the thief. Every timber or stone must be burnt in a thief’s house says the lord,” Fr. Agit chanted.

In an interview, Fr. Agit said that they called for special prayers to dedicate thieves that have haunted them at the parish to God to vindicate them following the unending incidents of theft of church properties in the parish.

 “Bishop appointed me here to be a parish priest but my administration has faced a lot of challenges especially the issue of theft,” Fr Henry Agit said.

“This is not the first time when the parish is broken into and items went missing, we are losing chicken here, even goats, crops and last year four of our turkeys were stolen.”

According to Fr Agit, they have been cautioning people against theft as well as preaching the gospel of repentance but they have paid a deaf ear and continue to jubilate in doing evil.

“A person with a good heart of good will donated the cows to papa bishop for a good course to build Regina Caeli the house of God but somebody unknown came and took them away, something painful, evil and which must be condemned in strongest terms possible,”

According to him, the made announcements asking the assailants to return the cows but all has been in vain.

Fr. Agit said that, the curse will be averted if the culprits show up and incase they sit down in their comfort zones they will suffer under the curse for generations.

“Basing on the recurrence occurrence and the grace period we gave them of one and half weeks in vain, the cup has reached it’s full. We have showed mercy and we gave people enough time to refrain. It means they want to test the wrath of God that is why we are handing them unto the lord,” he said.

On the other hand, Mr Sebastian Obula the parish pastoral chairperson Madera said that the thieves are now used to stealing from the church since they first stole altar chairs in 2005.

Mr Julius Benedict Enyagu Eroju, a Christian at St Patrick Catholic church said that the prayers and the curses laid on the thieves are justifiable.

“We have accepted it paradoxically because we cannot entertain people whose behaviors are making the society cry and I believe they stay within us,” Mr Enyagu said.  

While Mr Julius Okima, the choir master at the parish condemned the theft saying that the thieves are abusing Bishop Eciru’s efforts to mobilize resources for the construction of churches that are meant for conveying prayers to God in their favor.

He cautioned the public against offending the priests as the curses laid upon them may not be lifted by anybody unless they confess their sins before God and the public.

However, the acting police spokesperson east Kyoga, Mr John Tukei said that he is yet to receive information about the theft of church animals in his office.